How much wood will I burn?

[Arnoldnorth]

1905 house
600 sq feet on 1st floor
600 sq feet on 2nd floor
Hampton I300 wood burning insert
We live in CT
We will be burning primarily on nights and weekends.
I'm a rookie.
Chimney is in the center of the house.

How much wood will we burn between now and April 15?

 

[Bigfoot]

more then 2 cords, maybe more. are you burning 24/7 on weekends??? 12 hour nights???

 

[smoke eater]

that's an old house. how's the insulation? I had the same stove at my first house. nice. deep firebox, easy to load. I would say 2-3 cords. whatever you have left over will burn nice the next year. better to have more than you need. so far, its been pretty cold, and its not even winter yet. I bought my wifes car at Wallingford Toyota, so you have just about the same weather as me, in Patterson, ny. if you have any questions or concerns, i'll be in Wallingford on the 28th. welcome to the site.

 

[Arnoldnorth]

Yes 12 hours at night and 24/7 weekend is probably a good formula. Thanks for the input.

 

[Arnoldnorth]

I could probably stand to do blown in insulation in the walls. That is on the to do list.

 

[ChadD]

1363 pieces....lol jk

I also live in CT but I burn 24/7 with 1700 sq ft in newer well insulated house with good windows and used 4 cord last year. Welcome to the site.

 

[FishKiller]

weekdays nights and 24/7 two days a week? sound like my burning schedule, although i try desperately to keep it going during the week but it never seems to work. i'm south of you in NJ, and burned 3+ in a similar sized house last year. there are a lot of factors to consider; house age and insulation are a start, split size/type of wood and moisture content. i still think if you had 3 on the rack you would be fine.

 

[Adios Pantalones]

Most people burn 3 1/2 -5 cords per year for 24/7. The house isn't big, you aren't burning 24/7, but less than great insulation- I will guess 2, maybe 3 cords dry hardwood per year

 

[tcassavaugh]

might be hard to get some good wood at this time of the year......good luck.....and welcome

 

[Backwoods Savage]

1905 house
600 sq feet on 1st floor
600 sq feet on 2nd floor
Hampton I300 wood burning insert
We live in CT
We will be burning primarily on nights and weekends.
I'm a rookie.
Chimney is in the center of the house.

How much wood will we burn between now and April 15?

What is the reason for burning primairly nights and weekends? Why not 24/7? Every time you light a fire in a cold stove and chimney you'll end up burning more wood because a lot of energy has to go into heating up both the stove and the chimney. Better to keep it going full time and you'll also have less problems with creosote providing you are burning good fuel.

 

[TK-421]

I have a question for the pros.

I live in eastern CT. In our old house we had a Yukon Eagle oil/wood furnace. We would burn 4-5 cords and 1-200 gallons of oil for a brand new 1800 sq ft home. We bought a new older home(2000 sq ft) that had an old 1975 Vermont castings resolute stove along with propane hvac. We would burn almost the same 4-5 cords.

The V was too small for the home and due to over firing cracked plus it had other issues. We bought a new jotul carrabasset Great stove. So far this year we've gone through 3 cords. At our current rate I'm estimating we will burn 5 cords by mid February and need a total of 8 cord per year. Why am I burning so much wood in the carrabasset vs the old VC? I only live in CT.

I'm burning almost twice as much wood in a brand new stove. Nothing else has changed. Same chimney height same location. I added blown insulation to our foundation a yr ago so the house is more insulated. We seem to have gone backwards.


My wife doesn't work and the stove runs 24/7.

 

[firefighterjake]

I have a question for the pros.

I live in eastern CT. In our old house we had a Yukon Eagle oil/wood furnace. We would burn 4-5 cords and 1-200 gallons of oil for a brand new 1800 sq ft home. We bought a new older home(2000 sq ft) that had an old 1975 Vermont castings resolute stove along with propane hvac. We would burn almost the same 4-5 cords.

The V was too small for the home and due to over firing cracked plus it had other issues. We bought a new jotul carrabasset Great stove. So far this year we've gone through 3 cords. At our current rate I'm estimating we will burn 5 cords by mid February and need a total of 8 cord per year. Why am I burning so much wood in the carrabasset vs the old VC? I only live in CT.

I'm burning almost twice as much wood in a brand new stove. Nothing else has changed. Same chimney height same location. I added blown insulation to our foundation a yr ago so the house is more insulated. We seem to have gone backwards.


My wife doesn't work and the stove runs 24/7.

Quick question . . . how do you operate the stove . . . more to the point . . . once the temp is up do you back down the air control to achieve a secondary burn? A lot of folks equate air control wide open = more heat (especially when they see a firebox full of flames) . . . however the opposite is true.

 

[TK-421]

Wakeup to temp around 200-250 and lots of coals.

Load it up air intake wide open to get things up to temp and the house back up to temp. Morning house temp averages 60. Once the house is up to around 70-72 I back the air intake off to around 50% unless its a really cold day and we're fighting to keep the house warm.

A full load running wide open runs around 3 hours before the temp starts to drop to the 300 degree range.

Morning stove top temps have been up in the 700 degree range at times.

At night I started packing the stove full and closing it down. I now run the air intake around 25-33% vs closed. Running the intake a bit more open at night still leaves plenty of coals for a no kindling start in the morning. I haven't touched kindling since October.

I've burned wood all of my life. Mostly the old stoves. But I did have three years experience running the Yukon eagle and that was a great stove. Whole house heat for 4-5 cords.

I ABSOLUTLEY love the jotul Carrabasset for many reasons. Right now though, the tiny VC resolute with its many problems was more economical. Our main reason for moving up was the resolute was too small for the house. In order to keep the house warm we were running it 600-900 degrees. Way too hot for that little cast iron stove. Which is why we cracked the rear baffle.

I know we must be doing something wrong and maybe its the way we use the air intake. If I can get this back down to 5 cord or less it will be a perfect stove for us. This stove should crank out a lot more heat with the BTU rating more than twice the Resolute. Added to the fact I blew in foam around my basement walls and knocked out an interior wall between the stove room and the rest of the house. I'd think we would see a huge improvement. I often leave the air intake wide open to keep the house above the upper 60's.

Now this year even though we've already burned close to four cords we haven't used ANY propane. The furnace has kicked on two mornings during a cold snap and only cycled on and off from 4-6 am. If we use 10 gallons of propane this year I'd be shocked. That's the great news.

 

[TK-421]

Also, I'm using well seasoned hardwood from my usual supplier.
Chimney is a brand new double wall pipe through cathedral roof purchased from Dynamite buys

 

[Applesister]

The Jotul is a nice looking stove. Im not pro but I thought Id add.
I have the VC Resolute, I burn 5 cords on 24/7. I process my own wood.
I have a 3400 sqr ft house and my best temps are around 60°. I might be just cheap that Im comfortable with those temps.
The stove is too small for me also but I dont push the stoves limits.
I have 2 open fireplaces I want to add inserts into.
I want to keep this stove, I love it. I will just add an insert.
I have a relative that has advised me to look at a wood boiler. Not sure about that.
I like viewable fires.

 

[Applesister]

Oh, the house also has fuel oil boiler and electric heat areas as well.
The wood heating was originally for ambiance. And still rather fills that roll.

 

[Applesister]

Also, I'm using well seasoned hardwood from my usual supplier.
Chimney is a brand new double wall pipe through cathedral roof purchased from Dynamite buys

I dont know what your wood supply situation is, or if you are into a very warm house.
Maybe 2 Stoves?
Ive read on here where some people have more than one stove.

 

[firefighterjake]

Wakeup to temp around 200-250 and lots of coals.

Load it up air intake wide open to get things up to temp and the house back up to temp. Morning house temp averages 60. Once the house is up to around 70-72 I back the air intake off to around 50% unless its a really cold day and we're fighting to keep the house warm.

A full load running wide open runs around 3 hours before the temp starts to drop to the 300 degree range.

Morning stove top temps have been up in the 700 degree range at times.

At night I started packing the stove full and closing it down. I now run the air intake around 25-33% vs closed. Running the intake a bit more open at night still leaves plenty of coals for a no kindling start in the morning. I haven't touched kindling since October.

I've burned wood all of my life. Mostly the old stoves. But I did have three years experience running the Yukon eagle and that was a great stove. Whole house heat for 4-5 cords.

I ABSOLUTLEY love the jotul Carrabasset for many reasons. Right now though, the tiny VC resolute with its many problems was more economical. Our main reason for moving up was the resolute was too small for the house. In order to keep the house warm we were running it 600-900 degrees. Way too hot for that little cast iron stove. Which is why we cracked the rear baffle.

I know we must be doing something wrong and maybe its the way we use the air intake. If I can get this back down to 5 cord or less it will be a perfect stove for us. This stove should crank out a lot more heat with the BTU rating more than twice the Resolute. Added to the fact I blew in foam around my basement walls and knocked out an interior wall between the stove room and the rest of the house. I'd think we would see a huge improvement. I often leave the air intake wide open to keep the house above the upper 60's.

Now this year even though we've already burned close to four cords we haven't used ANY propane. The furnace has kicked on two mornings during a cold snap and only cycled on and off from 4-6 am. If we use 10 gallons of propane this year I'd be shocked. That's the great news.

I think we can figure out the problem based on this . . . you may be thinking that the only time you cut back on the air is when you want longer burns and equate more heat with more air.

Try this for more heat AND long burns. Instead of keeping the air open all the way and bringing the house up to temp, leave the air open until the stove top temp reaches 450-500 degrees F and then start closing the air. Close it down to about 3/4 and then wait 5 minutes or so. If the fire continues to burn well after that time close it down to the halfway mark and wait again. Repeat until you get to the quarter mark point or possibly all the way "closed" -- depending on the draft and the wood you may not be able to get it closed all the way without the fire spluttering and smoldering or you might luck out and have some nice secondary action.

In any case, if the stove and flue temps are hot enough, at about the halfway to quarter shut mark what you should see ideally is some secondary action . . . or at the very least a decent fire. By closing off the air you are in effect not allowing the bulk of the heat to escape up the chimney and instead you should end up with more heat in the stove. Incidentally, if it appears as though there are mini-firework explosions of flame in your firebox, you have ghostly white or blue flames hovering in the upper third of the firebox or it looks like a Portal to Hell has just opened up with jets of fire streaming out the top of the firebox you have most likely achieved secondary combustion . . . or inadvertently unlocked a door to Hell and it's the end of the world as we know it.

By leaving the air open all the way or even halfway open a lot of that potential heat -- especially from the secondary burn -- is going up the chimney instead of heating up your stove and your house. This practice will also burn up wood quicker.

So tonight . . . or whenever . . . get the stove up to temp and then start dialing it down. Hopefully you should see more heat and a longer burn time.

Good luck . . . welcome to the forum . . . and welcome to the forum. May the force be with you.

 

[USMC80]

I'm not familiar with this stove at all but sounds like you are leaving primary air open way to long. This is allowing too much heat to go up the stack. You said you often leave the primary air open to get the room temperature up?

Also I see you get your wood from a supplier. How "seasoned" is it? Have you actually tested the face of a fresh split with a moisture meter?

I now see that Jake beat me to the punch

 

[TK-421]

Thanks Jake.

My misconception comes directly from the jotul manual where they state the air intake is what directly increases or decreases heat. There is no other info in the manual to describe the reburn. I never thought of the air intake allowing heat to go up the stack because there is no damper like I'm used to with the older VCs.

@USMC80
My wood is well seasoned. Actually last year I've burned the wettest wood ever. I miscalculated what I had cut myself and had to buy 2 cord mid winter. It was very wet. I still used less than 5 cord. This years wood was cut two years ago and split a year ago. Its been stacked in a dry woodshed off the house since summer. I haven't actually tested it but I've been burning all my life and know its dry enough. I see you have a Yukon. I wished our new house had a basement. I'd put one in tomorrow. I loved our Yukon Eagle with hvac. I miss warm upstairs bedrooms and bathrooms.

 

[Rickb]

Thanks Jake.

My misconception comes directly from the jotul manual where they state the air intake is what directly increases or decreases heat. There is no other info in the manual to describe the reburn. I never thought of the air intake allowing heat to go up the stack because there is no damper like I'm used to with the older VCs.

@USMC80
My wood is well seasoned. Actually last year I've burned the wettest wood ever. I miscalculated what I had cut myself and had to buy 2 cord mid winter. It was very wet. I still used less than 5 cord. This years wood was cut two years ago and split a year ago. Its been stacked in a dry woodshed off the house since summer. I haven't actually tested it but I've been burning all my life and know its dry enough. I see you have a Yukon. I wished our new house had a basement. I'd put one in tomorrow. I loved our Yukon Eagle with hvac. I miss warm upstairs bedrooms and bathrooms.

If the wood is oak and was split last year the chances are its wet.... Get a moisture meter and check. Newer epa stoves are very finicky with wood.

 

[firefighterjake]

Thanks Jake.

My misconception comes directly from the jotul manual where they state the air intake is what directly increases or decreases heat. There is no other info in the manual to describe the reburn. I never thought of the air intake allowing heat to go up the stack because there is no damper like I'm used to with the older VCs.

@USMC80
. . . . ..

Well yes and no . . . the air control does help control the heat to some degree . . . but not in the way that most folks tend to think. With the old pre-EPA stoves like my old Shenandoah folks tended to open up the air and the fire would get big and more heat would be produced . . . and then at night folks would cut back on the air and the fire would throttle down.

However, you really cannot do that with the EPA stoves since in many ways it has the opposite effect . . . I mean to say that yes, the air is reduced, but due to the construction of these stoves the unburned smoke is routed around and then ignites resulting in the secondary burn . . . which in turn results in what would have been loss "fuel" and "heat" normally escaping up the chimney through the drafting effect being burned. It is a weird concept to go from pre-EPA stoves and EPA stoves . . . but once mastered most folks love the added heat and reduced wood usage.

Sadly a lot of the manuals do not truly explain how to really run the stoves . . . which results in folks getting ticked off because they end up with a stove oftentimes that seems to result in less heat, more burned wood, etc.

I should also mention that while the air control helps control the heat, what you put in the firebox and how often you fill up the firebox also matters. Higher BTU wood vs. lower BTU wood . . . a firebox loaded to the gills vs. a partial load . . . loose stacked, small splits vs. tightly packed larger wood. Depending on what I am trying to achieve (a quick fire to take the chill out of the air, a long burn, etc.) I will vary what I load and how I load the stove to control the heat.

For example, in early Fall when I only need to take the chill out of the air I may do a small load of softwood or some loosely stacked punks and chunks and uglies and not reload . . . I let the stove do its secondary thing, the metal heats up and then the hot stove will radiate heat for quite some time . . . which is fine when the temps outside heat up. This time of year however, I may be using my "good" wood and loading up the firebox for long, hot fires. It takes time to learn how often to reload and what to load and how much to load, but after awhile you can get pretty good at figuring out what you need to do for your heat needs -- it will never be as easy as dialing up a thermostat and sometimes I goof and end up sweltering . . . much in the long run there is a lot of satisfaction when you are able to do it and get it right.

Good luck . .. and keep with it . . . and let us know if things improve .. . or get worse. Lots of helpful folks are here.

 

[valley ranch]

Well yes and no . . . the air control does help control the heat to some degree . . . but not in the way that most folks tend to think. With the old pre-EPA stoves like my old Shenandoah folks tended to open up the air and the fire would get big and more heat would be produced . . . and then at night folks would cut back on the air and the fire would throttle down.

However, you really cannot do that with the EPA stoves since in many ways it has the opposite effect . . . I mean to say that yes, the air is reduced, but due to the construction of these stoves the unburned smoke is routed around and then ignites resulting in the secondary burn . . . which in turn results in what would have been loss "fuel" and "heat" normally escaping up the chimney through the drafting effect being burned. It is a weird concept to go from pre-EPA stoves and EPA stoves . . . but once mastered most folks love the added heat and reduced wood usage.

Sadly a lot of the manuals do not truly explain how to really run the stoves . . . which results in folks getting ticked off because they end up with a stove oftentimes that seems to result in less heat, more burned wood, etc.

I should also mention that while the air control helps control the heat, what you put in the firebox and how often you fill up the firebox also matters. Higher BTU wood vs. lower BTU wood . . . a firebox loaded to the gills vs. a partial load . . . loose stacked, small splits vs. tightly packed larger wood. Depending on what I am trying to achieve (a quick fire to take the chill out of the air, a long burn, etc.) I will vary what I load and how I load the stove to control the heat.

For example, in early Fall when I only need to take the chill out of the air I may do a small load of softwood or some loosely stacked punks and chunks and uglies and not reload . . . I let the stove do its secondary thing, the metal heats up and then the hot stove will radiate heat for quite some time . . . which is fine when the temps outside heat up. This time of year however, I may be using my "good" wood and loading up the firebox for long, hot fires. It takes time to learn how often to reload and what to load and how much to load, but after awhile you can get pretty good at figuring out what you need to do for your heat needs -- it will never be as easy as dialing up a thermostat and sometimes I goof and end up sweltering . . . much in the long run there is a lot of satisfaction when you are able to do it and get it right.

Good luck . .. and keep with it . . . and let us know if things improve .. . or get worse. Lots of helpful folks are here.

 

[valley ranch]

Read the answers you've gotten so far. 1200sq ft. I agree with those who have said 5 cords. You can adjust your burning to the outside temps. Learn to use your stove, guess you're doing that right now.
If you have 5 cords you won't have to be stingy as spring comes round. Hope you have a stove you like, put new seals in if you haven't already. Have a great winter.

Richard

 

[Bigg_Redd]

How much wood will I burn?

About 1/2 cord more than you planned