so how much wood have you used so far
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About 3.5 cords from mid Nov. to today. Going to run out of my seasoned stock in three days. Been supplementing the last few weeks with Bio Bricks. Hope the spring air comes sooner than later. I can't afford to let the propane furnace kick on these days. The scramble for wood starts again Saturday. Ive got 3 cord of wood put in the shed from this past fall, and another 6 to be split in the driveway... just none that is stove worthy. Good times.
About 2.5 - 3 cords here which has provided 95% of our heating this season. The colder temps this winter is making our family very happy to be burning wood for heat. 
Good dry seasoned wood. Could be you have more square footage or less insulation. We have been heating 1450 sq ft with wood only 24/7 since October and have used about 2.33 cords. Now with my old smoke dragon we would have easily gone though about 5 cords so far this year. We don't get the bad weather as much as you folks on the east end, but we have had lows down to 1* and a couple of good snows. We had 15" of snow dump on us this last month with better the a half an inch of ice on top of it from freezing rain and have been toasty warm all winter.
Tell us a bit more about your setup. NJ is practically tropical compared to most of the country this year. I'm sure its been cold down there but not Canada or Midwest cold. How many square feet are you heating? I'm in central MA and have gone through just shy of 2.5 cords. I feel like i am actually wasting wood as I have been keeping it much warmer in the house than usual. This is our first year attempting a true 24/7 so we've probably been burning a little too often.
2600 sq ft and I think ive gone through 5 cord of lodgepole pine and Larch. I came home from work today and my wife and kids surprised me with loading 5 days of firewood into our attached garage. I was thinking I would have to do this tomorrow with temps being highs of -22c and lows of -31c I let them know how much I appreciated their efforts tonight at dinner. For us it hasnt been an extreme winter so I cant complain but its much colder than last year! Looks like snow on the ground for another two months if this trend keeps up...... Currently -21c outside with a gentle breeze out of the north and the house is 22.5c right before the overnight burn.
Figure a cord of wood is worth 1/2 to 3/4 of a 275 gallon tank of oil, based on 18M - 29M BTU per cord, 135k BTU/gal, and similar appliance efficiencies), then look at how many tanks of oil you'd need to heat your house without the stove.
2 tanks = 550 gal. = 2.6 to 4.2 cords
3 tanks = 825 gal. = 3.9 to 6.3 cords
4 tanks = 1100 gal. = 5.2 to 8.4 cords...
What's tough to figure is that I went from an average 1400 gal. per year with 2 cord of wood (236 MBTU) to 1000 gal. with 5.5 cords (264 MBTU), both times scaling actual use to an average year's heating degree days. So, my usage is up 12% with wood, almost surely due to the fact that I sort of have to keep the stove going 24/7, so it's warm when we wake up or come home from work. When we were doing our heating mostly with oil, we kept the house at 62F, excepting two hours in the morning and five hours in the evening.
I was just thinking that except I was wondering about those that have gone through 1-1.5 cord. At one cord that's around 400 4" splits of wood which for 3 months burning 24/7 equals 4 splits of wood a 24 hr period. Is this their only source of heat, or are they supplementing with something else? I know new stoves are efficient, but 4 splits a day is astounding to me if it can heat a 2,ooo sq ft home all by itself.
I have an older stove and like you I have gone through about 6-7 cords in 3+ months burning 24/7 and maintaining at least 68 degrees in my 2,400 sq ft home. Man I wish I could plug a Blaze King King in here for one month to do a head to head comparison...........
3-1/4 cord, 1800 ft2 old farmhouse, non-cat cast iron jotul here in western virginia. All 3 year seasoned oak,cherry, locust plus some dry lower btu wood.
Last year was <2 cords + a pile of 2x4 cutoffs.
Last year was <2 cords + a pile of 2x4 cutoffs.
i'm into my 4 cord with 3/4's of that left and a 1/4 of pine for the end of march and that will do me for the season. the last cord of hardwood i had for this season is still not dry enough. i figured i be ok for wood this season just didn't count on it staying this cold for this long of a time. run the h2 for the really cold temps more than normal with the defiant. todays high was 20. when does the warm weather start? i forgot
frank
frank
About 3.5 cord so far. That was all 2-3 year old ash, maple and a little oak. Now into next years wood which I measured at 19-20% mc. This is wood c/s/s last April 2013. In this part of central nj winter this year has been particularly ugly and cold. Burned mostly 24/7 since mid Oct with only a few days off.
Normally I burn about 3-4 cord from October to March in our jotul 550 insert which keeps our 1800 sq ft house plenty comfy.
Normally I burn about 3-4 cord from October to March in our jotul 550 insert which keeps our 1800 sq ft house plenty comfy.
Nope, it aint my wood.. I've ran that gauntlet a very long time ago and have been throwing wood in a stove since before I can remember. I have a 2000 sq ft log home with better insulation than most houses I know of, and we run a Jotul Oslo. A typical winter for me is about 4 cords, give or take. As I mentioned, this years been nuts. Got up at 7:30AM and it was -3
this morning. About 10 now. Im prob just about into my 6th cord, which is a decent amount more than usual, but Im not sure how the heck people are soley heating with wood 24/7 and have only gone through 1-3 cords. Do you guys set a thermostat at all, even at a low temp? I keep mine off all winter and dont touch or use it whatsoever.
this morning. About 10 now. Im prob just about into my 6th cord, which is a decent amount more than usual, but Im not sure how the heck people are soley heating with wood 24/7 and have only gone through 1-3 cords. Do you guys set a thermostat at all, even at a low temp? I keep mine off all winter and dont touch or use it whatsoever.
Not apples to apples, but my 1500sqft. house is adequately insulated but needs some better air sealing. Right now I am just shy of 2.5 cords and have a half of a cord left for the season.
This is our first year truly going 24/7 as my wife is out of work and has been adding wood during the day. We tend to keep the house too warm as it is and if I did more air sealing we'd be using even less wood. Actually, my first 1.5 cords was pine...which I usually don't burn because of easy access to oak, so if I had used hardwood it might even be less still. To keep going my wood is not as dry as I'd like, probably 18-22% with some larger splits even higher. So if was even drier wood I'd probably use less wood again. If I improved all those things maybe I would finish out the year on 2.5 cords instead of 3-3.25??? Maybe a warmer than average winter would put me closer to 2 cords?
But to answer your question, have I been using the thermostat at all? Sort of but not really. Two weekends per month we go to my parents to visit. The thermostat goes to 55 degrees to keep the house from freezing up. I make a fire before we go so the house takes quite a while to get to 55. So we barely use it. When we get back we turn it on for about an hour while the stove is warming up to help bring the house up to temp faster. So far my gas bills have been about $25-30 each month this winter, not including hot water.
I'm not too familiar with your climate but I'd think my area (central/western MA) is a little colder than yours too. Who knows???
This is our first year truly going 24/7 as my wife is out of work and has been adding wood during the day. We tend to keep the house too warm as it is and if I did more air sealing we'd be using even less wood. Actually, my first 1.5 cords was pine...which I usually don't burn because of easy access to oak, so if I had used hardwood it might even be less still. To keep going my wood is not as dry as I'd like, probably 18-22% with some larger splits even higher. So if was even drier wood I'd probably use less wood again. If I improved all those things maybe I would finish out the year on 2.5 cords instead of 3-3.25??? Maybe a warmer than average winter would put me closer to 2 cords?
But to answer your question, have I been using the thermostat at all? Sort of but not really. Two weekends per month we go to my parents to visit. The thermostat goes to 55 degrees to keep the house from freezing up. I make a fire before we go so the house takes quite a while to get to 55. So we barely use it. When we get back we turn it on for about an hour while the stove is warming up to help bring the house up to temp faster. So far my gas bills have been about $25-30 each month this winter, not including hot water.
I'm not too familiar with your climate but I'd think my area (central/western MA) is a little colder than yours too. Who knows???
I'm currently at about 5 cords, will likely be at just around 6 for the year when it's done. Last year I used about 4.5 for the year, but Waaaay colder this year. I haven't turned on propane furnace yet, so heating with wood entirely. Glad I have my stove and the wood to feed it, or I'd probably have spent about $5000+ for heat this year, and I fortunately get my wood free by felling trees for the neighbors.
Here in ny they called feb the coldest on record, my fuel bill was only 300,very happy but I'm out of wood and using next years semi seasoned stuff.
I've been through approx four cords, the most I have ever used.
I've been through approx four cords, the most I have ever used.
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