Doesn't A Face Cord A Week Sound Like A Lot?

DON'T START! This horse has been beaten so far beyond death on these forums it's no longer even recognizable as an equine. Last year alone we lost two members to duels fought over the definitions of all the different terms used to refer to quantities of cord wood and whether or not they were meaningful or useful. Let's just say a face cord is ~1/3 cord and be done with it, can we do that? Rick

When is a cord not a cord?


When it's a discord.


I used to write the jokes for Bazooka bubble gum, what can I say.



TS

When I sell, a face cord is .25 of a cord. When I buy, a face cord is .45 of a cord ;-)

The OP is from NY and talks facecords as we all do in NY. Some just refuse to understand and accept that. Be bigger people.

I have a dream! Where ONE nation can agree on the definition of a cord of wood, and we shall fight over that definition NO MORE!
Can we agree? YES WE CAN!
Can we burn? YES WE CAN!

I have a question, not about how big a face cord is though, I'll leave that one alone
I would like to know if a 120 year old house has any insulation in the walls and ceilings, and if so what is it? Sawdust?
3,800 sq ft is a lot of space to heat with one wood stove even if it was half decently insulated. A quick Google search tells me the heating capacity of the Lopi Liberty stove is 1,500 to 2,500 Sq. feet. I assume that is for a properly insulated house. I can image you would be using an awful lot of wood trying to heat 3,800 sq ft.

tryin.not.to.burn.the.house.down said:

I really wish we waiting a year before we put in the stove.....we recently moved into a 120 yr old home; 3800 sq ft, gas furnance. My husband and I were worried about our gas bill for the winter so we went ahead and put in a Lopi Liberty in an existing coal burning fireplace. The pipe cuts into the chimney about 6.5 feet up and has the liner the rest of the 25 ft chimney. We are now going through A FACE CORD A WEEK running this bad girl Is anyone else going through this amount of wood?
The house was empty 18 months prior to moving in so it's hard to compare any savings, but gee it seems like we would be breaking even if that We are buying wood $65 a face cord. Let me know your thoughts. Thanks

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Are you able to cut your own wood if you had access to timber? There's always someone that wants some tree cleared away or some public land that allows cutting. I love spending quality time with my Stihl on a cold day.

I've gone through 4 cords since oct 1st.

tryin.not.to.burn.the.house.down said:

Thanks for all the input. When we originally got our first order of wood we only ordered 8 facecords. We then got 4 more and now just got another 5. We do have the orginal restored single pane windows with storms on so it is not the most efficient house. We use every square inch of the house (4 small kidos), so closing off rooms is not an option. The gas furnance does turn on when we get below 68 degrees....we have a baby and can't keep it too cold. It doesn't happen that often during the day. We just got our gas bill it shows a bar graph and we are way below the estimated usage. That's good. We are adding insulation as we speak to the attic. It had the original wool batting. It seems that isulation was added at some point to some of the walls when they added on with drywall. The wood that we did get is mixed with alot of maple(red it seems.) So I think we are burning well. We have it on high burn 24/7 and run it between 300-400 degrees. I guess it is what it is.....a face cord a week. Thanks again to all. Happy burning

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First, if your wood isn't well seasoned, you'll use a lot more. Chances are your wood isn't dry enough... most wood dealers selling seasoned wood don't actually give you truly seasoned wood. Get your wood a year (or more) ahead of time so you know it's actually seasoned. If in doubt, resplit a piece or two and check it with a moisture meter. Secondly, red maple is far from being highly desirable. In fact, it's considered to be 'soft maple' and only has a few more btu's than actual softwoods. Get better wood, such as oak, hickory, sugar maple, etc... you're wood will go a lot further and produce more heat.
Here's a chart that shows the btu content for many different woods.
http://www.chimneysweeponline.com/howood.htm

Also, 300° to 400° at the stove top seems a little cold to me, especially for a "high burn". Are you getting secondary combustion??? Maybe others more familiar with your stove can comment based on this and your stated wood usage.

If your walls (the old plaster walls) don't have insulation in them, consider having insulation blown into them... this will make a big difference.

hi --i live in the southern teir of ny and for about 3 weeks a year,,, i use 1 face cord a week 4'x8'x16"---it depends on wind i have noticed,,more wind,,more wood,,,i heat about 2300 sq ft,,,hope this helps--pat

tryin.not.to.burn.the.house.down said:

We have it on high burn 24/7

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What does that mean. If it means you have the primary wide open then most of the energy in your wood is going straight up the flue. Also why is the stove top only 300-400 degrees? Is the wood not seasoned?

The OP's house sounds similar to ours and we burn an estimated 22 face cords a year. When we first moved in it didn't have insulation. The next year our first improvement was to have blown in cellous (sp) added in the walls and attic ...made a huge difference, but it was only a start.

These 20” splits equal 9 real cords. (Thanks to roac 4ft x 1.67(20 in) x8ft / 128 cu ft = 9.185 cords.) I suppose it wouldn't hurt for the OP to plan on 10 full cords as a base.

Now before we got the QF4300 we burned 40 face cord@16" splits or 13 real cords with the Shenandoah R77. Wood is an easy take for us so we're more inclined to burn as much as it takes.

My face cord is just over a 1/3 at 17.5" long, but my friend's face cord is 3/4 of a cord at 3' long OWB. this whole face cord is a slippery slope, and illegal terminology here in MO.

Face cord:

Todd said:

iceman said:

i thought a face cord was .25 of a full cord??? face cord should avg 16 inches wide by 4'x8' which is a .25 of a full cord
so by my calculations thats a cord a month and it thats heating 3800 sq ft in a 120 y.o. old house.... YOU ARE DOING GREAT
1 cd a month with the temps we just had! as the temps moderate you'll use a little less but the key is 3800 sq ft and 120 yo house ....
run your furnace for a month and see the diff or call the gas and ask what was the avg usage 2 years ago the should be able to give you and idea

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No, a face cord is 1/3 full cord at 16"x4'x8'

Full cord = 128 cu ft
16"x4'x8' = 42.6 cu ft x 3 = 128

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boy my math is off i mustve been thinking 12" just think ..... i prolly have more wood than i thought
didn't mean to start a debate lol
but i still believe that a face cord a week is not bad for 3800sq keeping it at 70+ at 120 year old house

Not all that unusual to go through that much wood with what you are trying to heat and the sq. footage. I am heating 2880 sq. ft. and have gone through 13 face cords since November. So about a cord per week on average. Probably burnt less than that in Nov. and more like 2 face cords per week here in Michigan lately.

Good luck and keep that baby warm!

Look at it this way: One cord of good hardwood ='s 24 million BTU's.
One facecord/week='s 8 million BTU's
or 1,142,857 BTU's/day
or 47,619/hr. and the Liberty can handle 74,300 BTU's/hr.

This is maximum, 24 hour/day burning and I'm sure your not doing near that. You're probably burning less than 50% of what you could be burning.
Be happy!

what ever a face cord is ...I dont know. I filled my 8' long wood rack on Monday and it was gone on Saturday. A few below zero night will get that done.

catalyst stoves are looking better and better,a face cord a week is a lot of wood.

I only heat 1650sq.ft.+/- with my Jotul 500. To date I have only used a cord and a 1/3, and that is burning 24/7.

just to try my solution one last time:

designate you length of cut when describing your face cord. For example: "I burn 3 16" face cord every 2 months." or "I burn 2 24" face cord every 2 month.

This helps quantify what you burn so those of us who talk real cords (128 cu ft) can at least do a quick conversion.

Thanks!

I think your wood isn't dry which is why your having to burn wide open. When your wood is dry there is no way to run your stove with the primary wide open. No Way. I would start looking for a better wood supply for next year. Shop around and don't take junk wood. Since your up north and don't have a whole lotta seasoning time then the earlier the better. If you can find good wood then buy enough for next year and then in early spring when everything thaws out buy your year after next's wood so it can dry out properly. You won't have the best wood next year, but the year after that should be great and using the stove as intended. I'm surprised no one has mentioned it, but from the way your burning I would have to advise you to check your chimney regularly because there has got to be a lot of buildup. You should never have to use the primary air to keep the fire going on a newer stove. If you do then your wood isn't dry. As it coals on down then sure open it up to keep the heat going and burn down the coals.