how much?

[archminer]

im kinda new here. its been 8 years since we burned wood and coal to heat with. i was still a teen so didn't really pay attention to how much wood we burned a year. just knew dad made me split it. lol. this year i am getting a hotblast 1537 furnace and a small wood stove (for the front porch)'. just wondering how much wood i need to stock up on?

so i wonderd if yall could tell me what kind of stove/stoves or furnaces yall are burning.

how many cords of wood/coal u use a year?

what kinda wood you mainly burn?

Thanks, sam

 

[nomad_archer]

I have an old inefficient wood stove that I burn mixed hardwoods in. I use it to heat ~1800sq foot house to about 72-73 degrees starting in late october - march and sometimes into April if it doesn't warm up like this year. My guess based on last year is that I burnt about 8-10 cords of wood. I work from home so I keep the fire going constantly. I may need more or less wood but that is my guess from last year.

My advice on how much wood to get. If you aren't paying for the wood gather as much as you can and then go get some more until you think you have way to much as it goes fast. This is my second year burning to heat my home and I am now trying to get a year or two ahead with the wood. It will leave me with less to worry about going into the burning season next year. Plus you can never have too much wood.

 

[Cheesecutter]

Can't really give you a meaningful answer without knowing sq.ft. insulation, house tightness, etc. I had a Yukon Jack furnace in an old, poorly insulated, drafty, 3000 sq.ft. farmhouse and I used to burn 6 cords per year. I now have an Outdoor Wood Burner(OWB) and burn 10-13 cords heating 2 houses (4800 sq.ft). I burn mostly elm, cherry, maple, and oak. I would say offhand you should start out with 4 cords for an average house in W.V.

 

[Dirtboy]

I go thru about 12 face cords a season. 1400 sq.ft. house, somewhat insulated. Usually start last week of Sept. and go thru April. Heat with my insert about 90% of the time. Fuel oil company don't stop to often.:msp_biggrin:

Don't gather with a goal in mind, just keep cutting & splittin, figure out how much you go thru in a season-and get at least 2 years ahead of yourself. Theres never enough wood in the pile!

 

[archminer]

I'm sorry. But what's the difference between a cord and a face cord?


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[Cheesecutter]

I'm sorry. But what's the difference between a cord and a face cord?


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A cord is 4 ft wide, 4 feet high and 8 feet long. A face cord is a partial cord. Usually cut at 16" or 1/3 of a cord. If the firewood is cut 12 inches long a face cord would be 1/4 cord as it would take 4 rows 12 inches long to make 48 inch wide stackor if cut 24 inches long it would be 1/2 cord, 2 rows to make 48 inches. Generally though 1/3 cord is considered a standard facecord.

 

[RVALUE]

A cord is 4 ft wide, 4 feet high and 8 feet long. A face cord is a partial cord. Usually cut at 16" or 1/3 of a cord. If the firewood is cut 12 inches long a face cord would be 1/4 cord as it would take 4 rows 12 inches long to make 48 inch wide stackor if cut 24 inches long it would be 1/2 cord, 2 rows to make 48 inches. Generally though 1/3 cord is considered a standard facecord.

Are you sure? Maybe 2/3 ? Just asking....

 

[blades]

1 cord equals 128 cubic feet ( tightly stacked), generally a face cord is 1/3 of that , about 10 % of the volume is lost to air space/gaps between the splits, rounds,or log length ( 8ft long), A rick is , I believe, a face cord also.

A 1537 running 24/7 would use likely all of 6 full cords in a normal winter here, plus the stove.

 

[FLHX Storm]

Last year I went through about two and a half cord of wood. But then my place was poorly insulated and drafty. I have since made improvements to my place and also went with a newer high efficiency wood stove, so I would imagine I will go through a cord to a cord n a half this season.

Really it is hard to tell you how much you might burn because there are far too many variables. Location, altitude, insulation, even the length of the winter season. Your best bet is to find someone who burns locally using a similar stove and see how much they burn. Then double or even triple that as a just in case.

This season you will likely burn more than your neighbors since you need to acclimate yourself to the stove, house, and conditions especially with this being your first year burning. So you might want to keep that in mind.

And, Welcome to AS! If no one here has an answer to your questions, then there just plain isn't one! :msp_w00t:

 

[apn73]

I've got a Hearthstone Heritage, 55,000 btu, that I heat a 2,400 sq. ft. two story farm house with. It's a little small for the house, probably heats 85-90% or that area. The Hearthstone Mansfield (80,000 btu) would have been a better choice. I burn mixed hard woods and am burning 5.5-6 cords per heating season depending on how hard a winter we're having. I may have gotten up to 6.5 cords a couple of years ago, but that has been the most that I have ever used. The stoves mentioned above are modern EPA certified stoves and that is something worth having, they are 1/3 more efficient, burn 1/3 less wood and that means 1/3 less work for you when getting your firewood supply ready for the heating season. I'm not a big fan of anything EPA, but the EPA certified stoves that have been around since 1992 have been a "win-win" for the reasons that I outlined above. I am completely against some the latest wood burning ideas coming from the EPA though.

 

[jthornton]

I'm sorry. But what's the difference between a cord and a face cord?


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The only unit of measure for firewood is the cord. The made up descriptions like face cord, rick, rank, bunch, truck load and pile can be anything you like.

I heat 2000 sq ft with about 1 1/2 to 2 cords a year, but you can't compare what other people use unless your building is similar with similar insulation and similar location. My house is similar to my shop and I use about 300 gallons of propane to heat it. Both are very well insulated and tight.

JT

 

[FLHX Storm]

[video=youtube;-qwx_DM1P6w]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qwx_DM1P6w[/video]

 

[cantoo]

jthorton, that 300 gallons for your propane to heat the shop is that US gallons or Canadian gallons? I have one shop that is 24x24 that I heat with propane and I use 3 tanks 100lbs each. I don't heat it very often though.

 

[Guido Salvage]

how many cords of wood/coal u use a year?

I would be interested in seeing a cord of coal. I am old enough to remember my parents having a coal furnace and recall it was always sold by the ton.

 

[archminer]

I would be interested in seeing a cord of coal. I am old enough to remember my parents having a coal furnace and recall it was always sold by the ton.

Haha. Thanks everybody.myea coal is sold by the ton. But if you built a coal bin 4x4x8 then that would be a cord ton I guess. Lol. I'm sure someone can figure up the math on that one.

 

[blades]

Anthracite or Bituminous ?:hmm3grin2orange:
And Yes, I have not fond memories of the coal days although it did improve slighty with the auto feeder, still had to go down and shovel it everyday sometimes twice. Cleaning the coal bin was about 1/2 step above scrubbing out the cistern. Almost forgot about the clinkers as well. Gathering wood and splitting for the parlor stove and cook stove was a much more palatable job, most of the time.

 

[Slade McCuiston]

My favorite time to cut firewood is in the fall, after leaves have dropped, and winter.

During the summer, I mark trees that need to be felled, trimmed, etc. About the only trees I cut during this time are dangerous trees or trees that I'm offered to cut for free wood. I also start trimming up the trails around the farm to make sure that I'll be able to get in there with the truck/Kubota RTV when fall comes.

During the fall, I start dropping more trees. Fall is a good time to cut wood because the temperatures aren't so high, but you're not freezing either. This is also a time when I start splitting a lot more wood. Sometimes, if the summer is hotter than normal, I'll just stack rounds and wait until the fall.

Working towards the winter, I drop a ton of trees. It's amazing how warm you'll stay when sawing all day. This is probably (my opinion) the best time of year to cut and split your firewood. I have found that the wood is dryer than any other time of the year, and something about cold days... the wood seems to split easier.

 

[Guswhit]

Haha. Thanks everybody.myea coal is sold by the ton. But if you built a coal bin 4x4x8 then that would be a cord ton I guess. Lol. I'm sure someone can figure up the math on that one.

For reference, I work in an old time lumber yard that also handled 3 different grades of coal for sale up until the early 70's. My boss reflects from time to time about being on the coal delivery truck. The used an old chevy truck with blister fenders all the time so the box would be square. They built side board extensions on top of the side rails. He thinks about 12"(he said he just doesn't remember for sure). So basically they had 4'X8'x3' high and heaped in the middle. He claims on average the weight would scale 2 1/2 tons. He said when you started shoveling and the scoop shovel would hit the truck bed for the first time, he only had 2 more hours to go. Sure glad they don't do that anymore!

 

[Dirtboy]

The only unit of measure for firewood is the cord. The made up descriptions like face cord, rick, rank, bunch, truck load and pile can be anything you like.

I heat 2000 sq ft with about 1 1/2 to 2 cords a year, but you can't compare what other people use unless your building is similar with similar insulation and similar location. My house is similar to my shop and I use about 300 gallons of propane to heat it. Both are very well insulated and tight.

JT

In this part of NY, they call a face cord a cord. When I first started burning, I ordered a cord split from a local supplier, and was pleased with the low price for mixed hardwood. Imagine how surprised I was when I got a "face" cord dropped. MY BIL in WV had told me to order the wood by the cord, which is indeed really 3 face cords cut 16-18"'s. I checked with many other suppliers in the area, and sure enough they said a cord is 4'X8'X 16-18"'s. Must be a NY thing...