Firewood Guide

Herfo's have always recommended the use of well seasoned, quality firewood for reasons of economy and convenience.

However there appears to be new reason and that is to avoid heavy fines and the involvement in your life of local council officers.

This article and the follow up letter are taken from letters to the editor, The Sun Herald. The original article appeared in The Sun Herald November 13th 2005. Referring to wood smoke.  We know that this pollution can be drastically reduced if we improve the way we use our wood heaters, have them maintained regularly and use the appropriate firewood.

Public consultation has indicated strong support for legislation to curb excessive smoke from wood heaters.

The N S W Government proposal is aimed at the small proportion of householders who operate their wood heaters irresponsibly. It gives council officers the power to issue smoke abatement notices if excessive smoke is observed from residential chimneys.

Council would be encouraged to provide info and advice before issuing notices.

Fines would only be an option if chimney's continued to smoke excessively after a 21-day grace period. The proposed fine is $200 and would climb to $3300 if the householder chose to take the matter to court.

LISA CORBYN
Director- General
N S W Department Environment and Conservation.

HERE ARE SOME HANDY HINTS.

• Wood must be dry and seasoned.
  
• A good hot fire of kindling and smaller wood must be established before adding larger logs.
  
• Reduce air intake as soon as possible to increase economy, therefore slowing down the combustion rate. Some experimentation may be required to set your particular air intake.
  
• This wood will provide a hot bed of coals to maintain continued combustion in the firebox.

Firewood Species (Common Names)	Forest Type	Heat Available Per Unit Volume %	Density 1b/ft3 kg/m3	Splitting (Air Dry)	Ignitability (Splitting)	Coals	Sparks	Calorific Value BTU's MgKg
Mallee Roots	Mallee	100	N/A	Difficult	Poor	Excellent	Few	7600
Belah Buloke	Mallee/Box Ironbark	100	70 1121	Good	Poor	Excellent	Few	7400 17.2
Grey Box	Box-Ironbark	100	70 1121	Difficult	Poor	Excellent	Few	7400 17.2
Black Box	Box-Ironbark	100	9 1105	Difficult	Poor	Excellent	Few	7500
Red Ironbark	Box-Ironbark	97	69 1105	Difficult	Poor	Excellent	Few	7500
Yellow or White box	Box-Ironbark	91	65 1041	Difficult	Poor	Excellent	Few	7500
Red Box	Box Ironbark	91	67 1073	Difficult	Poor	Excellent	Few	7400 17.2
Yellow Gum	Box-Ironbark	90	62 993	Difficult	Poor	Excellent	Few	7400
River Red Gum	River Red Gum	80	56 897	Difficult	Poor	Excellent	Moderate	7600 17.7
Blue Gum	Foothill	80	61 977	Fair	Fair	Good	Few	5000
Red Stingybark	Foothill	72	54 865	Good	Good	Good	Few	4000
Narrow Leaved Peppermint	Foothill	68	50 801	Excellent	Good	Good	Few	4000
Messmate	Foothill	68	45 721	Good	Good	Good	Few	4000
Mountain Ash	Mountain	53	42 673	Excellent	Excellent	Fair	Moderate	3500
White Cypress Pine	Box-Ironbark	60	42 673	Good	Excellent	Poor	Many	8000 18.6
Radiata Pine	Foothill Plantations	45	32 512	Fair	Excellent	Poor	Many	7700 17.9