Peak wood usage

[mattinpa]

Well, I figured out that I used 3.5 cord of wood during the months of Jan-Feb using my Englander
add on unit. I think I can pair this down a little next heating season, but I was wondering what you
think. Too much or average? I have a 2100 sq ft house with little insulation. I kept the house at 75
degrees and loved every bit of it!

 

[mike1234]

Seems like a lot of wood to me, BUT, I live in Kansas, so I am sure our weather is milder. Of course type of wood, how dry it is, how insulated your house is all play a big part. I think I burned a little over 1 cord a month in the very cold months, much less in October, November, March. I keep my house 74, heat 4800 ft.

Also, if you are like me, and this is your first year with heating with wood, most posters say it takes AT LEAST a year to get good at it, and that we will get much better at it in year 2 and beyond.

 

[BrotherBart]

I am gonna move this over to the boiler room where the guys with whole house heaters hang out. Sounds about right for a wood furnace to me.

 

[Tree farmer]

We all like to talk in cords but remember a cord of soft maple does not have the same BTU value or burn rate as a cord of hickory or red oak. I would say that Jan-Feb are the normal high heating requirement months and this past winter was pretty darn nippy. Depending on the space you are heating doesn't sound too bad, I used 5 cords of mixed soft maple and birch from Nov to Feb and went into two cords of mixed softwood, maple and cherry in March up to now and still have a cord left. I'm hoping with good hardwoods next year to get down to 5 cords.

 

[Nofossil]

There are lots of variables. Three of the biggest:

1) Heat loss - climate, insulation, airtightness.
2) Wood burning technology - OWB, woodstove, gasifier, etc.
3) Operation effectiveness - firewood quality, efficient burn patterns, etc.

I keep my house at about 70-72 most of the time. 3500 square feet, well insulated but lots of glass. I heat the house, hot water, and a large hot tub.

My firewood this year was pretty poor - about half of it was poplar and white pine.

My heating season was about October 1 through today.

I've burned about 4 3/4 cords so far. In previous years I've burned a bit less.

 

[jebatty]

We burned 4-1/4 cords of aspen Sep-Mar to heat 1500 sq ft. This winter was colder than average, but the average degree days for this period where we live is 8126. I couldn't find the actual, but my guess would be about 10% more. Popple has about 1/2 the btu heat value of red oak per cord.

We do add some electric heat to the basement and electric heat in the house when we are gone. That is on a separate meter and is billed separately. During this same period we used 2872 kwh for electric heat, or 9.8 mbtu, which equates to 2/3 cord of aspen at 14.7 mbtu/cord. Total cost for the electric heat was $129.

 

[flyingcow]

I think it was jan 17th to march 17th. Just a little over 2 cords. Not bad considering I was learning and we had quite a spell of sub zero nights. Burn well seasoned hardwood. Mostly beech. 1800 sq/ft 2 story house. About 12yrs old average insulation. Also on top of a very cold hill. I've been jumping around the woodpile a little, so it's a little hard to figure out what I've burned since then.

 

[jim_n_nh]

I have used two full cords of oak so far. I have 1744 sq feet upstairs with a cathederal ceiling height of 15 feet. In the basement where the woodstock woodstove is another 988 square feet with 9 foot ceilings.


I have not used propane for the last 3 years.

Jim

 

[ihookem]

It seems a little high but it is because you have little insulation. Put 18" of cellulose in the attic, and foam up your basement joist and you will notice a more comfy house and less wood burned. I am a little opinionated about insulation, it is very cheap in the long run and is easier than cutting wood.