How much wood do I need?

hi

i must be a little slow. what is c/s/s 12 cord? how big is your house? where is the stove located within the house? you said you won't be 24/7 burning, so maybe one fire a night? or two?

Hard to say without knowing what you are trying to heat, and how much you really plan to burn. Most of us that heat exclusively with wood burn maybe 4-7 cords/year. Depends on how big, insulation, climate etc. etc. etc.

fbelec said:

hi

i must be a little slow. what is c/s/s 12 cord? how big is your house? where is the stove located within the house? you said you won't be 24/7 burning, so maybe one fire a night? or two?

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cut, split stacked
Ive used 4 cords so far this year and Im still burning. 2800 sf home.

Sounds like you have enough wood for several years (depending on your answers to the above questions).

Any chance you can get the wife on board with wood heat? Show her some utility bills with the wood heat going and the savings? I mean, you already have the wood and stove so the costs from here on out will be pretty minimal- chimney sweep, maintenance, etc.

Edit: I'd probably focus on burning ash +/- maple first, then maybe the locust and let the oak season the longest but getting a moisture meter may help better guide your woodburning choices.

I used to burn wood to supplement our furnace.

It wasn't long before I realised I was running the furnace as little as possible and running the wood stove virtually all the time.

Wood collecting and seasoning soon became an obsession.............

You are far better situated to tell us how much you'll burn per year: depends mainly on house (sealing/insulation), your demands for creature comfort, stove efficiency and how you fire it.

Got my little Morso to supplement old gas furnace, which has now been cold-iron for 5 years. Stove has .75 cu. ft. firebox, and burns < 2 cords per season.

The smaller you cut/split the pieces, the faster they air-dry; it helps to finish that process indoors near the stove. (Drier is better.)

For the "shoulder seasons" (fall & spring) your lowest quality wood would suffice; save wood like sugar maple & black locust for depths of winter. Pine is fine now.

Bottom Line: There's no such thing as too much firewood in inventory- there's another winter coming, and it gets better with age, unlike some of us.

Pro second, Do you have 12 full cords or 12 face cords (four full cords). Even southern Ohio gets some pretty brutal winters and I can't imagine cutting/splitting and stacking 12 full cords during this past winter. Kudos, and "You da' man" if you did. :coolsmile:

How much wood to burn: My 1,700 sq. ft., six year old well insulated house is kept pretty comfortable all winter (late September through early April) with between 3.75 and 4.0 full cords of well seasoned ash and cherry. This is my second year of burning 24/7 with a new stove in upstate NY (Syracuse area) and continue to discover small efficiencies in stove use.

Good luck.

Yeah, cutting, splitting, and stacking twelve full cords in a winter is a lot of work. Nice job. I have twelve cords out back and I think I am about three years ahead. Four cords per winter is about average.

Prosecond said:

I am not sure what the different "cords" are but mine measure 4x4x8. Do I really have 12 cords?

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Yep, that's a decent stack of wood.

SolarAndWood said:

Prosecond said:

I am not sure what the different "cords" are but mine measure 4x4x8. Do I really have 12 cords?

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Yep, that's a decent stack of wood.

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I can burn it in a season! lol

This is my first year of heating with wood and I think I went though about 3-1/4 full cord.
I heat a 1100 sq ft ranch. I burn 6 split pcs at night and maybe 4 split pcs in the morning before work.
we keep it around 60 to 80 degrees. It's a 1978 house with ok insulation.

The answer to your question in my case and the way I burn, That amount of wood would keep me going for 3-1/2 years.
I'd say your good for a little while.

Nice job!

Part-time burner 2 full cords would really help off set heating bill.

Prosecond said:

I hope to use wood to suppliment the heating of my home. I have a VC Defiant stove and hopefully will have my chimney relinned before next heating season. I have not heated with wood before other than burning it in my fireplace. I don't think I will burn 24/7 as I work and my wife will probably not operate the stove. How much wood do I need to get through an Ohio winter? I have c/s/s 12 cords this winter. About a third of what I have is a mixture of Black and White oak. The rest is black and honey locust with a small amount of ash and red maple. Most of the oak was standing dead so I am hopeful some of it will be dry enough to burn soon. I had thought about cutting some poplar or virginia pine to make sure I had some dry wood next winter. How many cords is enough? Your thoughts?

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First, my congratulations for getting that wood c/s/s before you need it. That should give you some decent seasoning time. The 4' x 4' x 8' is one cord so your 12 cord should be 12 of those sizes. That is a decent supply of wood and if you only burn part time should be more than a year's supply even with your 4000 sq. ft. home.

Ohio definitely has milder winters than MI but there still are many cold front blow through there to drop the temperature to the uncomfortable range. You may even get more snow than parts of MI which can make gathering of wood a bit more difficult. So, how much will you burn. Part time, I'd figure on 2-3 cord minimum and very possibly more. Some will also depend upon your stove. Hopefully it will be a big stove to take lots of wood. Good luck with some of that wood being ready to burn next winter though.

On the wife. I can see very few reasons why a wife can not assist with the stove. In fact, it is a super big plus when the woman does pitch in to help because that means there are 2 of you to tend and watch the stove. She might even help some with the wood gathering and very well may enjoy it. For sure my wife does and she can handle the stove. She may not always do it the best way but I feel confident that she is not going to do anything to burn the house down. I really do appreciate when she can help with the wood gathering.....but I will not allow her to help with the stacking. She is terrible at that so I kick her out of that area. lol

So you have not heated before except for the fireplace. This means you will be learning. Why not learn together? Then if and when you decide to heat 24/7, you both will be ready for the change. You will be more comfortable and will save lots of dollars. Good luck.

c/s/s ok i'm not to swift. with a 4000 sq ft house i'd say you will bill 3 part time 6 full time. that is a good size house. depending on the location of the stove, you might be looking at two stoves to totally get rid of using the heat pump. as far as 4000 sq ft house on a heat pump and a 425 dollar electric bill from the old unit, that is a great bill for a 4000 sq ft house. i have a customer that has a 3800 sq ft house. this house has a energy star rating. 100 % spray foam insulation, basement finished but only heated to 55 degrees the rest of the house at 68 degrees 4 geo thermal heat pumps, he has bills of 700 a month. and that is half of what his nabors are paying for oil heat. btw, the 3 and 6 cords are hardwood cords. i heat my house with wood 24/7 if i burn hardwood, i burn 3.5 to 4 cord a year. this year i started using pine, i think i will be ending the year with 1 cord hardwood and 5 cord pine. my house temps are 68 to 73, not very well insulated and only 1280 sq ft ranch.
how old is your defiant? the poplar you have will dry out fairly quick and the pine. locust isn't to bad for drying time but oak good luck with using that next year.

+1. I was going to say 2.5 cord or so if you are not burning 24/7, 5-6 cord if you let her rip. The Defiant is a great heater, just loves to eat wood.

Enjoy the nice heat from that beast.

The heck with the fuel bills--once she figures out what warm is supposed to feel like, she'll get more enthusiastic.

Way to go w/the 12 cords! That's enough to let you start out ahead of the curve instead of chasing it from the first year. You're in the clover!

12 actual full cords cut, split and stacked is a big pile of wood...but if you have the room for it, c/s/s all you can, rarely have I ever heard of anyone having too much good burning wood on hand. Worst case scenario is you have plenty for 2-3 years and you're well ahead of the game. Odds are good that you have enough for 2 full winters, which is good because that oak, even stadning dead, is full of moisture and probably won't really be fully ready for this coming winter.

A Defiant is a big, honkin' wood stove and in good running order with dry wood that thing will move some serious heat. My mother's house was big, over 9000 square feet and 3 full stories (very big family, house was crowded when I was a lad). Defiant in the living room, little westinghouse to replace the old Franklin stove in the kitchen and those two together heated much, but not all of that house...and it was a very drafty, old place...built in the 1890's.

You can get easy long burns out of a Defiant...loaded right up with thick splits you can go 10 hours comfortably...probably 12 and you'll still have enough coals left to get it going without paper.

If your wife is anything like mine (perpetually cold, afraid of fire), she'll find how much she enjoys the nice feeling of wood heat and no way will she let it go out while you're at work. Realistically she should only have to feed it once or twice a day anyways.

I thought the same way, at first. However I found it's really not difficult to burn 24/7. I don't get a reash it the stove goes out, but it rarely does.

About half of my family members tamper with the stove. They like the heat and seem to get a sense of control/peace from burning. They're not as interested in cutting and the like, but that's Ok with me.

Skip the poplar and pine except for kindling. Lay in a couple cords of Ash. It'll all die from the bore anyway, and if you cut it now it will be ready this coming winter.

I've got relations over in Adams county. I love the whole southern Ohio area from Cincinatti to Hocking Hills.

Mike

Funny, my wife was "sorta" on board with the wood stove at first, but now she walks in the door and say, "can we get a fire going" almost immediately. Mind you, I haven't got her feeding the fire yet, but she does add a log or two if I ask. She's getting there.

I know two things about heating with wood . . . well maybe a few more things, but at least two things that are relevant to your first post.

1. You can never have too much wood . . . no one ever complains about having wood left over from winter. Any wood that is left over is just better seasoned for the following winter. On the otherhand there are many folks here who have underestimated how much wood they have needed and have run out early and have either had to buy wood, use unseasoned wood or turn on the heat.

2. I, like you, figured I would just use my wood part-time on weekends and evening to help reduce the cost of heating the home with fuel oil. However, as ZZr7Ky mentioned one learns very quickly that running 24/7 is in many ways easier than having to constantly relight a fire from scratch . . . and once you've got a fire going it's hard to go back to using expensive heating oil or other fuel sources when you have all that perfectly good wood sitting outside in neat stacks.

firefighterjake said:

I know two things about heating with wood . . . well maybe a few more things, but at least two things that are relevant to your first post.

1. You can never have too much wood . . . no one ever complains about having wood left over from winter. Any wood that is left over is just better seasoned for the following winter. On the otherhand there are many folks here who have underestimated how much wood they have needed and have run out early and have either had to buy wood, use unseasoned wood or turn on the heat.

2. I, like you, figured I would just use my wood part-time on weekends and evening to help reduce the cost of heating the home with fuel oil. However, as ZZr7Ky mentioned one learns very quickly that running 24/7 is in many ways easier than having to constantly relight a fire from scratch . . . and once you've got a fire going it's hard to go back to using expensive heating oil or other fuel sources when you have all that perfectly good wood sitting outside in neat stacks.

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+1
Never enough wood, When stored properly, it lasts for many years. Never know when you won't be able to get more, for many reasons.
Part time burning may not be 24/7 but I bet it will grow closer to it, after you & family realize the warmth & $$ savings.
12 cords is great to have C/S/S. Bet when you look at it, it "feels good".
Good, hard, rewarding , fun work. You will start to think " Why not get more?" (when you can)

An interesting thread,I have 20 cords ,all oak,beech,hickory,cherry ,white ash and black locust 8 cords in a shed for at least 5 years looks as good as the day I put it up. The other 12 cords is 6 inches off the ground stacked in 2 rows each 64 feet in length abot 6 feet tall this wood is outside I have the sides covered down to 1 foot all the way around. Will this wood last for awhile and still be good to burn,some is getting to be 3 years old some is new last years haul.I have a new Blaze King Ultra that was just shipped from the state of Washington and should arrive next week where it will replace a Buck 94 that is less than 2 months old.My splits vary from 4 inches to 10 inches as I split them big assuming they will take longer to season my concern is do I have too much wood and will it go bad before it can be used. My old Quadrafire 5700 a 2004 model went through 4 cords in the coldest winters,but we wasted alot by burning the stove for fire gazing.Will the Blaze King do as good we plan to run it 24/7 as we have been doing since 2004,when were home we crank it up to watch the fire in the evenings.By the way 4 months ago the Quad cracked it's sides under the heat shields.Quadrafire replace3d it in it's entirety with a new 5700,but they've made too many changes since 2004 and in my opinion it's not the same product it used to be,went for the BUck and it's even worse,anyway sorry for rambling and thanks all in advance for any replies.