Burned a lot of wood this year!

[Backwoods Savage]

This is our 4th year with the Fireview and also the first year we've burned over 3 cord. The worst part is that we are not done burning wood and won't be for quite some time yet. I wonder if we'll get to 4 cord this year? But, it is still better than the 6+ cord we would have burned in the old stove.

Also, this is another good point about having extra wood on hand. Even if we burned another 3 cord, we'd still have plenty for a few years.

 

[madison]

In the same boat, still snowing and still burning. But at least the daffodils are peeking thru the snow

 

[rdust]

I thought I was going to use a lot less than last year in Feb, now I'm not thinking that way. I will be pushing the 5 cord mark before it's all said and done. Good thing the temps are finally trending in the right direction!

 

[bogydave]

This is our 4th year with the Fireview and also the first year we've burned over 3 cord. The worst part is that we are not done burning wood and won't be for quite some time yet. I wonder if we'll get to 4 cord this year? But, it is still better than the 6+ cord we would have burned in the old stove.

Also, this is another good point about having extra wood on hand. Even if we burned another 3 cord, we'd still have plenty for a few years.

I thought I had 2 years supply in the wood shed. But since I burned only 5 cords this year. I have 2 years supply already C/S/S in the shed.
I am impressed with the new cat stove, for sure. Money & work saver.

I never burn all the wood. When down to 1 cord (about 5 weeks worth), I go back "on the grid" & heat with NG.
Just in case of some event (like in Japan, the "Big one in Alaska) & I have to have the wood heat.
1 of several parts of our Emergency plan.
Hope to never get down to 1 cord, but one never knows the future.

 

[leeave96]

We have burned our main pile of wood - about 2-1/2 cords. We are now in the shoulder season around here, though the temps have dipped this week a good bit.

Next year we will burn much more wood with two stoves going.

Bill

 

[thewoodlands]

This is our 4th year with the Fireview and also the first year we've burned over 3 cord. The worst part is that we are not done burning wood and won't be for quite some time yet. I wonder if we'll get to 4 cord this year? But, it is still better than the 6+ cord we would have burned in the old stove.

Also, this is another good point about having extra wood on hand. Even if we burned another 3 cord, we'd still have plenty for a few years.

Sav we will burn four cord and yes we are burning some of next years cherry but have plenty that have been stacked for over one year.



Zap

 

[lukem]

5 cord and counting....can't bring myself to let the furnace take over yet. Getting close though.

 

[HotCoals]

3 cord and still going.
How did you burn 5 already Lukem .. you keep it 90 in the house?
Maybe it's way colder where you live?

 

[lukem]

Pre-EPA stove and a cord and a half of junk to start the season.

 

[bogydave]

5 cord and counting....can't bring myself to let the furnace take over yet. Getting close though.

Burned 5 cords here. Oct to now.
Your house need some "energy savings work" ?
Still not bad. I use to burn 9 to 10 before the new BK cat.

 

[HotCoals]

Pre-EPA stove and a cord and a half of junk to start the season.

10-4..we had one (pre-epa) for 24 years..move up to the cat!
Huge diff...even though it looks the same there is no comparison..trust me.
I'm saving 30-40%...this is my first season with it and it's been colder longer this time around.

 

[rdust]

3 cord and still going.
How did you burn 5 already Lukem .. you keep it 90 in the house?
Maybe it's way colder where you live?

Maybe he's burning a lower btu wood, I'm pushing 5 but only 2 1/2 are what I consider good hardwood.(mostly ash)

 

[bogydave]

Pre-EPA stove and a cord and a half of junk to start the season.

10-4..we had one (pre-epa) for 24 years..move up to the cat!
Huge diff...even though it looks the same there is no comparison..trust me.
I'm saving 30-40%...this is my first season with it and it's been colder longer this time around.

+1
I believe more heat too.
went from 9 to 10 cords with old 1982 BK king with blower - to 5 this year with new cat BK.
40% better at least. But have better well seasoned wood now too.
With energy tax credits & NG bills lower & 40% less wood, the stove more than paid for itself.

 

[maxed_out]

+2, about the same....maybe 2.5 cords+-. A lot less wood with the new stove.

 

[wood-fan-atic]

Im hitting next years stacks like they stole my lunch money. Its still going down to around 30* @ night. But, thanx to the good learnin' I got here, I will never be in this boat again. ;-)

 

[shawneyboy]

Thought I had 3 years set up before burning this year. Now it seems I only had 2. Ah well, guess I need to get a bunch more put up throughout this summer so I KNOW I am at least 3 years ahead.

Shawn

 

[lukem]

3 cord and still going.
How did you burn 5 already Lukem .. you keep it 90 in the house?
Maybe it's way colder where you live?

Maybe he's burning a lower btu wood, I'm pushing 5 but only 2 1/2 are what I consider good hardwood.(mostly ash)

Wood is free but a new stove isn't. Wood like to have one but no ROI right now.

 

[daleeper]

I'm hoping this is an unusual year for us too. I moved to an older cat stove from a smoke dragon, and burned more wood and lp gas in the process. I was hoping for the reduction in one or the other. I will say that my stove room was much more comfortable this year.

I have also burned a lot of wood that was down and standing dead this year. It was all dry wood, but not the best wood in the world, some of it pretty light. Next year I have some good wood ready, and am looking forward to a reduction in lp use, and less firewood burned.

I say that it was colder for longer this year than in years past.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

daleeper, just look at BogyDave to see how much less wood he burned since putting in the new stove. His consumption almost cut in half. Ours cut in half and reports from others indicate many cut their consumption by 30-40%. The new stoves are really money and work savers.

 

[grommal]

I burned more this past season than in any other winter so far. It's because of two factors, though. One is that we had longer and more severe cold spells. The other is that with the stove we have now, we can burn it in a wider variety of outdoor temperatures, so we used it much more in the shoulder seasons and on warm days in the winter than we used to use the old stove. So, used more wood, but made way more heat with it.

 

[daleeper]

I think grommal hit on part of my situation. I started burning on Nov. 11 this burning year, rather than Dec. 1, and I am still burning a little in April, where last year stopped burning the first of March. This stove does allow me to burn lower and slower than the old earth stove did. That would be about a month and a half of extra burning, although not as much wood went through the stove during that time.

 

[Battenkiller]

I actually burned less this year in spite of the colder temps and earlier than ever start back in the beginning of October. Part of that is that the stove was new to me last year, so there was that steep initial learning curve. I also made a more concerted effort to burn only the highest BTU wood I could get. Yes, I have to buy it, there's no black locust, black birch, or shagbark hickory right near me. At $140/cord I'd rather pay for it and get what works best. I supplemented that with some 2-3 year old hickory and red oak, plus maybe half a cord of cherry (start up fires) and a cord of white ash in with the mix.

Also, I experimented a lot more with smaller loads on cold days and found I got better economy with almost the same heat output. I attribute some of that to better air flow and smoke/air mixing, giving me better combustion efficiency. I've been looking at lots of stove tests this season, and it seems that the wood stove experts run their stoves only about half full in the lab. Not good for overnights, but I'm here a lot of the time, so it's easy for me to check up more frequently.

I've also been paying attention to the more experienced members here about getting that reload good and charred and the stove real hot before shutting that damper. I think a lot of my secondary burns died last year. No way to see that in my stove, but I can tell that my flue temps are slightly higher during horizontal burn mode, and the fire sounds more vigorous and energetic in there, so I think the secondary is working for longer than before.

All told, I hoped to cut off a full cord from the 5 cord I think I used last year, but I have just over 1/2 cord of the 5 cord I started with and am still burning. I won't go through too much of that, so maybe 4 3/4 for the worst season I can recall in years. Not too shabby for the second season with an older style stove. I really feel this Vigilant can run neck and neck with some of the less efficient EPA stoves. No way it's gonna be close to a nice cat stove, though.

Anyway, I am looking out my window at the sun shining on a nice 4 cord pile of almost straight black birch (yeah, I got "stuck" with a bit of beech and hickory in there as well), with another cord of the same stuff on the way. Nice to see my future comfort already procured for the next burn season. That should eliminate the need for the Battenkiln next season and give me back my workshop. I owe it all to you guys for shaming me into it.

 

[Todd]

Just like Dennis I go through 3 cords per year but this year looks to be about 3.5. This burning season seems to be dragging on, March was pretty much 24/7 burning when usually the stove gets some breaks. I also think I burned a little more due to new stove purchases.

 

[begreen]

We're ahead for the year as well. Normal for us is 2.5 cords, but we will be closer to 3 before it ends. Had a short fire going last evening and this morning I just started it up again.

 

[NH_Wood]

I put up 5 cord in the barn for this season - should be right on target. Enough wood left for at least 3 weeks of 2-3 fires/day. Hoping to only need one big fire per day within the next couple weeks (if we can get daytime temps in the 60's). I have a sunroom that gets very hot when it's sunny, and can bring the downstairs into the low 70's all by itself. That is already coming into play in terms of reducing the amount of wood I'm burning. I think I'll burn less wood next season - burned a lot more than I needed to in Oct/Nov due to learning/playing with the stove. Was getting the house in the upper 70's a lot and reloading WAY too often. I'm guessing I 'wasted' a good 1/3 to 1/2 cord during the entire season burning more wood and more loads than was necessary. We'll see! Cheers!