Wood Usage

[BurningBrutus]

So i am a little worried that i might not have enough wood for the season. Please tell me if my calculations are correct:

So far I can get about 8 hr burn times. I would sum it up as i put almost 1sq ft in each load, say 6 nice splits. I do this at 8am, 4pm, and at midnight when i go to bed. Thats 3 sq ft a day. I face cord is 4x8 giving me 32 sq ft. 32 / 3 = 10.6 So we round up to 11 days per face cord. Can that be right? At this rate i would be looking at about 15 face cord for 5 months of heating. Or am i missing something?

 

[KaptJaq]

15 "face cords" are about 5 cords. That sounds about average for NY State. If your insert is 2 CF capacity a full cord is 128 CF. you will get 64 loads from a full cord or 21 days at 3 loads a day. Winter is 90 days plus some shoulder season burns still comes out to about 5 full cords or 15 face cords a season...

YMMV depending on how tightly you pack your stove or how quickly you burn the wood.

KaptJaq

 

[HotCoals]

I went from 15 face cords to 10 when I switched from a old non cat BK to one with. Just saying. Cheers!

 

[Holiday]

I guess I won't have enough wood either. Still trying to get enough cut and split for next winter.

 

[HotCoals]

If you're going to run short burn mostly at night.

 

[Ashful]

If you're going to run short burn mostly at night.

Amen, bro. I went thru a full cord in 8 days, when it got real cold last January, but I was burning two stoves and stuffing 'em full 3x per day with poplar... not notoriously long-burning wood.

Wood shortage is just part of getting started in this routine. Burn whatever is ready this year, save the rest for next. This is my third year, and I'm much better off, but still not where I want to be.

 

[Holiday]

Kind of what I'm trying to do but it's so much easier keeping the thing going all the time lol. Guess I better quit putting in the load before I go to bed.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Find a source of pallets and mix a bit of a pallet into the wood you're burning. Watch the fire though, because pallets slats are so thin that they are often really dry and burn up quick and hot.

Matt

 

[eclecticcottage]

Wow...that's a lot of wood. I think we went through about 8 or 9 (not fully seasoned) face cords last year burning a lot of box elder. Now I'm wondering what this year will bring burning pine. So far we've gone through about 3/4 of a face cord (we have a rack that's just shy of 4x8 so it's easy to measure) but we used more than we needed this past weeekend keeping it up in the 80's in here to help dry out some damp wood from a leak (completely non-stove related). We're hoping to keep to 7-8 face cords usage per season. I guess I'll score one for a small house, lol.

Ouch, I see you buy it. Do you have to have it delivered? If so...double ouch. Have you found anyone with actual seasoned wood? I know there's a guy in the Clarence area advertising seasoned/dry or your $$ back (or was, last season anyway), but I think he was at like $110 a FC picked up.

 

[Rickb]

I put 1 load in at around 7pm. We are on a hill and have many south facing windows. It can be 10F outside but if it is sunny it will be 78 in the house with the blinds open.

 

[BurningBrutus]

Wow...that's a lot of wood. I think we went through about 8 or 9 (not fully seasoned) face cords last year burning a lot of box elder. Now I'm wondering what this year will bring burning pine. So far we've gone through about 3/4 of a face cord (we have a rack that's just shy of 4x8 so it's easy to measure) but we used more than we needed this past weeekend keeping it up in the 80's in here to help dry out some damp wood from a leak (completely non-stove related). We're hoping to keep to 7-8 face cords usage per season. I guess I'll score one for a small house, lol.

Ouch, I see you buy it. Do you have to have it delivered? If so...double ouch. Have you found anyone with actual seasoned wood? I know there's a guy in the Clarence area advertising seasoned/dry or your $$ back (or was, last season anyway), but I think he was at like $110 a FC picked up.

eclecticcottage, i see you are in the wny area as well, where do you get your wood from? And yes even if i payed 100 a cord, at 15 cords that is $1500. It might be cheaper to turn my furnace on

 

[eclecticcottage]

We scrounge In other words, we pick up piles of wood people put out by the road to "throw out" and hit up craigslist sometimes for stuff that's already down. Also, some neighbors were clearing out beetle kill pine and we got a LOT of wood from them. We went crazy the past two years and put up about 70 FC so we'd be way ahead and could just pick up stuff that was bucked to the right lengths when we came across it. But not until next year, we're out of space for now!

We did buy the first year, some from a guy in Ransomville (havent seen an ad from him yet this season, but it was green-he even said so-and BIG chunks), and mostly from a place on Upper Mountain in Lockport we drove past anyway (also not seasoned very well, they have it out again for $80 a FC). We have a truck though, so we could pick up our stuff.

 

[BurningBrutus]

Unfortunately i do not have room to put all that wood. What area do you live in? Im in hopkins- n. french area in amherst. Maybe i can swing by and buy some wood off of you at a discounted price

 

[Ashful]

I don't get this "face cord" thing. My face cords are 1/2 cord, your face cords might be 1/3 cord. I only burned 11 of my face cords last year, but that would be 16.5 of your face cords. Either way, it's 5.5 cords, and I ran out of wood Mar.6.

 

[eclecticcottage]

I don't get this "face cord" thing. My face cords are 1/2 cord, your face cords might be 1/3 cord. I only burned 11 of my face cords last year, but that would be 16.5 of your face cords. Either way, it's 5.5 cords, and I ran out of wood Mar.6.

That's why they aren't a good measurement!

Around here, it's about 1/3. 4x8 (or, the "face" of a cord) and as deep as they cut the splits (could be 12", could be 20", depends on the seller).

 

[Sons924]

I know I'm going to run out. I'm burning cautiously for now, trying to save for January/February.

 

[Ashful]

That's why they aren't a good measurement!

Around here, it's about 1/3. 4x8 (or, the "face" of a cord) and as deep as they cut the splits (could be 12", could be 20", depends on the seller).

I'd be very surprised if it's legal to sell "face cords" in NY. I know it's not legal in many states. A "cord" is an amount of wood as defined by your state weights and measures office.

edit: Just looked it up, and found that NY differs from many states, in that wood in NY is sold by three dimensions (cubic feet), not necessarily by "cords".

In New York, all firewood sales and advertising must include the three dimensions of the wood, that is length, width, and height, with the wood ranked and well stowed.

 

[HotCoals]

I don't get this "face cord" thing. My face cords are 1/2 cord, your face cords might be 1/3 cord. I only burned 11 of my face cords last year, but that would be 16.5 of your face cords. Either way, it's 5.5 cords, and I ran out of wood Mar.6.

I don't understand that at all and never heard that before.
A face cord is 1/3 of a cord around here. 4x8x16" unless length is special ordered.

 

[egclassic]

So i am a little worried that i might not have enough wood for the season. Please tell me if my calculations are correct:

So far I can get about 8 hr burn times. I would sum it up as i put almost 1sq ft in each load, say 6 nice splits. I do this at 8am, 4pm, and at midnight when i go to bed. Thats 3 sq ft a day. I face cord is 4x8 giving me 32 sq ft. 32 / 3 = 10.6 So we round up to 11 days per face cord. Can that be right? At this rate i would be looking at about 15 face cord for 5 months of heating. Or am i missing something?

The burn times you get now may vary greatly once it gets cold outside. You most likely will burn considerably more loads per day the colder it gets.
Buying wood is tough. I remember my 1st year burning (of course it was only 3 years ago), I had to buy all my wood that year. After all the frustration, I learned the art of scrounging and getting a year or so ahead. Craigslist is a joke, at least around here, for finding free firewood. People think that people who burn will take any and all garbage. I did find a reputable seller, though, on craigslist 2 years ago. I still buy a load from him once in awhile if I am getting low.

 

[HotCoals]

I buy wood now and pick it up with my little trailer one face cord at a time.
Usually I get it for 65-70 a fc.
So I burn give or take 10fc. Lets say 700 bucks.
I have a heat pump for the shoulders which works decent but below 30f my forced air electric furnace runs and runs.
It would cost me at least 1500-1700 to use electric compared to wood and be nowhere as warm and cozy.

 

[PSYS]

My intention is to only burn at nights and on the weekends.

My wife and I both work during the weekdays so we wouldn't be burning during the day, anyway.
I'm certain I'm still gonna run out, but that's my plan for now.

 

[HotCoals]

My intention is to only burn at nights and on the weekends.

My wife and I both work during the weekdays so we wouldn't be burning during the day, anyway.
I'm certain I'm still gonna run out, but that's my plan for now.

If you can get bio bricks reasonable you could mix them in maybe.
But if you have natural gas it might be cheaper.

 

[KaptJaq]

I don't understand that at all and never heard that before. A face cord is 1/3 of a cord around here. 4x8x16" unless length is special ordered.

A face cord is not a definitive quantity. In all my years a cord has been 128 cf of tightly stacked 16" splits. That comes out to three lines, 8' long, 4' high and 16" wide or 4' x 4' x 8' or 128 cf.

For me a face cord has been one line 4' x 8' x 16" or just shy of 43 CF. When you order a special length everything goes out the window. If it is shorter than 16" you will probably still get 4' x 8' stack. Order longer and he is going to shrink that stack to "make up" for the extra length. In either case he has to do extra work so you will pay more per cubic foot of wood.

NY has it right. Firewood is sold as a given number of cubic feet. In New York, all firewood sales and advertising must include the three dimensions of the wood, that is length, width, and height, with the wood ranked and well stowed.

KaptJaq

 

[HotCoals]

A face cord is not a definitive quantity. In all my years a cord has been 128 cf of tightly stacked 16" splits. That comes out to three lines, 8' long, 4' high and 16" wide or 4' x 4' x 8' or 128 cf.

Sure it is!
Take one row and you have a face cord. Cheers!

 

[KaptJaq]

A face cord is not a definitive quantity. In all my years a cord has been 128 cf of tightly stacked 16" splits. That comes out to three lines, 8' long, 4' high and 16" wide or 4' x 4' x 8' or 128 cf.

Sure it is! Take one row and you have a face cord. Cheers!

But if a cord of 128 CF is 4 rows of splits, each row 4' x 8' x 12" is one row still a face cord? Could I deliver 4' x 8' x 6" and call it a face cord?

KaptJaq