This is my second year of heating with wood so I really don't have a real good handle on how much I will use in a full season. Last winter I didn't have the wood furnace up and running until almost the end of December. As is the case with most first year burners, I was having to cut and burn as I went last winter and that is much too stressful. :shut: But, I had found this forum and quickly learned what I needed to do to get a good wood supply set up. I was burning green wood (and cleaning the chimney every month) and was well aware that it was resulting in me having to burn more wood than if I had a properly seasoned supply. Most of the wood I have access to is hickory and oak with some ash, beech, dogwood and elm thrown in. I figured from my electric usage records over the past 10 years that I needed about 60 million BTU to heat the house for the winter. Using some approximate overall system efficiencies I figured I would need around 4 cords of properly seasoned hardwood a year. I had this years supply CSS by April so most is about a year seasoned. At this point I have next year's already CSS and am working on 2012/13.
I just read a news article that says this past December was the coldest since 1985 and that January is expected to be record cold as well. I have used about 2.5 cords so far out of the 4 I had put up for this winter. It is looking like I may be using 5 to 5.5 cords this winter because of the record cold. Thanks to this forum and the great people who frequent it I have another 4 cords CSS and about 2 more in rounds that I can dip into when/if I use up this year's supply. Of course this means I have more to process this season than I had anticipated to get at least 2 years ahead, but that just gives me more of an excuse to get outdoors and get some much needed exercise! :cheese: Is anyone else seeing higher than expected wood usage this year?
I just read a news article that says this past December was the coldest since 1985 and that January is expected to be record cold as well. I have used about 2.5 cords so far out of the 4 I had put up for this winter. It is looking like I may be using 5 to 5.5 cords this winter because of the record cold. Thanks to this forum and the great people who frequent it I have another 4 cords CSS and about 2 more in rounds that I can dip into when/if I use up this year's supply. Of course this means I have more to process this season than I had anticipated to get at least 2 years ahead, but that just gives me more of an excuse to get outdoors and get some much needed exercise! :cheese: Is anyone else seeing higher than expected wood usage this year?