Are we halfway there yet?

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Rory

Member
Jan 10, 2009
203
Central Me
Apologies if this has been done to death, but this is my first visit here from the boiler room. The degree day charts I've perused seem to indicate that we've just about passed the point where half of our woodpile will get us to next summer. Agreed?
 
amen brother
 
I hope so, but I'm not holding my breath. Last year we were getting pretty good frosts into the last week of May.
 
Depends on what comes up when Mother Nature rolls the dice. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. I'm always happy when we have a nice long Indian Summer (certainly a lot happier than were the folks who gave it that name)...and then I'm equally happy when we have a nice warm early spring. Hey, we need a name for that. Indian Summer describes warmer than normal weather lasting longer than expected into fall. What should we call a season characterized by warmer than normal weather coming sooner than expected before summer? Dunno. Rick
 
fossil said:
Depends on what comes up when Mother Nature rolls the dice. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. I'm always happy when we have a nice long Indian Summer (certainly a lot happier than were the folks who gave it that name)...and then I'm equally happy when we have a nice warm early spring. Hey, we need a name for that. Indian Summer describes warmer than normal weather lasting longer than expected into fall. What should we call a season characterized by warmer than normal weather coming sooner than expected before summer? Dunno. Rick

I Got It !

Lets Call It SPRING !
 
Rory said:
The degree day charts I've perused seem to indicate that we've just about passed the point where half of our woodpile will get us to next summer. Agreed?

If that is the case then I am certainly pretty happy, I still have close to 3/5ths of the wood I intended to use this winter. I may be speaking prematurely here though, its still january and although today felt like early spring....we aint out of the woods just yet.
Would be nice to have some left over wood though :cheese:
 
I think we are half way by way of the calendar, I still think winter is here though. I was burning through wood like there is no tomorrow last two weeks, now not burning 24/7 anymore. Who knows what mother nature will bring ? I think I will have a little more than a cord left over from this years supply, and that is real good for me.
 
yeah, we are halfway, it's official. although i read on here that halfway is the 22nd, I declare today the halfway point because it HAS to be halfway for me, as i've officially burned half my wood. if winter lasts too long or spring is too cold then we're all doomed, lol.

It'd be nice if i could save some of this stack for next winter. I hurt my back recently, and I also had to spend a few weeks this fall building a shed, so I'm grossly behind on my wood duties. I'll have plenty of wood, but it won't be seasoned very well.I've got about half of next years processed and still need to split enough for the rest of next year. Then there's the stuff waiting to be split for the 2011-12 season, and i'm not really sure I have that all taken care of yet. I'm trying hard to get ahead, but it's slow work. If i get another stove, then i'm totally screwed and will be even further behind!

good thing i enjoy this.
 
Yes, I need that to be the case! Getting a tad low on the "good stuff"! I'm flush for the next 3 years, but running tight on fully seasoned for this year! I do have two pretty good piles of kiln dried oak scrapes from a barn project, 2 1/2" thick x 12" wide in various short lengths. Got some standing dead and fallen ash, perhaps I better split some more, won't be prime, but better than "out"!
 
I don't know where the halfway point is, but my last day of burning is usually on Memorial Day Weekend. Then maybe a cool night or two in the Summer. After that, I start burning pretty regular again in September and back to 24x7 sometime in October.
 
I'm talking halfway through the annual heating load, not halfway through the heating period. January is by far the biggest month,
 
Rory said:
I'm talking halfway through the annual heating load, not halfway through the heating period. January is by far the biggest month,
yep, but by degree days or whatever it should be Tomorrow(ish)
 
Hi -

I'm also guessing we're 12 way though. We've been lucky here with low wind on the coldest days/nights so far.

A little wind makes it a good deal harder to keep the place modestly warm without extra trips to the woodpile...

I'd just as soon it stayed freezing a couple more weeks so I can drag a few more cords out of some nearby woods that flood badly in the Spring and Fall.

ATB,
Mike
 
I seem to use less wood on the back half of the heating season. We seem to be through the 3-4 weeks of deep freeze already hope the 30 degree range holds.
 
Rory said:
I'm talking halfway through the annual heating load, not halfway through the heating period. January is by far the biggest month,
Where is the difference? The annual heating load is during the annual heating period, right? But yes, January is by far the biggest month here, in which case, midnight on January 15th would be pretty close to halfway through January's heating load. And, if my heating period is roughly September through May, then the middle of my annual heating period load would also fall at midnight on January 15th.
 
quads said:
Rory said:
I'm talking halfway through the annual heating load, not halfway through the heating period. January is by far the biggest month,
Where is the difference? ...

Are you serious? The heating season would be defined by the earliest date in the annual cycle we start heating on a regular basis and the end of the same. Since the amount of heat required varies asymmetrically based on the length of the day, average sunshine, etc, halfway between those points won't necessarily represent the point in time at which half the fuel we require for the season has been used.
 
Rory said:
quads said:
Rory said:
I'm talking halfway through the annual heating load, not halfway through the heating period. January is by far the biggest month,
Where is the difference? ...

Are you serious? The heating season would be defined by the earliest date in the annual cycle we start heating on a regular basis and the end of the same. Since the amount of heat required varies asymmetrically based on the length of the day, average sunshine, etc, halfway between those points won't necessarily represent the point in time at which half the fuel we require for the season has been used.
I try not to think it that deeply. When I'm cold, I put wood in the stove. Ha ha!
 
Danno77 said:
yeah, we are halfway, it's official. although i read on here that halfway is the 22nd, I declare today the halfway point because it HAS to be halfway for me, as i've officially burned half my wood. if winter lasts too long or spring is too cold then we're all doomed, lol.

I pretty sure I am.....not so sure about the rest of you!
 
ChillyGator said:
Danno77 said:
yeah, we are halfway, it's official. although i read on here that halfway is the 22nd, I declare today the halfway point because it HAS to be halfway for me, as i've officially burned half my wood. if winter lasts too long or spring is too cold then we're all doomed, lol.

I pretty sure I am.....not so sure about the rest of you!

I am about 2/3 done with a 10 cord pile so my winter is done in 3.3 cords............
 
The old saying still is best. Have half of your wood pile left on Groundhog day. That assures you will have enough in the event of a long cold spring. If you have some left over, that is great because it has another summer to season even more.

But what is even better is to have half of your wood pile left in May.
 
Backwoods Savage said:
The old saying still is best. Have half of your wood pile left on Groundhog day. That assures you will have enough in the event of a long cold spring. If you have some left over, that is great because it has another summer to season even more.

But what is even better is to have half of your wood pile left in May.

yes that holds true but I have 20+ cords piled but will not burn a stick over 10 unless we lose power or someting crazy like that.
 
I'm pretty sure I'll still have at least half of my firewood left yet by May........2013!
 
Last year, had wood leftover. It was the first year burning in an EPA stove and we collected based on the hunger
of the ol' smoke dragon. Hope this year nets some leftovers too. This EPA stove is a wood miser, but needs
more attention. Looks like less than halfway through what was brought in for this winter.
 
For me, we're officially 1/2 way done. I "porch stacked" the last of one half of my wood shed today and will burn that this coming week. The rest is ready to go. If I run out, I have plenty of stacked wood in piles, but not covered. I might throw a cord into the empty half of the wood shed just in case.
 
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