newbe question how am I doing on wood?

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uptrapper

uptrapper

New Member
Sep 28, 2008
48
sault ste. marie, MI
Need some advice especially from people that live in the cold weather states to determine if I have enough wood left for the winter. I put up 2-22' rows 8' high by 18" deep, which comes out to 12.37 face cord. The place that sold me the stove to me that I should expect to burn about 8-10 face cords per winter so I went a little safer and put up 12 just to be safe. I just filled up my wood box with enough wood to last 2 weeks so come mid January I will have used about 18% of the wood I have put up in my garage. I have been burning since September, but only when heat was needed once mid November hit I have been burning pretty much 24/7, no other heating source has been used except wood. I know I can't just say that I have been heating 4 months and have 4 months of heating to go because we have only been burning heavy for a month and a half, the rest of that time has just been starting a fire to chase the chill off in the morning. I have another 20 face cords put up at the back of my property but there is already a couple feet to snow between me and the pile and I'd rather not have to get any of that until the snow melts. It seems to me that in a couple weeks I will still have 80% of my wood and I should have lots of wood to spare come spring, but let me know what you think. If I have to get more wood now would the time to do it as the snow depth will only get worse. I planned on keeping a path open all winter to the wood pile with the snow blower, but got lazy and only did it a couple times.

Thanks

Mike
 
Lots of people will come in with a bunch of old time folk lore, but I have always used the mid of Jan as my test. I figure that the mid of Jan is half way through the heating season and therefore I should have half of my wood consumed, half left. Of course its nice to have a buffer zone, with more than half left at the mid point.

Of course with the goofy weather this year, all bets are off. ;-)
 
12.37 face cord... is what- like 4 cord or so. That's pretty close to average for what most wood burners use in a winter (3.5 - 5 cord).

I think the guy that told you 8-10 "face cord" (which is ~ 3 cord) is not telling you enough. It sounds like you've been pretty sparing with wood use and should be in great shape this winter.
 
I tend to go with degree days so looked at the following site:

http://www.climate-zone.com/climate/united-states/michigan/sault-ste-marie/

Sault Ste Marie is interesting --- there are heating degree days every month of the year so there is no way to say just when the heating started. But if you look at September through December the average is ~ 3200 degree days or 1/3rd of the annual total. Based on that you are fine.

I believe the thread Jags referred to was about having half of your wood left on Candlemas day (early February). That probably makes sense too, but I imagine it is pretty cautious in that the consequence of winter outlasting your wood supply might mean freezing to death as opposed to today when it would mean buying a fuel you had hoped to avoid.
 
I am in complete agreement with Jags, the only thing I can add is last year round here, the cold stayed a bit longer and ended up burning almost till May. Off and on in April, but still more used than normal.
I suggest keeping an additional 1/3 or your typical seasons amount at hand in case of extended cold temps, if not used, just add for next years pile.
 
Mike I would think where you live the burning season has got to good for more than 10 face cords...if weather permits score some more from your 20 FC stash.
 
Mike,
I think it sounds as though you have enough this winter, but don't forget to think about the following winter. I had gathered about 7 full cord for this winter. When the burning season is over I should have between 1-3 full cord left. That's what I will start burning next fall. The wood will be fully seasoned and burn great. I will start to gather new wood for next year any day now. The longer you let it season the better (within reason). Some of the harder/wetter woods take longer to season. Oak should dry out enough in around 9 months to start burning, but it's much better if it has closer to 18 months. Ash, especially White Ash can be burnt with little to no seasoning, 6 months works very well for me, while Elm needs at least 2 years or more (not worth my bother, not enough space to store). Right now as I type I'm burning Locust that has been seasoning for more than 2 years and this is the best stuff I've ever burnt. Being new to burning you'll learn how long you need to season and how to rotate your supply for best efficiency. For just starting it sounds as though you've done a good job. Happy cutting, hauling, spliting, hauling, stacking, hauling, re-stacking and hauling in to burn. I wish I could figure out what makes me love to do this so much.

Andybaker
 
I am down a little over a cord and a half, call it 5 face cords. I insulated my liner and am able to damper down more. I also came off of knee surgery so my wood is dry but is silver maple etc...not the wood burners gold oak! Good rule of thumb is to follow jags recomendations and keep scrounging!!!
 
Thanks for all the replies. I have been trying to use as little wood as possible, have been afraid of running out of wood and having to make a visit to the pile out back since the snow started to fall. Until the weather started getting cold I had no doubt it would be enough, but I seem to be going through it pretty fast now that the weather is staying cold. Next year I guess I will know better how much I need to have. I will be buying another 10 full cords this winter to keep my stock of dry wood in good supply, also gives me a good work out cutting and splitting it.

Thanks again

Mike
 
Mike, it is always cold at the Soo! By your explanation of your burning habits, you might be okay but....you might not. January through March it gets pretty darned cold there with lots of below zero weather. I'd be inclined to think more, not less. I also highly doubt that you could heat with only 3 cords of wood, but then, I don't know even what size your home is. When we lived in the UP, we figured on 6-8 cords per year, or in your language, 18-24 face cords.
 
a face cord is 1/3 of a full cord or 4x8x16ish.
 
bluefrier said:
a face cord is 1/3 of a full cord or 4x8x16ish.
Click to expand...

OK, thanks. I see that it is the 4x8 part, and stove cut lengths, about what we might call a fullsized pickup load; piled, not stacked. I can't imagine processing that much wood for myself EVERY YEAR !
 
Backwoods Savage said:
Mike, it is always cold at the Soo! By your explanation of your burning habits, you might be okay but....you might not. January through March it gets pretty darned cold there with lots of below zero weather. I'd be inclined to think more, not less. I also highly doubt that you could heat with only 3 cords of wood, but then, I don't know even what size your home is. When we lived in the UP, we figured on 6-8 cords per year, or in your language, 18-24 face cords.
Click to expand...

Thats kind of what I was worried about, and why I posted the question. I've used relatively little wood except for the last month, seems like I'm really going through it now, barely saw a dent in my pile all fall and now there is a pretty good dent. My house is somewhat small, about 1400 sqft including our finished basement, which is where the wood stove is. The house is very tight and fairly well insulated, and is in the woods where the pines protect us quite well from a wind of any direction. The stove is probably a bit over-sized but I seem to be able to control the heat fairly well by keeping the basement warmer than the upstairs and using a fan to bring the heat up when I need it. Even on the cold days I usually only fill it 1/2 to 3/4 full. On the warmer days I would just make a small hot fire and that would keep the house warm all day, with the heat slowly rising out of the basement. When I bought it I told the stove guy that I wanted a stove that was easy to run and I never wanted to get up in the middle of the night to feed it, definitely got what I asked for. Gotta go and blow snow again today, so maybe I will start working on that path to the wood pile, that I should have kept open.

I use the face cord measure becasue all the people I know that burn wood, buy wood already cut and split 1 face cord at a time as they need it. I guess that just how I leaned to measure wood and its hard to get away from that, even when I buy it 10 full cords at a time.

Thanks

Mike
 
I know a guy in Cedarville just South of you and he burns 5 to 6 cords (15 to 18 face cords) every winter.

This is a good winter to judge how much your going to need because its been cooooooooooooooooooold!
 
Bigg_Redd said:
All serious woodburners have 5-8 years worth split and stacked at all times.
Click to expand...

The only one that has that much wood is Dennis! ;-P
 
So, Hiram, you think I'm serious huh? I gave some wood away but with what I've got cut, we should still have a minimum of 6 years but probably close to 7 on hand. But I've got a lot to split this coming spring because I've cut nothing but ash this winter. Lots and lots more of it to cut. It will probably take 3 more years before we get it all cut. By then the emerald ash borers should be gone as there won't be anything left for them to chew on. Some of these trees are amazing when you see the holes in them and how dry they are. Still, most of them attempt to stay amongst the living as they send out new shoots all the way up the trunk.
 
Dennis,

I would say your pretty serious!

That's a lot of wood.

Between my Dad and I we have lost 21 huge White Ash trees and a couple of smaller ones in the last 6 years.

My front yard use to look like a City Park.....not any more.

The stumps regenerate but it seems as the ash bore returns to kill those as well.

It should keep you warm for many years to come.

Hope all is well and Happy New Year.

Hiram
 
uptrapper said:
Need some advice especially from people that live in the cold weather states to determine if I have enough wood left for the winter. I put up 2-22' rows 8' high by 18" deep, which comes out to 12.37 face cord. The place that sold me the stove to me that I should expect to burn about 8-10 face cords per winter so I went a little safer and put up 12 just to be safe. I just filled up my wood box with enough wood to last 2 weeks so come mid January I will have used about 18% of the wood I have put up in my garage. I have been burning since September, but only when heat was needed once mid November hit I have been burning pretty much 24/7, no other heating source has been used except wood. I know I can't just say that I have been heating 4 months and have 4 months of heating to go because we have only been burning heavy for a month and a half, the rest of that time has just been starting a fire to chase the chill off in the morning. I have another 20 face cords put up at the back of my property but there is already a couple feet to snow between me and the pile and I'd rather not have to get any of that until the snow melts. It seems to me that in a couple weeks I will still have 80% of my wood and I should have lots of wood to spare come spring, but let me know what you think. If I have to get more wood now would the time to do it as the snow depth will only get worse. I planned on keeping a path open all winter to the wood pile with the snow blower, but got lazy and only did it a couple times.

Thanks

Mike
Click to expand...

Some say it's Groundhog day that is the halfway point of the heating season. NoFossil says Jan. 15 based on heating degree days. See this thread: https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/31415/ I tend to agree with Nofo, so I would say you'll be in good shape if you will have consumed only 18% of your wood by the halfway point. Your house must be well insulated, that's much less than I've used so far. Happy burning.
 
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