How much wood

[shoeboxlen]

I am wondering how much wood folks go thorugh in a day here wiht their respective systems. I know they guys who are running storage systems are going though alot less but how much exactly. I go through a wheel barrow load of wood in my eko 25 every 1.5 days. I get excellent gasification and I am not having any smoke issues (accept for the leak in the darn door) and my house can maintian any temp I want and it is over 2500sq/ft. I am not trying to toot my own horn or anything just trying to guage how I am doing for wood consumption. Please post how you are doing maybe it will help folks figure out where they stand. Dont forget the setup you run brand etc etc

my info
Boiler EKO 25
conjunction with fuel oil boiler
baseboard heat
consumption wheel barrow of wood 1.5 days

Thanks guys

 

[Nofossil]

I'm going through about a cord every 1500 degree days. Doing the math, that's about 3.5 cubic feet on a typical winter day. I'm burning a mix that's about 50% poplar, so my wood consumption is about 25% higher this year than usual.

 

[chuck172]

I go through at least 1 wheelbarrow a day. I do have storage and I don't believe more storage improves efficiency.

 

[timberr]

Lets face it this is not a easy comparison, many factors will effect wood usage. Well all live in differing locations, different wood and moisture mixes and the biggest variable of all house construction. Chuck 172 maybe going through 1 wheelbarrow/day but how much would he use without it. I think the storage will really come into play in the Fall & Spring. Talking to folks without storage when it is 40 outside they are experiancing some smoke and overheating problem where storage would eliminate these problem.

 

[NHFarmer]

I figure I am burning roughly 1 cord per month.I have an old drafty farmhouse which is now at a comfortable 70*.I am burning mainly hickory with some maple and a little bit of oak.I do have 1000 gal storage.The main advantage of the storage is the flexibility of firing when it is most convenient.Also I heat my dhw and only need to fire every few days when it is warmer outside.

 

[AOTO]

I have a Swisher trailer that I tow behind my 4 wheeler. I am using a Sequoyah E3400. I am currently heating a 15 year old 2700 Sq Ft. house. The temperature is currently 18F and I put a trailer load in the morning and one at night. Thermostats are usually not more than 70 degrees. The wood I am using was split way too small so, the surface area is tiny so...I burn more than I should. Once I get to the "real stuff" The monster's consumption should be reduced. The real stuff is about as big as you can pick up. I only get smoke for the first 2-3 cycles after I load it, then it is wonderful.

 

[stee6043]

Not sure if we're drifting off topic on the storage comments - but I wouldn't be able to heat with wood without storage. This week has been my first week heating with the EKO so yes, I'm a newbie. But the wife and I work 10+ hours every day. We leave between 6 and 7AM and don't get back until 5-6PM. No gasser is going to last that long heating 3200 square feet on a single load as far as I can tell. Not to mention I'd have to get up extra early to load her up. This week I've burned 6-8 hours each night after I get home from work to heat storage and the house. My house is a toasty 72 degrees when I get home from work which is roughly 16+/- hours since the last fire died......

So far it's taking me exactly two full loads in the EKO 40 per day to heat my home. I'm not sure how many ANSI Wheelbarrow's that would be....

 

[Kipstr]

For the past 2 weeks I have burned about 95 Lbs. of wood per day (average). That's burning 6-12 Hrs. per day. And yes I weigh each piece of wood.

 

[warm in VT]

I am currently using one plastic toboggan full of wood (8-9 splits) in the evening and 3-4 splits thrown in before leaving for work in the morning jsut to get through the day. I have burned about 3 cords since Oct. 1. I would use a wheelbarrow so I could compare apples to apples but the snow is too deep!

 

[Jim Post]

This season, for a variety of reasons we didn't get alot of wood put up so for us it's all about minimizing wood consumption....so we keep our house cool at 62. We insulate the windows with plastic shrink wrap kits. We don't use our side arm heat exchanger for DHW. We are in pretty good shape to make it through as we approach (hopefully) the half way point of the heating season we have over 1/2 our wood supply left. This pile of wood will last us 1 week to 10 days of typical WI winter weather. That's highs in the 20s and lows in the single digits. We are able to keep the tarm going 24/7 and have been happy with it.

 

[Sizzler]

We have burned just under five cords since August 1st which puts us on track to use about 10 full cords per year for heat and DHW. We are heating 3700 sq ft and average 70-72 degrees. Burned two full wheelburrow's per day on the coldest days of Dec, high's were around 0 on those days. On average we probably put 1-1.5 wheelburrow's a day into the boiler and burn for 5-7 hours depending on the temp of the storage tank. It took some time, but we figured out how the drain 24 hours worth of heat out of storage with one fire, but there is definately some strategy and planning involved here. I have found the best time to burn in our case is late afternoon/evening since the majority of our heatload comes between 5-9 pm.

 

[AOTO]

Here is a picture of my wood pile for the winter. So far I have burned through the first pallet length (2 rows so far) since December 6th. Bear in mind that the wood is very small in size, so I expected to use more of that versus the wood you see on the right side of the picture(s). I am hoping to burn 1.5 rows per month, or less with the larger pieces, but I am not expecting miracles either. I am sure that once I hook the barn up to the system, it'll suck it right down too.

 

[Jim K in PA]

So far it's taking me exactly two full loads in the EKO 40 per day to heat my home. I'm not sure how many ANSI Wheelbarrow's that would be....

:lol: Now that's funny :lol:

We are using a combination of very well seasoned cordwood and dry scrap/slab wood. We go through less than a face cord in 8 days. That is with temps predominantly in the mid teens to the upper 20s. If we get above freezing for a couple of days, wood use goes down by half.

 

[AOTO]

I actually burned every piece of wood in that picture.

 

[rwh442]

Burned an average of 1.5 cords per month from mid November to mid April last year. I flipped my flow through my water to air HX in my furnace to counterflow this summer so we'll see if there is any noticable improvement. I have also been contemplating wrapping the boiler with insualation but I hate to give up the heat in the detached garage - don't know how much of a difference it would make with heat storage vs. heat output into the garage. Kinda like both . . .

 

[DenaliChuck]

One load in my Tarm Solo 60 (6 cu ft firebox) gets me through one day at about -15*F heating a 2,400 sq ft house. That is burning dry white birch at 23,600,000 Btu/cord.

 

[sweetheat]

From October 31st 2008 to April 16th 2009 approximately 2.75 cords of dry hardwood, maple, ash, beech. New construction very well insulated 28X48, structure, 2 floors on radiant heated slab. 62 degrees 24/7. During the side season, late March early April 1 fire a week. Like a big freight train. Very easy to use when you had time. You could go another day before you really needed to build a new fire. My storage tank temps would heat the shop using 92 degree water temps. sweetheat

 

[Duetech]

I get excellent gasification and I am not having any smoke issues (accept for the leak in the darn door)
my info
Boiler EKO 25
conjunction with fuel oil boiler
baseboard heat
consumption wheel barrow of wood 1.5 days

Thanks guys

The leak in the darn door. Is that the upper gasification chamber door? Mine used to leak now and then but I stopped it. I had a couple of seals get creosote soaked and hard. Cleaned the seals and even reused one a couple of times. Use and cleaning diminished the volume of the seal so I tucked it in the groove of the door then finished filling the groove with hi-temp silicone sealant (600f). I overlayed the silicone with a strip of aluminum foil, lithium greased the door jamb (boiler side) and put the door back on the boiler. Then EVER SO CAREFULLY closed the door so it barely sets the jamb up against the aluminum/door seal and let the silicone cure. Makes a little groove in the silicone and makes a very good seal and eliminates the need for more of the fiberglasse seal material. There is no need to "reef" the handle to get a good smoke free seal. My approach is to treat the seal as delicate when closing the door but I have been burning everyday since early August and have had no problem. I haven't had to repair it yet but if I do the repair will not take long and is no longer a concern.
The aluminum strip got stuck to the creosote that builds up on the door jamb face but that did not cause any problem. I regrease the seal periodically which is just a little more than I have to remove creosote from the jamb face.

 

[trehugr]

The last 2 weeks i've started the fire everyday at noon when Im home for lunch. Burning only chunks that were cut from 2' + wood. Fire goes out around 7:00 pm.