# How many cords will you burn this season?



## goanin (Sep 29, 2010)

......And
Can anybody help me calculate how much I'm gonna burn? This is my first burning season, so I don't have an idea..
- Our house is around 860 sq feet.
- Our cold season actually begins in November and ends in late March.
- Avarage winter temp is 48..
- We have softwoods and hardwoods (1:1). 
- Our stove is big: 16kW.
- The house isn't perfectly insulated..


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## Steve NW WI (Sep 29, 2010)

I've got a 2200 SqFt 25 year old mobile home on a full basement. It's in need of some insulation here and there and some new windows and doors. I live in northern WI (45° N latitude), heating season runs from any day now till late April, average January temps of about 10° F, with lows to -30°F. I have an older indoor wood furnace (forced air) in the basement that provides about 90% of my heat. I like to start the year with no less than 10 full cords of wood ready to go. I'm still hoping to get a new more efficient furnace in before winter, and hope to put a dent in my wood use, along with some insulation projects. Last year was pretty mild, I went through about 6 cords of mixed hardwoods. 8 cords is about average.

Your situation would be similar to that of members in the southern US, it sounds similar to GA where I spent 3 years. Were I to take a guess, with a fairly efficient stove, 3 full cords or less per year if heating solely/mostly with wood. 

Your 16KW stove looks to be about 55,000BTU by US standards, plenty big for your size home, but not a "big" stove by our standards. You'll likely not need to keep it fired all the time, which will save some wood.

Just remember the AS firewooder's motto: There's no such thing as too much firewood, only not enough storage space!


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## Cambium (Sep 29, 2010)

Is your location correct? Isreal? I looked at location when I read average winter temp was 48. lol I dont think I light the stove at that temp. 

I have to assume 1 cord is enough for you.


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## goanin (Sep 29, 2010)

Cambium said:


> Is your location correct? Isreal? I looked at location when I read average winter temp was 48. lol I dont think I light the stove at that temp.
> 
> I have to assume 1 cord is enough for you.



Ya thanks for making me think about immigrating 
I'm a winter person..

Our nights get pretty cold.. But 48F is cold enough to light the stove.. We've got 1.5 cords stacked.. I hope that'll do.


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## Adam_MA (Sep 29, 2010)

I would have to agree with Cambium. My house is just a little bit larger than yours, fair insulation with mostly new windows. My stove is a little larger than yours, and last winter I went through just over 1.5 cords of wood. Here in MA our heating season goes from Oct. until April-ish, and our temps in the dead of winter stay around 20* with some cold spells that dip below 0. Last year in our coldest month my gas bill was around $10 due to my furnace kicking on for short periods when I was away at work.


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## JFerg65 (Sep 29, 2010)

We will go through approximately 10 cords this winter. We have had a few small fires in the evening to knock the chill off the house. Once the cold gets here we will typically burn full time till march. I have 6 ready to go should be done in about a month. Luckily the wood we get has been down for a couple of seasons.


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## Wife'nHubby (Sep 29, 2010)

You didn't say what you used previously for heat (propane/oil/electric) but I have heard a 'general rule' is if you used oil heat previously you could roughly figure 250 gallons of fuel oil equates a cord of wood. 

Any gurus can certainly chime in on this theory because there are lots of variables on this (stove output, wood type, etc.) 

I have hickory, hard maple and oak for this winter and those types of woods are higher on the btu chart whereas pine, spruce, etc. are lower on the btu chart = lower btu woods means you would need more wood.

Shari


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## 4seasons (Sep 29, 2010)

*1-3 cords*

My house is 1200 sq ft well insulated, but with crappy windows. I have a heat pump that I run when it isn't that cold. I don't build a fire unless it is going to be below freezing at night, or if the high wont get above 50. I burn a lot of overnight only fires just so that the heat wont have to kick on threw Oct,Nov, and March. I keep a fire going Dec-March and the most I have used was less than 3 cords. I only burn hardwoods, but I also live in a cooler climate than you. If you have another heat source like I do you may find yourself using it during the day and just burning wood at night. My firebox is 24 x18 x12 inch and crammed full of pine with the damper cranked all the way down I can get an 8 hour burn, with oak I can set the damper midway and get 12 hours with a full load. 4 years ago our winter was very mild and I only used a little over 1 cord. The thing that you will need to watch is keeping the flue/ chimney clean. Big furnace with a small house combined with a mild winter means you will be choking the fire back a lot and that means fast creosote build up. Get a chimney brush if you don't already have one cause you will be sweeping the chimney at least once a month, and depending on the setup, may be cleaning the stovepipe every 2 weeks.


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## 1harlowr (Sep 29, 2010)

There's so many variables we are just guessing for you. How much insulation in Isreal compared to parts of the US is so subjective. Type of construction, wind factor, how warm you want your house, and type of wood being burned (this is a huge item). One more piece of wood a day over a 150 day burning season means what, 1/4 to 1/3 cord of wood??? 
I'll tell you in late March how much you need next year


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## sunfish (Sep 29, 2010)

Yeah, you're going to have to get through a season first to find out.

I burn 3-4 cords for 1200 sq/ft. Very efficient stove in a well insulated and tight house.

I also burn 4-5 cords in my well insulated 1700 sq/ft shop with two stoves.

My mom/dad burn 2-3 cords for 880 sq/ft and a very small Waterford stove.


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## TJ-Bill (Sep 29, 2010)

last winter we went though about 7-8 cord.. Not sure if it was because of the new air tight stove which I found didn't heat the house as my older non air tight stove or the fact that my wife was home on Mat leave..

I'm aiming for 6-7 cord this year.


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## r.man (Sep 29, 2010)

It doesn't sound like anyone will freeze if you run out of wood but any wood left over from this year will give you a jump on next. My father once read that all firewood gives off the same heat based on seasoned weight. I have never been able to confirm that but it sounds reasonable. So if a seasoned piece of poplar is half the weight of seasoned maple you need twice the poplar for the same amount of heat. This does not address coals and ash etc but gives a good start for comparing wood use. If it is much of a problem for you to get more wood in the middle of your "winter" then I would err on the side of caution. One thing a neighbor of mine does is to divide his wood into equal piles for our heating season. We heat for about 6 months, so he has 6 equal piles. It's not a perfect method since you burn the most in Jan and Feb but it helps keep track. Good luck with your first winter wood burning.


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## Pulp Friction (Sep 29, 2010)

Wife'nHubby said:


> You didn't say what you used previously for heat (propane/oil/electric) but I have heard a 'general rule' is if you used oil heat previously you could roughly figure 250 gallons of fuel oil equates a cord of wood.....Shari



This will pin it down closer than anything. For example, oil contians approx. 168,000 Btu's per gallon, propane is 95,000 per gallon, electric yields 3.414 Btu's per watt, etc. Of course like mentioned, correction for wood-type, degree of seasoning, etc. would be necessary.


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## Cerran (Sep 29, 2010)

I typically burn 3-4 Cords (Mostly Douglas Fir) heating about 1600 square feet of a 2200 square foot split-level home. My primary stove is a Quadrafire 3100i insert and my secondary stove is an Englander 13NCL.

The Quad usually does some shoulder season burns until about mid to late October when it runs full time until March or April.


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## ropensaddle (Sep 29, 2010)

I have a large basement furnace converted to odwf it ain't too bad until teens but I burnt twelve cords last year. I have only wood heat and I need to build a hut around the furnace to keep the cold air off the plenum shroud so I can dampen. When its cold it is wide open and throwing wood in rapidly. I can burn three foot long pieces and love my furnace but got to get it more wood conservative. I am thinking a tin hut to keep wind and cold air off may slow my usage down to 5 to 8 cord!


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## cassandrasdaddy (Sep 29, 2010)

*here*

5 cord 2000 sq foot house


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## logbutcher (Sep 29, 2010)

It's all about BTU's. 
Since Ropes ( from that chilly Arkansas....Arkansas! ) thinks I can't do math :bang:, here's how to figure the amount of wood you'll need. This is not rocket science.

Calculate:
1. Average winter temp in your location.
2. Size of the space to be heated.
3. How many BTU's will you need to bring the room/space/house up to what you decide is comfortable ( e.g. central heat for most @ say 65 F up to 72 F ).
4. BTU content of the wood species/cord ( or other measure that you have in Biblical terms such as "chaff" ).
5. You can plug into the calculation the exposure of the house, insulation, solar gain, etc....

"Arkansas " ! Something like Israel ?


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## mike reynolds (Sep 29, 2010)

My home is 1900 sf, very well insulated, E-star rated windows and it rarely dips below 20F. Last year, I used just inside 1 cord (many times burning the kids outside to cool off) of hard wood without ever turning on the gas heater.


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## dmlefevre (Sep 29, 2010)

3-4 cord, 2500 sq, well insulated, good windows, burn full time, only use oil for dhw, Hearthstone soapstone stove


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## bsearcey (Sep 29, 2010)

I'm guessing you'll use a little over 1 cord.


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## ropensaddle (Sep 29, 2010)

logbutcher said:


> It's all about BTU's.
> Since Ropes ( from that chilly Arkansas....Arkansas! ) thinks I can't do math :bang:, here's how to figure the amount of wood you'll need. This is not rocket science.
> 
> Calculate:
> ...



No logbutcher wife thinks its cold at 65 furnace not insulated underpinning not either lol.
Its redneck factor that's causing my wood waste and with any luck and a little funds I should be partly done before the real cold settles in!


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## goanin (Sep 30, 2010)

Thanks for all the comments so far.
I think I have enough firewood stacked and ready.
Can't wait to burn it!!

Keep posting your figures. How much are you gonna burn this season? It helps.


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## sbhooper (Sep 30, 2010)

15+ cords last year. It was a cold winter and I have a leaky house. Hopefully, this winter will be much better as we are getting new windows and siding. I will have 12 cords split and stacked by next week and I hope that will do me this year.


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## pipehead (Sep 30, 2010)

6 to 7 cords. The house is very well insulated, and faces the south-east. It is impressive how much help the sun can really be. Even on a very cold day, with the sun shining through the large windows, the house can get remarkably warm. The Pacific Energy really blasts out the heat as well. This house has sold me on the value of good insulation. Start burning mid October, last fire usually late May/early June.


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## sunfish (Sep 30, 2010)

sbhooper said:


> 15+ cords last year. It was a cold winter and I have a leaky house. Hopefully, this winter will be much better as we are getting new windows and siding. I will have 12 cords split and stacked by next week and I hope that will do me this year.



I installed siding and new windows 5 years ago, also put 1/2" R board on the house before the siding. It made a huge difference in heat and AC!

I have a feeling this winter will be worse than last, here in the mid-west, so cut some more wood...


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## Jredsjeep (Sep 30, 2010)

i usually start burning about late october early nov during the nights to about late may. when i am burning around the clock in jan and feb i use right around a cord a month. this is using a englander NC-30 rated for 1800-2200 sq-ft. my house is in the 1200 sq-ft range but poorly insolated, this stove keeps my furnace off all winter when the temps can be 20 deg F high during the day. its the wind that can put me behind sometimes.

so i am in the 3-4 cords a year range to keep warm.


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## wampum (Sep 30, 2010)

I insulated my whole house and replaced all the windows. It is a 2 story with about 1300 feet per floor,plus a basement that I just keep warm. I will burn 5 to 7 cords depending on the winter. I have 2 stoves and only light the one in the basement when it gets below freezing.


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