How many cords of firewood needed?

[boomfire]

First time using firewood to heat the home. Location, typical north east PA

I am getting Regency Ci2700 Wood Fireplace installed.

Home 2400 sq ft. [basement, living room and upstairs]
installation will be in the living room.
excluding basement, about 1600 sq ft.

If i use the fireplace full time throughout the winter, how many cords of wood would i need to get through the winter SPECIFICALLY for the above fireplace, which seems to be a decent one?
[roughly 5-6 months]

 

[bholler]

First time using firewood to heat the home. Location, typical north east PA

I am getting Regency Ci2700 Wood Fireplace installed.

Home 2400 sq ft. [basement, living room and upstairs]
installation will be in the living room.
excluding basement, about 1600 sq ft.

If i use the fireplace full time throughout the winter, how many cords of wood would i need to get through the winter SPECIFICALLY for the above fireplace, which seems to be a decent one?
[roughly 5-6 months]

Anywhere from 2 to 8 it depends upon species moisture content size of splits air setting strength of draft etc etc.

 

[begreen]

Wood heat consumption will largely depend on the heat loss of the house. An old stone house is going to use a lot more fuel to heat than a modern, well-insulated one. What is the current heating fuel and how much is consumed annually?

The wood must be dry to the core. If the wood is not fully seasoned, the heat output will be notably less. Most firewood that is sold is not fully seasoned. Hardwoods take at least 1-2 yrs to season after they are split and stacked.

Is this an exterior wall or interior fireplace? Is there a block-off plate sealing the damper area? This too will affect heat output and therefore wood consumption. So will the desired ambient temperature. It takes a lot more fuel to heat a place to 78º than to 70º when it is 10º outside.

 

[marty319]

Where I am it gets extremely cold and winter is long.last winter was brutal and I burned 5 cords heating a small but drafty cottage.i burn pine 95% pine as that's all that's readily available.in a not so brutal winter I burn 4 .only heating 900 sq ft.

 

[boomfire]

Wood heat consumption will largely depend on the heat loss of the house. An old stone house is going to use a lot more fuel to heat than a modern, well-insulated one. What is the current heating fuel and how much is consumed annually?

The wood must be dry to the core. If the wood is not fully seasoned, the heat output will be notably less. Most firewood that is sold is not fully seasoned. Hardwoods take at least 1-2 yrs to season after they are split and stacked.

Is this an exterior wall or interior fireplace? Is there a block-off plate sealing the damper area? This too will affect heat output and therefore wood consumption. So will the desired ambient temperature. It takes a lot more fuel to heat a place to 78º than to 70º when it is 10º outside.

Interior. this is where woodstove is getting installed. I will post the 'after' pic later.
Block off plate yes.

Current fuel - Propane.
We ran between 800-900 gallons this past winter.
We run temperatures between 72-75 during day and 62-65 in the night.

 

[bigealta]

I'll take a guess 3-4 cords. And i'll up that guess to 90% sure it will be in that range + or - 1/2 cord either way. Assuming you burn 20% or less moisture content with hardwood.

 

[begreen]

That sounds right. I come up with about 2.5 cords of wood for 800 gallons of propane before efficiency losses are factored in. During very cold weather you will likely be supplementing the wood heat with propane. That's ok, and it's insurance against pipes freezing in the basement.

 

[boomfire]

That sounds right. I come up with about 2.5 cords of wood for 800 gallons of propane before efficiency losses are factored in. During very cold weather you will likely be supplementing the wood heat with propane. That's ok, and it's insurance against pipes freezing in the basement.

thanks.

I have chopped up a 1 1/3 cord of wood so far. All of the wood was sourced from fallen trees on my property. Haven't cut down any trees yet. i have about 9 acres. but trees in 6-7 acres. There are always postings on FB about free local wood, i would probably go get them before felling any trees.

 

[begreen]

At this point standing dead is your best bet if harvesting for the coming winter.

 

[EbS-P]

Don’t write off pine. If dried under cover with good air flow it can season in a summer. But you must keep all water off of it.

 

[TradEddie]

4 cords easy, real cords, not face cords or truck bed cords. Don't be afraid to let the propane take the strain occasionally.
What species of wood?
Spend $25 on a moisture meter, take readings from fresh splits of each species and let us know what you have.
If you have 20% or lower now, great! If you have Pine, Ash or Poplar at 20-25% you have some hope this year, get it into the sun and wind and under cover immediately. If you have Oak or Hickory above 25%, set it aside to enjoy in future Winters, but not in 2022-2023.
Take all the easily accessible free local wood you can, get yourself two years ahead and you'll be loving it a a couple of Winters, but most of those FB posts are from folks who expect you to fell the trees for them.

TE

 

[velvetfoot]

4

 

[Dix]

Welcome to the forums!!

I'd bite the bullet, and buy some semi seasoned cords (full cords), get it top covered, and let it finish seasoning. AND keep doing what you are doing. Get a head, it's the only way.

Here, on Long Island, I use 2-4 cords, depends on the winter, I figure for 4, and am always 2 years ahead, at least.

I second the pine, it's saved my butt more than once. It just needs to be seasoned.

 

[Rickb]

You can also look for sliver/red maple along with the ash. All 3 can season to usable in 1 summer if you get it split and stacked now. Tho 2 summers is still better.

 

[Woodsplitter67]

First time using firewood to heat the home. Location, typical north east PA

I am getting Regency Ci2700 Wood Fireplace installed.

Home 2400 sq ft. [basement, living room and upstairs]
installation will be in the living room.
excluding basement, about 1600 sq ft.

If i use the fireplace full time throughout the winter, how many cords of wood would i need to get through the winter SPECIFICALLY for the above fireplace, which seems to be a decent one?
[roughly 5-6 months]

You can figure this out yourself and get it pretty close. Only YOU know how your going to burn. Youe should know what the burn time of the stove is. A cord is 128cuft, and lets say your stove is 2.5 cuft stove, so now its math.. this is an example of how to. The month of Dcember
Overnight burns
2.5cuft x 31 nights = 77.5 cuft or .60 cords
December day
lets say the stove gets filled 1.5 times a day
1.5 x 2.5cuft x 31days=116cuft ÷126 or .90 cords + .60 for night burns give you a total of 1.5 cords total for the month of December. Again this is not for your stove, just how to figure it out. You know what the weather's like where you live so this should be easy. I start burning with day fires starting mid October, November morning fire and a fire at night, December overnight burn every night and day fire. January/February 24/7 burning March same as December.. April same as October.. For me on a warmer winter I use 3 cords.. colder winter almost 4 cords. You need to get you wood now.. Stack it and try to kiln dry as much as you can. Its rare to come across actual seasoned firewood. they will.say its dry.. but not really.. If your looking to heat with wood your going to be disappointed if the woods wet as stove performance will be subpar. You have time to get your wood together,but the window of opportunity is closing. If you do not know how to make a kiln, look in my signature, there are a couple how to threads..

 

[Ashful]

Don't discount the value of covering a pile or three in clear plastic, a poor-man's solar kiln, for getting your first year's supply dry in one summer. @Poindexter and @Woodsplitter67 both have excellent threads on the subject, with @Woodsplitter67 's likely being the easier to throw together real quick, for most folks.

I'd also aim close to 4 cords for next year. While begreen's math is right on BTU-for-BTU conversion, you can't turn down the woodstove everytime you leave the house, or for overnight (lest it be cold in the morning), so most will consume more BTU's on wood than thru any central heating system with an automatic thermostat. Also, most of us find we tend to keep indoor temperatures higher on wood, than we ever did with central heating.

Make plans and space to keep 10 - 12 cords on-site, and get to work in filling that out, over the next year or two. That will ensure you always have a nice supply of 2 - 3 years-dried wood. If you find you're using less, it's always easy to scale back, or enjoy having a longer supply.

 

[Poindexter]

I looked up your insert. On paper it looks like a pretty good insert, but still an insert. Pennsylvania has a real Winter with a capital W, no quarrel there.

My counsel is to be absolutely certain, at knifepoint if necessary, that your installer puts in a block off plate. That is the one common factor I see in threads here regarding satisfied/ dissatisfied with insert performance. I am not actually advocating violence, but trying to make the point that you really really really want a blockoff plate to find out what your insert can actually do for you. Without a black off plate a fair chunk of your BTUs are wasted up the chimney, outside your shiny new chimney liner. As begreen already said in an early response, system efficiency is an important factor.

As far as now many cords, all of them. Summer solstice is less than two weeks away. However much spruce-pine-fir you can get split, stacked off the ground and top covered before July 4 (about three weeks from now) is how much dry SPF you will have to chip away at your propane bill this coming winter. If you can get six cords up in the next three weeks, do it. And keep stacking. Just squirrel away all the wood you can this summer, even after July 5th. Getting 2-3 years ahead is a Herculean effort, but once you have done it all you have to so is keep up. If someone gives you free oak tomorrow, take it, but don't bother splitting it until mid July becuase you aren't going to have it ready for this winter, that will be fuel to maybe burn next winter.

Or you can look at kilns. I defer to @Woodsplitter67 for advice much more local to you than I am. Up here, I am on a small lot and simply don't have room on my lot for 2 years of cordwood, never mind 3. Years when firewood is 'cheap' I simply don't have room to bring in two year's worth knowing the price will go back up soon. I can get SPF and local birches from standing healthy green trees to dry cordwood in my kilns in 12-16 weeks of summer time sunshine, but realistically whatever SPF you have split stacked and top covered now will be dry this fall with no kiln required.

Good luck and best wishes. The first two years are always the hardest. By Sep 2024 you should be sitting pretty.

 

[boomfire]

thanks all. lot of info here. bit of a learning curve. some i may not have time to do this year, but next year i definitely will have to strongly look into your advise. [kiln etc]. I have a little over 1 cord now, planning on stacking 3 or 4 cords this month. Mostly oak, ash and some pine. i have long way to go.

 

[qwee]

If you can, don't mix the oak, ash, and some pine. You have a dense (oak), medium dense (ash) and soft (pine) wood. Three (oak), two (ash) and one (pine) year drying times. If separated you can get to the drier wood first.

 

[boomfire]

If you can, don't mix the oak, ash, and some pine. You have a dense (oak), medium dense (ash) and soft (pine) wood. Three (oak), two (ash) and one (pine) year drying times. If separated you can get to the drier wood first.

Thanks. I have separated pine, but not oak and ash, as i couldn't tell the difference and wasn't paying attention, as they were dead trees for a few years i think

 

[Ashful]

You've got a real nice start there. Again, check out @Woodsplitter67 's kilns, basically plastic sheeting tarped over your racks with some air space will get the job done.

Ash can dry in 1 summer. Oak will take at LEAST 2 summers, preferably 3. You'll get to know which is which pretty quickly, if you're handling this stuff on a regular basis.

There's a lot to absorb in the first year, but don't let it discourage you. Just by the simple act of coming here, you're miles ahead of most.

 

[boomfire]

Felling trees, moving (atv), cutting, splitting stacking, all by myself. I dont think i have ever worked this hard (physically) in my entire life.
I am a firewood n00b and software engineer by profession and not used to this kind of physical work
but it is satisfying.

I have covered the firewood in two different styles. i am planning on covering up with tarp later.
Backside firewood is covered 2/3 and front side is just the top.

which one is the right way? or do i need to cover them fully to protect from rain?

 

[Ashful]

Felling trees, moving (atv), cutting, splitting stacking, all by myself. I dont think i have ever worked this hard (physically) in my entire life.
I am a firewood n00b and software engineer by profession and not used to this kind of physical work
but it is satisfying.

I have covered the firewood in two different styles. i am planning on covering up with tarp later.
Backside firewood is covered 2/3 and front side is just the top.

which one is the right way? or do i need to cover them fully to protect from rain?


View attachment 296247

I also work at a computer for a living. Felling, bucking, splitting, stacking... it satisfies a certain caveman urge, that my job cannot. It's also cheaper than a gym membership.

Both of your methods are good. The top only method will likely perform better in the hot/dry summer, but the stacks in the back with sides covered will stay dryer in winter. I'd roll the sides up on them for summer, but that's based only on gut feeling, I have no data to support it.

Generally, water hitting the ends of the splits from snow and rain aren't a huge penalty. Keeping the tops covered is the main issue.

 

[Geoff C]

If I were you I would get 3-5 cords delivered and stack them. Then I would get 2 pallets of bio bricks delivered.

The 3-5 will be for next year and the bricks you can mix in with your current wood to extend it.


One of my mistakes was being cheap early on scrounging wood always running out mid winter. I wish I had just got a bunch delivered so I could be ahead of the game for the following winter.


Facebook has some good firewood guys. Just need to test a few to find a good one.

 

[EbS-P]

Felling trees, moving (atv), cutting, splitting stacking, all by myself. I dont think i have ever worked this hard (physically) in my entire life.
I am a firewood n00b and software engineer by profession and not used to this kind of physical work
but it is satisfying.

I have covered the firewood in two different styles. i am planning on covering up with tarp later.
Backside firewood is covered 2/3 and front side is just the top.

which one is the right way? or do i need to cover them fully to protect from rain?


View attachment 296247

We both need a woodshed. Good work. I’m going to second the pallet of bio bricks consider it part of the install cost. Nothing is worse than staring at a smoldering wood in the stove not putting off heat.