How much wood have you burned!

[Caw]

A little over 2 cords at this point - saved almost $700 so far on oil this season. Best. Investment. Ever.

Its definitely a great investment if you're able to source your wood inexpensively and do a lot of the work yourself.

Basic math - Between my install and investing in tools, building supplies for wood storage, and wood itself (enough for 5 years), and cleanings I think im all in for around $5,500 or so to convert from electric heat to wood. I'm saving about $250-300 a month during burning season (which is about 5 months here) so I figure it's about 4-5 year payback. Not bad considering I'm only 36 and have a lifetime of burning to do!

 

[logfarmer]

Thank you all for the reply’s, I’ve been burning 2 cords/yr for 11 yrs now and I feel I might be over that this yr and it hasn’t been all too cold. Past couple wks the temp has been “normal” for me but I’ve noticed I’ve hit this stack of wood pretty hard it looks like. Lows been down in single digits, and highs this wk look like 20 or less with more snow coming! I got a cord split and stacked for next yr done a couple wknds ago and more than a cord to split yet. Guess I better bring a new stack into the barn tomorrow before the white death shows up, unfortunately it’s been stacked but not covered darn it!!

 

[WoodBurnerInWI]

We heat our house with the stove and burn full time starting in early October and with the cold this year we have used a lot more wood than normal I feel like. I just calculated I'm at 4.3 cords burned I have 6 cords of recently split stuff scattered around the yard stacked on pallets or in piles ready to go in the wood shed as soon as more of the snow melts, and after those are stacked getting the tree service guys to come by and hopefully get another 6-10 cords piled up on my extra pallets that I use to hold split wood that couldn't fit into the wood shed.

 

[enordy]

Its definitely a great investment if you're able to source your wood inexpensively and do a lot of the work yourself.

Basic math - Between my install and investing in tools, building supplies for wood storage, and wood itself (enough for 5 years), and cleanings I think im all in for around $5,500 or so to convert from electric heat to wood. I'm saving about $250-300 a month during burning season (which is about 5 months here) so I figure it's about 4-5 year payback. Not bad considering I'm only 36 and have a lifetime of burning to do!

Agreed! I'm probably all in around $2.5K for the stove, liner, and a my splitter (Champion 7T). I just looked at my spreadsheet I keep for heating costs (apparently I'm a little "too meticulous" according to the boss), and its actually $1,200 saved so far. I have 2 heavily wooded acres so l'll run out of steam before I run out of wood.....

 

[Caw]

Wow that's a pretty low all-in cost. What stove do you have? I'm guessing you installed it yourself. Did you have a lot of the tools already etc?

For example my stove, liner, install alone was $3,500. I could have done it myself but I opted for a professional since I have little kids. Didnt want to risk anything. Then about $700 for 11 cords of hardwood logs, $300 for one cord of nice seasoned maple to start out with, and $1,000 for tools and building materials for storage etc. I don't have a splitter yet that'll add another $1,000 down the road.

 

[enordy]

Wow that's a pretty low all-in cost. What stove do you have? I'm guessing you installed it yourself. Did you have a lot of the tools already etc?

For example my stove, liner, install alone was $3,500. I could have done it myself but I opted for a professional since I have little kids. Didnt want to risk anything. Then about $700 for 11 cords of hardwood logs, $300 for one cord of nice seasoned maple to start out with, and $1,000 for tools and building materials for storage etc. I don't have a splitter yet that'll add another $1,000 down the road.

I bought a Drolet Columbia II online in July for $799, and the double-wall liner from Rockford for $770. Did the install myself - it was pretty straightforward, 15' existing internal chimney. Had to go with a smaller stove due to space considerations in the existing fireplace opening, but it keeps the main house (800 sq. ft.) toasty and there's decent heat movement to the bedrooms (prefer it a little cooler for sleeping anyways).

The splitter was another $700 and I probably spent a couple hundred bucks on cinderblocks and 2x4s to make storage ricks.

The downer is the small firebox - "maybe" 3 hour burn times. It works great being home for work, but the furnace runs from midnight to 7 AM - I set the thermostat 60 degrees 24/7.

Planned ahead and dropped some cedar and birch last spring. Should have a good head start for next season (!) and will be out with saw and splitter as soon as it warms up. I've also put the word out to friends and family that I'm the new poster boy for free wood.

 

[Caw]

Cool setup! A small box is better than no box for sure. I'm also the neighborhood wood guy .

Edit - keep an eye out for new stove designs. Maybe one day one will pop up with a bigger firebox that will fit your hearth. Overnight burn capability is really convenient.

 

[NickW]

About 3 cord so far; 1 softwood & 2 hardwood. NC30. Have about 1/4 cord softwood & 3/4 cord hardwood in the garage yet. Probably going to need to hit the outdoor stacks mid March . 24/7 as needed to keep the electric baseboards from kicking in.

 

[St. Coemgen]

I have used so far four (4) cubic meters of wood (a mix of mostly pine, fir, chestnut, walnut, oak and beech**). Or 1.1 cords. In two stoves (they are listed in my signature below).

To heat a volume of 220 cubic meters (7770 cubic feet).

Only burn during the day (no over night burns). Average day room temperatures of 24°C (75°C). Average morning (no fires for 10 hours) room temperature of 20*C (68°F).

Outside temps from -12°C (10°F) night to 15°C (60°F) days. These are extremes only, I do not have averages (it has been a weird winter temp wise). Currently -1°C (30°F) outside

That should provide most information for comparison.

** I used far more soft wood this year simply because my brother in law cut down a large pine and fir tree on his property, and I took all the wood.

 

[Caw]

I wish the world could come to a consensus on just using the metric system. And by world I mean the USA. Its so much easier but when I read cubic meters I have to start doing math and its too early for math!

Whats the climate like in Hungary?

Seriously though. We should swap.

 

[MoDoug]

I figure I've gone through about 1.5 cords so far. This is our first full season of burning, so I figured I'd be able to get a handle on how much wood I'll go through. But this has been a really mild winter so far, we haven't gotten any real winter weather till Canada decided to share their weather with us last week. I'm thinking in a normal winter we will go through about 3 cords.

 

[buc74]

More wood than I figured for this year, about 2 cords so far. Just cuz I did not plan to burn 24/7 at home with the small (1.8) fire box in our new stove. Turns out she'll go up to 10 hrs between reloads so were able to keep her burning. These new stoves are amazingly efficient.

 

[logfarmer]

More wood than I figured for this year, about 2 cords so far. Just cuz I did not plan to burn 24/7 at home with the small (1.8) fire box in our new stove. Turns out she'll go up to 10 hrs between reloads so were able to keep her burning. These new stoves are amazingly efficient.

What stove is this with?

 

[Caw]

More wood than I figured for this year, about 2 cords so far. Just cuz I did not plan to burn 24/7 at home with the small (1.8) fire box in our new stove. Turns out she'll go up to 10 hrs between reloads so were able to keep her burning. These new stoves are amazingly efficient.

I got 10 hours out of my Osburn 1600 insert last night. Obviously not 10 hours of heat but 10 hours between reloads. It has a 1.85 cu ft firebox. I could probably stretch it to 12 hours if I could program my blower to go off overnight when it dies down. A blower on a 250 degree box isn't doing anything but cooling it off faster.

My stove has been out only once since the warm weather in early January and that was only for a cleaning! Warm weather on the horizon though so that might change soon.

 

[logfarmer]

I use a variable speed controller on my blower, which I don’t use much but can make it blow very low or full blast.

 

[Caw]

Mine is also variable and I pretty much only use it on low. But as far as eeking out the maximum time between reloads turning off the blower, even when it's on low, at like hour 8 when there's no more substantial heat would prolong the life of the coals that little bit extra.

I often times get woken up by the dog at like 6 am because he tries to squish me so I go turn the blower off then go back and reload at 8 am. Wish I could just program that or push a button. I suppose I could plug the blower into a timer device but I'm not sure I trust that.

 

[logfarmer]

Ok I see what your saying! You should be able to use a timer on it, like a timer for a pool pump kicks on/off every couple of hrs.

 

[buc74]

What stove is this with?

The Kuma Alpine insert with no surround used. Of course its not putting much heat towards the end of the run. But plenty of coals to left to get her fire up again.

 

[kennyp2339]

Under a cord and a half so far, will be lucky to hit 3 cords this year unless winter drags well into spring (like last year) Seems like I'm rolling slow but I've been burning 24/7 since November.

 

[St. Coemgen]

when I read cubic meters I have to start doing math and its too early for math!

I deal professionally with numerical analysis. And even I won't start doing math in the morning before my second cup of coffee.

Whats the climate like in Hungary?

Generically, mid continental climate. I am near Lake Balaton, a huge lake, so I have a lake side effect that makes it a little bit more moderate here.

 

[osagebow]

Almost 2 cords in an Ideal Steel. keeping us above 70 most of the time unless we skip a reload

 

[Isaac Carlson]

Around 4 so far, but the house seems leaky and drafty this year.

 

[RustyMcD]

On my 3rd cord.-38°f here this morning.osburn 2300.

View attachment 274392

That's CRAZY cold!!

 

[thunderhead]

3 cords so far through our T5. Thats mixed west coast softwoods though, so thats like 2 cords of heat for you oak-burners. Should cover about 60% of our heat this winter.

 

[Poindexter]

Deep into cord #6 here. I have two full cords left, might have enough left over to cook a few hotdogs this summer, as usual.

Please please give your cold weather to Home Depot and tell them to start shipping it back to Alaska with other oversized items like new patio furniture for my wife. It's going to be above zero F here all week, the cat is going bananas wanting to be outdoors; but there are no birds small enough for her to hunt, so she comes in with cold ears and a bad attitude.