Doesn't A Face Cord A Week Sound Like A Lot?

[tryin.not.to.burn.the.house.down]

I really wish we waiting a year before we put in the stove.....we recently moved into a 120 yr old home; 3800 sq ft, gas furnance. My husband and I were worried about our gas bill for the winter so we went ahead and put in a Lopi Liberty in an existing coal burning fireplace. The pipe cuts into the chimney about 6.5 feet up and has the liner the rest of the 25 ft chimney. We are now going through A FACE CORD A WEEK running this bad girl Is anyone else going through this amount of wood?
The house was empty 18 months prior to moving in so it's hard to compare any savings, but gee it seems like we would be breaking even if that We are buying wood $65 a face cord. Let me know your thoughts. Thanks

 

[savageactor7]

No not at all...keep in mind this is probably the warmest day we had in the last 7.

 

[Pagey]

I'll have to say "yes and no" to answer you. Yes, because you have $65 a rick (face cord) invested in your wood. You can get a face cord around here for 25-$45, but I realize that prices will vary by location. On the other hand, I would say "no" because 3,800 sq. ft. is a LOT of house, especially if it's an older house. I have a hard enough time trying to heat 1,800 sq. ft. in a 10 year old home when we dip into the teens and single digits, so I can only imagine what it would be like to heat more than double that!

 

[fossil]

Our Liberty does pretty well with ~2600 FT^2...I think If I were going to add another 1200 FT^2, I'd start by planning where the second stove was going to be located. ;-P Rick

 

[kenny chaos]

I go thru a facecord in my Liberty every week.

 

[gpcollen1]

Aha - sister to my Olympic. Yeah, big firebox and cold weather eats lots of wood. I think that still sounds like too much wood but then again, I definitely do a cord a month so maybe you are right on - and I close the stove down for 12 hours a day when at work - but maybe it is b/c of what kind of wood it is. So what are you burning?? Everyone talks about the amount of heat from certain wood types but it is truly amazing at how long a nice pile of red oak will last as opposed to some maple. If I put a nice load of oak in on the weekend when I am at home, i find that I am always surprised at how long it burns for...and gives heat.

 

[Todd]

Sounds like way too much to me. Are you burning with full air most of the time? If so your probably sending most of your heat up the chimney.

 

[ken999]

Nope..that's not alot considering the sheer size of your house. I burn nearly that heating 1800 sq ft.

 

[beau5278]

I've been burning a little more than 1 face cord a week since Thanksgiving,probably even more last week.That's 2 stoves going 24/7 in a 50 yr old,poorly insulated,1800sf house but the wood doesn't cost me anything except the time it takes to cut it.

 

[ManiacPD]

That sounds about right.

While I am using a boiler it's not exactly apples to apples, but I am burning about 1/2 cord per week heating 3,000 sq. ft. You're burning 1/3 cord per week.

The question is...how much are you saving on your gas bill? My parents heat with oil and a pellet insert and with oil at $2.20/gallon they weren't breaking even burning pellets. The wood is a lot of work if you're not saving much on your gas bill.

 

[Techstuf]

I average 16th of a full cord a day during the coldest weeks of winter to heat nearly 3,000sq ft. So I'd say you are doing ok. Yes, that's nearly two cords a month!


I go through an average of 4.5 to 5.5 cords a year.


TS

 

[Wet1]

I really wish we waiting a year before we put in the stove.....we recently moved into a 120 yr old home; 3800 sq ft, gas furnance. My husband and I were worried about our gas bill for the winter so we went ahead and put in a Lopi Liberty in an existing coal burning fireplace. The pipe cuts into the chimney about 6.5 feet up and has the liner the rest of the 25 ft chimney. We are now going through A FACE CORD A WEEK running this bad girl Is anyone else going through this amount of wood?
The house was empty 18 months prior to moving in so it's hard to compare any savings, but gee it seems like we would be breaking even if that We are buying wood $65 a face cord. Let me know your thoughts. Thanks

That might seem like a lot, but try heating with only the gas! Even if you assume that you burn 1 FC per week over the 26 week heating season, that's just under $1700 in wood. But you certainly will not be burning one FC every week throughout the 26 weeks since your consumption should go down during the shoulder seasons. You'll probably use about 18 FC per season (or about $1200 at your current pricing). If this is proving to be too costly, get out there and start fetching your own wood.

Also, I would think with that many sq ft that you'd be better off with a central wood boiler/furnace or even two stoves. Otherwise, you'll have a hard time spreading the heat from a single stove to that much area. Also consider adding (more) insulation as that can make a big difference.

But again, try heating that 3800 sq ft with only the NG and get back to us about high consumption! I'm sure it would cost you well over $3k to heat with NG.

BTW, what's your total NG price per therm/CCF?

 

[Rockey]

Sounds about right. I wouldn't be surprised if it was actually more than that. Your trying to heat a large volume of air in, what I would assume is a not so well insualted house. I heat about 4000 sq ft in a decently well insulated home and go thru at least a 1/3 a cord a week.

 

[oconnor]

I think the key here is the "120 year old house" part. You are likely getting a lot of air leakage in your home, and therefore need a lot of heat, instead of your stove "eating" wood. I went thru that last year, without wood, but using oil. Last November, we could hardly stay warm in here, but after adding R60 in the attic, new windows and airsealing and insulating the basement, the energy audit showed we cut the air change rate on our house down from nearly 8 air changes/hour to 3.8 air changes/hour. Now If I run my small insert all day, it gets too hot, even when it was -18*C last week.

 

[webfoot]

Sounds right to me, I have a 1600 sf old farm house with almost no insulation and I burn 1 face cord a week when its windy.Lately the weather has been extreem
Still way cheaper than Oil my alternative
Webfoot

 

[pen]

That's what I go through when it is really cold.

Even at 65 per week, that's about 300 per month. For that size house and considering how little propane you could buy for that (even at today's prices) I don't think you are doing poorly.

pen

 

[BrotherBart]

Gotta be a few rooms in a house that size that could be closed off.

 

[BJ64]

On the other hand I have to admit I feel a bit envious. She gets to run the big Liberty wide open for days at a time.

I hardly ever get to "open up" my little Leyden. I have no idea what my lil stove is able to do.

 

[iceman]

i thought a face cord was .25 of a full cord??? face cord should avg 16 inches wide by 4'x8' which is a .25 of a full cord
so by my calculations thats a cord a month and it thats heating 3800 sq ft in a 120 y.o. old house.... YOU ARE DOING GREAT
1 cd a month with the temps we just had! as the temps moderate you'll use a little less but the key is 3800 sq ft and 120 yo house ....
run your furnace for a month and see the diff or call the gas and ask what was the avg usage 2 years ago the should be able to give you and idea

 

[fespo]

Seems alittle high to me. Are you filling that box all the way up to the top? I fill mine with 22" long logs and I can put 4-5 in at a time. I do this 3 to 4 times a day. If I don't fill it to the brim, burn for about a hour on med, med-high then slow down the air I too would be burning a face cord a week. How big or wide are the splits? Is someone home all day? If so are they playing with the fire? I don't know what else to tell you. Fespo

 

[Todd]

i thought a face cord was .25 of a full cord??? face cord should avg 16 inches wide by 4'x8' which is a .25 of a full cord
so by my calculations thats a cord a month and it thats heating 3800 sq ft in a 120 y.o. old house.... YOU ARE DOING GREAT
1 cd a month with the temps we just had! as the temps moderate you'll use a little less but the key is 3800 sq ft and 120 yo house ....
run your furnace for a month and see the diff or call the gas and ask what was the avg usage 2 years ago the should be able to give you and idea

No, a face cord is 1/3 full cord at 16"x4'x8'

Full cord = 128 cu ft
16"x4'x8' = 42.6 cu ft x 3 = 128

 

[Peter B.]

I hardly ever get to "open up" my little Leyden. I have no idea what my lil stove is able to do.

I sorta, kinda know the feeling...

I'm only trying to heat about 500 square feet of living space... and though I'd love to run my old stove as hot as it could safely go (just to see what she could do), I'd fry.

I also remain concerned that with my smoke dragon, there's enough residual creosote in the black pipe and Class A that I might regret burning that hot... real quick.

Oh, well.

Peter B.

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[kenny chaos]

i thought a face cord was .25 of a full cord??? face cord should avg 16 inches wide by 4'x8' which is a .25 of a full cord
a

Check your math. It's 1/3 of a cord.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

A face is 4x8 by however long the wood is. If the split is 12" long it would be .25 of a cord.

Matt

 

[beau5278]

i thought a face cord was .25 of a full cord??? face cord should avg 16 inches wide by 4'x8' which is a .25 of a full cord
so by my calculations thats a cord a month and it thats heating 3800 sq ft in a 120 y.o. old house.... YOU ARE DOING GREAT
1 cd a month with the temps we just had! as the temps moderate you'll use a little less but the key is 3800 sq ft and 120 yo house ....
run your furnace for a month and see the diff or call the gas and ask what was the avg usage 2 years ago the should be able to give you and idea

A face cord at 16in is .33 or 1/3 of a full cord.