How much wood have you gone through so far?

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emory

Member
May 30, 2007
56
Milton, NH
Now that some of the coldest air of the season is upon us, how much of a cord have folks gone through so far this year?

My VC Defiant is definitely keeping the entire house, two floors, nice and toasty but I'm about a 1/2 a cord down so far.
 
I was just thinking about that last night...I have went through about 4 wheel barrows now, definitely not a half cord. I do think though that last night was the coldest it has been so far for us here in Ohio. 25 F last night.
 
I'd say about a half cord. Not because I needed to, but mostly because I refuse to let that heat pump ever come on.
 
my stove seems to eat wood. 24/7 and about 3 weeks old, about 1/2 to 3/4 of a cord. Im going to guess about 1 to 1/4 cords per month.
 
About 1/4 cord in the last 3 weeks to heat 700 sf. We had a few warm days when I burned only once at night.
 
Corie said:
I'd say about a half cord. Not because I needed to, but mostly because I refuse to let that heat pump ever come on.
Same here.
A good deal of mine has been more a case of "enthusiastic newbie likes to practice playing with fire". I use the excuse that I am learning how to burn wood (which I am of course) but I just like having it burning. It's warm and cozy and comforting.

But I'm gonna wish I still had that wood come February.
I'm guessing every newbie mismanages their woodpile to some degree their first season burning.
 
Cearbhaill said:
I'm guessing every newbie mismanages their woodpile to some degree their first season burning.

I don't think there has ever been a year when I didn't think I mismanaged the woodpile. Ya always suspect you could have done it with less. But hey, it is coming off the pile and not out of the oil tank, natural gas meter or electric meter.
 
How much wood have you gone through so far?

WAY , WAY, TOO MUCH!!!!!!

At least 1 full cord, maybe 2 full cords, but who's counting.

Even free wood costs time & money to cut,split & season, so it isn't really free.

Of course a 150,000 btu/hr , 1960 era, 1/4 inch plate steel, 12 cubic foot firebox doesnot help any either.

It has all the efficiency of a three legged turtle. %-P
And smokes more that a camero peeling rubber, unelse I fine tune all settings & then check the chimney.

Maybe , I should join the antique stove collectors of america.
Is it the same as with cars, if its over 20 years old ,its automatically a collectable antique????

wish I had a epa stove instead, but they are hard to find & expensive to boot in that size range.

Next year,for sure, I get one! Buy at end of season sale & install in summer.

So, anyone know a antique stove collector that wants to buy a piece of history???? ;-P
 
eernest4 said:
Of course a 150,000 btu/hr , 1960 era, 1/4 inch plate steel, 12 cubic foot firebox doesnot help any either.

It has all the efficiency of a three legged turtle. %-P
And smokes more that a camero peeling rubber, unelse I fine tune all settings & then check the chimney.

I wanna see a picture of this thing you talk about. I had one of the biggest pre-EPA stoves they made and the firebox interior measurement on that stove was only 4.3 cubic feet. A 55 gallon drum is only 7.33 cubic feet inside. :question:
 
1/2 cord so far. Going through more now that I'm burning 24/7. No worries, I have plenty, won't run out this year.
 
i would guess 1/4 to 1/2 a cord so far.. i'm a newbie so i know i'm not managing the wook properly but i'm learning thanks to this site....
 
About 1/2 cord so far. Just got our gas bill today. It was only $25.60 we have a gas water heater and cook stove so not bad at all.
Don
 
i got my first ever 1 cord dumped in the driveway on SAT last week and my and my 8 yr old laughed at how much wood it was.
figured we'd have wood for next year.
1 week later i'm thinking i aint making it to january.
gone through more then i thought.

love my stove, still learning how to burn right and lean out, but i'm getting longer burn cycles now.
 
I've gone thru between 1/3 and 1/2 cords - it seems like it hasn't been cold enough.... until today!!! It's 20 degrees here, and headed lower tonight!
 
Gads!! This is embarrasing, here in the mild PNW, already gone thru ).75 cord. However, there is a reasonable explanation for this. The so-called "better half" now spends most of her evenings in the rec-room by the fireplace. And she likes a nice toasty room. Now, until this year she spent hardly any time down there. Maybe a pic can explain the difference-lets see.
 

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For this entire heating season, as of this very moment, I have burned, or actually, I am in the process of burning, five (5) splits. :)

Yes, I don't start burning until it gets cold enough that the solar during the day can't keep up with the cold... and the way it looks now, we have arrived at that point. Therefore, she's started, and will probably be running just about nonstop until the end of February, beginning of March.

Also, I changed out all of my gaskets last night, took about 2 hours. I never did it before, and can already tell the difference. The stove is pulling air in much better through the primary and secondary ports. She seems to have heated up better too. Mind you, this is compared to the ratty gaskets I had at the very end of last season, which were three years old. Oh, and changing them was pretty easy. Once I chiseled out all that cement, and cleaned it up, all I had to do was run some gasket seal in there, apply the gaskets, trim, press, and viola. It's like a brand new stove!

Let the heating season begin!

-- Mike
 
I've burned 3/4 of a cord so far. The October burns weren't 24/7 and the 1/4 cord then were all my "ugly" and almost punky wood for taking the "chill" outta the house. November has been 24/7 about 24 of 30 days which has taken up the remainder 1/2 cord. All the so-called ugly and bad wood is gone and I'm having great success with overnight burns. 3 Holz Hausens and 1 and a half line stack to go. Approximately 5 and 1/2 cords left for 2007 & 08 . Only have 2 cords split for 2008 & 09. I need to pick up my scrounging technique very soon.
 
About a cord of punky stuff, pine, hemlock. It would be equivalant to about 1/2 cord of real wood like the stuff I'm dipping into tonight.
 
adrpga498 said:
I've burned 3/4 of a cord so far. The October burns weren't 24/7 and the 1/4 cord then were all my "ugly" and almost punky wood for taking the "chill" outta the house. November has been 24/7 about 24 of 30 days which has taken up the remainder 1/2 cord. All the so-called ugly and bad wood is gone and I'm having great success with overnight burns. 3 Holz Hausens and 1 and a half line stack to go. Approximately 5 and 1/2 cords left for 2007 & 08 . Only have 2 cords split for 2008 & 09. I need to pick up my scrounging technique very soon.

How much wood do you manage to get in each Holz?

-- Mike
 
I feel I'm averaging a little over a cord an a half per Holz. I've only built 4 to date so I'm getting better as to size and taper to avoid potential collaps. Only had 1st attempt collaps . I have no intention on building the 10 foot high job. I'm very happy with the 7 footers.
 
Notice a lot of people wrote about burning the crap.. Yes, same here, lot`s of that cedar that I picked up for $250 for five full cords. That stuff burns hot and fast. Also, those odd chunks and scraps that aren`t stackable. Little branches, cut off and all that kinda stuff. So keep in mind people, that maybe even though 2/3 of a cord sounds like a lot, most of it is just junk.~~. No matter, ya just cant beat wood heat, speciallyl the comfort and the price. These guy look happy-Don`t they??
 

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