How much wood do you burn in 24hrs?

[ddown]

Each week I bring in 5 wheelbarrows full into the garage lasts for seven days.

 

[sunglider]

Probably also 12-15 splits a day (over a 2-day weekend). But waaaay less than I was burning in the past in the smoke dragon in the basement.

Since the install of my Hampton H300 on January 9, I've gone through less wood than I would have burned in one cold weekend before.

 

[maxed_out]

Probably also 12-15 splits a day (over a 2-day weekend). But waaaay less than I was burning in the past in the smoke dragon in the basement.

Since the install of my Hampton H300 on January 9, I've gone through less wood than I would have burned in one cold weekend before.

Yes, my nephews place is over in Jay and his H300 burns real nice and it has a quiet fan that throws some heat.
Judging by the feedback so far maybe its time to retire my VC. I thought I was doing pretty good at a wheel barrel a day but I'm learning theres more to reach for.

 

[SolarAndWood]

Judging by the feedback so far maybe its time to retire my VC. I thought I was doing pretty good at a wheel barrel a day but I'm learning theres more to reach for.

If your stove is properly sized and burning properly, I doubt you would burn significantly less with a new stove. My DE cat was undersized for my space/schedule but I doubt it was any less efficient than its replacement when it was operating properly.

 

[trailrated]

I reload around 8am, then 1pm, then 7pm and overnight load goes in at 1am.

Right around 24 splits per day but have started cutting back on the 1pm reload. Just been throwing a few splits to keep it going then at 7pm using some red oak kindling to get the next reload fired up.

As for the water pot I fill that after reloads and usually takes a full 3 quarts each time.

How much fire do you have left at the 5-6 hour reloads. I find I'm loading mine every 2-3 hours (except during the night) to keep a decent fire going. No way I could go 6-7 hours between reloads and have decent heat. My englander eats some wood. I'm burning mostly red oak, some beech and hickory. Slightly wet but not green. Do you damp the stove down all the way each reload?

 

[SlyFerret]

At 5-6 hours, in my 30, I don't have much in the way of fire left. At that point, the stove is in the coaling stage with a good sized mound of coals. The splits usually haven't broken down completely yet. Still get quite a bit of heat from the load though.

-SF

 

[ControlFreak]

We run through about 3 loads of 8 splits each == 24 splits per day, more or less depending upon their size.

The full winter ends up being around 4 cords and we go 24/7 during the cold months.

 

[maxed_out]

Thanks for the replies so far. Really gets one thinking. I actually counted yesterdays burn here at my place and it was 20 splits.

I'm going to give this post a few more days and try to summarize. It looks like some of these stoves(and inserts) can actually burn much less than a wheel barrel. I liked Barts observation that a wheel barrel was a good average but its nice to see some real efficient hardware that can burn much less. Some folks look to be burning about half a wb, I think thats just remarkable.

Yes its all unscientific but good for the cause. I'd be curious which ones actually burns the least amount of wood in 24/7...Right now based on the above its the bk,oslo and lopi. I'm going to stick my neck out and say it has something to do with the ability to really throttle primary and have fine adjustments for secondary. Thoughts?

 

[Todd]

I think the cat stoves when operated properly will burn a little less wood. I've save a full cord of wood per year over my previous non cats but I also made some home improvements that helped. The Blaze King also has that nice thermostat feature which controls the burn even more.

 

[jlow]

Goin 24/7 with my EQ heating 2900 sq ft at 72 degrees. I will go through a wheelbarrow in a 30 hour stretch. Can't say I have counted the actual splits, though, I know I should. I told myself that this year I had enough wood to get through the year (8.5 cords) not to worry and just enjoy the small gas bills ( last bill $24.00 because we use a gas water heater).I still have 3 cords left. Been burning since Oct.

 

[Battenkiller]

If your stove is properly sized and burning properly, I doubt you would burn significantly less with a new stove. My DE cat was undersized for my space/schedule but I doubt it was any less efficient than its replacement when it was operating properly.

Very interesting opinion coming from someone who used to run a DE cat and now runs a BKK. These are the most useful comparisons to me.

I decided to check out the Blaze King site to see what was up with these stoves. They have an amazing page that charts the 48 hour output of a single 54# charge of wood. Amazing until you think about the actual numbers. A 7000 average BTU output from a stove rated at 90,000 BTU max. Even less useful is the fact that they are basing their output computations on the potential heat in the wood, not the measured output into the room. They are using a figure of 8450 BTU/lb, which would imply wood at about 12% moisture content with 100% recovery of the heat of condensation contained in the water produced as a product of combustion (none of which is actually recovered in a real life situation) and are not really telling us how much heat is going up the flue during those 48 hours of consistent 200º flue gas temps.

They claim it can heat a 2000 sq.ft. home, and I'm sure it can... but not at 7000 BTU/hr. In order for 7000 BTUs to adequately heat a 2000' home (I'll assume a ranch style house), it would have to be totally air-tight, have an average R-value of 6 and a temperature differential of 12ºF between inside and outside air temps. So if you want the house to be 72º inside, it has to be 60º outside.

At 60ºF, I stop using the stove altogether.

There can be no re-writing of the laws of physics to allow for special case magic stoves. If you need lots of BTUs to warm your house, you will need to burn lots of wood to get there... even at 100% burn efficiency.

 

[SolarAndWood]

If your stove is properly sized and burning properly, I doubt you would burn significantly less with a new stove. My DE cat was undersized for my space/schedule but I doubt it was any less efficient than its replacement when it was operating properly.

Very interesting opinion coming from someone who used to run a DE cat and now runs a BKK. These are the most useful comparisons to me.

There can be no re-writing of the laws of physics to allow for special case magic stoves. If you need lots of BTUs to warm your house, you will need to burn lots of wood to get there... even at 100% burn efficiency.

Indeed. The amount of wood you burn in 24 hrs depends on your fuel, house, conditions, desired temp and willingness to stuff wood in the stove. What attracted me to the BKK was a big firebox that could burn both high and very low clean. It does both very well.

 

[BucksCoBernie]

A rounded wheelbarrow load for me too. That's keeping a Big 6 full from wake-up to bedtime. If around during day (I have a home office, so that is fairly often), I reload every 3-4 hours. I keep the firebox full, and reloads are usually about a 1/2 load since I try to avoid full burndown and lowered temps.

same for me. I avg about a wheelbarrow full too and reload every 3-4 hrs. house is usually around 72-75* constantly.

 

[remkel]

Usually burning about a wheelbarrow a day also. This could be less if my wife is not home for the whole day.

Quite often we do a small load midday to keep the fire going until I get home at dinnertime. Typical load is 6-7 splits of various sizes. Always have some coals in the morning (5:30am) after loading the stove at 10pm.

 

[Beowulf]

Setup:

1987 QF3000 heating a 1,500 sq ft house 24/7 at 6,000 ft elevation, not bad insulation:

Operation:

Load the stove in the morning, burn it hot, reload, char, and cruise till evening, reload, burn hot, shut down to low cruise on charred logs overnight, restart cycle next day with good coal bed. We keep the place 74 °F during most of the day, cools down to the mid sixties over night. The stove appears to be relatively efficient with nice secondaries.

Wood/volume:

The amount burned varies as, others have noted, with exterior temperatures and even amount of sun or clouds (reasonable passive solar house.) It also varies with wood-type that I happen to grab. However, I find on the warmer days (20's-30's) I grab more pine and cedar; on the cooler days (10's-20's) I will grab more oak when I have it. We scrounge our lot, so whatever the pine-borers give us or falls off the oaks end's up in the wood pile.

Typically, I bring in a small wash tub full of wood in the afternoon. I would estimate it to be about 2-3 cu feet. This is what the evening reload is loaded from. I then bring in another load that sits overnight and is used in the next morning reload. The wood is not usually in nice straight splits, since the oak limbs get a little curly. I would guess that the consumption is about 5 cu ft. per day, on average, with this mix. If I had only oak, it would drop to about 3 cu ft per day.

Gas/Electric heat bills: None. Well, ok, hot water, refrig and lights maybe runs $30-50/month with electric.

Happiness factor:

Off the charts!