Stretching your wood supply

[ngzcaz]

Like many I'm sure, I'm not quite in the panic mode but the wood is going faster than I expected. And I'm past the junk and in the meat of the good stuff. What are you doing to make it last longer ? Too bad we can't add water to the pile like Mom used to add to the soup if you got company..

 

[powerstroke73L]

Like many I'm sure, I'm not quite in the panic mode but the wood is going faster than I expected. And I'm past the junk and in the meat of the good stuff. What are you doing to make it last longer ? Too bad we can't add water to the pile like Mom used to add to the soup if you got company..

My Englander 28-3500 has an underfire air control so I'm going to buy a ton of bituminous coal (about $90) and shovel it into brown paper bags from the grocery store 10lbs at a time. Englander recommends adding coal on top of wood after its good and charred as it will add additional hours to the burn cycle (I've yet to see how many), the idea being that the coal will just be getting started as the wood begins to die. As long as I can have a solid bed of coals when the wife gets home around 3:00 she'll be able to simply toss in a bag of coal and open the underfire air. Then when I get home at 7:00 there should still be a pretty good fire going that I can add some good size splits to. At a rate of 10lbs a day (maybe 20lbs on weekend days) a ton will last me an entire season and then some.

 

[jcappe]

Like many I'm sure, I'm not quite in the panic mode but the wood is going faster than I expected. And I'm past the junk and in the meat of the good stuff. What are you doing to make it last longer ? Too bad we can't add water to the pile like Mom used to add to the soup if you got company..

At this point I'm making it last longer by cutting more wood :blush:

 

[Wood Scrounge]

I am in the same boat, last year I went through 4 cords with a little left over, I am already at 3 cords. I had to get out and find more, I managed to find a cord of ash that was downed about 18 months ago.

 

[maplemeister]

Don't have an easy solution for ya this year but come next year You might want to try what I did this past fall. I cut about 10 cord last fall, some for myself and some for sale. I saved out all the short, gnarly, ugly pieces that wouldn't stack well and just threw them in a big pile on pallets. I am estimating that I ended up with about 1 cord of wood when I was done. It starts getting cold at night where I live in the early part of September, but that pile of shorts and uglies took me all the way through September and October before I had to get into my good wood. In early fall I generally only need a fire for a couple of hours during the evening and I am good to go for the night. It is some extra time to handle those smaller pieces but it saved a whole lot of my good wood for the colder part of winter when I really needed it the most and could utilize the extra heat of the full length splits. Most evenings I would go out to that stack of shorts, fill two five gallon plastic pails, and we were set for the evening. Waste not, want not, works for me.

Maplemeister:

 

[blakey]

The legs on your oak coffee table were a little too long anyway...

 

[sdt7618]

well they recon that if you drop your stat's by 1 degree you can save as much as 10% of the energy used. so grow that pile 10% !! :monkey:

 

[JONSEREDFAN6069]

i've gone through this years pile and half of next years. last year i only burned 5 cords burning only wood, i had 10 cut and split and 10 in full rounds still for next year that was all dead standing. this winter is brutally cold here, the coldest it's been is -48c without the wind chill warmest was -5 for a day then back to -30. can you burn the coal in a regular stove, mine's not an airtite but it burns great and i'm getting about 6 to 7 hrs burn time. sorry if i got off topic a little.

 

[ngzcaz]

Hmm.. so if I drop the stat 10 degrees to 60 I wont have to cut any more wood, ever ? :jawdrop: :monkey:

 

[beerman6]

Drop it to 59 and watch the pile grow!

 

[sdt7618]

Drop it to 59 and watch the pile grow!

yeah cause the wife will have chased you out of the the house to cut more wood!! lol

 

[ray benson]

Seems as we are burning more than past years. Burned a little over 4.5 cords so far this season.

 

[powerstroke73L]

can you burn the coal in a regular stove, mine's not an airtite but it burns great and i'm getting about 6 to 7 hrs burn time. sorry if i got off topic a little.

Depends. Coal needs air from underneath. Most woodstoves only supply air from the top because that's what wood needs. My furnace has both so I'm able to burn wood and coal. Generally the only kinds of stoves that have under and overfire air controls are add-on furnaces or boilers. Regular radiant heating stoves are generally made for one or the other, but Harman does make a coal/wood unit with both types of controls-the TLC3000 I think?

 

[Paso One]

Well for us Pallet burners it's not a real problem. in 3 hours I picked up 160 pallets from one location.

That should last me till spring hopefully

 

[Zodiac45]

My old Glenwood cookstove will do both. It's better if you have the shaker grates in it though. I have wood grates so I usually throw some stove coal (large pieces) in at night or after I have a big bed of coals. It doesn't add all that much time for me but it burns hot and keeps the creosote too a real minimum. Not sure why but just a few handfuls of coal lumps every few days and the stove stays allot cleaner than it used too.

 

[ngzcaz]

Well...............anyone can burn pallets :monkey: its just that some of us have to cut them once or twice or three, four.........................

 

[woodbooga]

Last year, we ran about a 1/4 cord short of what we needed and I had to buy a little to last us through the heating season.

I swore that I would never be in that position again and hit the woods with a fury last spring and through the following months.

I estimate that I will have a 2 cord surplus from this year's supply. Also, there's about 3 cords piled outside under a foot of snow. So the 2009-10 supply is on target to be approx 5 cords of the 6 needed for next winter.

So I guess I can give the saw a break this year?

Not too likely.

 

[AOD]

Where do you coal guys get your coal? It's almost impossible to find in these parts.

 

[getwood]

After 23 years of heating my house with wood, I have learned that there is lot to learn. If you don’t have access to elm or ash, you may want to save the wood for next year. Seasoned wood really does make a big difference. Last year was the first year I kept track of what I burned for the season (7-7.5 cords). I was determined to get ahead. I have started the season with 9 cords and have used about 4 cords. I think I will end the season at 6 cords.

 

[boostnut]

If you've got any custom cabinet builders in your area stop by their shops and ask what they do with their scraps (kiln dried hardwood). I've got 2 that just take their scraps to a burn pile and lite em' up once a week. Stop by and fill your truck for free dry hardwood. Beats the heck outa cutting up pallets. Good luck, cut more for next year!