How much wood per season?

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Grisu said:
Yep, it is winter and the perfect time to put on a warm sweater and sip on a cup of hot tea. I don't see the need to run around in shorts and T-shirt when it's below 20 F outside. On the other hand, I still do not understand why buildings here need to be cooled to <65 F in the summer when I am happily wearing summer clothes. Having houses >75 F in the winter and <65 F in the summer just does not make any sense to me. I am always wondering how many coal fired plants we could turn off when ACs had a lower limit of 73. (Sorry for the rant.)
Agree completely.
 
We only use about 3/4 a cord.

Now you'll probably first think, "well, it just isn't as cold where he lives."

And that's definitely true. But we also aren't home in the daytime, so the stove is a nights and weekends kind of thing, except when it gets really cold, like 20F, and then I'll make a fire in the morning too, just to keep the heat from running. Right now the heat is off and it will probably be 60F in the house when I get home.

Anyway, the point of all that is, if you only use it nights/weekends, then you'll use a lot less wood than the guys who burn 24/7
 
BrowningBAR said:
Backwoods Savage said:
Jason, I never liked to "slow the burn" at any time and especially at night. I see no need for wild swings of temperature just because you are burning wood. No, I want heat at night especially because night temperatures are always lower than daytime temperatures and no sun to help either. He can have his green wood. I'll burn dry wood and keep the house warm.


Additionally, the "slow burn" with wet wood is a bunch of BS. It's a slow burn because the damn thing isn't burning, nor is it giving off heat!

Amen! That is it exactly. If you want a cold house....
 
here in coastal nj i burn 3 to 3.5 chords a yr and i burn a lot and keep house 60 to 80. house is 900 sq ft. wellinsulated
 
Grisu said:
BrowningBAR said:
Wood Duck said:
Please keep in mind that wood burners don't keep the house at 68 degrees. That temperature is for storing meat!


Lots of posters here have mentioned that they keep the house in the high 60s to low 70s with the stove.


Yep, it is winter and the perfect time to put on a warm sweater and sip on a cup of hot tea. I don't see the need to run around in shorts and T-shirt when it's below 20 F outside. On the other hand, I still do not understand why buildings here need to be cooled to <65 F in the summer when I am happily wearing summer clothes. Having houses >75 F in the winter and <65 F in the summer just does not make any sense to me. I am always wondering how many coal fired plants we could turn off when ACs had a lower limit of 73. (Sorry for the rant.)

Agree on the cooling part but then, I know of nobody or no place that cools to 65 degrees in the summer. As for winter, we have no problem keeping our home at 80 or above. I see no need to add clothing in order to be comfortable in my home. In addition, I, like some others, have a bit of a problem with cold which polio left me with and I do what I can to stay warm rather than freeze. For example, you'll have to do a lot of searching before you'll see me in bare feet or even sandals in the summer. Just can't do that as my feet freeze. So, I'll keep our home warm, thank you.
 
For some weird reason, 65 in the house in the winter does not feel the same as 65 in summer.
To answer the op's question, we use between 4 1/3 - 4 1/2 cord per heating season, which starts late Sept. and ends mid-late May. We don't have a fancy schmancy newfangled EPA stove yet. :lol:
Yet.
I always put up at least 5 cord/year just to be on the safe side, so we usually have a bit left each year to start the next year.
 
I have dealt with the house being in the mid 60's for the past two winters (since we bought the house), if I can keep it the same and save some money, i;ll be a happy guy!
 
Wood Duck said:
Please keep in mind that wood burners don't keep the house at 68 degrees. That temperature is for storing meat!

That's really funny, but true! With wood heat and propane secondary to warm the corners my home is normally 75+ in the living space. I work my a#$ off in the summer and have the winter to recoup, so I spend that time "tending the homefires", feeding cattle and do bookeeping. The best part about winter is coming in from the cold and warming the seat of my pants by the stove. Man, I love being in the hotseat.

btw, to answer the OP, we used to burn 3-5 cords/season. There's a very variable shoulder season here - winter moves in or it hits hard and short. We had a pre-epa stove in a poor location. Last spring we remodeled and moved the stove location.. and bought a new stove. So far I've burned 1/2 cord and expect 1-1/2 to 2-1/2 cords to finish us off for the year.
 
Backwoods Savage said:
Agree on the cooling part but then, I know of nobody or no place that cools to 65 degrees in the summer.


It's weird that heating to 85 in the winter it doesn't feel all that hot, but 85 in the summer makes me want AC.

Regarding 65 in the summer, I can't say for sure, but it might get that cold in the office sometimes. I wear gloves (to type) in the summer it gets so cold in my office at work.
 
Like BB and Dennis said most will do 4 cords, I hear 4-5 being average in Michigan!

I will burn approx 2 cord this Winter, I could easily get by burning 3 full cord.

I'll run the N/G forced air furnace more this year......maybe. :cheese:

IMHO if your shooting for the mid 60's.......Why the heck even burn?? that's freaking cold!!! :shut:


Personally I shoot for 74° Summer or Winter..... ;-)
 
I think this year with our new stove we'll go through right around 4 cords. Seems to be a good average. For us, this keeps our house around 75 at night.
 
Backwoods Savage said:
Agree on the cooling part but then, I know of nobody or no place that cools to 65 degrees in the summer.

Shopping malls and movie theaters do - AC on max or heat on max. Often with the doors wide open :(

pyper said:
It's weird that heating to 85 in the winter it doesn't feel all that hot, but 85 in the summer makes me want AC.

Regarding 65 in the summer, I can't say for sure, but it might get that cold in the office sometimes. I wear gloves (to type) in the summer it gets so cold in my office at work.

Yes i notice the same thing.. a temp that feels comfy in the summer feels freezing in winter and vice versa. The other thing I notice is that very small changes can have a huge impact - when the gas is on we keep the tstat at 68 and the house stays very evenly at that temp... Yet I can still feel downright cold even in pants and a sweater. But light the stove and warm it up just a couple degrees to 70~ 72 and I feel nice and comfy. Anything over 75 and I want to crack a window.

BTW I would love to keep the AC on 74 or in the summer and save some coal plants but that would require reprogramming my better half. Not gonna happen...
 
The air is a lot drier in the winter...it's the humidity in the summer that gets you!
 
this forum is great, I really do appreciate all of the information posted here for me...as far as summer temps go in my house...no central air, haha. I've actually adapted quite well to it.

My wife and I had the oppurtunity to go visit another retailer last night, very informative and insightful, echoed a lot of the information that I have read here. We sort of both agreed that the Regency i2400 was the one that we picked from his recommendations. I am now on a mission on compare the clydesdale and Regency units...hopefully to make a choice.
 
You will be happy with the Regency. I have the Hampton which is basically the same stove with a fancy face plate and I love it!.
 
eclecticcottage said:
Not that it's a huge help, but I'll throw in my .02. We just bought the cottage late this year (last day or so of September) and have only the stove for heat, so we didn't get to buy ahead or be too choosy about wood. I'm pretty confident our wood isn't particularly well seasoned. Beginning in mid-October through now, burning when the outside temp is under 50, we've gone through about 2-2 1/2 FACE cords (I have yet to find a wood dealer selling full cords around here-even if someone is selling a "cord" it's really a face cord) and some ecobricks, probably about 10 packs. We've got a poorly insulated 680 sq ft cottage and a Lopi Republic 1750 stove. We started the season with 6 face cords and about 100 or so packs of ecobricks and I'm pretty sure we're going to be short-but we had every covered space available stuffed full, so we'll just have to buy more as we get short. We pack the stove with 4 ecobricks and two nice splits every morning to have a reasonably warm house about 10-11 hours later when we get home, then burn mostly just splits while we're home.

I'd suggest that you not bother particularly about heating the house when nobody's there.

Just so you don't freeze the pipes, and your stove has sufficient recovery rate when you get home. Bet you'll save substantial fuel.

My understanding is that the use of "face" cord as a unit of measure in NY is illegal. Cord only.
 
My understanding is that the use of “face†cord as a unit of measure in NY is illegal. Cord only.



We talk face cords all the time in NY..dang..I might go to jail for it? lol.
 
We use 2.5 full cords of wood per winter. 1500 sq. ft. ranch house average insulation. We burn a bit over 1/2 time (not 24/7) so 4 cords sounds right where you live. And yeah, get wood first then a year later - a stove. One more thing - - oak takes more than a year to season (2 or 3).
 
Since I got a wood stove, the temperature is my house starts with a 7 invariably. My wife absolutely loves that feature.

I did not start burning my first year until December. I tried to by seasoned wood from a tree service but they lied and the wood was wet (it's fine this year). I used less than 2.5 cords. This year will be more because we don't use the heat pump hardly at all.
 
Usually between 4 and 5 cords. Starting late oct until march. I try to make sure I have 6 cords seasoned and ready to go every year just in case. It's also nice to know you can help someone out who really needs it.
 
Wood Duck said:
Please keep in mind that wood burners don't keep the house at 68 degrees. That temperature is for storing meat!

Prior to our wood stove we kept our heater on 62-64 degrees with electric heat. (its a digital thermostat but 64 was comfortable with pants and long sleeve shirt). Now we keep the living room around 75-78 and bedrooms around 68-70. Its like summer year round and we burned almost 3 chord of wood. Granted winters are much more mild here in OK than where you are. Basically a chord of wood a month that probably saves me $400 on electricity to keep the house that warm with electric.
 
This is always a hard question for me to answer. I know how much I buy every year - about 5 cord. However, I buy my wood green and don't stack it all. There is a lot of shrinkage with wood (no, not the "swimming pool" kind), about 10% or higher. So, by the time my wood is ready to burn it probably has shrunken to about 4 1/2 cord or less of dry wood.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it because it makes me feel that my old dragon is just as efficient at what you'll are using. :roll: :lol:
 
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