Wood consumption so far - almost 1/4 of the season is over

[Nofossil]

Everyone is talking about wood consumption. This is almost the 1/4 point in the heating season, so a rough estimate for total wood consumption would be a bit over 4x what you've used so far.

I started my season about October 1 this year - a bit earlier than usual. We've had about 1500 degree days since then and I've used just about a cord, so I'm on track to burn a bit over 4 cords. About the same as the last two years, but there's a possible problem. So far, I've burned last year's leftovers - pretty decent mix of hard, soft, and kinda-soft woods.

About half of my remaining wood is poplar. I've seen wildly different numbers for poplar's heating value, but the branches in particular seem awfully light. I've got 5 cords under the deck - hoping that's enough.

For those who are into the efficiency calcs, here's my analysis:

I use about 60,000 BTU per day for domestic hot water, and by my calculations I've used a bit over 9 million BTU for heating the house and hot tub this season. That works out to a bit over 13 million BTU total.

My firewood so far is a mix - Ash, Buckthorn, Red Cedar, White Birch and a bit of white pine and white cedar. I'm estimating about 18 million BTU/cord of possible heat. If all these numbers are right, that works out to somewhere around 70% to 75% overall efficiency.

That matches pretty well with what I'd expect based on my system efficiency calculations where I can measure 60% to 65% of the theoretical heat (based on weight and moisture content) going to a known loads such as baseboard, DHW, storage, or hot tub. There's heat that escapes from the boiler and plumbing that's unmeasured but heats the house anyway.

 

[oilbegone]

This is our first season with the Tarm, so far we have used 2 out of the 10 stacks that are 4x8x18 inches in the month the boiler has been on-line. Very impressed so far especially compared to the 7 or 8 cords used in the past.

 

[NHFarmer]

This is also my first year with the Tarm.I have been burning since Oct. first.I figure I have burned about 1 1/2 cords so far.I have about 10 cords stacked.If I am 1/4 way there,then I should be in good shape.I do not have any backup so if I run short i'll be in trouble.

 

[chuck172]

My first season with the Tarm also. So far I've gone through about 1 3/4 cords. Only figured on 6 total. I have plenty under the tarp for next year I guess I can tap into, but its moisture content will be iffy
I learning how to burn much more efficiently, next year will be different.

 

[pybyr]

Everyone is talking about wood consumption. This is almost the 1/4 point in the heating season, so a rough estimate for total wood consumption would be a bit over 4x what you've used so far.

I started my season about October 1 this year - a bit earlier than usual. We've had about 1500 degree days since then and I've used just about a cord, so I'm on track to burn a bit over 4 cords. About the same as the last two years, but there's a possible problem. So far, I've burned last year's leftovers - pretty decent mix of hard, soft, and kinda-soft woods.

About half of my remaining wood is poplar. I've seen wildly different numbers for poplar's heating value, but the branches in particular seem awfully light. I've got 5 cords under the deck - hoping that's enough.

For those who are into the efficiency calcs, here's my analysis:

I use about 60,000 BTU per day for domestic hot water, and by my calculations I've used a bit over 9 million BTU for heating the house and hot tub this season. That works out to a bit over 13 million BTU total.

My firewood so far is a mix - Ash, Buckthorn, Red Cedar, White Birch and a bit of white pine and white cedar. I'm estimating about 18 million BTU/cord of possible heat. If all these numbers are right, that works out to somewhere around 70% to 75% overall efficiency.

That matches pretty well with what I'd expect based on my system efficiency calculations where I can measure 60% to 65% of the theoretical heat (based on weight and moisture content) going to a known loads such as baseboard, DHW, storage, or hot tub. There's heat that escapes from the boiler and plumbing that's unmeasured but heats the house anyway.

Nofo- as someone said, if you've got it, burn it (I am referring to fuel on hand, not illicit substances, which I try to steer clear of), or something like that-- or, as I like to think, at least with a gasifier, dried non-synthetic substances are "presumed combustible".

but from what I've read (somewhere) Poplar is _way__ down the list in terms of BTU/ cord. I have access to a lot of it, but it barely seems worth cutting. among other things (in addition to the relatively light weight per volumetric amount, which seems to represent a rough shorthand for heat content) you can pretty much watch the stuff rot and go punky as soon as it dies, before it hits the ground (unlike my personal favorite wood, hophornbeam, which, to my grateful discovery this past year, given that I know where to find a lot of it, already fallen over, can still be dry inside, and have a lot of heat in it, even after it has been laying on the forest floor for who knows how long, covered in moss)

this chart unfortunately does not list BTU/cord for poplar, but it is otherwise a good resource, and does not seem to have good reflections on poplar.

http://www.mountainfirewoodkilns.com/firewood_ratings.pdf

but- if you run short, every one of us on hearth's boiler room should take up a collection to buy you a spare cord or a pallet of biobricks!

back to the cellar for me

 

[603doug]

I have been burning pine that I have been given that was cut a couple of years ago and it is in good shape no rot. We have had it running for a couple of months for dhw and now heat in 2 buildings. At least a couple of cords because of the lower btus. Now starting to add oak to go through the night. My biggest problem is that I tend to load to big of pieces and when I do what the manufacture and the folks on this board recommend about smaller splits "she" scream with heat. 1st year student SLOW LEARNER

 

[Tree farmer]

As a rookie boiler operator but former wood stove burner I just calculated the other day that my consumption is about 4 cubic feet of hardwood per day in my Eko 25 which would mean one cord could take me through 32 days. Granted it has not been bitterly cold yet so maybe one cord would take me just shy of a month in Jan. Wood density definitely has an impact on BTU output and you can find this in charts online, hophornbeam has the highest BTU output besides hickory if I could get my hands on it that's what I would be burning, but it is usually found just as an understory species in the forest and takes a significant amount of years to reach 10+ inches. My number one wood choices would be Hophornbeam, hickory, sugar maple, yellow birch,beech, white oak, red oak in that order in the perfect world. Some will wonder why I list the oaks at the end- they take too long to dry. My reality in the wood pile is red maple, black birch , yellow birch, white ash, black cherry, hemlock and white pine. I believe nofo will find the aspen burns like pine. My motto is burn whats available to you as my grandad always said it all burns!

 

[Kipstr]

From Oct. 20 3000 Lbs. (sugar maple) that's just under a cord @ 25% moisture for a total weight of about 3800 Lbs. per cord. If I didn't have storage I would be very disappointed. Fire once a day, charge the tank, let the fire go out.

 

[pybyr]

agreed about oak taking too long to season-- I have a red oak in the front yard, which is quite unusual for some miles around, and it is only here because a prior owner kept trying and doting on acorns until one finally "took" I have limbed it to keep it healthy, and even 2 years after the cut, the limbs hiss with moisture in the cookstove

I have become a #1 fan of hophornbeam. at least where I cut my wood, I can literally walk around the woods and kick unrecognizable mossy logs that are laying on the ground. if my boot goes clear through it, and it flies all over in rancid bits, it was birch or popple. if my boot dents into it, it was something else. if my toes hurt, it is hophornbeam, and the outer fraction of an inch will be punky, but the core will be solid and dry and ready to burn in a few months.

 

[solo40]

I started buring Oct 16 and have burned about 2 cords soo far.
The first year I burned 9 cords so it looks like it will be about
the same as last year.

Ethan

 

[Nofossil]

Poplar isn't my first (or second) choice, but I had to cut down four large trees that were right next to my wood pile. What else am I going to do with it?

 

[rickh1001]

I just finished the end of 3 cords today. However, I am not sure I agree with the heating season being 1/4 over. Oct/Nov have been "shoulder" months for sure. The real test is coming up with Jan/Feb.
For us in the the NE, as well as the upper mid-west, the heating season is pretty much Oct/April, but -20F in late Jan is way different than 20F now. For heating two homes, one normal and one very large with large heat loss, I have been keeping track of the wood usage vs. dates, and have been averaging 1.5 (full) cords/month so far. However, I expect that to almost double during the depths of winter. So I am planning to have at least 6 full cords ahead by Jan 1. I have 7 on hand right now, but will get a few more over the holidays. Once March hits, if I am short it is not a big problem, and even though we run the furnace once in a while even up into May some years, it is just once in a while to take the dampness out on cold evenings.

 

[Nofossil]

I just finished the end of 3 cords today. However, I am not sure I agree with the heating season being 1/4 over. Oct/Nov have been "shoulder" months for sure. The real test is coming up with Jan/Feb.
For us in the the NE, as well as the upper mid-west, the heating season is pretty much Oct/April, but -20F in late Jan is way different than 20F now. For heating two homes, one normal and one very large with large heat loss, I have been keeping track of the wood usage vs. dates, and have been averaging 1.5 (full) cords/month so far. However, I expect that to almost double during the depths of winter. So I am planning to have at least 6 full cords ahead by Jan 1. I have 7 on hand right now, but will get a few more over the holidays. Once March hits, if I am short it is not a big problem, and even though we run the furnace once in a while even up into May some years, it is just once in a while to take the dampness out on cold evenings.

I based it on NOAA data - Average degree days by today would be 1879 out of an average of 7320 by May 1st at my location. Here, we're running just a tad warmer than average for the season to date. Doesn't feel like it tonight, though......

 

[Vtgent49]

What Vermonters call Poplar, or Poppel, is Aspen, which is half the Btus of good hard maple, and similar to Pine and cedar.

 

[pybyr]

What Vermonters call Poplar, or Poppel, is Aspen, which is half the Btus of good hard maple, and similar to Pine and cedar.

except in a gasifier, the pitch in softwoods has some fuel value.

popple/ aspen has some great roles, between being an early succession tree and having mast for various birds and other critters, but it's crap for fuel. No offense to NoFo, and, again, the rest of us should make sure he makes out OK, given all he's done for the state of the group.

my fallback plan if I run short is a mess of dead standing red pine within drag-able distance. in a gasser, where you can burn the hydrocarbons of the pitch, it apparently has surprisingly good fuel value

 

[Duetech]

From adjustments made in air supply I am using about two hours less wood than I did last year in my EKO40 and I still think there is room for tweaking. Over all measurements say a cord will last me 19.3 days (24.6 actual) equating to 6.1 cords for a 150 day period which means I am looking forward to getting the storage built.

 

[CowboyAndy]

Unfortunatly I have used way more than I should have, due to starting the year off with wet wood. But, its smooth sailing now. So much more enjoyable to sit in front of a fire that doesnt hiss and sizzle.

I had planned on shooting for 6 cords, but we have used almost 2 so far...

What Vermonters call Poplar, or Poppel, is Aspen, which is half the Btus of good hard maple, and similar to Pine and cedar.

except in a gasifier, the pitch in softwoods has some fuel value.

popple/ aspen has some great roles, between being an early succession tree and having mast for various birds and other critters, but it's crap for fuel. No offense to NoFo, and, again, the rest of us should make sure he makes out OK, given all he's done for the state of the group.

my fallback plan if I run short is a mess of dead standing red pine within drag-able distance. in a gasser, where you can burn the hydrocarbons of the pitch, it apparently has surprisingly good fuel value

Aspen/pine/name your softwood does have a place in heating with wood. Myself and many others use it specificly for the purpose of a nice hot fire to get things going on.

 

[Fred61]

this chart unfortunately does not list BTU/cord for poplar, but it is otherwise a good resource, and does not seem to have good reflections on poplar.

http://www.mountainfirewoodkilns.com/firewood_ratings.pdf

but- if you run short, every one of us on hearth's boiler room should take up a collection to buy you a spare cord or a pallet of biobricks!

back to the cellar for me [/quote]


Another name for the eastern poplar is "Quaking Aspen" so if you want to compare heat values in the chart you could use the "Aspen" entry. I've vacationed out west in my RV for the last three years and the aspens sure appear to have the same physical characteristics as the poplars in my neighborhood.

 

[Piker]

The Econoburn EBW200 that I installed approximately 1 month ago has gone through almost 1 cord of wood so far this season. I had anticipated to use about half the wood that I used in previous years, plus not use any propane, and I seem to be inline with that assumption so far. I don't have anything catalogued or recorded in data tables this year due to time constraints, but hopefully next year.

As far as wood quality is concerned... You just can't beat good old seasoned hardwoods. Most people in my neck of the woods don't care whether their wood has been laying at the bottom of a swamp or seasoned for 2 years. They say "as long as it burns." It's difficult to explain to folks that, regardless of what kind of stove/boiler they are using, they will burn less wood if it's dry. There's alot of people who would rather burn 12 cord of soggy wood in an OWB as opposed to 6 cord of seasoned stuff in a gasser. They don't want the "hassle" of stocking wood ahead 6 months, but the "hassle" of using twice as much doesn't seem to bother them. I don't get it.

Quaking aspen is definitely low on the totem pole concerning BTU output. So is pine, even though pine actually holds more Btu's per pound than even most good hardwoods. Along the lines of 9,000 Btu's/lb as compared to about 8,000. The problem is... a pound of pine takes up more space than a pound of hard maple or white oak due it's low density... therefore, even though you fill your firebox up with pine, your not loading with near the mass as compared to hardwoods.

That having been said... if you have some quaking aspen or pine, just burn it. I tell all my customers that it's not a problem to burn that stuff, but that they just need to be aware that burn times will be significantly less. A load of pine in my EBW200 will burn up almost twice as fast as a load of hard maple. This year, I am burning mostly ash and soft maple... but I just split up about a cord of pine that I am going to mix in just to get rid of it. The best thing to do is keep your high quality wood seperate from your cheap stuff... burn the soft stuff when you're around to stoke the fire... burn the good hard stuff when your going to be gone for 10 or 12 hours.

So far, at 15* nights, I have been getting about a 6 hour burn time with a load of pine... 10 hour burn time with the ash/soft maple mix... and 12 or 13 hours with a load of strictly hard maple. No thermal storage yet, and heating a total of about 4500 sq feet including the basement. My method of heat exchange leaves alot to be desired, as I am basically just heating the basement to about 100* with an air handler and no ductwork, and letting the heat convect to the first floor. The upstairs has the pex/ultrafin in the floor, and the sunroom has pex in the concrete. I would expect once I get the rest of the system installed, wood usage should drop considerably... especially since I won't need to heat the basement really at all.

Wood burning can be fun.

cheers

 

[smokinj]

I am at 3 cords right now,but temps coming back to normal for the next week hope it sticks around longer!(we have used 0 back up heat to date last natural gas bill 13.95)

 

[warm in VT]

I have been burning since Oct. 1 and seem to be right in line with what everyone else is burning. Compared to the older model OWB, my gassifier is performing the same as all the rest of yours. I have gone through 1- 1 1/2 cords so far.

 

[Chris S.]

1.5 cords so far and about 100 gallons of propane for our 4500 square foot office/shop. This is season 1 for our tarm w/ storage, still learning how to maximize the time our storage will carry us. Propane use is on weekends and holidays after our storage is used up and no one is around to start a fire. Burning mainly ash, sugar maple, red maple with some oak and hophornbeam.

 

[Jim Post]

I am coming up on 3/4 of a cord of mixed (pine, willow, box elder, maple, ash, and oak) wood in nearly 1 month of burning full time. We stoke the tarm roughly 3 times a day and keep the 3 zones of baseboard satisfying a 58 degree thermostat setting which keeps the house at 62 degrees. This is our 4th year with the tarm solo 30 with no storage...I am continually impressed with it's operation. I remember reading somewhere that wood btu output is nearly equal per pound of dry wood so I am not too discriminating when in comes to what wood I burn. I try to save the oak and hardwoods for the heart of the winter but I will burn just about any wood that I can get.

jp

 

[Nofossil]

.....a 58 degree thermostat setting which keeps the house at 62 degrees.....

Yow! I though I was roughing it when the temp on the main floor dropped to 68 for a couple of hours when I was too lazy to build a fire.

 

[pybyr]

.....a 58 degree thermostat setting which keeps the house at 62 degrees.....

Yow! I though I was roughing it when the temp on the main floor dropped to 68 for a couple of hours when I was too lazy to build a fire.

Ha- if the Puritans had it right that virtue is directly proportional to suffering (which I would ordinarily be the first to dispute), I'm here with the oil furnace turned down to 55, a hat on my head, and going back and forth between working on the new heat system in the cellar and throwing limb wood in the cookstove to try to keep the place warm while burning as little oil as possible. seems like the ultimate fool's errand in the short haul, but I am assuming that it will pay off in the long run