24/7 burners required.

[mcdougy]

I'm curious to know what amount of wood are people going through? Looling for comparisons of 24/7 burners. I have about 16.5 cord indoor storage and I'm wondering if my consumption math is correct?
I'm hoping that should give me 3 seasons worth of product?

 

[Jan Pijpelink]

I'm curious to know what amount of wood are people going through? Looling for comparisons of 24/7 burners. I have about 16.5 cord indoor storage and I'm wondering if my consumption math is correct?
I'm hoping that should give me 3 seasons worth of product?

I think a lot of factors are in play here.
1. Location
2. Weather conditions
3. Insulation of the house
4. Dryness of the wood
5. Efficiency of the stove
6. House size
7. Etc.

I am in South Jersey, not an extreme cold climate in general. Our house is 2400 sft, well insulated (walls outside and inside insulated, doors insulated, double pane windows). We started burning in mid October and went through roughly 3.5-4 cords 24/7 with 2 EPA stoves. One on the lower floor (1.9 cft) and one on the upper floor (1.6 cft). My red oak is about 17-20% MC.

There are probably a lot of other factors I have not listed.

It is difficult to compare.

 

[mcdougy]

I completely understand the factors you have mentioned....I think 24/7 burners are close to the same climate to some degree. I'm just curious how many cords folks are using to burn 24/7 for their season ....I think it will be interesting to see if there seems to be a common number.

Sounds like your a 5 by the end.of the season.....

 

[Woody Stover]

Two cords I think. Don't really know.. All I know is I've only got a few years left..time to cut.

 

[Sawset]

1. Location
SE Wisc
2. Weather conditions
ave 10f night - 25f day 4-5mo+
3. Insulation of the house
10yrs old, well sealed and insulated
4. Dryness of the wood
Css 3-4yrs
5. Efficiency of the stove
Oslo f500, upper 70s %
6. House size
2000ft, 2 story, central stove location
Usage:
5stacks at 20" x 5.5ft x 12ft =4.3cords/yr
Average over 10yrs

 

[SlyFerret]

Central Ohio. I burn about 3 cords a year. Wood is primary heat. I burn about 50 gallons of propane in my forced air furnace, mostly in the shoulder season when I don’t need a lot of heat.

December through February I’m almost always reloading and lighting off of hot coals from the previous load.

-SF



Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

 

[Allagash350]

We are in Mid Coast Maine area and go through 4-6 cord easily, maybe 7.
House could use some better insulation but it's not terrible. About 1500 sqft. Last year was cold right up till June, and fall hit early this year. Had a fire after memorial day weekend if you can believe it.

I burn a mix of wood but it is primarily maple varieties which are a bit on the softer side so I burn more wood compared to the red oak.

I do not always load it in the morning, but you can really feel how cold the house is if you don't, it is just so different from baseboard.

Honestly I just keep the fire going because I am too lazy to split kindlin

 

[Jan Pijpelink]

Our Natural Gas furnace kicks in maybe for 1 hr in the morning. The rest we heat with the 2 stoves.

 

[Highbeam]

9 month burn season, softwood like Douglas fir, 4 cords per year for 100% wood heat in the house.

 

[weatherguy]

Probably 4-5 cords for you each year, maybe 6 on a bad year, lotta variables, I'm guessing.

 

[peakbagger]

I use about 3.5 to 4 cords a year supplemented by a mini split in shoulder seasons in Northern NH. That is heat and hot water. If I bought a second mini split for my second floor I would probably reduce the wood demand by a cord and not really increase my electric usage as currently my first floor minisplit just doesn't like to heat the second floor unless I run it hard.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Middle of NY here. The average house here will go through 4-5 full cords a winter.

You are storing 16 4ft x 4ft x 8ft cords inside? Why?

 

[illini81]

Location - SE CT
Insulation - pretty good I think
Dryness of wood - mostly around 18-20%, some that is over 20
Efficiency of the stove - 84.7%
House size - 2400 sqft

Wood heat provides about 80% of our BTUs, based on a comparison of heating bills before and after the stove installation. We used 4 cords last year (first year). Jury is still out on this year. Now that my wife is more comfortable loading large loads in the middle of the day, if needed on extra cold days, we may burn a full 5 this year.

 

[Tar12]

Central Indiana here...heating 1976 sq. ft..I am a little over half way through the 4th cord...I think I will be right at 5 cord for the season...maybe a tad more depending on what the rest of the winter has in store for me..

 

[Woody5506]

Upstate NY - Burning about 4 cords a year

Split level house, stove is not in an ideal area to heat the whole house, but it's in the coldest part of the house, and heats the whole downstairs well. No mater what I think split levels are a real PITA to heat. Still use a fair amount of natural gas for my furnace particularly this year because we have an infant at home.

Not the greatest insulation but added over 14" of blow in cellulose this year to two attics plus air sealing. This helped a ton, and I keep my thermostat set higher this year than last year yet am using half the amount of gas.

 

[firefighterjake]

I burn what I burn . . . I've never really sat down and computed how many cords I burn since I have never been too worried about running out. I would guess I burn 3-5 cords in a season.

 

[SuperJ]

I would think 2-3 cords would be the min for a 24/7 burn between Nov and March. Not sure if 2 is possible.
The sky is the upper limit depending on everything. I'm pretty close to 3 bush cords a year (128cuft/cord)
To get down to 2 or below, I would think you would have to have a shorter 24/7 season.

 

[Highbeam]

Since I burn 4 cords of softwood per year in the house plus one in the shop, and softwood needs one summer to season, I store 10 cords. A two year supply. Replenished each summer. If I overburn in one winter I simply dip into next year’s supply. If I underburn I will not need to add as much to refill. I only have to replace what I burn each year and should always have seasoned wood.

Try to get ahead.

This also means I can fail to replenish the supply one year for any reason and still stay warm the next year.

 

[mcdougy]

Middle of NY here. The average house here will go through 4-5 full cords a winter.

You are storing 16 4ft x 4ft x 8ft cords inside? Why?

Good question? I guess it's because it stores so we'll inside...it helps that there is a 2 storey turn of the century barn that's 110' x 34'. So I guess it's because I have the room.

Since I burn 4 cords of softwood per year in the house plus one in the shop, and softwood needs one summer to season, I store 10 cords. A two year supply. Replenished each summer. If I overburn in one winter I simply dip into next year’s supply. If I underburn I will not need to add as much to refill. I only have to replace what I burn each year and should always have seasoned wood.

Try to get ahead.

This also means I can fail to replenish the supply one year for any reason and still stay warm the next year.

That's what I also like about storing inside. It allows me to know exactly how much wood I have on hand. Last winter I couldn't get into the woods due to too much snow. This year I'm in the process of refilling everything. Almost have 9 cords done another 4 to go.

 

[redmanlcs]

Consider this. Location is Usa, West virginia, Last winter was average, maybe a touch milder than usual. Dwelling is an antique mobile home with no insulation in the floors and only half underpinned. Stove was a cheap logwood, definitely not approved for the application. Consumption was a little over 10 full cords of wood. Half of this wood was more than 20 percent on the meter.

During a recent cold snap of 3 days below zero at night, my consumption was close to half a cord, with the stove burning at full capacity. The stove couldn't keep up and the house temp would fall to around 55 degrees F. Of course you can feel the wind blow from the living room windows.

When I calculate how much wood I need to make it through the winter, I figure I'm going to use the stove from October to possibly May. I would feel comfortable If I has 12 cords for the year. I might could be by with 10. I would start scrounging at 8...

There is a lot to consider.

 

[MTY]

Just a tich over 6 per year averaged over the last 9 years. 2700 feet on one floor.

 

[weatherguy]

Consider this. Location is Usa, West virginia, Last winter was average, maybe a touch milder than usual. Dwelling is an antique mobile home with no insulation in the floors and only half underpinned. Stove was a cheap logwood, definitely not approved for the application. Consumption was a little over 10 full cords of wood. Half of this wood was more than 20 percent on the meter.

During a recent cold snap of 3 days below zero at night, my consumption was close to half a cord, with the stove burning at full capacity. The stove couldn't keep up and the house temp would fall to around 55 degrees F. Of course you can feel the wind blow from the living room windows.

When I calculate how much wood I need to make it through the winter, I figure I'm going to use the stove from October to possibly May. I would feel comfortable If I has 12 cords for the year. I might could be by with 10. I would start scrounging at 8...

There is a lot to consider.

Have you considered a more efficient stove? You're in outdoor boiler territory on wood consumption.

 

[Tar12]

Consider this. Location is Usa, West virginia, Last winter was average, maybe a touch milder than usual. Dwelling is an antique mobile home with no insulation in the floors and only half underpinned. Stove was a cheap logwood, definitely not approved for the application. Consumption was a little over 10 full cords of wood. Half of this wood was more than 20 percent on the meter.

During a recent cold snap of 3 days below zero at night, my consumption was close to half a cord, with the stove burning at full capacity. The stove couldn't keep up and the house temp would fall to around 55 degrees F. Of course you can feel the wind blow from the living room windows.

When I calculate how much wood I need to make it through the winter, I figure I'm going to use the stove from October to possibly May. I would feel comfortable If I has 12 cords for the year. I might could be by with 10. I would start scrounging at 8...

There is a lot to consider.

I would be considering dropping some money into tightening your place up! And upgrading to a much more efficient stove! Damn man thats a lot of wood your burning!

 

[KindredSpiritzz]

I use around 5 cords a year as primary heat, this year will probably be 6 cords. One cord lasts me around 25 days and my typical season is mid oct to mid april. Figure you'll use 5 cords for your estimates, that should be close.

 

[Ashful]

I think a lot of factors are in play here.
1. Location
2. Weather conditions
3. Insulation of the house
4. Dryness of the wood
5. Efficiency of the stove
6. House size
7. Etc.

It is difficult to compare.

I think I could make a pretty good argument that, other than the extremes (hello, Minnesota), 95% - 99% of full-time burners max out around 4 cords per stove per year. Most folks loading 2x - 3x per day into a 2.5 - 3.0 cubic foot stove, over the course of 6 months + shoulder seasons, are going to be limited by how much wood they can reasonably put thru that stove than anything else.

There are obvious exceptions, those running 4 cubic foot stoves, and the few of us running multiple stoves. But I watch these threads come up every year, and the overwhelming response is always 3 - 4 cords per stove per year.