Can finally make an educated estimate of total wood burned this year vs. last

[Backwoods Savage]

As most on this forum know, we graduated from a big Ashley stove to a Woodstock Fireview this past year. We bought it about a year ago and installed it plus a new chimney during the summer months. We heard from many that we would burn about 1/3 less wood with the Fireview.

Our burning season is normally from late September until early or mid May. This winter has been colder than last so it is a good year to make a comparison. With the Ashley we normally burned from 5 up to almost 7 cords of wood per year. I think one year we may have been a bit under 5 but usually is over 5 cords.

So, we got the Fireview and found right off that we would be much warmer with this stove even when the temperature is below zero. How much wood did we burn. My estimate right now and it is going to be very close, is 2.9 cords total. Do the math on that one!

So, have others also noticed a decrease in the amount of wood burned after installing a newer stove?

 

[BrotherBart]

I have. I usually would burn five cords a year in the old Sierra. This year the 30-NC and the F3CB combined have burned Four cords. And a cord of that was pine. I am heading down to Texas for a wedding so both stoves go cold for the year tomorrow.

We had a cold snow-less winter. Virtually no snow but a bunch of rain. Of course cold to us is probably called tropical where you are located.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

BB, have a good time down there in Texas.

Snow-less it was not here. Not a record, but not far from it either. I still can not get the splitter to my splitting pile! Maybe this week though. I ran the atv past there yesterday without getting stuck. Actually most of the snow is gone around here but with our pines, it just does not let much sunlight in. Still, last year at this time I had been splitting wood pretty regular and it was piled where it got absolutely no sunlight. Also, we still have not registered a 50 degree day here. That is about to change though as they are forecasting 54 and rain tomorrow. More rain and snow Tuesday. Oh well, the U.P. is expecting 10" or more snow and they still have it deep in plenty of places.

 

[Carl]

Glad the new stove is saving you some wood and money. This was a very snowy cold winter for us in Michigan so if you
burned less wood than last year you did very well.

We had a Jotul 3 stove for the last 18 years which worked great but upgraded it to a quadrafire yosemite a couple of weeks ago.
It seems real nice and does have secondary tubes which we hope will work out well. The jotul had a different baffle but it did give a
secondary burn so next year we will know it this is more efficient or not. Each winter is different but after several with one stove
one should be able to tell how the new one does.

The yosemite is considered a parlor stove but it heats our small house well with coals left in the morning to start the fire again.
The jotul 3 was about the same size and it would usually have coals in the morning, depending on the type of wood we fed it.

 

[Todd]

My estimate is the exact same as yours, 2.9 cords so far this year. Last year I went through 3 cords with the fireview, so it looks like about the same this year. It has been much colder this year than the last couple so I'm kind of surprised I haven't gone through more.

 

[Hiram Maxim]

Dennis,

You certainly go through a lot less wood than I did and that tells me a couple things.

First, that while thinking about my bad back I split my Ash wood way to small and it burns up way to fast.

Second not having any insulation in my walls and single pane 50 year old wood frame windows certainly isn't helping retain the heat.

A very liberal (sorry about the swear words) estimate is that I burned about 3'x7' rack of wood every 7 days to heat 2116 sq. ft.

This coming year I'm going to store at least 10 face cords on my glassed in 20'x12' porch and more in the garage.

Being my first season burning 24/7 I learned and $aved a lot.

Thank you,Maxim

 

[Mike Wilson]

When I burn 24/7, I go through just a little less than a cord per month, so I budget 3 cord for the year, and usually have a little left over for the occasional ambiance fire, chilly night, or what have you.

-- Mike

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Hiram, I'm not sure if you get your wood cut and stacked ahead of time but if not, you should. It will make a tremendous difference in the amount of heat you get from your wood. Even with ash, which has little moisture. We've burned green ash before and got away with it but there still is a big difference in the amount of heat you get if you let it season. Same goes for dead elm. Let it season at least over the summer months and it will give you good heat with little or no creosote.

Glad you are up and around again. That back surgery is no fun at all. Hopefully, some day real soon, it might warm up a bit outdoors and then you can start being out more. Make sure you walk a lot if possible. For me, riding a bike is better than walking though as it is easier on the back. I also ride a recumbent bike.

Cheers.

 

[Hiram Maxim]

Hiram, I'm not sure if you get your wood cut and stacked ahead of time but if not, you should. It will make a tremendous difference in the amount of heat you get from your wood. Even with ash, which has little moisture. We've burned green ash before and got away with it but there still is a big difference in the amount of heat you get if you let it season. Same goes for dead elm. Let it season at least over the summer months and it will give you good heat with little or no creosote.

Glad you are up and around again. That back surgery is no fun at all. Hopefully, some day real soon, it might warm up a bit outdoors and then you can start being out more. Make sure you walk a lot if possible. For me, riding a bike is better than walking though as it is easier on the back. I also ride a recumbent bike.

Cheers.

Dennis,

My Ash wood was cut 3 years ago and some was split then and some split this last April. I then stacked it on pallets and covered it.

Most of the wood that I used this year was the stuff that was split 3 years ago. It was really nice!

However the stuff I'm using now is the stuff that was split in April of last year. It certainly does not burn as well as the stuff split 3 years ago. You live you learn! LOL
The stuff I split in April averages about 3" across while the stuff split 3 years ago averages 6'-7' across so I certainly learned that bigger is way better.

I should have been more clear. I'm going to transfer my pre-split wood from the wood pallets outside to some 4'X8' racks inside on the glass porch. Its 100% dry and I have door-walls I can keep open for air circulation.


I have the Surgeons go ahead to start walking and I have been doing 3 miles a day. He said to do nothing but walking for the next 3 months!
I look forward to swimming, hiking, light weights,& biking by the middle of this summer.

Thanks for the kind words, Hiram

 

[swestall]

Burned 4 cords, 5 last year. But, changed horses mid year to the Mansfield from Defiant Neverburn: so no good comparison this year. After the change, we seemed to burn about 1/2 the wood per week though.

 

[burntime]

Wow, I went thru 5 cords in Wisconsin. I burned from end of November until a few days ago. Now only occasionally. I did burn longer this year so that accounts for more wood. I used to go thru 6 cords for 3 months in the old insert.

 

[northwinds]

It feels cold in Wisconsin today. Even though it's in the mid-30's, it's windy and we have flurries.

I'm at home for an early lunch and cranked up the stove with a 1/2 load of box elder on hot coals
from last night. It doesn't burn long, and it's light as a feather, but it will take the chill out of the house for
the next few hours. Since getting the stove around Feb. 9th, I've burned a little more than a cord. That
includes a lot of different kinds of wood that I'm trying to get rid of in this shoulder season. I'm not 24/7 yet,
more like 12/12 and then 24/7 on the weekends. I've got at least 3 cords of hardwood set aside for next
burning season, along with some more junk wood for the shoulder seasons.

 

[RedRanger]

Burned 6 cords of fir and cedar this year. That is burning 16/7. Will be interesting to see if the new kodiak burns the same or less next year when I will be attempting to burn 24/7.

Milder climate than most of you,however our house gets no direct solar benefit cause of the trees surrounding it. So if the temp outside is below 60 we have to have the insert going. Frost last night and woke up to 54 degrees in the house. Can`t hardly wait for that new insert arriving later this week. :cheese: No doubt the day after it`s installed the temps will rise dramatically.

 

[Bill]

I used a new stove this winter also, and found I used less wood overall, and kept the house warmer inside. At first I thought because the stove was bigger and held a lot more wood I would certainly burn more, but I didn't. I tried not to use the furnace if I didn't have to.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

What is really amazing is the difference in the firebox size. The Fireview has a much smaller firebox than our old stove. But like Smokey, we were warmer.

Boy it feels good right now too. We finally hit 50 degrees last night after dark and by 4:00 am it was 59 (not official). By 8:00 am it was 40 and is in the low 30's now. Wind is very strong making it feel darned cold. Cold set a record low tonight they say.

On the good side is that I was finally able to get the splitter to the splitting pile. Still snow there but not deep any more. So, I've been splitting wood this afternoon.

A little further north I spoke with a friend in Munising and before noon they already had 17-18" of new snow. A heavy wet snow with strong winds. Power was going out all over the place.