How much wood?

[easternbob]

I know you can never have too much firewood on hand, but I'm trying to figure how much wood I need for the up coming season. We are just about finished building our house and ran our EKO 25 for just a few weeks this spring. The heat loss calc. I did for the house came out to be 48,000 btu/hr, that is with the design of 70 inside and 0 outside. Does anyone have a good guess as to what the average heat load per hour is compared to the max heat load? I live in Central NY and although we do get cold (-10 is about as low as we get) our daily average temp Dec-March is something around 30 plus or minus a few deg. Is 50% a good guess or is it more like 60-70%? I've got 4.5 cords of good hardwood split and stacked under cover now.
Thanks,
Bob

 

[easternbob]

Well I just looked up the average temp and I was a little high.
Here's the real numbers numbers (avg 1971-2000):
Nov 39*
Dec 28*
Jan 23*
Feb 23*
Mar 32*
Apr 44*

Bob

 

[chuck172]

I live in the N.W. corner of NJ. About 4 mi. from Pa.
I went through 6 cords of wood last winter. Some people burn much less. Just do the math and figure one or two full loads a day (depending on your heat load) during the heating season. These gasifiers have big fireboxes.

 

[SolarAndWood]

We are planning on a EKO 25 or similar for our heat needs. We currently burn 8-9 cord in the stove but it is a mix of what I have scrounged with a good share of lower density wood. I like to have 10-12 cord to be safe as there is a lot of variation in our winters. You may casually notice it with your gas bill but you really notice it when you are actively engaged in the heating process.

 

[Wet1]

Without knowing more details, I'd guess you'll probably need about 4 to 6 cords. Since this is your first year, I would suggest having at least 6 or 7 cords on hand as it's better to play it safe rather than run out in mid March. Pick up another couple of cords and get it seasoning. If you don't use it this season, you're that much further ahead for next year. In fact, I would try to get at least 10 cords seasoning now so you're a year ahead and don't have to worry about unseasoned wood in the future... which doesn't burn well in a gasifier.

 

[Nofossil]

Average loads are typically about half of peak load. Heat load calculators are good, but often over estimate a bit, especially on 'tight' houses and houses with useful southern exposure.

I heat about 3500 square feet in Vermont along with my DHW and hot tub. I use an EKO 25, and burn a mix of woods, pretty well seasoned. Last year was my highest wood consumption at about 4 3/4 cords, mostly because my wood was about 1/3 poplar and white pine. With well dried premium hardwood I suspect I'd be around 3.5 cords per year.

I still stack 6 cords under the deck just to be safe, though.

 

[flyingcow]

I have a 1800 sq/ft, 2 story house(plus an unheated basement). Standard insulation, live on top of a very windy hill. I have 3 kids(15,13, and 10). Located in the northern half of maine. I started burning mid january. Based on my wood consumption, i'll use about 6 cord(max, maybe less) of seasoned hardwood year round. I have rock maple and beech for a fuel source.
-
How much oil or gas did you burn in previous years? Could get a rough calculation that way. Need good seasoned wood.

 

[DBoon]

Hi easternbob,

If you calculated 48,000 btu/hour max based on 0 outside and 70 inside, that would be 48,000*24 = 1,115,200 BTUs/day. But that's a pretty cold day every day. This day would equate to 1950 heating degree days at for a month with 30 days that are all that cold. But for a January or February in Central NY, we average about 1300 degree days during those months. Thus, you can expect your daily usage to be about 2/3 of the 48,000 BTU/hour calculation (or 32,000 BTUs/hour, 768,000 BTUs/day).

For December and March, you are probably around 25,000 BTUs/hour, or 600,000 BTUs/day.

All this is based on your max heat loss calculation - if that is incorrect, then everything else will be also.

Hope this helps.

 

[easternbob]

Thanks for all the replys, I knew you guys would be able to give me some good numbers. I did find it "difficult" to get an accurate number using the heat loss calc (Slant fin) as the house we built is a timber frame with SIPs for the exterior skin. SIPs was not one of the choices so I tried to pick what might best estimate their insulating quality. I guessing that the calc did over estimate, since the house is so tight.
I used the estimate of 20,000,000 btu per cord of wood (ash, hard maple, beech, oak, black birch) is that a safe number? Also have to factor in the efficency of the EKO 25 running without storage (some day that will change), any thoughts there? I thought I had read someone else's post a while back that mentioned 70% effeciency, is this correct?
Thanks,
Bob

 

[Medman]

I have about the same heat load as you and I burned nearly eight cords from Nov. to mid-May. I have 12 cords put up now for next season. I ran out in March and had to buy more wood at a hefty premium. You can never have too much wood!

 

[easternbob]

Medman,
Are you talking face cords or full cords? 8 full cords is a lot of wood.
Bob

 

[chuck172]

A mid-sized Tarm holds about 5 cu. ft. of wood.
A cord will load that Tarm 25 times.
Once a day fueling for 5-mths. will use up about 6 cords.
Many people load the boiler up twice a day.