how much wood?

I have a hardy h-4 this will be my first full winter using it I have 18 cords of wood cut split and stacked with probably a cord of elm that's not split yet. I am wondering of I will be ok for this upcoming ohio winter which I am still going to keep cutting just wondering that's all thanks

Lots of varibles. I burn about 10 full cord a year in my Central or about 25 "Face cord". Last year I burned alot less because of the temps.

Are we talking 18 face cords or 18 full cords? We're all in big trouble if you need to burn 18 full cords this winter.

18 full cords I am just curious that's all I hope I will only use half but I don't know

18 full cords?! Yeah I think you'll be fine!

Nobody burns much more than 6 or at the outside 8 cords per year in a wood stove. I don't know how much wood an outdoor wood burner like yours will burn but if it is anything close to 18 cords I can't believe anybody would want one! i think you have two years supply on hand.

thanks for the replys i guess i just am a little worried but i also enjoy watching my wood stacks grow ill try and keep track this year and let you know thanks again

Walkerdogman, you haven't stated how much you are heating. For sure you have a lot warmer winters than we do and we average 3 cord per winter.

lots of variables, as others have said. How long has your wood been split and seasoning? How much space are you trying to heat? What kind of wood are you using? Hard to give an estimate without knowing some of these variables.

no matter what, get more!! you must have more wood! you can't have too much wood!

well i have alot of white oak hickory and a small amount of pine but the majority is oak. I am heating a ranch home thats pretty efficient and is 1700 square feet and heating domestic hot water also last winter was a warm one but once in a while its gets cold here. i have about three cords that i got and have been c/s/s since last november and the rest was cut this last spring with the ocassional loaf being cut every so often. No big deal was just curious as a few guys here say they burn alot but no one can give me an actual cord count they just say they throw it it there!!

The stuff you c/s/s in November may be ready, but if you cut oak in the spring and expect it to be ready, it's gonna give you problems. Oak, as others will tell you, takes a long long time to season. Two to three years is optimum. If you MUST use the recently split stuff, it's gonna put a LOT of moisture up your flue. If it's sizzling when your burning it, it ain't seasoned enough. Try to split it up small (3x3 to 4x4), mix it with your drier woods and you may be able to get by, but you wanna get WAY ahead if you're going to be using oak regularly. Make sure you check that chimney on a monthly/bi-monthly basis. Not trying to burst your bubble, we've all been there before. Trust me.

Let's see....18 cord would last me 3-4 seasons burning 24/7. I think quantity wise you should be fine, the only question, as others have stated, would be quality.

I burn about 3 cords a year in northern Central, Ohio.

-SF

friends of mine that have the hardy outdoor wood burner say they like there wood to be wet or green like i said this being an outdoor woodburner i am not as worried as much about the chimney as i was with my little indoor wood stove. when i burnt inside i checked my chimney once every couple weeks but with this outdoor woodburner i have flames sometime shoot out of the stack so i dont think i will have to worry about creosote as much and if i do the stack on it is on 3 feet and comes off easy

Yes I know people who do the same with their OWB and yes they stay warm. But consider that a good bit of that wood energy is boiling off the moisture in that green wood. That means a less efficient burn and more wood that you have to cut/buy. With 18 cords I'm guessing that in a couple of years you will have wood that is really seasoned and dry. I'm betting then you'll see a pretty significant reduction in your wood usage.

Last year was my first year of burning in my indoor stove I knew I was getting half of the btus out of it in heat made me sick. I was thinking of all the effort I put into C/S/S as I put extra in because of the loss of energy do to boiling the water in it. Ugggg.

That's a lot of wood. We used 3 cords to heat a 1,200 space that was kept 72 degrees with Fisher Mama Bear. With our new stove(Jotul Castine) and better seasoned wood, we expect to use 20% less but will have to see if that happens.

Last year I burnt wood for the first time since I was a kid we moved in around the first of September and used a Nashua wood stove and I was pretty much cutting it and burning as fast as I could so this year I was trying to get ahead. I know some of my wood will still be wet but I stacked it in the sun and on the hill I live on the wind blows all the time I am going to start the season by burning pine that I have had split since spring giving some of the hardwood some more time to dry. I have also noticed the drier the wood the less smoke I have coming out of the stack. I really appreciate your input as I am new to all of this

We heard a lot of that and it is sad that sellers tell the buyers that. Then they start thinking that is all they should have. We see folks around here that won't cut until they run out. That is sadder and pure baloney. I know of one who really got caught because of a storm. He had to buy some wood...

Until we learn how to burn water, burning green wood is costly because it takes too much energy to burn that water off before you get useable heat.

I'm worried about my wood supply this year. I have enough wood, but it's not going to be as dry as I want it to be.

Between a crazy work schedule, starting back to school in April, a < 1 year old kid, and a bunch of big outdoor projects to get the house ready for a wedding reception for my cousin last month, I didn't get enough done. (well, I got a lot done, just not enough work on the wood supply).

Luckily what I have is some Maple that has been drying in the rounds better than I expected, and the freshest stuff is ash, so it might not be too bad.

Either way, I have to get a jump on next years wood. I should have foreseen this and ordered wood in the early spring. Oh well.

-SF

I used to work with a guy who ran a similar OWB, (non-gassifier). He would go through 8-10 full cords with that thing and insisted it worked better with green wood. He said dry wood just burned up faster and he would have to reload more often. I sometimes wonder if some of these units were actually designed to burn higher moisture content wood and just will not cut the air back enough to burn the dry stuff... just a theory of mine..

In a wood stove id say you have a good 4 years for your house. In a boiler, i have no idea. But as far as green wood in an outdoor boiler if you cant cut the sir back the only way to slow it would be either huge rounds or to burn green wood as sad as that is?

But are you heating water through your stove or you have an outdoor boiler?

I think even wood cut this spring late winter if split and stacked then as long as it wasnt all oak should be ready. for sure any maple or elm cut then will be ready.

Some say that is true. However, I know several folks who have the OWB. The fellows who claim the green wood is good or even necessary can not understand or don't even believe the fellows who do burn dry wood in their boilers. The ones who burn good dry wood use a whole lot less wood to heat their place for sure. I know of one man who cut his wood needs by about 30% when he started burning dry wood in the boiler.

With this in mind, I call BS to the claims they need green wood in those things. Until we learn how to burn water, dry wood will still rule.

I am hoping to get ahead of the wood I am wanting to burn dry seasoned wood