So How Much Wood Do You Think I'll Use???

[BurnIt13]

I'll be getting my first stove soon and was wondering how much wood I'll go through in a season. I plan on getting a Lopi Republic or PE Super27 and both stoves have a 2 cuft firebox. I live in central MA, although its not the Yukon it still gets chilly. My goal is to burn 24/7. I realize that a larger stove would be best but the before mentioned stoves are as big as I can go due to space limitations. Reading through plenty of user experiences it seems that overnight burns are doable.

The house is a 2-story, 1500sqft colonial. Its 110 years old but is fairly well insulated. It has blown in insulation in the walls and attic. The insulation was blown in about 30 years ago so I imagine some has settled. The attic has R38. Its got new double-pane windows and doors throughout. The first floor has a fairly open floor plan and the stove will go right in the middle of the house on an outside wall. A large staircase 15ft away will bring plenty of heat upstairs. Ideally the stove will be the main source of heat.

So....I know this is an unexact science but I'm wondering how much wood I can expect to go through in a season. For those of you with similar houses...what do you use? Any educated guesses? Thanks!

 

[Highbeam]

Have 6-7 on hand. Your first year you will use more than in the next few years as you refine your technique. My first year I burned 7 cords in a 1700 SF house and a mild climate.

 

[BurnIt13]

Have 6-7 on hand. Your first year you will use more than in the next few years as you refine your technique. My first year I burned 7 cords in a 1700 SF house and a mild climate.

Holy Smokes! Here I was thinking that I'd need 2 or 3!

 

[Adios Pantalones]

3-4 cord is pretty normal for most everyone everywhere. You may burn more when you're learning the stove.

 

[madrone]

Generally speaking, more than I thought I would.

 

[begreen]

It will vary with the house, the harshness or mildness of the winter and how warm you keep the place. In your climate I would expect at least 3 cords. For comparison, we are heating a 2000 sq ft, older farmhouse on about 2.5 cords in a moderate winter and 3 cords in a cold one. This year is being promised as a doozy for our area so I have 4 cords ready and another 3 drying for next year.

How much dry wood do you already have stacked and ready to burn? If only 2 cords, use the furnace on milder days to stretch the supply and don't try heating the place to 75 every day.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

I agree with 3-4 cords for an approximate number.

In addition to the stoves you are considering, have you looked at the Woodstock stoves? They are not far from you and these Fireview stoves burn really nice as long as you burn good fuel. Burn poor fuel and no stove will do what you want it to or what it is designed to do.

EDIT: There are many folks in your area who have Woodstock stoves and love them. One reason we like ours so well is that we used to burn an average of 6 cords of wood per winter. Since installing the Fireview we now burn an average of 3 cords or less.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Get 7 cords on hand and that way you will be set for next year.

Matt

 

[btuser]

What have you got stacked and ready right now? I''ve got 7 cords, and I haven't even started cutting yet for 2012. I'm 2yrs ahead and feeling like I'm behind.

I've got a 2600sqft home. I don't try burn 24/7 unless its below zero. I do the bump-n-run during the week and a morning/night fire. First year I burned 2-3 cords. Second year I burned 3 solid cords, but there were a lot days in Sept. with the windows open because I was over-zelous. I also tried to heat the house during the week, and by doing so wasted a lot of wood. I've only got an insert, and have to live within the limitations of the home's design and my willingness to but heads with it. I can do it on the weekends, but not during the week. You seem to be in a better situation for central heating with a wood stove.

Start with your current useage: What is your primary fuel source now? A cord of wood is equal to about 100 gallons of fuel oil, which is equal to about 140 therms of gas, which is equal to about 150 gallons of propane, which is equal to about 4000kw/hr of electric heat. THESE ARE ROUGH NUMBERS. This will give you a reference point to work backwards and see how many btu it takes to heat your home. Don't forget to subtract for hot water and seasonal inefficiency. I'd say a good reference is 70% of your total heating bill is space heating, depending on how you get your hot water.

 

[Highbeam]

If you plan to be one of those part time burners and use a furnace or something some of the time then you can get by with less wood. I'm already burning every night, won't stop until mid June.

If you haven't selected a stove then you should be aware that stove selection can influence wood consumption. Also, the wood you collect will need to be the proper length to fit in the stove. Better pick a stove soon.

 

[joefrompa]

I am getting a Lopi Republic 1750 insert installed one week from now. One thing I recommend since yours will be on an outside wall (like mine) is to get some ceramic/mineral insulation and stuff it around the insert where it could radiate heat to the outside world. Keep the heat coming inside or up the chimney. Also, put some heavy duty aluminum foil on the face of the insulation as it's stuffed around your insert.

For this size insert and purpose, I think the general consensus is one cord of wood per month when you are planning on burning 24/7. As a beginner (like me), keep an extra cord on hand as a "learning cord" since you'll waste that much by nature.

lastly, many members like to have at least a 1-2 cord buffer that can season an extra year if they don't need it, or will be sitting around in case it's an absolutely vicious winter....

Joe

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Joe, even better is to have a full year ahead on wood. In other words, the wood you get today should not be burned before the winter of 2011-2012. Even better is to be 3 years ahead. That is the ideal situation to have. Then you have no worries about whether the wood is good or not as you know it will be nice and dry and ready to give you the best fire and the most heat from the fuel. Don't do this and you have to force more heat up the chimney to make things work right which means you burn more wood. Why not burn less and stay warmer with less headaches. Get your fuel way ahead of time!

 

[chatsworth]

Joe, even better is to have a full year ahead on wood. In other words, the wood you get today should not be burned before the winter of 2011-2012. Even better is to be 3 years ahead. That is the ideal situation to have. Then you have no worries about whether the wood is good or not as you know it will be nice and dry and ready to give you the best fire and the most heat from the fuel. Don't do this and you have to force more heat up the chimney to make things work right which means you burn more wood. Why not burn less and stay warmer with less headaches. Get your fuel way ahead of time!

Is there any special place I should keep this wood? Is it okay outside next to the shed or should it be kept inside?

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Joe, even better is to have a full year ahead on wood. In other words, the wood you get today should not be burned before the winter of 2011-2012. Even better is to be 3 years ahead. That is the ideal situation to have. Then you have no worries about whether the wood is good or not as you know it will be nice and dry and ready to give you the best fire and the most heat from the fuel. Don't do this and you have to force more heat up the chimney to make things work right which means you burn more wood. Why not burn less and stay warmer with less headaches. Get your fuel way ahead of time!

Is there any special place I should keep this wood? Is it okay outside next to the shed or should it be kept inside?

Chatsworth, there are several ways to store wood. The best way we have found over the years is to stack the wood like the picture below. Notice that there are some poles under the wood stacks. This keeps the wood from touching the ground and allows air under there to help dry the wood. We do not cover the wood the first summer but when late fall or early winter comes then we use old galvanized roofing (tarps make poor covers) to cover the top of the wood. It is extremely important to cover only the top and not the sides or ends. Don't worry a bit about rain hitting the sides of the wood pile as that dries super fast (wood is not a sponge so won't soak it up). In addition, it is important to stack the wood where wind will hit the sides of the piles. Sun is nice too but wind is more important.

Naturally the ideal is after drying out in the outside air, move it into some type of a wood shed but this is not entirely necessary, it just means you won't have to fight the snow that will sit on top of the piles when you go to get wood.

btw, there are some (quads always comes to mind) that never cover their wood stacks and get along just fine. We've always had better luck though by covering the tops.

If you need to dry the wood as fast as possible, then stack in single rows. Also don't try to stack the wood real tight. Stack it rather loosely as you need the air circulation. Splits should be quite small for faster drying too.

Good luck.


EDIT: Please check out The Wood Shed part of hearth.com as there is lots of information there on the wood supply.

 

[btuser]

Is there any special place I should keep this wood? Is it okay outside next to the shed or should it be kept inside?

What wood? Whaddya got sofar?

 

[ihookem]

In a similar sized 2 story house I burned 3 cords of fairly good wood. It was a "cheapy" wood stove but fairly efficient. Your blown in insulatio most likely did not settle in the walls at all if done right You will save a cord every three years or so if you put in another 6-8" of blown cellulose in the attic. R 38 is ok but you will notice a difference in summer cooling, winter heating and sound dampening if airplanes fly over.

 

[firefighterjake]

I'll be getting my first stove soon and was wondering how much wood I'll go through in a season. I plan on getting a Lopi Republic or PE Super27 and both stoves have a 2 cuft firebox. I live in central MA, although its not the Yukon it still gets chilly. My goal is to burn 24/7. I realize that a larger stove would be best but the before mentioned stoves are as big as I can go due to space limitations. Reading through plenty of user experiences it seems that overnight burns are doable.

The house is a 2-story, 1500sqft colonial. Its 110 years old but is fairly well insulated. It has blown in insulation in the walls and attic. The insulation was blown in about 30 years ago so I imagine some has settled. The attic has R38. Its got new double-pane windows and doors throughout. The first floor has a fairly open floor plan and the stove will go right in the middle of the house on an outside wall. A large staircase 15ft away will bring plenty of heat upstairs. Ideally the stove will be the main source of heat.

So....I know this is an unexact science but I'm wondering how much wood I can expect to go through in a season. For those of you with similar houses...what do you use? Any educated guesses? Thanks!

I have a house a bit larger than you . . . bit newer . . . but newer doesn't always mean better . . . three of the four walls are 2 x 4 wall construction. I figure 4-6 cords of wood each year . . . and usually have some left over for the start of next year.

In my own opinion . . . it's always better to have more than less . . . having more means you have a jump on the next year's wood . . . having less means you have to resort to using gas, oil, etc.

 

[Sisu]

I remember the camping firewood rule was gather as much wood as you need and then make the pile three times larger. It is always better to have wood left over vs running out just before the end of season. I have a 1500 square foot bungalow with an insert in the finished basement. I burn about 5 bush cords a year from October to May.