Burning bamboo in a woodstove

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Eric in Japan
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Burning bamboo in a woodstove

Post by Eric in Japan »

I was wondering if anyone out there had tried burning bamboo (split of course) in a woodstove.
When we moved to our property about 12 years ago, I mentioned to the neighbors that I was thinking of using the bamboo in place of firewood. But they immediately told me that it would ruin my stove. Why? I don't know if the ashes are different, or the heat value, or perhaps creosote buildup. Maybe they thought I would try and burn it without splitting it and it would explode. They may have been thinking of the little figure 8 stoves you see at home centers around here, not a cast iron one like my V.C. Intrepid II.
In the end, I decided not to just because, hey, good stoves are not cheap, and if they were right...

I wouldn't plan on burning ONLY bamboo, but it would be so easy to cut, split, dry, and use, especially to start the stove. Sure you would have to feed it more often, but it does give off a lot of heat quickly.

So what do you think? Or should I get a cheap woodstove and test it out in another building?
"... so, the cucumbers said to the cabbage, `Lettuce Go.`"

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Re: Burning bamboo in a woodstove

Post by paradoxbox »

You do have to punch out the centers otherwise they'll explode from steam pressure, which could damage your stove, but otherwise I do not understand why it cannot be burnt. I have burned bamboo before in wood stoves and never had problems.

Creosote cleaning should be done regularly anyway, once a year or more often if you're burning the stove a lot.

Bamboo is not a great heat source though IMO because as you mentioned, it burns like kindling - just not that much heat output. You end up doing a lot of work just to keep a bamboo fire fed. But if you've got lots of it, go for it! Just be absolutely sure you punch a hole in each section of the bamboo or you might get unlucky one day and POP blow out the glass on your stove, or send glowing embers up the chimney causing big trouble if it's dirty with creosote (chimney fire).

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Eric in Japan
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Re: Burning bamboo in a woodstove

Post by Eric in Japan »

I would be splitting the bamboo with my star splitter, since it knocks out most of the node and I could stack a lot more in less space.
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Re: Burning bamboo in a woodstove

Post by Zasso Nouka »

I can't think of any reason why it would damage a cast iron stove if properly dried and split but then I couldn't see anything wrong with holding a piece of wood in my hand while cutting it with a circular saw moments before the carbide tips made contact with my fingers :shock: so don't necessarily take my advice.The only thing I could think was that it might burn so quickly that it could heat the stove up too fast inducing thermal stresses, something akin to burning small kindling the whole time instead of split logs.

I wouldn't have thought it would make that much more creosote than either sugi or hinoki which we burn regularly and doesn't seem to cause us much creosote problems. I know it's not good practice but we clean our chimneys only every two or three years and we use the stoves every single day in winter.

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Re: Burning bamboo in a woodstove

Post by Eric in Japan »

I decided to experiment today, and cut up about four meters of a long dead Moso bamboo that was suspended above the grove's floor. So very dry.
I decided to just cut it between every internode, so there would be no intact chambers. In other words, "Where did I put that bamboo star splitter again?"

My house has never warmed up as quickly as this morning. The heat output was stupendous.
Now I am just adding a joint of bamboo for every split of wood. It gives it that nice kick of heat, and the split then keeps it going for an hour or more. When I feel a bit chilly, I pop another in.
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Re: Burning bamboo in a woodstove

Post by Zasso Nouka »

Sounds good man, I like the idea of mixing wood and bamboo and would imagine they might make great kindling.
Eric in Japan wrote:In other words, "Where did I put that bamboo star splitter again?"
I have a great method for finding lost tools and it never fails. Go to the shops and buy a new replacement after you've exhausted all the possible hiding places the original might be in and within 5 minutes of returning home with the replacement you will find the one you lost :lol: . Works for me every time.

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