Burned About Half As Much As Last Winter

[donmattingly]

Replacing the less tight VC Vigilant with the Hearthstone and a relatively mild winter here in NH left us burning only 3 cords. Last winter I burned almost 6 cords!
Only used 1/4 of a tank of oil too! I would say the average temp in the house was 72.
The Vigilant was here when we purchased this home and even though it was older and inefficient I am pretty sure it was too big for this house, about 1500sf. The Hearthstone's firebox is much smaller too.
I have 4 cords left for next winter and getting a log length load delivered this week to prepare for the winters of 2011,2012 and 2013!
Good to get ahead!

 

[Backwoods Savage]

That is sweet when you use less fuel and still stay nice and warm.

We too burned a lot less wood this year. I'm not certain but it looks like about 1/2 cord less.

 

[PapaDave]

That is sweet when you use less fuel and still stay nice and warm.

We too burned a lot less wood this year. I'm not certain but it looks like about 1/2 cord less.

Not done yet, but we might be about 1/2 cord less too. We've got a little cool spell headed our way, then we'll see.

 

[70marlin]

Replacing the less tight VC Vigilant with the Hearthstone and a relatively mild winter here in NH left us burning only 3 cords. Last winter I burned almost 6 cords!
Only used 1/4 of a tank of oil too! I would say the average temp in the house was 72.
The Vigilant was here when we purchased this home and even though it was older and inefficient I am pretty sure it was too big for this house, about 1500sf. The Hearthstone's firebox is much smaller too.
I have 4 cords left for next winter and getting a log length load delivered this week to prepare for the winters of 2011,2012 and 2013!
Good to get ahead!

Good for you! I feel like I burned a touch less than last year also. This winter seemed a bit warmer?

 

[donmattingly]

I think this winter was a bit warmer that normal. Snowfall was the biggest difference. While the Mid-Atlantic got slammed, we came away with less snow than last year. I think I used the snowblower 6 times.

 

[heatwise]

thats great to use less. we have had a mild winter and great shoulder seasons, sunny today with the back door open to the enclosed porch. looking at what we used this year theyres still plenty, this was one of the best years. im sure our soapstone stove helped to conserve our supply, got news of an oak tree coming down in a couple weeks . so, time to sharpen up the saws, pete

 

[laynes69]

We tightened the home up some, which made a big difference and removed the old smoke dragon furnace. With the new EPA furnace, we shaved probably 2+ cords from our consumption. For the first time in 6 years we had wood left over in the pile. I'm hoping to lower that consumption even more with a liner, and fully seasoned wood. I'm going to try to get 2 years ahead on wood so I don't have to worry about it being seasoned. The old furnace didn't care and I though the wood was always dry. I found out the hard way this year it wasn't. Lesson learned.

 

[begreen]

Nice going laynes. Stick with the dry wood program. Even if the furnace will burn less seasoned wood, you are just cheating yourself. The moisture release during burning cools down the fire which means more wood burned to get the required btus. Always try to stay ahead on the wood supply. It pays off in a cleaner burn, more heat and less creosote accumulation.

 

[laynes69]

I guess its a learning curve with a EPA unit. Many times I thought I made the wrong decision, but we are very happy with it.

 

[NH_Wood]

Replacing the less tight VC Vigilant with the Hearthstone and a relatively mild winter here in NH left us burning only 3 cords. Last winter I burned almost 6 cords!
Only used 1/4 of a tank of oil too! I would say the average temp in the house was 72.
The Vigilant was here when we purchased this home and even though it was older and inefficient I am pretty sure it was too big for this house, about 1500sf. The Hearthstone's firebox is much smaller too.
I have 4 cords left for next winter and getting a log length load delivered this week to prepare for the winters of 2011,2012 and 2013!
Good to get ahead!

Where are you getting the log loads and what are you paying? I'm likely not too far from you - thanks! Cheers!

 

[cmonSTART]

We have a bit more left over than I expected, too. Hooray for less work!!

 

[Larrys land]

Glad to hear everyone (myself included) used less wood and stayed just as warm. The down side is less wood to cut this year, and less time in the woods. Could just take the tractor out ,find a sunny spot and ponder things. Thats not cheating is it?

 

[North of 60]

Glad to hear everyone (myself included) used less wood and stayed just as warm. The down side is less wood to cut this year, and less time in the woods. Could just take the tractor out ,find a sunny spot and ponder things. Thats not cheating is it?

Nope, that's just real living. Cheers!

 

[Todd]

Feb and March were very mild here so I also have some wood left over. I'll probably just throw it in my 2012 pile unless we get an April cold snap. To date I've burned 2.6 cords, usually go through 3 cord per season.

 

[firefighterjake]

I think some of this efficiency is with the mild winter northern New England had this past winter . . . although I am sure having an EPA stove made a big difference too.

 

[Slow1]

Ditto here - I expected an improvement over last year, but not anywhere near as much as this! Although I'm not ready to do a final cleaning of the stove yet and haven't done a careful measurement I think I'll end up with over a cord left over. I had hoped for just about half that.

I'm not complaining though - a nice mild winter was just what I needed to help get ahead. If we could have another one next winter then perhaps that oak I split over this past winter won't be burned until it has had a full two years (or more) to dry.

 

[donmattingly]

Where are you getting the log loads and what are you paying? I'm likely not too far from you - thanks! Cheers![/quote]

Local guy here in Chesire County $800 a load. You end up with about 8 cords.