Oct 20 to March 24. 10 Cords.

[JP11]

Just did the math. I've got a piece of paper tacked to the boiler room wall. To be honest. I bet 40% or better of it was hemlock. I was out cutting today. Figure I'm 2 full years ahead. Got to keep going.

Stuff I'm into now is mostly ash, and soft maple. 14 will bring my oak into play. Got better than 5 cords coming along in the rotation. It will be a full 3 years seasoned.

Love Love LOVE my Vigas with storage.

JP

 

[infinitymike]

I started burning 10/8/13. Of course it wasn't everyday because it was still mild. But I am still burning and am up to 8 full cord.
It was 6.5 cord of ash, maple and cherry that was only c/s/s about 8-10 months earlier.
I had to tap into 1.5 cord of oak that was c/s/s about 12-14 months ago.
Believe it or not everything was around 20%-25%

I have 6.5 cord of oak c/s/s for 14 months.
I have 9 cord of oak c/s/s for 1 month
I have 2.5 cord of ash and cherry c/s/s for 1 month.

I was only heating the house from Oct to Dec. when I finally hooked up my indirect DHW.
Also I switched the way my supply and return entered my injection loop and saw a 25% increase in efficiency or you could say a 25% decrease in burn time!

Really love my Wood Gun with out storage, probably as much as you love you Vigas with storage.

 

[infinitymike]

To add to the above post.
I don't want to tap into the 6.5 cord of oak, so I am burning all the uglies and little odd shapes and sized pieces for now.
I can probably get 3 more days with that stuff, but I just scored a deal with a pallet manufacturing place that will give me as much as I want of their broken down pallets.
They actually pull them all apart, cut them up and put them in bins made from pallets.
They will load them on my trailer and all I have to do is toss it in the firebox.
This is what I plan on using to get me through the summer as I heat my DHW

 

[maple1]

I think I'm at about half that.

 

[JP11]

I'm happy with the amount of wood. I would have easily been at 1500 to 1800 gallons of oil. I'm heating a whole lot of space, and I'm keeping it all at 70.

JP

 

[infinitymike]

I think I'm at about half that.

Thats amazing, but how can that be?
You live in a much colder place then both of us?
What size house are you heating and what temp do you keep it at?

 

[nate379]

Sheez... I burn 3-3.5 cords a year and I'm sure it's colder here.

 

[maple1]

Thats amazing, but how can that be?
You live in a much colder place then both of us?
What size house are you heating and what temp do you keep it at?

I guess that was in response to JP's 10 cords. I started with 7+/- and I'm guessing I've got two left. Didn't do any measuring - certainly less than 6 gone. Everything is in my heated space (basement) so any lost heat goes there. I think my boiler being incapable of idling might play a part also. We've got 2700 sq.ft. on two floors. Plus the 1500 sq.ft. basement that's only heated by losses or my partially uncovered storage tanks. House is 18 years old, built fairly solid but nothing out of the ordinary - standard 2x6 walls & two layers of 6" fiberglass in the attic. Thermostats were pretty well at a constant 21°c all winter - we've never been warmer.

Actually, I'm not sure it's colder here - I think this is the most moderate climate in Canada. Pretty sure I read that somewhere, anyway - could be my imagination again too, seems to me coastal BC is pretty mild. Right now we're in a stretch of just a few degrees below freezing at night, and at or just above during the day.

 

[infinitymike]

I guess that was in response to JP's 10 cords. I started with 7+/- and I'm guessing I've got two left. Didn't do any measuring - certainly less than 6 gone. Everything is in my heated space (basement) so any lost heat goes there. I think my boiler being incapable of idling might play a part also. We've got 2700 sq.ft. on two floors. Plus the 1500 sq.ft. basement that's only heated by losses or my partially uncovered storage tanks. House is 18 years old, built fairly solid but nothing out of the ordinary - standard 2x6 walls & two layers of 6" fiberglass in the attic. Thermostats were pretty well at a constant 21°c all winter - we've never been warmer.

Actually, I'm not sure it's colder here - I think this is the most moderate climate in Canada. Pretty sure I read that somewhere, anyway - could be my imagination again too, seems to me coastal BC is pretty mild. Right now we're in a stretch of just a few degrees below freezing at night, and at or just above during the day.

It was actually in response to your post. Thanks for clearing that up. My house was built in 1951 with no insulation. Until the previous owner blew some powder in the walls which has settled down about 3'. I redid the siding last year (on the front only need more money) and discovered this powder insulation. I pulled off the sheathing to insulate. So as I continue to re-side the house I will add the insulation. I have plaster walls and it is to much if a mess to try and insulate from inside.

 

[salecker]

I'm at about 8 cords spruce,some was pretty punky.Of course every time the bad wood was in the row the temps dropped

 

[woodsmaster]

I'm pretty happy with my boiler ! First year I've been able to keep close track using the boiler. I've burnt around 6 1/2 cord of white oak that seasoned 1 1/2 years. That's keeping the shop around 50 F and the house at 72 F. The boiler shed also stays very warm,and allso heat all my my dhw. Still a month and a half left of light burning, but with my old wood burner in the house I was going threw 5 - 6 cord a year Just heating the house and still used a little electric heat to supplement.
I still need to insulate my crawl space so that should cut consumption some once that is done.

 

[infinitymike]

Sheez... I burn 3-3.5 cords a year and I'm sure it's colder here.

Yeah but you don't count, since you live in an igloo. lol

 

[willyswagon]

I'm with Maple on this one.
Just because we are further North doesn't mean we we be colder. The fact that we are further East means that our climate is more temperant.
If you look at a map we are sticking out into the Atlantic(NS) or surrounded by water(PEI).
This leads to warmer temps during fall and early winter, and cooler temps in the spring and early summer.
As we all know it takes a long time to change the temp of a large body of water.

My place is 2400 sq ft and 660sq ft garage. I'm into it for a little under 4 cords so far($420), but we did burn oil for two weeks when I was away for work(125l = $135).

I'm thinking that 5 cords would be the max I would use on a full cold, hard winter.

A normal winter was around $3000 in oil., so I'm $2500 closer to paying off the system.

 

[JP11]

Just in case some of you think there's something wrong.....

I'm heating OVER 6k square feet of space. All of it to 70.

 

[Fred61]

I just went past the 2.5 cord mark last week and if this weather continues on this path my total is going to be closer to 3 cords. I'm heating 1000 sq/ft to seventy and the 1000 sq/ft basement to about 65 depending upon when the boiler is running. With annual insulation improvements the useage keeps dropping every year. I have one more outside wall that will be dissassembled and will have 1.5 inch isocyanurate board nailed on to the studs for a thermal break. After that, I don't see what else I can do on the insulation front.

There were times during the heating season that there was probably enough heat in the un pressurized storage to provide another day of heat without lighting a fire and if I were here alone I would have skipped the fire for that day. I can provide heat down to about 105 degrees but the DHW coil is marginal at lower tank temperatures. That could have saved a little wood but I'm not too receptive to nasty comments from the little woman first thing in the morning.

All the wood I burned this year was 3 and 4 year old mixed hard maple and yellow birch.

 

[kopeck]

It's kind of hard to compare numbers since there's so many variables but I'm going to be in at about 3-4 cords for this winter.

I heat my house to 68-70 deg and that also included DHW.

After last weeks little cold snap I'm seeing my load go down again, which makes me happy!

K

 

[nate379]

Damn son... shut down the east wing for winter or something! You running a hotel? My house is about 1400 sq ft and the garage 625.

Just in case some of you think there's something wrong.....

I'm heating OVER 6k square feet of space. All of it to 70.

 

[JP11]

Damn son... shut down the east wing for winter or something! You running a hotel? My house is about 1400 sq ft and the garage 625.

I over built a bit.

My wife is a photographer. So 1200 is her studio. Daylight basement beneath that is my garage/workshop/boiler room 1200.

House is just under 2k. Daylight basement under that is 2k.. almost finished the basement. 2 of us and 3 dogs.. plenty of room to spread out.

 

[nate379]

Good thing you don't have to rely on oil heat!

 

[JP11]

Good thing you don't have to rely on oil heat!

Tell me about it! I always made my biodiesel. I ran it one year straight, and had to clean the boiler too much. Running between 65 to 75% bio, with the rest HHO.. it ran great. I'd clean it ever 3 or 4 hundred gallons. The biodiesel costs me about a buck, to a buck and a quarter a gallon.

I much prefer logging though.. My woods needs the work, and it gets me outside using the tractor, chainsaw, and enjoying my solitude out here in the country.

JP

 

[stee6043]

I'm not sure I could keep up with those kinds of numbers in terms of wood processing. I just finished my heating season 1.5 weeks ago. I started the first or second week of November. Just shy of 4 cord total. If I had to process 10 cord every year I'd never see the wife and kids!

 

[charly]

I did around 10 cords for 8 years,, outdoor boiler to an EKO 60 with 1600 gallons of storage.. Now at our new farm we went back to a Fireview wood stove and an Esse Cook stove 24/7- 4 cords...I'll take that.. A lot less work to get ahead on wood! Power goes out I need no generator to heat my house, no circulators , water treatment , etc. Been there did that, life is simple and I can see my fire... To each his own.. Pics our of my old system that went with our log cabin we sold... It was only one winter old... Never thought we would move...