Posted on 03/16/2024 12:43:19 PM PDT by Dr. Franklin
So I want to know why I shouldn't burn cardboard in the wood stove. I know it makes a lot of ash, but so what? It burns and it's free heat. The cardboard is wood fibers held together with glue or resins, and coloring agents. Those may produce toxic fumes. If the fumes go up the chimney, so what? How is the air pollution from the burning the cardboard worse than the pollution from transporting it elsewhere for some other process that results in pollution? So my biggest question is can burning cardboard damage the stainless steel chimney liner? Burning some chemicals like chlorides can damage stainless steel. I put the sawdust and wood chips from cutting the wood into used cereal or soda can boxes to burn so as not to waste anything. I doubt that is enough to hurt anything, but maybe someone here knows more, and no I am not worried about causing a chimney fire. We keep that clean.
use it for kindling.
I cut my cardboard in strips and nail them together into “logs”. 3 10-penny nails will do it.
When I empty the ashes, I run a magnet through it to collect the nails and reuse them.
Doesn’t burn as long as a real log, but as you say, it produces plenty of heat.
Depending on how well your house is insulated you might end up with problems. Especially if you have birds. Everything kills those little jerks.
I burn the cardboard outside in the burn barrel.
So you want permission to burn trash in your wood burning stove. Sounds like a local ordinance issue to me
Oh, I forgot this part. The bad stuff will coat the inside of your pipe and continue to release no matter what you are burning.
Some cardboard is coated with wax which could accumulate and case a chimney fire. There may also be chemicals you don’t want burn as they may also coat the chimney. It’s probably similar to burning pine, which is a bad idea for the same reason. Cardboard is made using a variety of processes. Mostly, leftover materials from other processes are liquified, mixed with whatever binding agent they’re using, and pressed and dried. Too many unknowns to burn this stuff in the house.
I have a burn pit on five acres. I have way too much cardboard to break it down and dispose of it in the trash. FYI, my county will not allow anything other than “natural” materials to be burned. Even regular lumber is forbidden because it was “processed.” This doesn’t apply to builders who burn all kinds of leftover materials and don’t get fined.
I’ve always wondered if the ink was an issue
If I use newspaper 🗞️📰 for kindling in a BBQ I like to let it burn thoroughly first before putting food on the grill
Dunno
We put ash on the garden for plants like asparagus. We burn outside but if I had a good wood stove, I would burn the cardboard, but not just cardboard/soda containers etc. Sticks from the yard too.
Waste not, want not
I don’t know the harm of burning cardboard, but if you are only burning it irregularly (who has an endless supply of cardboard boxes?) it probably doesn’t matter.
I had a friend whose lake cabin had a large fireplace in the main room. He normally burned oak, but due to some work on his land, had a lot of cut Ash trees, which he burned for two winters straight. Unknown to him, Ash has a lot of resin, which coated and clogged up the flue. It started a fire in the upper part of his chimney which also burned part of the roof.
Cardboard is the new fossil fuel. Imagine what the food will taste like when it is cooked over a cardboard fire.
Imagine how much pollution goes into the air when a few cubic miles of volcanic ash is spewed 40,000 feet into the air.
In packaging class we were taught that cardboard, especially non-corrugated carton type contains a fair amount of kaolin. That’s why you get more ash.
If you stay with corrugated board that doesn’t have a film coating you’re probably fine
I had a chimney that had a screen in it and plugged that up with paper once.
Paper and cardboard burns with big pieces of rising ash so...
Lucky it was just out in my detached garage.
I think it can cling on to chimney walls etc.
Burning out in the open watch it rise up and set the trees on fire.
Good luck. You might want to read the link in comment #3.
If you do it once in awhile its probably fine. I’ve certainly done it myself. But your woodstove is not a burn barrel. We burn most of our paper waste in our burn barrel.
Paper is highly processed wood. That is all.
I think your biggest worry would be a chimney fire. Cardboard burns fast, hot, and with loooong flames up the stove pipe.
Perfect combination for a soot chimney/stove pipe fire.
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