Wood consumption with BK King?

[volunbeer]

I know there are many variables, but heating roughly 3800 sq ft from main floor (not counting basement) with a BK King (will be installed in the early fall) in a house with decent insulation (but lots of windows) and open floorplan with high ceilings. I am anticipating running the stove pretty hard for 3 months when it is usually below freezing on average and shoulder season will probably be around 3 months. We will be running stove fan, a ceiling fan, and possibly another fan as needed to circulate the heat. The foyer is a large open area with big staircase so I know the heat will get upstairs with no problems.

Any guesstimates on how many cords I will burn? I have no idea what my wood consumption will be, but I have guessed at least 6 based on what I have read. I have about at least 7 cords CSS (it's probably more because my single 8' rows probably average 18" inch splits and they are stacked closer to 5' than 4 (I count three of those as a cord) that will be ready. I will have a few more cords that may be dry enough to burn if needed (dead firs from my own property). I will have more than twice that CSS by the time fall rolls around, but hoping I don't need it as I would like to get a year ahead.

Any guesses from the BK King contingent?

 

[begreen]

Lots of glass and very high ceilings can effectively double the sq ftg heated in those areas. That may be too much for one stove unless supplementing it with primary heating system is ok. It's hard to say how harsh this upcoming winter will be, but it sounds like you have a decent stash set aside.

 

[claydogg84]

3,800 sq ft is a massive space for one stove. I'm going to guess you can expect to use over 10 cord if you actually rely on the stove as your sole source of heat.

 

[volunbeer]

House has two electric heat pumps and two propane furnaces that kick on when it is too cold for the electric pumps to manage. Goal is to not use the propane and minimize the electric bill, but I am expecting to run the stove pretty hard for a few months.

 

[begreen]

It will probably be ok with temps above 20 if there is good solar gain during the daytime. For below 20 temps the backup heating systems will probably be cycling. If the heat pump is a central hvac system I would not rely on it below about 25F or higher depending on the design. Keep that propane tank full ahead of cold snaps.

 

[volunbeer]

Ouch. I need about 3 more cords CSS for this year to be safe. Will try to cut up some more of the dead trees on our property and get it split so it can dry this summer.

One thing is for sure - I can dump my gym membership! That is a lot of wood for a casual homeowner, but I enjoy the exercise and being outdoors. Back to the grind and thanks for the replies.

 

[Poindexter]

I agre with ur plan to get the standing dead conifer bucked, split and stacked asap.

Begreen is a darned good guesser. I would be looking for 12 to 15 cords split and stacked before solstice, the all the rest of the dead standing you got asap after that.

Be sure to get hsitorical climate data ( heating degree days per month works good for me), so when you get to May 2017 you can look at your woodpile and how the HDDs you just experienced stack up to average HDD near you.

 

[volunbeer]

I know it won't provide all my heat needs. Would love to realize about 2/3rds of my heat with it averaged out over the 6 months of what I consider cool or cold weather here.

 

[CheapBassTurd]

Inexperienced here too just coming off our first season.
Learned real quick there's many places the stove didn't reach.
Four ceiling fans made a silent world of difference !!
The next bestest (I read here) thing was adding a box fan on the floor
in the coldest, furthest corner of the house blowing towards the stove room.

This provided a wonderful mix. I read into your post that one ceiling fan may
not get the happy air everywhere you wish it to be.

Concerning consumption it was a mild winter here, but we have a hungry potbelly stove.
Not knowing exactly is ok with me as I'm going totally overboard splitting and stacking
double or triple my estimated seasonal needs based on 4 months' usage x 2 for a full season.
Next spring the leftover amount will give a good indicator as to how much is needed to always
be two year's minimum prepared every summer.

I think both of us should be shredding all of our available deads now, and I am.

CheapMark

 

[Babaganoosh]

2 blaze kings should do it. Or a blaze king and a more inexpensive tube stove to fire up when it gets colder.

 

[kennyp2339]

I've got a BK princess and souly heating about 1600sqft from the non insulated basement, I'm going through about 4 cords a year, last year since it was so warm I did about 2 cords, I live in NNJ and our typical cold temps range from single digits at night to low 20's during the day (live in a valley, the cold gets trapped and sticks around)

 

[Ashful]

House has two electric heat pumps and two propane furnaces that kick on when it is too cold for the electric pumps to manage. Goal is to not use the propane and minimize the electric bill, but I am expecting to run the stove pretty hard for a few months.

After struggling for a few years to heat too much space with stoves, I completely changed my heating model. I have 2x your sq ft, and probably 4x your heat load in my uninsulated pre-revolutionary house, but the principles are the same.

I just set my automatic thermostats for the boiler and heat pumps where they would be if I were not burning wood. Then I keep two BK Ashford 30 stoves fed on a schedule that suits me, not necessarily our full heating requirement. Every BTU I generate with the stoves is one less I need to generate via oil or electrons, and we're comfortable while saving thousands per year in fuel costs.

I tried doing as your contemplating in my first few years, keeping the thermostats low and heating solely with wood. I didn't save much more than I do now, and my family was frustrated and cold. I was also getting much less sleep, due to the demands of keeping the stoves loaded while working a busy schedule. I don't recommend it for a large house.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Highbeam]

Ashful is right. The bk king is unique in that it is thermostatic, has a gigantic fuel tank, and is the most efficient stove you can get (last I checked). You won't want to load anymore than twice per day no matter how cold it gets. So 8 c.f. per day for 90 days, and 4 c.f. per day for 180 days. Say 1400 c.f. which is 11 cords. I would call that the worst case scenario for a couple of reasons. One, you won't need heat for 9 months of the year in eastern Washington, and two, you won't be able to fit 4 c.f. in the stove every time.

I don't go into winter without at least two years of split wood in the stacks and you will get there too but this first year I wouldn't stack more than 15 unless you're bored.

I really do heat 9 months of the year. It's only 64 in my house today and I've been asked to burn some wood. We are cooler in western washington for longer and I use nothing but wood for heat.

Good choice on the stove.

 

[begreen]

We run the house much like Ashful. The heatpump digital thermostat is on its normal set schedule. If it comes on because I overslept or was away, no big deal. During 24/7 heating season it almost never comes on. When it gets above 50F outside I don't even think about burning wood. Solar gain and the heat pump do it much cheaper and cleaner.

It's 58F outside right now. Overnight setting for the HP was 65F but it never got below 67F. The heat pump just came on to take the daytime house temp up to 70F. It ran for around 10 minutes using 2kW or about 2 cents if the sun wasn't shining. It's sunny and the solar panels covered the load easily, so free heat. This is probably the last time it will run today. Considering you have a heatpump system I think you will do much the same. In sunny eastern WA investing in solar will help offset heating costs, especially if you use WA state made components.