Cool summer mornings serve as a reminder that winter will return to New Hampshire sooner rather than later, and folks are working to ensure their firewood supply will carry them through to spring.

It's far too late in the year to be buying green firewood and hoping to burn it this winter, said Jon Clark, owner of Treehugger Farms in Westmoreland.

“The time to buy green wood is in May so that it can season all summer long,” said Clark. “That's the cheapest and most cost-effective way to buy firewood. If you're buying green wood in August, it should be for storing until next season.”

Seasoning wood, which essentially means drying it out, is important for a number of reasons, according to Clark.

“Green wood doesn't throw good heat, it produces a lot of smoke, and it makes a lot of creosote that can build up in a chimney and cause chimney fires,” he said.

Because green wood is wet wood, a lot of the energy from the fire is expended evaporating the water out of the logs. And though green runs around $200 a cord delivered, spending the extra $65 for air-seasoned wood, or $80 for kiln-dried wood, is the best insurance against bad wood.

Wendy Scribner, of the UNH Cooperative Extension in Carroll County, said that green wood must be seasoned for at least six months before burning, but really requires a year for the percentage of moisture to drop to 20 percent, the optimum level for burning.

John Tinkham of the Firewood Guy in Londonderry said that buying kiln-dried firewood takes the guesswork out of heating with wood, and also removes the unpleasant side effects of burning with wood: bugs.

“With kiln-drying, the wood is put in a big oven and basically baked for three to five days, taking all the moisture out and killing all the bugs,” he said. “If you buy green or seasoned wood with ants or termites in it, you risk infestation.”

Buying early saves

Buying semi-seasoned and kiln-dried wood in August actually may save folks a bit of money, the experts say.

“At this time of year, there's a glut of wood on the market and demand is low,” said Clark. “Buyers have a better chance at getting a deal on their firewood in August than they would in November or December.”

Buying early can also protect consumers from running into untrustworthy dealers who might bank on the desperation of folks who have run out of wood mid-winter.

Kevin Young, an investigator for the state's Division of Weights and Measures, was in Milford recently to prosecute one of the two dozen cases he sees each year involving firewood dealers who don't deliver on their promises.

“I have a case in Concord I'm working on where a single mom of two kids called a dealer she didn't know in the middle of the winter. She was apprehensive about it, but she needed firewood right away. What she got was very old, punky wood that just wouldn't burn,” Young said.

The woman was so desperate for heat, and now out the money she paid for the wood, that she ended up walking into the forest to find wood to burn.

“It's a sad case, but there are some people who take advantage,” said Young.

The case that Young is prosecuting in Milford involves a firewood dealer who took a local woman's money up front and promised three deliveries of wood, but only brought the first two.

Scribner, who has written extensively about firewood, said that consumers should never pay for wood until it's been delivered. She also said it's important to get a receipt that states the seller's name, address and phone number, what kind of wood was delivered and whether it was supposed to be green, seasoned or kiln-dried.

Having a receipt can help investigators track down vendors suspected of failing to deliver the quality and quantity of wood they promised, Young said.

For more information about buying firewood, visit http://extension.unh.edu/counties/carroll/docs/Jul0808.pdf

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