How many cords do you burn per winter?

[John_M]

dipz, "...my delivery charges are twice more than my usage!" Sounds like you use Suburban Propane as your supplier. Good luck. John_M

 

[Nickolai]

We have a 2 year old New Mac Wood/Oil combo. First year we burned 4+ bush cords of mixed hardwood and used 1 tank of oil.
Last year, 5+ bush cords, minimal oil. We only turn the oil on when we're away now(set at 50 degrees)
This year I have about 7 bush cords of maple.

House is 2000 sq ft R12 walls R 50+ attic with cellulose/batt insulation.

So far we love the Newmac

 

[JotulOwner]

2 cords per year plus 240g fuel oil (that is for hot water too). 1500SF (2 stories).

 

[northwinds]

Different house this year. 2500 square feet to heat. Northern exposure instead of southern exposure.
An insert added to the equation. I'm guessing closer to 5 cords than 4 cords. I'm curious to see how
many times I'll need the insert to supplement.

 

[jharkin]

I can give you an answer but it probably doesnt mean much as it was my first year in the new house.

We used about:
900 therms of gas (excluding the 25 therms per month that the DHW uses)
1.5 cord in the stove burning weekends
0.5 cord in the fireplaces

The house is roughly 1400 ft2 cape, built in 1795 with additions in the mid-1800s and again in the 1960's or 70s. The addition is insulated with roughly R13 in the walls and R-19 in the ceiling. The main house has some wall insulation in one refinished room and about 2-3 in of crumbling 50's cellulose batts in the roof. Climate wise we are about 20mi west of Boston.

The stove is a ~ '98 ? Encore catalytic. Central heat is steam fired by an 3yr old 83% efficient gas boiler.

I'm hoping this coming winter to cut down that gas use quite a bit for the same or slightly more wood consumption. I've done a lot of work tuning up the stove (new combustor, most gaskets), am getting better at operating it and have good dry wood finally. Also this year we replaced the 2 rotting exterior doors, redid the weatherstrip on every window and Im doing a lot of caulking/air sealing. It will be interesting to track what a difference that will make.

Long term I REALLY need to get the roof insulated, but with a finished attic space there is no cheap way to do it Tearing off the roof or dropping the ceiling just isn't in the budget right now.

-Jeremy

 

[BrowningBAR]

With the Vermont Casting cat stove I had I used to burn 2.5 cords to heat my house.
This year we changed to a Woodstock Fireview and now I am going to burn 3.25 cords. The bloomin thing consumes wood and doesn't throw any heat. I am very disappointed.

So, this person never clarified how this was happening, huh?

 

[Dexter]

After added blown-in attic isulation and new windows, last winter was 3 cords. 'About 2000 feet heated with the wood stove. 'Open trilevel. It wasn't bitterly cold last year, but we didn't get any warm-spells during the winter, either -- and we usually do.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

With the Vermont Casting cat stove I had I used to burn 2.5 cords to heat my house.
This year we changed to a Woodstock Fireview and now I am going to burn 3.25 cords. The bloomin thing consumes wood and doesn't throw any heat. I am very disappointed.

So, this person never clarified how this was happening, huh?

Browning, I think this is the fellow who was putting the stove into a very cold and damp basement with no insulation. All the heat went to the walls and floor. That cement can really soak up a lot of heat. But for some reason he could not put the stove in the upstairs. That is sad.

 

[KB007]

I expect we'll prolly go thru about 4 cords this year and hopefully zero propane for heat (use it for water and cook stove tho). Might use a bit more wood if I decide to run the basement stove rather than just the LR. House is 1800 sqft open-ish bungalow with finished and insulated basement and R-50 in the attic.