I installed my Progress Hybrid in mid January, and managed to burn 4 cords (128-style cords) by the end of the Spring season. This is on par with our wood consumption in the previous stove. Fortunately, even accounting for the mild winter, we were warmer than before. I've been curious about the burn times and wood usage reported by others. Typically the longest I go between re-loads is 7 hours overnight; some days I reload every 3 to 4 hours. I've been concerned that I am burning inefficiently, so I've been playing with the calculator this evening.
With 90 days in the 2012 Feb/March/April calendar, and burning 4 cord of Red Maple that had 21 months of CSS drying time by the start of this period, I realized, at best, 28,000 BTU per hour. (I did burn some in May, too, so my actual hourly BTU rate is lower.)
The EPA stats for the stove says its range is from 12,500 to 73,000 BTU per hour. Woodstock reports a max just above this.
Averages are simplistic - some of days there was no fire, some days there was a lot of fire.
Still, I'd say that 8 cord of Red Maple per full heating season is very comfortably within the expected capacity of this stove. As for burn times, at 28,000 BTU/hr a firebox full of splits should last about 12 hours, but at 65,000 BTU/hr it is closer to 5 hours. I don't spend a lot of effort at maximizing the 2.8 cu ft of firebox, especially when I know I will be around for a reload (I do like to play with fire), so the shorter burn times also seem well within the expected parameters.
Pushing the pencil does make me want to get at my hophornbeam on the other side of the mountain, but as they say, you can't get there from here. My next-best option is to get another year ahead on drying time.
With 90 days in the 2012 Feb/March/April calendar, and burning 4 cord of Red Maple that had 21 months of CSS drying time by the start of this period, I realized, at best, 28,000 BTU per hour. (I did burn some in May, too, so my actual hourly BTU rate is lower.)
The EPA stats for the stove says its range is from 12,500 to 73,000 BTU per hour. Woodstock reports a max just above this.
Averages are simplistic - some of days there was no fire, some days there was a lot of fire.
Still, I'd say that 8 cord of Red Maple per full heating season is very comfortably within the expected capacity of this stove. As for burn times, at 28,000 BTU/hr a firebox full of splits should last about 12 hours, but at 65,000 BTU/hr it is closer to 5 hours. I don't spend a lot of effort at maximizing the 2.8 cu ft of firebox, especially when I know I will be around for a reload (I do like to play with fire), so the shorter burn times also seem well within the expected parameters.
Pushing the pencil does make me want to get at my hophornbeam on the other side of the mountain, but as they say, you can't get there from here. My next-best option is to get another year ahead on drying time.