How Many Cords do I need?

[Kelster]

Hey Y'all,
I'm in the Williams Lake area of BC and Poplar is my fuel de'jour. I'm planning to install my first stick-wood boiler but I really don't have any idea how many cords I'm going to need. I'll have about 3000 sq.ft. to heat with radiant heating plus DHW for 4 people.

Also...I'm don't have enough time to season green wood (this being my first year and all), so I'm looking for some suggestions as to where to source that 20% MC material? I don't have any beetle-kill on my property but I do have a number of very large dead standing Poplar trees - which are tricky to cut down.

Any thoughts, suggestions or sage advice would be welcome.

Kelly B.

 

[woodsmaster]

I Don't really Know, but it wouldnt hurt to have 10 or more cord on hand. What kind of boiler ? storage ? how well is the home insulated ?

 

[hobbyheater]

I'm starting to feel like a record with a major scratch. On the coast our alder is much like your interior popular. If standing and dead, it is useless for firewood, the BTUs have left. Would you be able to find someone with a self loading logging truck who could bring you a logging truck load of beetle kill pine? Gasification boilers "Do Not" perform very well trying to burn green wood. I'm guessing your consumption is going to be in the 6 to 8 cord range. We heat 3,400 sq ft and DHW for two people year round on 4 1/2 cords, and we burn soft wood fir and hemlock.

In the Wood Shed forum a year or so ago, some one featured a home made kiln. A ground frame work of pallets with wood stacked about four feet high, the split wood covered with black plastic down to the pallets so there was air intake from below the pallets, and to give the black plastic some roof pitch, two stacked plastic egg crates with an 8 inch stove pipe sticking up through a hole in the plastic above the egg crates, the black plastic duct taped to the length of stove pipe.

If your buildings are not yet built, as you indicated in another thread, you are a year or two away from burning. Now is a good time to get started on your wood!

 

[Kelster]

Thanks Guys,
My guess was 10 cords, and it does need to be dry - I get it. It's most likely going to be a modern gasifier boiler, e.g. Garn.

I'm sure I can source a load of beetle-kill to get me through this Winter. We have 'a lot' of our own wood lying around so it seems a little like going to the beach and ordering a truckload of Sand! I know of several 60' Spruce trees and some Birch that are lying around make a nuisance of themselves. Guess I better invest in a moisture meter... Lee Valley me thinks.

Building a kiln out of a shipping container would work add a fan and blower coil but I'd need a steam boiler or some other seriously high heat source. Refrigeration would work as well but would need too much electric juice and those parts are harder to come by in the Cariboo.

We plan to be into our place for this Winter - ambitious I know but there it is. Let the work begin!

Kelly B.

 

[hobbyheater]

The good wife to the rescue she found the thread.

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/drying-wood.92129/#post-1206995

 

[Kelster]

Perhaps a Solar Kiln is what I need...
(broken image removed) (broken image removed)

 

[NE WOOD BURNER]

I would order the dry wood 6-8 cords. Get your dead stuff CSS and you are on your way.

 

[maple1]

On that kiln pic - it's for lumber. So that note about damage from it drying it too fast does not apply to drying firewood.

I agree with hobbyheater - I don't think standing dead poplar is good for much. It won't be dry & there will be very little heat in it if you can get it dry. But live poplar can dry pretty quick if you get it split fairly small & stacked single row in an exposed place. Given the time of the year it is now, I would get some beetle kill ASAP for this year & start processing the other stuff ASAP. Get as much as you can - anything left over will be good for next year. We know nothing about the quality of your house (size isn't everything [ooops]), I would aim for 10 cords. I have a 20 year old 2700 sq.ft. two storey on an open hill top - I think I use almost 8 accounting for year round DHW.

 

[flyingcow]

I've tried loooking on the web, but the Maine Forestry one time took as old bus, took the seats out, painted it black and opened a few windows just a little bit, to allow for air flow. They claimed it worked quite well.

 

[Grisu]

Hey Y'all,
I'm in the Williams Lake area of BC and Poplar is my fuel de'jour. I'm planning to install my first stick-wood boiler but I really don't have any idea how many cords I'm going to need. I'll have about 3000 sq.ft. to heat with radiant heating plus DHW for 4 people.

What other heating source did you use so far and how much fuel did you go through in a winter? From that you can calculate how how much wood you will need.

 

[peakbagger]

Northern Forest magazine has an article on someone using a greenhouse to dry their wood

http://northernwoodlands.org/knots_and_bolts/passive-solar-firewood-dryer

It sure sounds like a nice option

 

[skfire]

Northern Forest magazine has an article on someone using a greenhouse to dry their wood

http://northernwoodlands.org/knots_and_bolts/passive-solar-firewood-dryer

It sure sounds like a nice option

I did the same with my cold frame(20x14), problem is I have raised beds now and also the door is too small for the pallet racks, but it worked great for drying wood.

Scott

 

[TCaldwell]

Poplar will burn too fast for available combustion air, causing excessive puffing and as stated all with little btu value. I have also found it to create more ash than most. As a steady diet it's not worth the effort, mixing 10% of it into a good wood load would be my limit, regardless of boiler control system. Best left for the camp fire.

 

[hobbyheater]

There is a member ( wardk )near Kamloops That operates a Garn 1,500 .

 

[huffdawg]

Alder and Poplar definitely have less BTU's per cord than say Fir,Hemlock,Maple or Birch... But it is not useless if dry.. you can still heat with it ,you will just have to cut more of it and load your boiler three times a day instead of twice .. If its free to you, readily available and you want a good exercise program it will work fine.. I heat two buildings one 1800 square feet and one 2800 square feet 2 dhw tanks, one 50 gal. and one 40 gal. I burnt roughly 8 cord per season while burning through the summer for dhw heat also..