1st Year heating with a Woodstove

I would guess 3-4 full cords, and you should clean your chimney every 4 cords or sooner if needed (wet wood, poor burning techniques, etc)

There are a lot of variables, but roughly speaking, I would think you'd need 5 to 7 cords (real cords) or so to completely heat 3300 sq ft... but you're probably not going to heat solely with wood, and probably not just with that stove. Distributing the heat will be an issue. If you're planning on burning 24/7 trying to heat a big chunck of the house with your Lopi Liberty, while supplementing with something else, I'd say around 4 to 5 cords would be a good guess.

Clean your chimney at least once during the season since you're new to the game and go from there.

You should be good then. Keep working though, get ahead a couple of years.

BTW, welcome to the forum!

zapny said:

We have a Lopi Liberty with a blower and have a few questions. Our house is well insulated and was just wondering how many face cord it will take to heat 3300 square feet. Also how often do you clean the chimney.

Thanks
Zap

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There's no way to answer those questions accurately but here are my guesses.

1) I'd have 15 face cords (5 full cord). You probably won't burn that much which is the idea. It's better to have it and not need it than need it than not have it.

2) Assuming your wood is dry and your stove is functioning properly I'd guess your chimney would need cleaning once per year or less.

If you're gonna heat with the wood only, [and I do], I second the "getting ahead" a couple yr. on supply. I suppose if you are buying it, you are ok. But if you are getting it yourself, your own labor, you want a buffer of supply in case you get too busy or get injured or any other thing comes up to hinder your cutting and splitting. If buying, still a good thing and a secure feeling to have it stacked dry and further seasoning well in advance.

Yes, heat distribution in most floor plans on a home that size might take no little amount of tinkering.

zapny said:

We have a Lopi Liberty with a blower and have a few questions. Our house is well insulated and was just wondering how many face cord it will take to heat 3300 square feet. Also how often do you clean the chimney.

Thanks
Zap

Click to expand...

Hmmm . . . hard to say . . . best bet is to go one full year burning wood and then you can get an idea. It's almost always better to have too much wood, than not enough . . . besides any left over wood is the start of your woodpile for the next burning season. Coming up with an exact figure is hard to say as a lot depends on burning techniques, insulation, size of the home, weather, etc.

I have a smaller home (heating about 1,500 square feet) in central Maine . . . I figured I went through 5-6 cords last year and it was a long winter. House is moderately insulated . . . could be a bit better insulated, but better than most.

As for cleaning the chimney . . . I was anal about this year and did it once a month . . . if you're burning good, seasoned wood and burning properly honestly you should be able to get by with just one or two cleanings each season . . . but I would still do a check every month or so to see how things look.

Will mention this since nobody else has - if this is your firs year burning then you will almost certainly burn more then the following years. There several reasons for this I'm sure, but some that are often cited include:

* Learning curve of your stove - it takes time to figure out optimal air settings and to get comfortable that 'less is more' in many cases (i.e. you can get more heat by lowering the air sometimes!) and thus you will likely send a lot of heat up the chimney as you learn.

* Wood won't really be as seasoned as you think - until you burn REALLY seasoned wood you won't understand. Get hold of some 2 or 3 year seasoned wood and you will understand after a couple loads (after you learn your stove). Nothing will convince you until you do it. From what you described here it seems you wood may be 'ok' but not ideal, but you didn't say what kind of wood it is so I may be totally off the mark. The volume of wood you go through with very well seasoned wood vs 'ok to burn' wood for the same heat output is significant.

* Overheating and overexcitement - The first year you will be more likely to burn earlier in the season and on warmer days, thus go through more wood. Also, you won't know as well when to stop feeding the stove and thus are more likely to heat the room more than you intended thus go through more wood than you perhaps intend to.

So - although folks may give great estimates, expect to go through more than... well... you expect

This is my dilema as well, how much wood will i burn since this will be my first year? I came to the conclusion that I could never have too much so away I went getting everything I could get my hands on that was available, seasoned goes in the woodshed now and green or unknown goes outside to season till next year.

Zapny,

We are in the Saratoga area - 3200 sq feet, YR 2000 construction - with good insulation. It was our first year burning 24/7 as heat in this house last year. We have a pretty open floor plan and kids who will sleep in bedrooms under 70, and even on coldest days could heat 100% with stove. The BEAST ate about a face cord/week in the heat of the battle (dec, jan, feb) less in the months before and after. All in all we went through 4.5 cords between 10/15 and 4/1. Average temp was about 70. Warmer on weekend days when home, cooler at night. Typically we loaded twice in AM(6 or so) and evening (10-11). A partial reload was done at 8-9 to top off for the day after it was back up to temp and a we would burn a a few splits at night usually pretty wide open, when we got home from work to warm things up. We burned a hardwood mix but at least half was super dry cherry and beech (8-10% moisture). The remainder was 8 month stacked and split oak (still had 25% moisture or so) and maple. We usallly mixed these in a load.

In short - I think you are in good shape, I wish I was in such a place. I have 4.5 cut, stacked and drying 6 months now but it has been a bad season for bringing in too much extra from my woods. Have another cord plus as rounds but btween the rain and yellow jackets that is liekly to stay unitl cooler weather - of limited use this year. Will probably buy a cord or two myself to have Xtra on hand and hopefully get ahead. One year ahead is the goal... someday...

zapny that's about our SFage too. For 24/7 x 180days I count on 30-36 face cord. With this newer EPA stove we burn wide open throttle, if were home there's never more than 3 splits in different stages of burning to reach 500-600*. Honestly I wish we would have gotten a larger stove but this meets our requirements.

We lived in Potsdam when I was a kid and I know how cold northern NY can be!! With that size house and being in northern NY, I'd guess you'll go through at least 20 face cords. Depends on house design/layout, insulation, and the stove you burn. Plus how much wind you're subject to. Plus, it will probably take you a while to figure the best settings for your stove. As far as chimney cleaning, I'd have it checked and cleaned mid burning season. Doing that will give you a good idea how well the stove is burning the fuel you're feeding it. Then of course another cleaning at the end of the burn season.

I started burning on 1/20/07. That was good practice for 1//2 season. Winter of 08/09 was my 1st full season of heating with wood, and I learned allot. I had (still have) 2 goals.... heat the house and burn safe. I heat about 1600 sf with a PE Alderlea. Not much for trees around the house for wind protection. During the really cold months (Dec, Jan, Feb) I start off in the morning with a full load and burn it good and hot for about 20 to 30 minutes, then shut the air supply down as needed. I work at home and like it about 75* so I throw in a couple of splits here and there during the day and early evening. Then a full load before going to bed. At night as in the morning, I burn it good and hot for a while, then shut the air down for the night, I have thermostats on the top of the stove and on the single wall pipe to monitor the temps, to ensure I don't over fire. Fall and spring I adjust fuel as necessary. I cut/split allot of kindling and smalls during the shoulder seasons.....

I went through about 12 face cords last heating season. And I have 14 1/2 stacked and ready to go for this season

zapny said:

This is what I will be burning, 21 face cord stacked and ready to burn. 1 ash/2 beech/6 hard maple/12 cherry ready to burn and 5 face cord still in the woods. Some has been cut,split and stacked for 10 months and the rest 7 months.

Thanks
Zap

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Welcome to the forum.

Zap, the 21 face cord very well might get you through the first winter. The wood you have listed is great. The ash and cherry will no doubt be the driest of the lot so I'd burn that first.

The post by Slow1 is excellent. He brings up some very good points.

What we have noticed with new burners is that they tend to want to be close to the stove a lot and wanting to constantly put wood in or stir the coals or whatever. After the first year then the usually settle down and just let the stove do its thing.

New burners also tend to post a lot about how well their stoves are heating....but that is October through December. They are amazed how much heat they get. They put in their best woods.....and then winter hits like a sledge hammer. They start running out of wood and then start burning some not-so-well-seasoned wood. Then they have problems getting heat from the stove or even to get a fire going. Their chimneys start to plug up....etc., etc.

My suggestion for the very best thing to do is when you have enough wood on hand (just figure 6-7 cords for good measure) for this year, then immediately begin getting next year's wood on hand. Winter months are the best time for putting up wood too. And the outdoor exercise does the body wonders.

Good luck on your first year burning.

Backwoods Savage said:

New burners also tend to post a lot about how well their stoves are heating....but that is October through December. They are amazed how much heat they get. They put in their best woods.....and then winter hits like a sledge hammer. They start running out of wood and then start burning some not-so-well-seasoned wood. Then they have problems getting heat from the stove or even to get a fire going. Their chimneys start to plug up....etc., etc.

My suggestion for the very best thing to do is when you have enough wood on hand (just figure 6-7 cords for good measure) for this year, then immediately begin getting next year's wood on hand. Winter months are the best time for putting up wood too. And the outdoor exercise does the body wonders.

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Quoted for emphasis. You don't realize just how much you're asking of a stove until you've hit a long, extended cold snap. The stove top temp will read the same, but it's almost like you can feel the battle between the hot stove and the cold, outside air on a really cold night.

I worked up most of our wood for this year in November through January, and though most mornings it was a cold start, by the middle of the first face cord I was warmed up and ready for more! Splitting and stacking in June, July, and August - meh, not very rewarding!

Went through about 8-9 face cord last winter heating 2000 sq ft 24/7 from late November to early April. House is 25 years old, well insulated and good windows. Moving the heat around is a big challenge as I still had to supplement the basement. You will likely have that problem as well. Sounds like you have enough wood to make many jealous on this board. I like burning the lighter wood in the shoulder season so as not to overheat the house.