Why Air Dried? - Castle Guards Wood Fuels

What’s the difference between air dried or kiln dried wood?

The main difference between air dried (seasoned wood) or kiln dried wood actually at the point where you put it on your fire should be negligible since technically both types of logs should be dried to below 20% moisture content at the point of being set alight. Damp wood will burn poorly and cause blackened stove windows, taking longer to give off heat and denying you that warm cosy feeling a log fire brings.

So if there isn’t much difference why should you care how about how your logs are prepared?

Well, many UK suppliers of firewood import logs from Europe, meaning that large wagons carrying wood are driven from the continent to ferry terminals and then travel on further once they arrive in our country. That’s obviously not environmentally friendly. We source our wood from the UK, preferably from as near to us geographically as possible to reduce the environmental impact of transporting our logs.

Kiln drying is the process of drying wood in a kiln like an oven for wood. It is an expensive, mechanical way of quickly drying out logs hence we call our logs ‘seasoned’ because we store them in our large barns and let them dry naturally using sun and air.

Air Dried Loose Logs 1 to 6 cubic metre delivered in and around Cockermouth

What’s wrong with kiln drying?

Air drying logs is environmentally friendly and we have been preparing and selling logs in this traditional way for over thirty years. We don’t receive a government subsidy like those producing kiln dried logs do. The reason so many suppliers choose kiln drying is because they receive money under the renewable heat incentive (RHI) scheme. Heating a kiln to dry logs which will then be sold to produce heat is not energy efficient or environmentally sound. Without money from central government, many of these companies wouldn’t be able to operate. It can take up to a week for a kiln dry wood with an acceptable moisture level of less than 20%. The kilns have to be heated to a very high temperature, a process that requires a massive amount of energy which is expensive and adds to the cost of your kiln dried firewood. We create our air dried seasoned logs over a minimum of one to three years by storing the wood in a dry, airy environment where the wood will naturally release its moisture and be ready to burn.

The conclusion:

With our logs we don’t add packaging, we don’t transport from other countries and we don’t use kilns to dry out the wood. Air dried, loose logs are cheaper to buy and a lot better for the environment. You can buy from us confident in the fact you are minimising your environmental impact and getting logs that are naturally seasoned and ready to burn.