How much wood is enough for us????????

[Turfguy]

I'm a newbie to all of this. My wife and I used our first-time home owner tax credit to purchase a wood stove. They finished installing it two weeks ago. Before they did the install I had cut/split appox. 1 cord of American Elm (sucker must of been dead for a couple of yrs.) Also purchase a cord of oak log lengths(cut down end of last winter) which is resting comfortably cut and split up in the new wood stand I built a couple of weeks ago.
I am just trying to figure out approximately how much wood I might need for this year and how much to plan on using in future years? We live near Albany, NY. I find that I am burning from 4pm till bedtime daily and all day on weekends. Thanks for all your help everyone.

 

[avanderheuel]

When you say cord are you talking face or pulp cord?

 

[firefighterjake]

Random thoughts . . .

It's hard to set a figure . . . a lot depends on your home and its insulation, climate, condition of your wood, etc. I figure that I roughly go through 4-6 cords of wood here in Maine with a 1,800 square, moderately insulated two-story open Cape burning 24/7 . . . someone living down the road from me though with a drafty farmhouse could burn quite a bit more and someone with a newer, air-tight home may burn less even if they have the same square footage.

As mentioned how dry and well seasoned your wood is also plays a factor . . . if you have to leave the air open longer to get semi-seasoned wood to catch on fire and get burning without suffocating for example you will burn through more wood quicker. Incidentally, many folks feel as though oak should be seasoned (cut and split) at least two years . . . other wood species generally are good to go after a year.

Best advice . . . get more than you think you need. No one ever comes on line in late February or early March to complain about all the wood they have left over and how annoying it will be to have to restack it . . . far more people come on here and have threads about how they'll be going back to heating with oil, propane, etc.

Hmmm . . . it may only be a matter of time before you come to the dark side and start burning 24/7 . . . especially if and when you have enough wood and find how easy it can be to heat your home 24/7.

1 cord of wood out of a single tree . . . must have been one heckuva large tree or we're talking about those fake cords -- I mean face cords.

Final thought . . . welcome to the hearth.com.

 

[Kenster]

Are you putting the fire out at night? Why not let it burn all night? I think most of us fill up the box and let it burn through the night.

The oak that you just cut and split probably won't be ready to burn for at two years. It takes that long to season AFTER it's split. It can be in logs for many years but will still have a high moisture content until it has been split and out in the sun and rain for a couple of years. This doesn't mean it won't burn now but it will be a poor burn with too much energy going into boiling the water out of the wood instead of producing heat. Also, green wood is very bad for your stove and flue. You might get you an inexpensive Moisture meter (I recently bought one at Lowe's for $30.00) and test a freshly split piece of wood. By "freshly split" I mean one that you split 'right now' and test it. It should be under 20% for a proper burn.

No elm around here anywhere so I've never burned it. I couldn't tell you if recently split wood will be fit to burn, even if it's been standing dead for a couple of years. Again, until it's split it doesn't really start to season much.

As far as quantity needed. If you're not burning through the night but you burn every evening, you might get away with two or three cords a year. Could vary a lot from year to year. Someone who lives up near you could advise a lot better than me on that.

 

[Turfguy]

When you say cord are you talking face or pulp cord?

I'm talking a full cord is 4'x4'x8'

 

[Kenster]

When you say cord are you talking face or pulp cord?

When you say "cord" on this site, we expect you to be talking about a REAL cord. 4x4x8.

 

[Mad Tom]

I would think you would need about 4 cords. I am not to far from you, but a little bit colder. The first year you may burn a bit more due to dryness of wood and zeroing your stove down. I am hoping to get away with 3.5 to 4 cords. First full year on a new EPA stove. I burn nights and weekends as well. You will probably start burning in November and end in March some time.

 

[Bigg_Redd]

1) Write this winter off. Any heat you get from any wood at this point is just a bonus.

2) Start getting next year's wood in right now. If you're buying get the wood delivered this week and get it up off the ground and under cover this weekend.

3) To answer your question you'll need 3-5 cord (actual cord). If your house is exceptionally well insulated you'll probably burn less than 3. If it's exceptionally drafty you might need more than 5.

 

[Turfguy]

Random thoughts . . .

It's hard to set a figure . . . a lot depends on your home and its insulation, climate, condition of your wood, etc. I figure that I roughly go through 4-6 cords of wood here in Maine with a 1,800 square, moderately insulated two-story open Cape burning 24/7 . . . someone living down the road from me though with a drafty farmhouse could burn quite a bit more and someone with a newer, air-tight home may burn less even if they have the same square footage.

As mentioned how dry and well seasoned your wood is also plays a factor . . . if you have to leave the air open longer to get semi-seasoned wood to catch on fire and get burning without suffocating for example you will burn through more wood quicker. Incidentally, many folks feel as though oak should be seasoned (cut and split) at least two years . . . other wood species generally are good to go after a year.

Best advice . . . get more than you think you need. No one ever comes on line in late February or early March to complain about all the wood they have left over and how annoying it will be to have to restack it . . . far more people come on here and have threads about how they'll be going back to heating with oil, propane, etc.

Hmmm . . . it may only be a matter of time before you come to the dark side and start burning 24/7 . . . especially if and when you have enough wood and find how easy it can be to heat your home 24/7.

1 cord of wood out of a single tree . . . must have been one heckuva large tree or we're talking about those fake cords -- I mean face cords.

Final thought . . . welcome to the hearth.com.

Thanks for the quick response. We have a 1,500 square bungalow built in 1925 so it definetly not air tight. Yeah I guess I should have been more specific, there were multiple American Elms in a cluster hanging over my garage. Searching craigslist I've been able to find a guys selling Oak for $125/cord for log lenghts. Not sure how he knows he's got a cord of logs but I did end up with just a little over a cord on the first load he dropped off. I'd like to burn 24/7 problem is I never seem to have enough time to get the stove going before work, always running late.

 

[joefrompa]

You'll figure out how to get it running. The trick is to have it setup already

3 cords is a safe bottom estimate for what you'll want on hand - I agree with others that you should consider Year 1 to be mostly spent on reducing your heating bills and not on replacing them altogether. Start getting wood lined up to spend 9+ months a year exposed to sun and wind in a good open-stack format.

I slightly disagree with others on seasoning time, but that's specifically because I've found my stove likes smaller splits. So if you are like me and will split your wood smaller (i.e. 2-3" at the thickest parts), then it'll season faster too.

Consider trying to get some faster burning woods on hand and/or ash (which is semi-seasoned right off the bat). I like having some pine on hand personally, and alot of people will give away pine for free because they think it's bad to burn. I have a neighbor who is probably giving me 2 cords of pine that I'm setting aside for next year. Next year is gonna be good.....

Joe

 

[Ducky]

My first year of burning I went thruogh 12 cords of wood, starting end of november burn, to begining of march...

second year about the same, 3rd year, I went thruogh 17 face cords... from October to end of March...

4th year, this year I managed to get about 10 cords free... and havent ordered any wood... though I am burning alot of construction scraps, plywood, pine stuff like that... garbage pick the wood, break it up and burn it...

I live in Buffalo NY.... so far I have kept my shop above 50F and only burn about 4hrs per day with the Magic Heat box I bought... Thought I needed a bigger stove but my 1970's stove seems to be working well now with the MH... though 99% of those aorund here dont appreciate the MH...... but whatever it works for me...

This year so far I have burned thru 1.5 FC since october 15th.. and about a F150 sized load of scrap wood.

 

[Turfguy]

Our next thing has been to try and move the warm air out of our living room where it can get sweltering and into the rest of the house. Thinking about taking the wall out that separates the LR and our DIN to allow the air to move. We run a ceiling Fan in the LR and DIN room when we burn.

 

[Adios Pantalones]

Bigg Redd nailed it. You can get some real heat out of the wood you have, but will be more efficient with more experience and dryer wood

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Our next thing has been to try and move the warm air out of our living room where it can get sweltering and into the rest of the house. Thinking about taking the wall out that separates the LR and our DIN to allow the air to move. We run a ceiling Fan in the LR and DIN room when we burn.

Welcome to the forum Turfguy.

Much wisdom has been printed above. I have an exception to some of it though. Around these parts we never try to burn oak until it has been split and stacked for 3 years. Well, another exception: wood needs to be stacked so the wind hits the sides of the stacks. Sun is great but wind is even more important.

That oak in logs; don't count on it having to even begin seasoning; it just don't happen.

How much to have on hand? I'd say 10 cord minimum. That should get you to about the most ideal point in wood burning which is to be 2-3 years ahead on your wood pile at all times. If you do that, you won't have to worry about moisture as it will be dry and ready to burn. Stack the oak separately from the rest too because of the extended seasoning time needed.

 

[PNWBurner]

3-5 cords a year is a pretty good (if broad) estimate. If you're just burning nights and weekends you might get by with 2.5 or so.

You really can't have too much though but at a certain point the spouse and neighbors start looking at you funny.

By the end of this winter you'll have a pretty good idea how much you'll need for next but start getting it right away so it's nice and dry.

How much room do you have for storage?

 

[woodchip]

The one question I would ask is this. You say you burn from 4pm to late evening, is this supplementary heating to a furnace that runs a central heating system, or do you use your woodburner only.

The reason I ask is we originally used wood on a supplementary basis as we have a furnace which was used for the main heating. Due to increases in fuel prices, we now use the woodburner as our main heating, using gas as a back up. Which means we are woefully short of decent well season wood, and tend to burn scraps and rubbish. That is why the advice above about having about 2 - 3 years wood in store is such good advice. You will not be tempted to burn wood which is not fully seasoned (which means you will most likely burn more wood whilst getting less heat out).

And a warm welcome to the forum, plenty of good advice and ideas round here

 

[Turfguy]

3-5 cords a year is a pretty good (if broad) estimate. If you're just burning nights and weekends you might get by with 2.5 or so.

You really can't have too much though but at a certain point the spouse and neighbors start looking at you funny.

By the end of this winter you'll have a pretty good idea how much you'll need for next but start getting it right away so it's nice and dry.

How much room do you have for storage?

Well my lot size is fairly small .33 acres, But I did build a 6'x3'X12' stand so I have a little over a cord stacked inside of it now with room for more. Other than that I have a couple pallets stacked on my driveway. I think I might need to add another wood stand.

 

[Turfguy]

Thanks everyone for being so welcoming and helpful. This is a photo of our install;