# How much wood do you burn in a normal winter?



## BertP (Apr 16, 2020)

Just wondering how much wood you go through in a normal winter.  I know you in the colder East and North will use a lot more, but just wondering.


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## Woody Stover (Apr 16, 2020)

I stack species separately, and pull from several different stacks over the course of a winter, so I've never gotten a precise cord count. I could keep track of how many times I re-fill the "feed stack" outside the door, but I haven't done that yet.
It's a small house, not well weatherized but in a moderate climate; I'm guessing I might burn about 1.5 cords, depending how cold the winter is. We haven't had a cold one in a few years, though..


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## kennyp2339 (Apr 16, 2020)

So a cord of wood is 4ft x 4ft x 8ft or 128cuft. A normal winter for myself is 4 cords, This past winter was mild here, only burnt through 3 cords.


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## johneh (Apr 16, 2020)

I also burn 4 cord normally 
this year only 3 1/3
Always but 5 in the basement by 
the furnace just in case it is a very cold winter


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## Grizzerbear (Apr 16, 2020)

3 cord normally....at least that's what I shoot for. This year was pretty warm. I am right at 2 cord for this winter.


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## Gearhead660 (Apr 16, 2020)

4-5.5 cord.  Big, old farm house.


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## begreen (Apr 16, 2020)

BertP said:


> Just wondering how much wood you go through in a normal winter.  I know you in the colder East and North will use a lot more, but just wondering.


The location is just one factor. Other factors are how well insulated and sealed the house is. How large a volume is being heated, how much sunlight gain there is, the ambient indoor temp as well as outdoor temp, the wood species burned, etc.. We use about 2.5 to 3 cords a year, while my sister's place back in NYS uses about 2 cords for a slightly larger home, in spite of being in a colder climate. This is because their place is super insulated and they have a very well insulated greenhouse (R10 glazing)  that helps heat the house when it's sunny. Our house, OTOH is an old farmhouse with so so insulation and way too much glazing.


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## David.Ervin (Apr 16, 2020)

3-4 cords / winter, depending on how cold and windy it gets.  Larger house, but pretty new with good insulation.


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## Zack R (Apr 16, 2020)

With two stoves, a larger house in a cold climate with high ceilings and lots of windows..... ~7 cords of pine/juniper. 

Getting started on next years supply: Pine seasons quickly here during the warm dry summers


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## red oak (Apr 16, 2020)

Used to burn 4 cords per winter but new windows plus a mild winter meant less than 3 burned this past winter.


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## Lakeside (Apr 16, 2020)

2 cord -- 80% black Locust 20 % Black Birch.   Location Northern Central Connecticut.


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## BIGChrisNH (Apr 16, 2020)

5 cords for me in Southern NH. “Winter”  bleeds into Fall and Spring though. I probably burn close to 7 months out of the year


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## Dataman (Apr 16, 2020)

When I burned Wood I went thru 3-4 Cords.  Pine and Red Fir.   Switched to pellets and burning longer time now, with Blaze King King I would not do fire if overnight was 30f.   Go thru 4 tons of Pellets past 2 years.  All we have in E Wa State is Pine.


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## NickW (Apr 16, 2020)

I used to go through 5 cords of hardwood in the old smoke dragon and couldn't keep the electric baseboards from kicking in overnight. In January I installed a new EPA stove, stainless insulated liner and double wall pipe. I expect to go through 3-4 cord in a full season now, some of it softwood. The difference is night and day. Way more heat from less wood. Overnight is not a problem anymore except on the coldest, windiest nights when I don't build a quite perfect fire.


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## WoodBurnerInWI (Apr 17, 2020)

I'll give my numbers for this year since they would apply to my current stove (an Ideal Steel from Woodstock Soapstone).

I have a 72 ft long woodshed with 8 bins in it, each bin holds around 1.5 cords of wood. I have used up two bins fully this winter and  have nearly finished off a third bin that was a mix of white birch and black cherry. So for sure I have used 3 cords of wood plus with that other bin of wood I started going through I'd add another cords worth I feel like so I'm going to say just over 4 cords of wood for this particular winter, having burned full time since the week before Halloween.

My old stove was a Vermont Castings Resolute Acclaim, not the pre 1992 ones (yes it's ok to cringe). I couldn't keep that stove going 24/7 so I didn't bother too. I just made fires when I got home from work and burned on weekends. Even with a non 24/7 schedule, with that stove, I used the same amount of cords per burning season (4), and possibly a bit more. Not a good stove to rely on for 24/7 heating needs. I also bought all my wood at that time since I didn't own the tools I have now so was not saving any kind of money lol!!

I live in the Madison, WI area which is considered South Central WI. Winters are cold, generally snowy with multiple times per year (usually) of going below zero degrees at night.


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## blades (Apr 17, 2020)

I am not terribly far from Woodburner bit further north and east. Mixed hardwoods   2-3 cords. house is a 1990 build with 6" side walls and decent attic insulation and all new  double pained glass installed in windows beginning of  2018-19 season.  still got some leaks from the undersides of 2 bay window prefab  units but the nc30 heats the whole house ( high 70's) even last year when we had a couple days of -30 degs F ( that was the reading inside the garage).  previous place about the same size but 1960 build was 4 cords plus , same stove  both are apx 2100 sq ft ranches. Layout of the rooms has a huge effect on things.


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## woodhounder (Apr 17, 2020)

5 cord plus this winter, starting in October and still burning.


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## Woody Stover (Apr 17, 2020)

begreen said:


> We use about 2.5 to 3 cords a year, while my sister's place back in NYS uses about 2 cords for a slightly larger home, in spite of being in a colder climate. This is because their place is super insulated and they have a very well insulated greenhouse (R10 glazing)  that helps heat the house when it's sunny. Our house, OTOH is an old farmhouse with so so insulation and way too much glazing.


The glazing would be great where you are, if only the sun would come out.


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## begreen (Apr 17, 2020)

Woody Stover said:


> The glazing would be great where you are, if only the sun would come out.


Little you know. We are going on 3 weeks of solid sunshine, no rain.


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## EODMSgt (Apr 18, 2020)

4-5 used to be the average however I went through 7-1/2 last year and I'm at 5-1/2 so far this season. Snowing outside right now and still burning. Mix of hardwoods each season (beech, ash, birch, maple, oak, and cherry).


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## Woody Stover (Apr 18, 2020)

EODMSgt said:


> Mix of hardwoods each season (beech, ash, birch, maple, oak, and cherry).


That's another variable..you obviously won't burn as much when you are feeding the stove White Oak or Hickory, as you would burning soft Maple and Cherry.


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## BKVP (Apr 18, 2020)

King 1107.  2850 sq ft.  House built 1895.  Heat entire home 2019-20 winter (Oct-March 31) 3.5 cords.  Black locust.


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## Highbeam (Apr 19, 2020)

I think it’s relevant that some folks that have posted here have failed to point out that a significant portion of their heat is from a central furnace so their cord usage is only telling part of the story. 

I live in the northwest of the US. We are not as cold as those east but we stay cool for longer so burn for 9 months each year. 

1700 sf single story house built in 1963, 4.5 cords of Douglas fir or similar density fuel wood for 100% of our heating.


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## BigJ273 (Apr 19, 2020)

Right around 2 cords normally. Mostly oak, maple and cherry. This year, prob a cord, MAYBE 1.5. Wife works during the day and I work rotating shifts, and we only burn when someone is here.  Obviously it would be more if we were home more often. I don’t mind letting the oil baseboard heat run a few times a day. Keeps things from freezing and keeps things lubed up, so to speak.


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## EODMSgt (Apr 19, 2020)

Highbeam said:


> I think it’s relevant that some folks that have posted here have failed to point out that a significant portion of their heat is from a central furnace so their cord usage is only telling part of the story.



Good point. I have propane for a backup however 95% of my heating is done with firewood.


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## BIGChrisNH (Apr 19, 2020)

Worth noting we have oiled as backup but the wood takes care of most of the heat


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## Gearhead660 (Apr 19, 2020)

EODMSgt said:


> Good point. I have propane for a backup however 95% of my heating is done with firewood.


Same for me.  Only use propane if we need to leave for more than a day.


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## kvesi122 (Apr 20, 2020)

~4-4.5 cords with oil as backup. 

This year I burnt ash and 2 year seasoned red oak.


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## MissMac (Apr 20, 2020)

I burned about 2.5 cords and roughly 500 gal. of propane this winter.  Ran out of seasoned wood, so been on the furnace for about a month and a half now.


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## weatherguy (Apr 21, 2020)

I have half a cord I didnt burn, 1/3 pallet of NEILSs and half a pallet of the big bricks from TSC left over. Wife's not happy with the garage space it's taking but I'm happy with the heating costs this past year. Cant make everyone happy .


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## Woodsplitter67 (Apr 23, 2020)

I burn 3 to 4 cords of oak and cherry on average.. this year were still burning now so the number is not quite in but about 3 right now.. I never turned the heat on.. all stove ..all the time


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## Woodsplitter67 (Apr 23, 2020)

MissMac said:


> I burned about 2.5 cords and roughly 500 gal. of propane this winter.  Ran out of seasoned wood, so been on the furnace for about a month and a half now.


that sucks...


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## MissMac (Apr 23, 2020)

Woodsplitter67 said:


> that sucks...


yup, it kinda does, but we will be in a better situation next winter i think.


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## Highbeam (Apr 24, 2020)

I’m always surprised how you eastern folks in your old houses and frigid cold temperatures use so very little fuel to heat your homes. Your stoves are at least as big. Your fuel is more dense and cold season shorter I guess must be the reasons.


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## WoodBurnerInWI (Apr 24, 2020)

I will also add that we have a natural gas furnace but I enjoy wood heat too much to want to run it, regardless of fuel prices! I strive for over 95% of winter heating to come from the wood stove, and the furnace can kick on only if its abnormally cold or I let the house temp get below 62. But that never happens thanks to my long burn times, it guarantees I'll be around in time to reload the stove if needed.


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## NickW (Apr 24, 2020)

Highbeam said:


> I’m always surprised how you eastern folks in your old houses and frigid cold temperatures use so very little fuel to heat your homes. Your stoves are at least as big. Your fuel is more dense and cold season shorter I guess must be the reasons.


My house isn't real old (1978), but it certainly isn't to today's standards. I burn from usually the end of Oct thru early May. Our hardwood is definitely the biggest difference. Unless it's super cold, I only make a "big" fire for overnight and make smaller fires and burn woodchips during the day (I'm generally around). Stove is still producing some heat and has plenty of coals 8-10 hours after an overnight fire...and mine is secondary not a catalyst.


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## JRHAWK9 (Apr 24, 2020)

Highbeam said:


> I’m always surprised how you eastern folks in your old houses and frigid cold temperatures use so very little fuel to heat your homes. Your stoves are at least as big. Your fuel is more dense and cold season shorter I guess must be the reasons.



Now if everyone weighed their wood prior to loading and posted their cumulative weights instead of volumes, we wouldn't have this disconnect.  It's useless to compare volumes of different species.

I'll go first....15,295 lbs. and 7,011 HDD's to date.     LP furnace also ran for 49.8 hours while we were gone.......once for a week.  So used ~41 gallons of LP (75KBTU furnace) this winter for heat.


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## NickW (Apr 24, 2020)

JRHAWK9 said:


> Now if everyone weighed their wood prior to loading and posted their cumulative weights instead of volumes, we wouldn't have this disconnect.  It's useless to compare volumes of different species.
> 
> I'll go first....15,295 lbs. and 7,011 HDD's to date.


Ok, now THAT'S FUNNY! Let me get my bathroom scale out every time I haul wood into the house to burn...

But let me ask you this: IF assuming the same moisture content, will 25lbs of pine give as much usable heat as 25lbs of oak (or whatever random weight you think your stove will hold of the oak)? I say no because the volume of the pine will be twice as much and the burn time half as long as the oak resulting in loading the stove twice and having to reheat the system...


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## Highbeam (Apr 24, 2020)

NickW said:


> Ok, now THAT'S FUNNY! Let me get my bathroom scale out every time I haul wood into the house to burn...
> 
> But let me ask you this: IF assuming the same moisture content, will 25lbs of pine give as much usable heat as 25lbs of oak (or whatever random weight you think your stove will hold of the oak)? I say no because the volume of the pine will be twice as much and the burn time half as long as the oak resulting in loading the stove twice and having to reheat the system...



25 lbs of any wood has approximately the same amount of energy in it. The burn time will be the same with pine or oak if you or your stove can regulate the stove output. The beauty of that double dense oak is when you load the stove full you have twice as much energy in the stove and if properly metered out will last twice as long. JR's furnace and my stove both have a level of automation that do this.

Weighing the fuel would be more meaningful but I just can't do it. I already get ridiculed for logging each gallon of fuel in my pickup, miles, mpg, and fuel cost.


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## JRHAWK9 (Apr 24, 2020)

Highbeam said:


> Weighing the fuel would be more meaningful but I just can't do it. I already get ridiculed for logging each gallon of fuel in my pickup, miles, mpg, and fuel cost.



I hear ya.  I do the same with all my vehicles as well....well not fuel cost, that would be crazy.     

As far as weighing, it's not any more work for me really, as how I do things is I place a plastic container on the floor which is roughly the same volume of my firebox and load that.  I then move it right next to me when I load.  When I first started burning it helped me gauge my loading size so I wasn't going back to my wood rack while the loading door was wide open.   The only difference is instead of the container sitting on the floor it's sitting on a platform scale.  I just write that weight down on a notebook I have sitting near the furnace and when I get a chance I record the daily loadings in my Excel spreadsheet at a later date. 

Just went down and snapped this one.  The display for the scale is mounted on my plenum.


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## JRHAWK9 (Apr 24, 2020)

NickW said:


> But let me ask you this: IF assuming the same moisture content, will 25lbs of pine give as much usable heat as 25lbs of oak (or whatever random weight you think your stove will hold of the oak)? I say no because the volume of the pine will be twice as much and the burn time half as long as the oak resulting in loading the stove twice and having to reheat the system...



yup, like Highbeam said, wood, regardless of species, contains close to the same BTU's per POUND.  If it didn't I wouldn't be weighing it.  I do so not only for records, but to determine my loadings for the day based.


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## NickW (Apr 24, 2020)

When the house starts to get cold, I put more wood in the stove... 

I know all wood has the same BTU output by weight (which I learned on this site - had no idea before), which is why I was very specific about my parameters. It was intended to be tongue in cheek. Not many people outdo my OCD tendencies, but I think I found my match... Here in good ol' cheesehead country even!


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## JRHAWK9 (Apr 24, 2020)

NickW said:


> When the house starts to get cold, I put more wood in the stove...
> 
> I know all wood has the same BTU output by weight (which I learned on this site - had no idea before), which is why I was very specific about my parameters. It was intended to be tongue in cheek. Not many people outdo my OCD tendencies, but I think I found my match... Here in good ol' cheesehead country even!



You have a bit different setup though.  I batch burn and if I put too much wood in I may overheat the house.  There's a rhyme to my reason, believe it or not.    A lot of us on any enthusiasts forum like this have OCD personalities. 

Plus weighing of loads really helps my other half when I'm gone.  She just looks at what I load and does similar loadings, it makes it easier for her rather than just guessing.


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## thunderhead (Apr 25, 2020)

Highbeam said:


> I’m always surprised how you eastern folks in your old houses and frigid cold temperatures use so very little fuel to heat your homes. Your stoves are at least as big. Your fuel is more dense and cold season shorter I guess must be the reasons.



Definitely the lower density of our wood is the main player... but also a minor contributor is sunlight.  Most east coast folks get a lot more sunlight than we do in the winter.  Especially if you have big south facing windows.   My parents house in NH has a huge south facing window that cooks their main room during the day.  I figure whenever the sun shines its worth about 15 free pounds of wood per day just from that one window.

Whereas our windows just get rain on them


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## NickW (Apr 25, 2020)

Agreed. For my house, sunny days heat way better than cloudy days that are 10 degrees warmer... plus sunny days create way more power on my electric solar panels. I'll always take a sunny day over dismal grey no matter the temp.


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## D8Chumley (Apr 26, 2020)

4-5 cord, burning from mid to end of October and am still burning some now. Oil backup but try not to use that unless it’s below 25F in January/February. Old 2000ish SF ranch built in 1957 not very well insulated, block walls and single pane windows with storm windows. Stove is in family room at one end of the house and that room is always cooler than the rest of the house with a vaulted ceiling. Lots of Ash, cherry, poplar, hackberry with white/red oak and black locust for the colder months


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## heavy hammer (Apr 26, 2020)

I believe around 5 cords.  I have ash, maple, oak, and locust.  The last few winters have been very different from each other so it has been hard to get an exact amount.  I know I try to have more processed, and seasoned than the previous year and every year have more wood than the last.  I heat close to 4000 sq feet but I have an oil furnace.  I use about 200 gallons of fuel oil a winter more to help take the chill out on days we both work and the stoves die out or for those real cold days.  My daughters bedrooms are the farthest from the two stoves  so we run it as well to keep there rooms warm.


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## hickoryhoarder (Apr 26, 2020)

If I heated only with wood, probably 2 cords, maybe 2.5.  

Keep in mind my house heats for $425/year in natural gas, if we don't use the stove at all.  First thing we did was make the 1959 house very tight and very well  insulated.    Our winters are similar to Cincinnati.


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## MissMac (Apr 26, 2020)

Well I just crunched the numbers - 431 gallons of propane used for 490 furnace hours (assuming 0.88gal/hr), plus the 2-ish cords I burnt.  Cost of propane was $3.34/gallon.  So the furnace gobbled up just under $1500 of propane this winter.  Now compare that to the 4 cords of birch I just bought for $180/cord ($720 total), which will give me about 1.5 years worth of heat.  

I'd call that math about a bajillion reasons to burn fire wood, and yet another reminder to myself of how grateful I am for the wood stove.  Not to mention that the heat coming from the stove is soooooo much nicer...


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## Dabster13 (Apr 27, 2020)

Don't have the exact amount, somewhere around 5+. 

Started in October and I'm still burning, except I'm not currently pulling any wood of the stacks. Now, with the "warmer" weather I don't need a big pile so my daughter and I will go out fill a 20-30 gallon bucket with sticks/branches and I'll burn that for the day for enough heat to take the chill off and keep the house warm for a day. 

Keeps her busy, and cleans up the yard after all the windstorms.


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## sweedish (Apr 28, 2020)

I write down how many carts I bring in and whether it’s hardwood or softwood, this being my first year I wanted to see how much I burned, how much I needed to stack to get a 3 year supply. Turns out I needed to add to my woodshed. And also if in the future something happens where I cannot cut wood I know how much to buy


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