how far into your pile are you?

[bigealta]

Got lucky walking the dog the other day. Guy down the street was putting out Oak splits dry and ready to burn at the street. I walked home as fast as i could. Dog was like what's up dude? Got back there fast and ended up with the CRV 3/4 full with red and white oak splits. Stacked them right outside our load in door/room. Burning it now. Should be enough to finish off the season.

 

[mynx]

I'm always interested to see the processing, moving, loading processes of others who are using this much wood. You're actually a bit ahead of me, I had been averaging 10 cords per season between two wood stoves, but have started scaling back on running the second stove. Hauling that much wood up a flight of stairs and thru a very long house gets tiring, after more than a decade of doing it, especially with knees complaining more each year from over-use/abuse. I assume you can load the boiler from outside or walk-out access to the firewood?

I believe I'm getting close to 60% of my heat from wood, but I don't keep enough data on electric usage to really nail that down. I know I use about 10 cords of hardwood + 1000 gallons of heating oil, and estimating these make about 60% and 30% of my total BTU's, with an approximate remainder of 10% being a few minisplit systems and random electric baseboards. My climate is milder, my average January lows are 2F above yours, but my space is larger and likely less efficient. I'm burning primarily red oak, the last several years, but now starting to get into some piles of shagbark hickory and ash collected in more recent years.

I am getting much more efficient in my wood handling. Most of my wood comes as a log truck load of logs that are off-loaded in an easily accessible location. For aesthetic reasons it is a distance from my storage crib. I cut and split enough (27 ton splitter from TSC) to fill my Gator 6x4 and drive that back to the wood crib and stack it. Was, rinse, repeat. From there it is easy. My boiler is in an insulated heated room in my shop, which is 10 feet from the storage. I raise the overhead door, roll my Rubbermaid cart out, fill it up, and roll it back in. If it’s super cold that gives me wood for one day (2 burns); in warmer weather (in 30’sF) 3 days (1 fire per day). Bringing this small batch of wood in lets it warm up before burning (every little bit helps)

I am still new to this “heating with wood” thing and figuring out my consumption. My wood early in the season was still a bit wet - 25-28% MC - so 10.5 cords is probably on the high side of my true need

 

[Stearn786]

Think I've used about 6 cord so far, and 40 bags of pellets. Oil usage is minimal is my house tho, only runs during the day while I'm at work. And we keep it at 70-72 all the time when we're home. Normal winter is usually 7-8 cord, so we're about on track

 

[Isaac Carlson]

I have several absolutely enormous silver maple trees across my rear property line. At some point, one or two of them will surely die of old age, so I was wondering how they'd burn. So far, the only things coming off of them had been either due to rot or infestation, and not worth splitting and stacking.

They do grow impressively large. I'm guessing some of these are nearly 5 feet diameter and 150+ feet tall. They're 2x - 3x taller than all the surrounding walnuts, ash, and evergreens.

They burn well, no complaints there. You can light it with a match. It just doesn't have much for btu's, so you burn more of it, which means more processing/moving. It's great for spring/fall and for making bbq.

 

[mynx]

Probably 2.5-3 cords, plus maybe 500lbs of biobricks, plus about 300-400gals of oil since November. First year in the house and spending a lot of time figuring out optimum way to heat.

I'll end season with about 1~1.5 cords of wood remaining .. need to take in about 3~5 cords of wood in spring to get ready for upcoming 2 years.

Doing some rough math, 1 cord of oak/maple = approx 170 gal heating oil ( 24 million btu/cord for oak, 139000 btu/gal oil

 

[bigealta]

Doing some rough math, 1 cord of oak/maple = approx 170 gal heating oil ( 24 million btu/cord for oak, 139000 btu/gal oil

That puts a cord worth around $765 (170X $4.50per gallon)

 

[Ashful]

Doing some rough math, 1 cord of oak/maple = approx 170 gal heating oil ( 24 million btu/cord for oak, 139000 btu/gal oil

That's pretty close to the estimate I've been using, assuming stove average efficiency is not far from the oil-fired boiler or furnace.

 

[mynx]

That puts a cord worth around $765 (170X $4.50per gallon)

I figure it takes me eight hours to cut the split and stack a full cord. Even if I charge myself $50 an hour for labor, and $100 per cord for the logs I come out way ahead. I almost $4000 ahead.

 

[Isaac Carlson]

I can't justify buying propane, oil, or electric for heating when we can heat with wood for less than $100 a year, all costs included.

 

[Ashful]

I figure it takes me eight hours to cut the split and stack a full cord. Even if I charge myself $50 an hour for labor, and $100 per cord for the logs I come out way ahead. I almost $4000 ahead.

This is why you always see me arguing with people, in those rare threads where someone claims you can't save any money by burning wood. I save literally many thousands of dollars per year, having paid for the cost of two somewhat expensive BK's inside of a single year.

Here's one of the more recent amusing posts, on the subject:

Number of older stoves vs EPA in U.S.

I know a few people who had old stoves, then upgraded to something EPA hated it went back and will never buy a new stove. Can’t blame ‘em. Throw a bunch of 30” logs in a massive firebox walk away do it again tomorrow. We have them here too. It wouldn't surprise me if half of the stove still...

www.hearth.com

 

[stoveliker]

Here's one of the more recent amusing posts, on the subject:

Number of older stoves vs EPA in U.S.

I know a few people who had old stoves, then upgraded to something EPA hated it went back and will never buy a new stove. Can’t blame ‘em. Throw a bunch of 30” logs in a massive firebox walk away do it again tomorrow. We have them here too. It wouldn't surprise me if half of the stove still...

www.hearth.com

The funny thing in that thread is that if he uses 2 cords of wood which would amount to a gas bill of less than 750, his efficiency in wood burning is very low and he does not realize that...

 

[Ashful]

The funny thing in that thread is that if he uses 2 cords of wood which would amount to a gas bill of less than 750, his efficiency in wood burning is very low and he does not realize that...

Excellent point. Of course, that didn't stop him from arguing on behalf of his vast experience on the subject.

 

[zmender]

I came across this website for calculating $/BTU:

Fuel Cost Calculator | Tarm Biomass

Calculate your fuel needs and potential savings with our user-friendly cost calculator. Ideal for cord wood, wood pellets, and wood chips. Try it now!

woodboilers.com

 

[mynx]

I can't justify buying propane, oil, or electric for heating when we can heat with wood for less than $100 a year, all costs included.

$100/yr is impressive. When i count fuel and oil for the chainsaws, utv and tractor, depreciation, repairs, etc, its a lot more than $100. While it’s not directly analogous, my cost of operation for my 100 hp tractor is about $40/hr

 

[stoveliker]

I also count the obviated need for gym membership cost ( splitting by hand) :D

(I don't count anything as I am not doing the calculation. Addictions don't need financial justification ;-) )

 

[Ashful]

$100/yr is impressive. When i count fuel and oil for the chainsaws, utv and tractor, depreciation, repairs, etc, its a lot more than $100. While it’s not directly analogous, my cost of operation for my 100 hp tractor is about $40/hr

I agree with your sentiment, on everything but the tractor. I've not owned a tractor yet, that I've not sold for at least what I put into it. What's lost is the value of inflation, if I buy a tractor for $10k in 1990 and sell it for $10k in 2010, I'm not entirely re-couping $10k in 1990's dollars. But the fact remains, I've never sold a tractor for less than 95% of what I paid for it, whether buying new or used.

 

[NickW]

That sounds like the justification I need with the wife to go get some more equipment...

 

[DonTee]

I was close to using all my seasoned wood this winter. I had 10 face cords, and I’m burning the last one now. I figure I’ll still have small fires until it’s above freezing at night consistently.

The woodstove is my only heat source right now. I agree about saving a lot of money burning wood. I have some acreage, and cut all my own firewood.

I have a diesel Ford 3000 tractor. I can idle that thing through the woods all day pulling firewood. It’s pretty decent on fuel. I have a Farmi winch on it, and usually fill the loader bucket up with limb wood, and pull a few logs out behind me.

I spend 100-200$ per year on fuel for the tractor/chainsaw/splitter, and other supplies.

I couldn’t imagine cutting wood without a tractor. But I know some people who just use a 4 wheeler with a trailer. And that seems to work just fine too.

The best thing about hearing with wood is you can make the house hot and not feel bad about it. My house usually stays at 70-78 degrees in winter. I can’t imagine how much it would cost to keep it at those temps with propane or kero.

 

[Ashful]

Ford 3000, ye say?



That was my cutting partner hauling some of my drops out of the woods. We put a lot of miles on that old Ford. He passed away in 2020.

 

[DonTee]

Here’s a pic of mine from last summer. I’ve had her for just over ten years. Got it from a family friend who bought it new. The hour meter shows 2500 hours, but it stopped working over 20 years ago I was told.

The engine has not been rebuilt. It has a little blow by but not too bad. I keep up with the maintenance on it.

 

[kennyp2339]

Alright, so I burnt 2 3/4 cords worth of wood that was allocated for this year in my shed, (1) full bay which was 2 full cords and (1) row of another identical 3 row bay, I have since switched over to uglies to have night fires, although I'm burning 24/7 prob 4 more days then def switching over to evenings and nights only since daytime temps are now hitting in the 50's pretty easy and I have a good sun angle for radiant gain during the day.
+1 on the equipment, years back I bought a sub-compact tractor, then upgraded to a 40hp compact tractor, for wood stuff I bought a bigger light materials bucket and thats now my log lift when splitting, also use it to bring in 1/2 of a face cord at a time to my stacking spots / woodshed, its been a big help around the house and has made wood stuff more enjoyable, what ever you have make sure its lubed and greased accordingly, I had a few clogged zerks on my backhoe, I picked up a hammer buster at tractor supply, fill the cylinder with penetrating oil, place fitting over zerk, hit the backside with a hammer, the oil will force itself into and through the bushing cleaning everything out, its fairly effortless.

 

[BIGChrisNH]

I'm all the way through my pile for sure. First year with a woodshed and I didn't stuff it completely full. Could have probably gotten another 3/4 of a cord into it but didn't. Borrowing from next winter's wood for now. But it's no big deal, now I know better for next year.

 

[velvetfoot]

2.6 cords burned so far this season, which is not over. 1.12 cords remaining. I'm surprised the amount used was so low-it was the first time I actually measured.

 

[Riff]

Second winter of burning here. Looks like I average about 1 2/3 cords per winter so going to try to aim to have 2 to 2 1/2 cords for each winter just in case of a really bad one. With the current cost of oil it easily saves us money and the family enjoys the process. My oldest is now getting old enough that she likes to come help stack wood and likes to try to use a small sledge learning to wedge the harder pieces.

 

[Ashful]

My oldest is now getting old enough that she likes to come help stack wood and likes to try to use a small sledge learning to wedge the harder pieces.

Nice! That brings back memories. That's how I used to split with my dad, he even made a short-handled sledge for me using an old 6'ish lb. head, when I was probably 4 - 6 years old. I'm not sure I was much help, but I thought I was.