How much wood do you burn in 24hrs?

Right now with the highs in the 20's I burn about 12 splits per 24 hours, loading 3 times per day. Once temps get up into the 30's I can cut that down a few more.

Well, I'm a newbie to burning in our Oslo, but man if I keep a fire going we are cooking ourselves out of the house! Temps are around 20-30 during the day, in the upper teens at night lately. Heating 1700 sq ft 1950's ranch with so-so insulation (maybe better insulation than I thought). Interior insulated masonry chimney, hearth mounted stove. I stoke the fire box full in the morning and once again before bed. House temp is running 74-78 with a hot fire going. This morning (fire out) house is still 70 degrees inside and 20 degrees outside. It's hard to comment on size of splits because they vary so much in size but I'll take a guess at 4-5 splits per load. So, all in all, two stoves full per day seems to be all we need with these temps. (Is it wrong to wish for colder weather?)

Shari

EatenByLimestone said:

3 loads on a 30, so that's what... just under 9 cubic feet? That's burning 650-700 before coaling.

Matt

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Man, that's over 2 cord/month! You live in the same area as I (Saratoga Springs), and that's an EPA stove. I thought they were supposed to be very efficient as well as being clean burning? I know it's a bigger stove than mine, but I had no idea they were so hungry.

I burn at the rate of a cord a month right now in my "smoke dragon" VC Vigilant. That's like 4.3 cu.ft./day. In the coldest weather, I burn about a cord in three weeks, so that is 6 cu.ft./day. Split size varies widely, right up to big splits of hickory I can barely fit through the top opening. I guess I shouldn't complain about not having a modern stove.

I reload around 8am, then 1pm, then 7pm and overnight load goes in at 1am.

Right around 24 splits per day but have started cutting back on the 1pm reload. Just been throwing a few splits to keep it going then at 7pm using some red oak kindling to get the next reload fired up.

As for the water pot I fill that after reloads and usually takes a full 3 quarts each time.

About the same as everyone else here. Three arm loads a day when it's cold. Other than that I would say two arm loads. I will admit to a couple sins when it is in the 30's I will smolder a fire most of the day, just enough to keep some coals to get it going in the evening. I am checking my chimney every couple weeks and it is looking good, cleaned once mid January after the cold that moved through.

Gathering firewood is an easy take for us so we'll burn as much as it takes...and 90+% of the time we burn WOT.

It's a little early to tell, only been 24/7 for a couple weeks, but it has been full on winter here, or at least as much full on winter as we get here. We have an indoor wood rack that is 12" x 24", 16" to 20" splits, so between 2.5 and 3 cuft in the rack, going thru a rack + a few splits or so a day. generally been building a big roaring fire first thing in the morning, then let it run on a low fire during the day, load it up at bed time (ish) and load about a half load around 4am. I will admit I don't load a full 2cuft load (or as close as I can get to a full fire box) but once a day, if that often. During the days, excpesialy if it is sunny, a small hot fire is all we need. i am retired and she works from home most of the time, so we can "tend" the fire more than most, I suspect.

With my old Ashley steptop, in this weather (upper 20's-day/ low teens-night), right about 25 splits/day. Size varies. I can't let the stove get too cold, because the house isn't "tight", and will start getting chilly. I try to keep the stove around 500-600 most of the day and night by adding a couple splits every 2 hours or so. That varies too.
I can't load full, or I'll peg the thermo. I think I still have a little leak somewhere (maybe the glass gasket), but can't stop the stove long enough just yet to put the new one on.

About the same here ~ 20 splits / day. When the really cold weather hits at -30C at night we were burning more and reloading more often to keep it hot. Ends up with more to clean out that way, but kept us toasty

I almost never pack my 30 full.

I load once in the morning when I get up at about 7:30a, usually about two thirds full, and again in the evening after we get home. The evening load is usually a smaller one, maybe a little under half full. I frequently fall asleep on the couch at some point around 11:00p. At around 1:00a, I usually wake up, put another half-ish load in, and head upstairs to bed. I really love drifting off on the couch feeling the warmth of the fire.

I suppose, If I add that up, I'm using 4-5 cubic feet per day. As I think about that though, that doesn't really add up. I've only used about a cord and a half so far this year. I started burning around Thanksgiving. Before that, the shoulder season was crazy, so it was easier to just use propane.

I have another cord and a half still ready to go for this year, and I might actually have a little left over at the rate we're going through it. So far, I've only burned about 50 gallons of propane this entire season.

So, even though my numbers don't quite add up... I do one load in the morning, one small load in the evening, and then (sometimes) another small load before I go up to bed.

-SF

At about 8am I load it almost full with about ten pieces or so... all diff. sizes, then when I get home around six I'll either get a hot fire going with some slab wood or just through a few splits on until I load it up again for my overnight burn around 9 or 10. I have to burn pretty hot to keep 2800 sq ft at 70 degrees!

I tried to work this out last year based on the cubic feet of a given stack of wood on the back porch and got a (very) rough average of 1.5-2.5 cu ft per day.

This year, I tried counting splits instead and came up with (roughly) 15-20.

But... I'm only trying to heat three rooms in an old (porous) frame farmhouse, I often let the fire burn out overnight (and wake up to 40+* indoors) and I have no idea how to relate my numbers to anyone else's.

In fact, I don't think you can get there from here.

Peter B.

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A rounded wheelbarrow load for me too. That's keeping a Big 6 full from wake-up to bedtime. If around during day (I have a home office, so that is fairly often), I reload every 3-4 hours. I keep the firebox full, and reloads are usually about a 1/2 load since I try to avoid full burndown and lowered temps.

Last month I "acquired" a scale. One that goes up to 600lbs. Next year I am going to weigh all the wood that we burn to figure the BTUs that we use and cross reference the totals to the average daily temp.

Average winter day 20 for a high 0 for low I burn 12 logs a day but they are big logs 6"+ rounds and monster splits in my Lopi Liberty. Keeps the house at 74 all day long. Most of the time I don't burn my other stoves unless I just want to look at a fire and then I burn aspen, pine and other junk that dies in the yard during the summer. I have a face cord of that in the shed and 85% of that gets burned in the green house in the spring.

SlyFerret said:

I almost never pack my 30 full.

SF

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Same thing for me, I have found with my setup I get almost as much usable heat, and ALOT less coals to contend with, from the back and along the sides, if I place 2 peices in the middle with 1 on top, or 3 peices along the bottom and 2 on top, depending on how much heat or how long of a burn I want.

With that said, my loading schedule is. 3-4 splits at 6:00 am, same again around noon (I live close to work and come home for lunch). Then 2-4 more at 5:00 ish, this load is mostly dependent on house temp (more if its cooler less if warmer) then usually 5 more at 9:00-10:00 for the overnight, So 12-15 a day. Of course If it a sunny day we can get some good solar gain, and I may not put any in at lunch, just rake the coals and open the air up some.

To give some comparison on my split size, to fill the stove will usually take 7-8 splits, laid out 4 across the bottom and 3-4 on top of that, Loaded N-S

EDIT: This is to heat a 1200 sq. ft. ranch built in 1956, from an uninsulated basement (summer project) The 2x4 exterior walls have been filled with dense pack cellulose and there's about a foot of blown in cellulose on top of the original 2-3" of fiberglass in the attic. Half the windows (8) are new double pane, the other half are the original single pane with storms.

it's either 2,4,6 applications of this every day .depending on temp. outside OF COURSE!

At the temperatures the OP posted a wheelbarrow full would probably last us 3 days.

I would go with Brother Bart's assessment . . . a rounded wheelbarrow . . . of course as it was pointed out there are many variables in terms of stove size, stove type, what temps folks like inside, what the temp is outside, how much insulation the home has . . . and what size wheelbarrow we're talking about.

my wood supply has been cut in half now with the blaze king. between 6 and 10 splits a day. gotta love it.

Between 12-15 splits per day that are too small and probably not seasoned anywhere near where they should be. I load it at 5am, 4pm, and 10pm. The stove sits on 325 or 350 depending on what mood its in except in the evening I run it up a little higher. Basement is ~75, upstairs living room 70, bedrooms are probably 65ish. Not bad for a 25 year old dinosaur.