Keeping track of pounds of wood burned to measure use?

[mar13]

After a season of reading these posts, I'm starting to ponder about nerding out next winter and weigh how wood I bring into the house to burn. I have a mix of wood types and sizes, so it may be a better way to monitor and track my usage rather than by rough volume. Anybody tried this for a decent amount of time? I noticed in the Green Room that @Highbeam posted that 40 pounds (of fir?) is a typical day's use. To get extra nerdy, I could spread sheet it and compare it to the utility's smart meter data of my natural gas (furnace) usage.

I know I'll get some grief when the scale disappears from of the bathroom.

 

[Highbeam]

After a season of reading these posts, I'm starting to ponder about nerding out next winter and weigh how wood I bring into the house to burn. I have a mix of wood types and sizes, so it may be a better way to monitor and track my usage rather than by rough volume. Anybody tried this for a decent amount of time? I noticed in the Green Room that @Highbeam posted that 40 pounds (of fir?) is a typical day's use. To get extra nerdy, I could spread sheet it and compare it to the utility's smart meter data of my natural gas (furnace) usage.

I know I'll get some grief when the scale disappears from of the bathroom.

I use one of those wood slings so can carry a whole load at once. Into the bathroom and into the scale. Then I set the sling down by the stove and go weigh myself without it. The difference is the fuel charge. The weight is pretty much the same for fir, alder, maple, but cedar is a little less.

 

[mar13]

Do you measure your loads regularly or just occasionally out of curiosity?

I'm s 5 gallon bucket person, but may consider getting one of those wood slings.

 

[jetsam]

Pounds aren't a great unit of measure for wood stove fuel.

Let's say you CSS a monster oak and get 3 cords out of it, and burn 1 cord per year.

The first year your first cord is at 50% MC, the second year 30%, the third year your last cord is at 20%. The first year you are burning 5500# of wood and getting poor heat out of it. The third year you are burning maybe 3500# of wood and getting great heat. Same tree, same stove, different weights and different BTU outputs.

 

[xman23]

Just envisioning. Definitely a lot of variables that go into creating an equation that can calculate wood weight. So with this, for for a given day we could predict the wood usage. Or use my wife's calculation, she needs 25 pieces a day on the side deck.

 

[peakbagger]

Not really worth it unless you have wood that is controlled for moisture. I have had to write performance tests for dry large industrial wood boilers in the past and even with a lot of gear and instrumentation we always end up with far too much uncertainty in the calculation of fuel usage due to moisture and btu content of the fuel. Realistically just figure out your volume used over a couple of years and then add some cushion in your wood piles to deal with changes in yearly heating demand.

 

[mar13]

Pounds aren't a great unit of measure for wood stove fuel.

Let's say you CSS a monster oak and get 3 cords out of it, and burn 1 cord per year.

The first year your first cord is at 50% MC, the second year 30%, the third year your last cord is at 20%. The first year you are burning 5500# of wood and getting poor heat out of it. The third year you are burning maybe 3500# of wood and getting great heat. Same tree, same stove, different weights and different BTU outputs.

I definitely agree with you on this. If one is diligent about burning only well seasoned wood ( I try to wait at least 2 year & have a moisture reader), however, wouldn't weight be the way to go? Admittedly, weighing would be extra work, so a person would have to get some entertainment value from this extra information.

 

[brenndatomu]

After a season of reading these posts, I'm starting to ponder about nerding out next winter and weigh how wood I bring into the house to burn. I have a mix of wood types and sizes, so it may be a better way to monitor and track my usage rather than by rough volume. Anybody tried this for a decent amount of time? I noticed in the Green Room that @Highbeam posted that 40 pounds (of fir?) is a typical day's use. To get extra nerdy, I could spread sheet it and compare it to the utility's smart meter data of my natural gas (furnace) usage.

I know I'll get some grief when the scale disappears from of the bathroom.

Oh man, have you ever met @JRHAWK9 ? Y'all will get along famously...

 

[Highbeam]

After a season of reading these posts, I'm starting to ponder about nerding out next winter and weigh how wood I bring into the house to burn. I have a mix of wood types and sizes, so it may be a better way to monitor and track my usage rather than by rough volume. Anybody tried this for a decent amount of time? I noticed in the Green Room that @Highbeam posted that 40 pounds (of fir?) is a typical day's use. To get extra nerdy, I could spread sheet it and compare it to the utility's smart meter data of my natural gas (furnace) usage.

I know I'll get some grief when the scale disappears from of the bathroom.

I use one of those wood slings so can carry a whole load at once. Into the bathroom and into the scale. Then I set the sling down by the stove and go weigh myself without it. The difference is the fuel charge. The weight is pretty much the same for fir, alder, maple, but cedar is a little less.

Do you measure your loads regularly or just occasionally out of curiosity?

I'm s 5 gallon bucket person, but may consider getting one of those wood slings.

I do not do it regularly. My wood is consistent enough that I found the same weight for each load within a reasonable few lbs. With my stove I load a full load each time once per day and just wanted to know what my house needed for heat energy each day. The stove thermostat meters the output well.

You could get all crazy, as some do, and actually predict how many lbs you will need and just load that much.

 

[JRHAWK9]

Oh man, have you ever met @JRHAWK9 ? Y'all will get along famously...

he he. Hey, don't act like you don't weigh yours now. You have to admit, it works great with a Kuuma and makes for planning out your loads a piece of cake.

Pounds aren't a great unit of measure for wood stove fuel.

Let's say you CSS a monster oak and get 3 cords out of it, and burn 1 cord per year.

The first year your first cord is at 50% MC, the second year 30%, the third year your last cord is at 20%. The first year you are burning 5500# of wood and getting poor heat out of it. The third year you are burning maybe 3500# of wood and getting great heat. Same tree, same stove, different weights and different BTU outputs.

All my wood is to the point of being at equilibrium moisture though I'm guessing. Next year I'll be burning 5-6 year old stuff and my supply will only be getting MORE seasoned as time goes on. The boiler guys do it in order to know how much wood to use to charge their storage. I do it because I just like to play with numbers. Doesn't matter if they are 100% accurate, just as long as they are consistent so I can compare winter to winter.

After a season of reading these posts, I'm starting to ponder about nerding out next winter and weigh how wood I bring into the house to burn. I have a mix of wood types and sizes, so it may be a better way to monitor and track my usage rather than by rough volume. Anybody tried this for a decent amount of time? I noticed in the Green Room that @Highbeam posted that 40 pounds (of fir?) is a typical day's use. To get extra nerdy, I could spread sheet it and compare it to the utility's smart meter data of my natural gas (furnace) usage.

I know I'll get some grief when the scale disappears from of the bathroom.

You could get all crazy, as some do, and actually predict how many lbs you will need and just load that much.

Yep, what I do. I actually look at the next day's predicted HDD and use that number to give me a total ballpark weight of wood to burn for that day.

I weigh every load. I know what my furnace consumes/hr based on where I have the computer set. I just look at the forecast and make an educated guess based on that and how many hours I want heat. The Kuuma burns like clockwork, so it works out great weighing loads. How I have things set up, there no extra work really. I take the wood from the rack to a bin regardless, I just have the bin sitting on a platform scale and put whatever weight I'm shooting for in it. Then I just move it the 3' to the front of the furnace to load. I keep a notebook downstairs and take note on what I load. Then I update my spreadsheet whenever I get a chance.

You will need well seasoned wood though, as like some pointed out, water weighs a fair amount. This is where I got the BTUs/lb to use: https://mha-net.org/docs/v8n2/docs/WDBASICS.pdf I use 6,500BTU's/lb.

copy/pasted from a PM just yesterday. Pretty darn accurate if you ask me!

So, it's a nice sunny day today and the snow is pretty much gone so I thought I'd clean up my wood stacking area a bit and get things ready to start splitting this winters haul in the next couple weeks. While I was out there I moved some more wood into the house and in doing so finished up another row. I decided to do some measuring of the rows I burned this winter, seeing as though I started on a full row and just ended a row. I measured the vacated rows and then subtracted what I have sitting down stairs in racks and in my cart.

The piles measured a total length of 82' long, by ~18" wide and 5' tall. This equals to 4.8 cords. I used 18" long because not all were 20". Won't be getting into consistent 20" stuff for a couple years yet, when I started making it a point to cut everything 20" and to stop guessing.

The wood sitting in my two racks downstairs and in my cart totaled ~0.60 cord.

So, I burned ~4.2 cords so far this winter by volume.

I just came upstairs to check what my up to date spreadsheet said, which is based SOLELY off of the weight of the wood I burned.........

I'm not making this up. Every time I check the two methods they are always damn close. I'm using 3,650lbs/cord for red oak, which is the majority of what I burn.

 

[brenndatomu]

he he. Hey, don't act like you don't weigh yours now. You have to admit, it works great with a Kuuma and makes for planning out your loads a piece of cake.

Yeah...but that's where it ends for me...no spreadsheets here
It has made getting used the furnace a little easier.

 

[Marshy]

I definitely agree with you on this. If one is diligent about burning only well seasoned wood ( I try to wait at least 2 year & have a moisture reader), however, wouldn't weight be the way to go? Admittedly, weighing would be extra work, so a person would have to get some entertainment value from this extra information.

In my opinion it is the way to go because all species have nearly the same btu/lb. This does not consider differences in moisture content but suffice to say that if you have wet wood you are probably going to burn more wood because less BTU's can be utilized from the wet qood...

 

[Marshy]

...
You could get all crazy, as some do, and actually predict how many lbs you will need and just load that much.

My Froling calculates how much wood needs to be loaded to recharge my storage tank. Based on what its calling for I know roughly how full to fill my firebox. If it's really cold out I can put a little extra in because the high demand the house has needs to be satisfied also during the few hours the load is burning. On warmer days it's better to load at or below what I think I need so I dont send it into idle mode. I just wish the calculation would convert it to lbs instead of kg.

By the way, you're already crazy for actually weighing your wood. LOL I burn way too much of it to be fooling around weighing it too.

 

[maple1]

Pounds aren't a great unit of measure for wood stove fuel.

Let's say you CSS a monster oak and get 3 cords out of it, and burn 1 cord per year.

The first year your first cord is at 50% MC, the second year 30%, the third year your last cord is at 20%. The first year you are burning 5500# of wood and getting poor heat out of it. The third year you are burning maybe 3500# of wood and getting great heat. Same tree, same stove, different weights and different BTU outputs.

Disagree. Good practice will have your wood seasoned to basically all the same MC. Pounds gets rid of species variations along with stuff like stacking styles & split sizes etc.. It is the most accurate way to go, actually.

 

[jetsam]

Disagree. Good practice will have your wood seasoned to basically all the same MC. It is the most accurate way to go, actually.

Isn't that kind of unrealistic though? I don't know how many people are going to be willing and able to get all their stacks to the same MC once they go down that rabbit hole and realize that they either need multiple kilns or roofed structures and six years. That's 12-24 cords and a whole lot of woodsheds for most folks.

If you've burned wood from tarped stacks, you'll know that that's not really an option if you're looking for consistency between piles (unless you live in a desert, maybe).

I did see a video of a guy drying wood to equilibrium indoors, but he was taking already-dry wood and spending months per individual split weighing it every day and waiting for the weight to stop changing. That's more the spirit of inquiry and less a form of wood processing.

 

[JRHAWK9]

Yeah...but that's where it ends for me...no spreadsheets here
It has made getting used the furnace a little easier.

no yet. Just give it some time and you too will want the ability to look back at previous years to compare and the have ability to see trends.

 

[JRHAWK9]

By the way, you're already crazy for actually weighing your wood. LOL I burn way too much of it to be fooling around weighing it too.

I guess it all depends on your setup. Guys with wood stoves in the main living area, I agree, it would be a PITA. Only thing I do any differently, compared to the very first 4 months when I wasn't weighing my loads, is writing down a number. Instead of placing the wood in a bin sitting on the basement floor, the bin is sitting on a platform scale. Instead of moving the bin off the floor the ~3' to the loading door of the furnace, I'm moving the bin off the scale that 3' to the furnace. It's the writing down of a number on a notebook which is the added step. The notebook sits 5' from the scale.

Also, another thing to keep in mind, I do batch loadings. It's not like I'm down there throwing in a couple pieces every 2 hours.

Personally, I'd be lost w/o my scale. I've gotten so used to using it to gauge how much wood to load I'd probably be over-heating the house all the time, especially during the shoulder seasons. There are times during the winter when I second guess my loading once I get it in the furnace thinking it just doesn't look like enough wood based on volume (or too much wood when I run into some lighter splits). It all turns out just fine though.....trust the scale!

 

[Highbeam]

I have a little book in my truck's console where I’ve recorded every single drop of fuel added, price per gallon, mpg, odometer reading, and conditions on every line plus any maintenance done. I’ve been logging fuel for 25 years in the pickups.

Weighing wood loads, not as important. I’ve checked a few times just to know.

 

[JRHAWK9]

I have a little book in my truck's console where I’ve recorded every single drop of fuel added, price per gallon, mpg, odometer reading, and conditions on every line plus any maintenance done. I’ve been logging fuel for 25 years in the pickups.

I also keep a spreadsheet for fuel consumption for my cars.

Screen capture of my 2005 Civic's page. I use it to tow various things (have a brake controller wired up....lol), so that's why there is such a huge discrepancy in the min/max MPG.

 

[jetsam]

My stove runs on a thermostat, so I just load it full every time and set the thermostat to wherever the weather dictates. 55 degree weather is the same as 0 degree weather except for the time between loads.

I won't be going back to pre-thermostat wood stoves.

 

[mar13]

Once my kids are older, there ought to be a good science fair project somewhere in all of this (If they even care....)

 

[Highbeam]

My stove runs on a thermostat, so I just load it full every time and set the thermostat to wherever the weather dictates. 55 degree weather is the same as 0 degree weather except for the time between loads.

I won't be going back to pre-thermostat wood stoves.

It's hard to convey the convenience and other benefits of this feature. It is also very odd that only a couple of companies have tried and only one company does it well. I think part of the success of the BK's use of a thermostat is a good cat stove that offers a wide range of clean outputs.

Even in the EPA wood furnace world, most only have a very crude type of thermostatic control. High or low.

 

[JRHAWK9]

My stove runs on a thermostat, so I just load it full every time and set the thermostat to wherever the weather dictates. 55 degree weather is the same as 0 degree weather except for the time between loads.

I won't be going back to pre-thermostat wood stoves.

It's hard to convey the convenience and other benefits of this feature. It is also very odd that only a couple of companies have tried and only one company does it well. I think part of the success of the BK's use of a thermostat is a good cat stove that offers a wide range of clean outputs.

Even in the EPA wood furnace world, most only have a very crude type of thermostatic control. High or low.

There are quite a few of us though who don't want to deal with the idiosyncrasies of a cat. Personally, I'd much rather burn the wood cleanly from the get go instead of relying on a consumable cat to clean up the mess of an incomplete burn.

 

[bholler]

Some of you guys have entirely to much time on your hands.

 

[JRHAWK9]

Some of you guys have entirely to much time on your hands.

This, sir, is completely by design!