How much wood are you really using?

[nate379]

My brother's wife's uncle runs a dairy farm and heats everything with an outside boiler. House, garage, milk parlor and machine shed. He burns 80-100 cords a year.

Growing up my brother and I would haul in wood for people as work. (Haul it in from outside and cord it in the basement, or sometimes cut, split and cord it outside). Anyhow most people we worked for would burn 7-10 cords a year... this at the time where my folks would go though about 3.5-4 cords a year.

My Dad put all new windows, new siding with R Board underneath, etc and the last few years he has had a hard time to burn 3 cords even. He is switching to a coal stove next year (after close to 30 years of burning wood in the house just got sick and tired of it.. plus the homemade stove is pretty much worn out at this point) and is worried that he is going to have to haul a lot of wood out of the basement come spring.

 

[Green Energy]

So far, I have burned about a cord of oak and a close to a cord of maple. December kicked my wood pile. I was hoping to stay within 3 cords a year. But if the weather stays cold, I may end up burning four this year. I usually load the stove twice in the evening, once or twice in the morning depending on how cold and sunny the day is. I may become more stingy in February/March if I keep burning at this rate.

 

[MofoG23]

I will most likely go through my supply I had set aside for this year - about 4 cord (2.5 oak and 1.5 cherry) - we burn 24/7. Our house only has insulation in the attic (very old and needs replaced) and in our kitchen (recent remodel). This summer we plan to blow in insulation in the rest of the house, so I hope next year we go through less.

I think I have about 1.5 - 2 cord left. This cold winter has really put a dent on what I've burned so far.

 

[bigbluebus]

This may be a stupid question but I thought I better ask anyhow. I'm new at burning wood so please forgive my comments below.

I've read all the posts here hoping for the answer to my question but could not find it. When you say a "cord", are you talking about
a face cord, or full cord (2.5 face cords roughly)? Is a full cord around 128 splits, like I've read somewhere?

Also, I've gone through 2 face cords in 1 month and only burning during the day, not overnite burns since my new highlander stove has been a complete disappointment and a full load of 3-4 splits will only last about 2-3 hours. At this rate, I have to keep telling myself that I'm burning wood just for the sheer enjoyment of it, because it certainly isn't for the heating cost savings. The 2 face cords of mixed hardwood (so they told me) cost me $170 and went through it in a month. Before the stove was put in, my gas bills were around $140 max.

 

[rdust]

This may be a stupid question but I thought I better ask anyhow. I'm new at burning wood so please forgive my comments below.

I've read all the posts here hoping for the answer to my question but could not find it. When you say a "cord", are you talking about
a face cord, or full cord (2.5 face cords roughly)? Is a full cord around 128 splits, like I've read somewhere?

Also, I've gone through 2 face cords in 1 month and only burning during the day, not overnite burns since my new highlander stove has been a complete disappointment and a full load of 3-4 splits will only last about 2-3 hours. At this rate, I have to keep telling myself that I'm burning wood just for the sheer enjoyment of it, because it certainly isn't for the heating cost savings. The 2 face cords of mixed hardwood (so they told me) cost me $170 and went through it in a month. Before the stove was put in, my gas bills were around $140 max.

A cord is three face cords if the face cord is 4'x8'x16". A cord of wood is 4'x4'x8' or 128 cubic feet. When most of us say cord we mean a full cord not a face cord.

 

[bigbluebus]

This may be a stupid question but I thought I better ask anyhow. I'm new at burning wood so please forgive my comments below.

I've read all the posts here hoping for the answer to my question but could not find it. When you say a "cord", are you talking about
a face cord, or full cord (2.5 face cords roughly)? Is a full cord around 128 splits, like I've read somewhere?

Also, I've gone through 2 face cords in 1 month and only burning during the day, not overnite burns since my new highlander stove has been a complete disappointment and a full load of 3-4 splits will only last about 2-3 hours. At this rate, I have to keep telling myself that I'm burning wood just for the sheer enjoyment of it, because it certainly isn't for the heating cost savings. The 2 face cords of mixed hardwood (so they told me) cost me $170 and went through it in a month. Before the stove was put in, my gas bills were around $140 max.

A cord is three face cords if the face cord is 4'x8'x16". A cord of wood is 4'x4'x8' or 128 cubic feet. When most of us say cord we mean a full cord not a face cord.

Got it...That's what I suspected but I just wanted to make sure.
Thanks!

 

[heatwise]

im at the point where ive burned about 2 cords. 20% of this was some realy light weight wood to do quick firings in sept into nov. ive seperated stacks by split size and i must say im going to just make it this year on the seasoned stuff thats large sized. im going to make sure i get extra pieces in the large split size this summer. when it gets cold i find that i burn through the small stuff way to quick. i guess every year is different but im noticing an increase in wood usage this year.

 

[sgt7546]

I'm from the pittsburgh area as well. This if my first year burning in an old, 2200 sq/ft home. Its a brick, 2 1/2 story with no wall insulation, just brick/plaster. I'm using a mid-size insert and have gone through over four cords so far. Even at that, the furnace still comes on through the night. Most of my wood was c/s/s around March of 2010 and was cherry and sycamore. I'm now into my locust, of which I have about 2 cords from March 2010.

I know the insert is not large enough for the whole home, but it was the largest size I could fit into the opening. This year will eat alot of wood, but I'm already ten plus cords stocked for next winter and figure I'll use less as time goes on.

 

[Dakotas Dad]

This may be a stupid question but I thought I better ask anyhow. I'm new at burning wood so please forgive my comments below.

I've read all the posts here hoping for the answer to my question but could not find it. When you say a "cord", are you talking about
a face cord, or full cord (2.5 face cords roughly)? Is a full cord around 128 splits, like I've read somewhere?

Also, I've gone through 2 face cords in 1 month and only burning during the day, not overnite burns since my new highlander stove has been a complete disappointment and a full load of 3-4 splits will only last about 2-3 hours. At this rate, I have to keep telling myself that I'm burning wood just for the sheer enjoyment of it, because it certainly isn't for the heating cost savings. The 2 face cords of mixed hardwood (so they told me) cost me $170 and went through it in a month. Before the stove was put in, my gas bills were around $140 max.

Cord = 128 cubic feet of wood. Face cords and ricks and pickup loads don't have any real meaning/definition that can be used for comparison.

Your stove should do better, but there are lots of factors that can hold you back. Including the wood itself. You should start a new thread asking for help/guidance with your particular stove so other users of that stove can chime in with specifics, and others can help with general aid.

$85 a "face cord" is more than double what we pay here (for those who have to buy wood). If it's mixed hardwoods, you should have purchased it in 2008 or earlier to burn this year.

Sometimes, burning wood is not cheaper than an available alternative, and if someone has chosen the wood heat lifestyle strictly for a money savings, they may have to be very vigilant to all the particulars of running their stove to it's max potential to see a solid ROI.