Well the wood shed is just about empty of my two year old wood. Looks like I will have to switch to next years wood that has been drying for 1 year fairly soon. It wasnt unexpected but a sign of my increased wood use.
My prior heating setup was a defiant wood stove in the basement for shoulder seasons and a wood boiler without storage for cold weather. I work out of the home but only heat a second floor office during the day so running the wood stove wasnt an option for heating the office and the wood boiler was overkill (it would go into full damper mode soon after the office heated up). So the prior operation was run the oil boiler during the day and heat with wood at other times. The boiler was operated as a "hot start" (it would get shut off in summer and shoulder seasons).
With the installation of 550 gallons of storage, I now can heat the house full time with wood and run the boiler as needed. My oil boiler rarely runs unless I screw up and the way the controls are configured its "cold start" when the wood system is online.
Next years wood consumption will be a guess. The storage didnt go online until mid season, I had an energy audit and insulation upgrade about the same time, plus this winter was quite mild. All three of those makes it tough to project next years demand. Luckilly I try to be two years ahead and burn northern hardwoods that dry quick (maple and white birch, with occasonal beech) so worse case is raid the next years supply. Ultimately I think I may be close to 3.5 cords per year total so its hard to justify spending the money for a more efficient boiler.
My prior heating setup was a defiant wood stove in the basement for shoulder seasons and a wood boiler without storage for cold weather. I work out of the home but only heat a second floor office during the day so running the wood stove wasnt an option for heating the office and the wood boiler was overkill (it would go into full damper mode soon after the office heated up). So the prior operation was run the oil boiler during the day and heat with wood at other times. The boiler was operated as a "hot start" (it would get shut off in summer and shoulder seasons).
With the installation of 550 gallons of storage, I now can heat the house full time with wood and run the boiler as needed. My oil boiler rarely runs unless I screw up and the way the controls are configured its "cold start" when the wood system is online.
Next years wood consumption will be a guess. The storage didnt go online until mid season, I had an energy audit and insulation upgrade about the same time, plus this winter was quite mild. All three of those makes it tough to project next years demand. Luckilly I try to be two years ahead and burn northern hardwoods that dry quick (maple and white birch, with occasonal beech) so worse case is raid the next years supply. Ultimately I think I may be close to 3.5 cords per year total so its hard to justify spending the money for a more efficient boiler.
