# How many cords do you burn



## aforbes100 (Jan 17, 2012)

Biomass 40
500 gallons of storage
3000 sq foot house (5 years old)
2 adults (3 kids)
Live in Maine
Keep the house on 69 (constant) all winter
Use wood only from Mid Oct to Mid May (7 months).  

Overall, I am using about 7 cord of wood.  Just curious how that stacks up to others.


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## muncybob (Jan 17, 2012)

I would guess that a fairly new house of that size in Maine using 7 cords is decent?  Here in PA, we live in a very old house of about 2100 sq ft and burn for about the same peiod as you keeping temps at 70+ most of the time. Based on consumption to this point we will use less than 5 cords this year, but it has been very mild until this last week or so. I'm sure our average winter nights are warmer than yours. I love Maine....in the early autumn!


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## aforbes100 (Jan 17, 2012)

Thank you.  That sounds about the same.  Good comparison.  Anyone else.


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## Pat53 (Jan 17, 2012)

7-9 cords/year, probably about 7 this year


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## stee6043 (Jan 17, 2012)

I have found that burning cords in my boiler leads to nasty fumes and unsightly deposits on my refractory.  Besides, I prefer to plug things in with cords.  Or I strum them on my six string.  Burning them seems like such a waste.

Ha.  I just searched the interweb high and low to see if "cord" vs "cords" is even defined.  Most wood burners I know use "cord" for both plural and singular when describing an amount of wood.  For the life of me I can't confirm which is proper.

Nonetheless, I burn four cord from late October through late March, early April. 3200 sq. feet @ 70 degrees.


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## Mushroom Man (Jan 17, 2012)

Guessing 9 cords. Heating 6000 sq.ft including house, dhw, barn grow rooms, garage and basement. House is 70 degrees, so is basement where storage tank is located. Garage/boiler room is 75 degrees and 3 barn rooms vary (70, 60 50) as insulation and exposure varies.

The lines/piping in the garage clearly should be better insulated. Who needs a 75 degree garage?

I've used almost 6 cords so far and this has been an exceptionally warm year. I am surprised to have used so much wood but I am in a very windy location. Perhaps that is the reason!

I have started to burn some straw (spent mushroom substrate) on top of hardwood coals to extend my fuel but that would not equal a quarter cord of hardwood so far. 

I really must do a better job of getting wood dried ahead. My fuel is not well seasoned. I am compensating by splitting smaller.


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## barkeatr (Jan 17, 2012)

USED 4.5 SO far of mainly cherry.  Heating 1800 sf of house, upstate NY right on the border of canada.  house is extremely high mass and the ups and downs this year have been tough...I probably have burned as much as i would in a cold year.  The cherry is also cut too short for my profab gasser and the gassification doesnt work quite like it should.  Im not unhappy wiht performance...Im using considerably less wood than with the OWB i had before.


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## Singed Eyebrows (Jan 17, 2012)

I use about 4 cords, burnt less than 2 so far. Medium house in midwest, Randy


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## maple1 (Jan 17, 2012)

Typical use with the dirty CC here is about 9 cords, heat & DHW, mid-Oct to mid-May or so. 15 yo 2700 sf 2 story with full unfinished but 95% insulated basement. Think I'm quite a bit under half use so far - I've been trying to improve my burning habits since I got my slippery roof installed and found this place.

We're talking real cords, right?


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## Singed Eyebrows (Jan 17, 2012)

maple1 said:
			
		

> Typical use with the dirty CC here is about 9 cords, heat & DHW, mid-Oct to mid-May or so. 15 yo 2700 sf 2 story with full unfinished but 95% insulated basement. Think I'm quite a bit under half use so far - I've been trying to improve my burning habits since I got my slippery roof installed and found this place.
> 
> We're talking real cords, right?


I hope we aren't talking Craigslist cords, where you get 3 cords in a half ton pickup. Randy


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## dpsfireman (Jan 18, 2012)

2 to 3 cord per year
Heating 1800 sq ft raised ranch including fully insulated basement built in 1991 in northeastern Pa at 1650 ft elevation
Passive solar from front windows pointing due south
Biomass 25 with 240 gallons of storage
Electric heating elements in tanks as backup that I almost never let come on
3 heating zones (living, bedrooms, 1/2 finished basement), 2 with programmable thermostats set to 60 degrees night / 70 degrees day
Unfinished basement area heated by leakage from boiler and tanks to an average of 70 degrees


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## Hydronics (Jan 18, 2012)

About 5 cord, fall to spring. Need to finish my solar domestic for the summer to reduce oil use even further.


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## huffdawg (Jan 18, 2012)

I have used just 2 face cord in the last month , only heating a 900 Â² ft shop  with 16' ceiling and a bachelor suite up top.  and DHW .  

Huff


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## huffdawg (Jan 18, 2012)

Forbzie said:
			
		

> Biomass 40
> 500 gallons of storage
> 3000 sq foot house (5 years old)
> 2 adults (3 kids)
> ...



I would be getting a divorce if my house was kept @ 69 Â°F 

Huff


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## Gasifier (Jan 18, 2012)

My first year with this system, have lots to learn. Of course, that is an everyday for the rest of my life thing.  ;-)  

Wood Gun E100 S.S.
400 gallons of storage
4000 sq foot house with decent insulation and 900sq foot garage with excellent ins. 
2 adults (4 kids)
Live in Northern NY
Keep the house about 70  Â°F  average all winter, garage 45  Â°F
Also heat DHW. 
Began heating Oct 1, will heat to May 1.  (Maybe DHW throughout summer.)

So far I have used 3 full cord and probably another full face cord. And it has been a mild winter so far.


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## nate379 (Jan 18, 2012)

I figured it out this weekend when I was trucking wood to the house from out back.

So far I have burned right around 2 cords.

I heat just the house with wood, which is 1400sq ft.  The attached garage is heated off the nat gas boiler along with DHW.

My brother's wife's uncle has a large dairy farm (http://www.maine.gov/tools/whatsnew/index.php?topic=Agriculture+News&id=135562&v=Article)  He heats house, shop, milking parlor and an indoor swimming pool off a large outdoor boiler.  Goes through around 100 cords a year.


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## laynes69 (Jan 18, 2012)

We have burned around 2.5 cords since october. 2400 sq ft Victorian, 10' ceilings up and down plus a 1200 sq ft dungeon for a basement which is heated from the radiant heat from the furnace. Maybe 5 will be burned this year. Last year we burned 6.5 cords, little attic insulation. That's been fixed this year.


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## barkeatr (Jan 18, 2012)

i assume most of  these replies are using zero for feuls other than wood, unless its mentioned.


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## huffdawg (Jan 18, 2012)

barkeatr said:
			
		

> i assume most of  these replies are using zero for feuls other than wood, unless its mentioned.



Do you harvest Maple syrup Barkeater .  I'm assuming this from your signature.


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## barkeatr (Jan 18, 2012)

we do produce maple syrup..we have a small operation, although its tough to sell it here with so much on the market.    I think this facebook link will work.  https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Stonewall-Farms-Maple-Syrup/178106018896634


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## huffdawg (Jan 18, 2012)

barkeatr said:
			
		

> we do produce maple syrup..we have a small operation, although its tough to sell it here with so much on the market.    I think this facebook link will work.  https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Stonewall-Farms-Maple-Syrup/178106018896634



Here it costs  $20.00 for a 750ml bottle of pure maple syrup. My friend makes it from the bigleaf maple but I dont think it is as good as sugar maple


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## barkeatr (Jan 18, 2012)

i suppose we are off topic in a bad way, and even talking about selling things....but if I have our measurement conversion right, our syrup us half your cost.  I need to find a connection to some farmers markets out west.  they tell us our syrup is good..and it could very well be ( who am i to judge?)  because i tend to concentrated it just slightly more than the standard.   prolly best to PM me if you have any questions...nice looking place in your avatar photo!


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## ISeeDeadBTUs (Jan 18, 2012)

NATE379 said:
			
		

> My brother's wife's uncle has a large dairy farm (http://www.maine.gov/tools/whatsnew/index.php?topic=Agriculture+News&id=135562&v=Article)  He heats house, shop, milking parlor and an indoor swimming pool off a large outdoor boiler.  *Goes through around 100 cords a year.*



Dayuummnn!

That's all there is to say. Just, Damn!!


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## Gasifier (Jan 18, 2012)

barkeatr said:
			
		

> i assume most of  these replies are using zero for feuls other than wood, unless its mentioned.



Yup. I started October 1st with 1/4 tank of fuel oil. Still have a 1/4 tank now. A beautiful thing.


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## muncybob (Jan 18, 2012)

Same here basically, only use oil when we are away from home for a few days. Wood is 99% of our fuel for heat and DHW...and a warmer house these days than we had before.


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## lampmfg (Jan 18, 2012)

"I have a 3200 square foot home and usually buy 5 cords of birch and maple wood a year. The cost is $75 - $100 per logger's cord and I cut and split it myself. My total cost then is about $500 per year or less and this is approximately 1/4 to 1/3 the cost of using another fuel such as gas, oil or electricity. The heat is much more constant using wood, that's why I like it. Our backup heat is electric baseboard." says Lamppa Manufacturing Incorporated Owner Daryl Lamppa 

Fun Fact
-The electric bill actually goes down for us in the winter because we use the H20 tank on the VaporFire 100 to heat our domestic water.


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## aforbes100 (Jan 18, 2012)

Thanks everyone for the feedback.  Yes, I am talking true cords, not craiglist measurement.  hahaha.


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## mole (Jan 18, 2012)

I did just under 4 cords last yr for 99.9% of heat and hot water.  This year is looking a bit better with warmer weather.
1870's house, 2400sqft, kept at 70deg daytime /63deg setback at night.


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## velvetfoot (Jan 18, 2012)

I put 5 cords through my little insert last year, and it definitely didn't heat the entire house and hot water!

The gasifier approach might be worth looking in to!


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## Tennman (Jan 18, 2012)

About 4800 sqft of leaky house about hour south of Nashville. Keep downstairs (~3000 sqft) at 68F and the upstairs at whatever rises (probably mid-60's). Actually very confortable and healthy. Into about 2-2.5 cord at the moment. Burned a good many pallets from work also. Looks like storage is in my future. With the mild winter been idling a lot, but ain't calling the propane man. Three years in and I'm pretty close to the break even point since our primary was propane. Yep.... trying to decide where to put that 1000 gal tank.


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## Clarkbug (Jan 19, 2012)

mole said:
			
		

> I did just under 4 cords last yr for 99.9% of heat and hot water.  This year is looking a bit better with warmer weather.
> 1870's house, 2400sqft, kept at 70deg daytime /63deg setback at night.



Mole, your house must be very nicely insulated or air sealed to only go through 4 cords and keep those temps...  Are you sealed up good, or is there some secret Im missing?  Our 1880's house is about 2700 SF, but we kept it at 60 last year to save on oil....brrrrrr.


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## tom in maine (Jan 19, 2012)

Use 1-2 cords per year with no backup.
About 1/3 cord so far. 
Was burning every other night. Am into burning daily this time of year.
Keep house at 70-71F.
1100 sq. ft. house with 600sq. ft. heated basement.

Lotsa insulation.


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## hobbyheater (Jan 19, 2012)

Forbzie said:
			
		

> Biomass 40
> 500 gallons of storage
> 3000 sq foot house (5 years old)
> 2 adults (3 kids)
> ...



Yearly average is about 5 1/2 cords (128 cu ft per cord) of hemlock.  I run year round for heat 72 F, DHW, and clothes drying.  Early 70s house of 3400 sq. ft including full basement that is 90% below grade.  R12 walls and R20 ceiling.


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## mole (Jan 19, 2012)

Clarkbug said:
			
		

> mole said:
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Clarkbug,
In the spirit of full disclosure: part of the 2400ft is a big 24"x30" addition (family room) that we tend to heat on weekends or when friends come over.  We tend to close this room off during the week most of the time to cut down on wood use.  I like to think of it as an "adjustable living space".           

It's pretty tight for an 1870's house.  I've been heating solely with wood since I bought the house in 1987,  so I've had a lot of time to work on reducing my wood consumption.  I've got new double pane windows, plus a good 18"+ of insulation in the attic.  Also repointed the stone foundation, in and out, then framed out some interior 2"x3" walls in the basement and had them spray-foamed.  So my basement is pretty tight now.  My walls are the weak link. I still have quite a bit of air leakage through the walls from critters burrowing through the insulation over the years!!


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## maple1 (Jan 19, 2012)

hobbyheater said:
			
		

> Forbzie said:
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First the wood-fired waterbed, now the wood-fired clothes dryer - we have some real groundbreakers on here. lol.

Can you give us the quick run down the the clothes drying?


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## hobbyheater (Jan 19, 2012)

maple1 said:
			
		

> First the wood-fired waterbed, now the wood-fired clothes dryer - we have some real groundbreakers on here. lol.
> 
> Can you give us the quick run down the the clothes drying?



You hit it right on about the water bed. The bag got brittle and broke at the point were the 3/4 copper return ran under it :exclaim: 

The clothes drying is pretty simple, but for a couple days a week, I lose my work room.  The boiler and storage tank are in a concrete room - 10'x 24' - added on to the below grade basement.  The Jetstream boiler is not insulated so this room can hit 110F when running.  My work room is 14'x 28' and is next to the boiler room.  There is 150' of clothes line near the ceiling.  This is for towels and sheets and then I have a drop down hanging frame for clothes. The laundry is hung to dry in the work room on days when the boiler is run.  When the boiler has quit running, the door between the work room and boiler room is opened and the door between the work room and the rest of the house is closed with the dehumidfier turned on.  The clothes dry in about 6 hours. The x-rated part of this is that I do the laundry. :lol:


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## leaddog (Jan 19, 2012)

hobbyheater said:
			
		

> maple1 said:
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I heat my waterbed but I used 3x1/2in pex coiled around the bag. It is a thermo-syphen system and controled with a zone valve controlled with the waterbed heater control. I haven't had any problems with it making the bad harden probably because the pex doesn't transfer the heat as fast so it temp isn't as high at the point of contact.
leaddog


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## maplewood (Jan 19, 2012)

13-15 cord.  About 1/3 is softwood (poplar, fir, pine) and the rest is medium hardwood (mostly white and red maple, some white and yellow birch, a little elm, etc.)
3500 sq. ft. including the basement.  Shortest ceiling is 8'.  Highest is 22'.  DHW too.  
This is my sole heat source.  
If I ever get around to putting in 1000 gallons of storage, I'll burn all year round.
(I'll take "cords" over "chords" any day!)


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## Sawyer (Jan 19, 2012)

10-11 cords a year. Mixed hardwood, mostly hard maple with a little red maple and yellow birch mixed in. I do not keep track of the junk wood I burn May-October as I am only burning every five days for domestic hot water.

I am heating 4,600 sq/ft total up/down with high ceilings and lots of windows plus my 1200 sq/ft workshop with 11â€™ ceiling and 16â€™ garage door.

This is my sole heat source also.


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## velvetfoot (Jan 19, 2012)

Chiming in again...  That'd still be less than 5 cords or so for my 2,000 ft2 house, which is mostly just the first floor and not including dhw.  Not bad at all!


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## huffdawg (Jan 20, 2012)

maplewood said:
			
		

> 13-15 cord.  About 1/3 is softwood (poplar, fir, pine) and the rest is medium hardwood (mostly white and red maple, some white and yellow birch, a little elm, etc.)
> 3500 sq. ft. including the basement.  Shortest ceiling is 8'.  Highest is 22'.  DHW too.
> This is my sole heat source.
> If I ever get around to putting in 1000 gallons of storage, I'll burn all year round.
> (I'll take "cords" over "chords" any day!)



Whats your avatar pic. of Maplewood I can't make it out.


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## Clarkbug (Jan 20, 2012)

Huff,

Maybe this will help. (Sorry for the OT!)

http://peteann.hypermart.net/freepix/Men-Women-Switches.JPG


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## Sawyer (Jan 20, 2012)

Hey, I bought one of those a long time ago......never did work!


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## huffdawg (Jan 20, 2012)

Clarkbug said:
			
		

> Huff,
> 
> Maybe this will help. (Sorry for the OT!)
> 
> http://peteann.hypermart.net/freepix/Men-Women-Switches.JPG




ROFLMAO


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## Frozen Canuck (Jan 20, 2012)

huffdawg said:
			
		

> Clarkbug said:
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+ 1 for sure, & I can never let my wife see this or it's the dog house for me. :lol:


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## woodsmaster (Jan 20, 2012)

I think I'll be in the 8 - 9 cord range for the winter heating all buildings in signiture and DHW for 3 girls who take deep, long 
baths and two guys. Shop is r 19 walls no outlets or holes in vapor barrior and r - 50 attick. Bigest heat loss in shop is 2 overhead doors. House is insulated fair for 110 years old but could still use improvement. Been burning all white ash. No backup heat.

Edit: I use the shop also as a garage so there is a mini van and 3/4 ton extended van parked in there each day.
the House averaged 6 -7 cord / winter when I heated it with an old ashly automatic wood stove, and now the whole 
house is warm, not just one area.


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## FarmerTan (Jan 21, 2012)

About 2 full cord so far, but most of that (about 2/3) was crappy soft silver maple. I've got some better stuff right now, including white and red oak, black birch, hard maple, and I'm getting much more efficient burns of 12+ hours. I'm hoping to get out of this season under 5 cord, and that means buying 2-3 cord. I've got about 8 out back, and hope to pick up another 3-5 cord befor mud season hits us.


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## woodhawker (Jan 21, 2012)

I'd say I burn 8-9 full cords per year as we start burning in late September and usually stop around mid-April.  I'm heating about 2500 sq.ft. and keep the temperature at 72. I burn a mix of pine and hardwood, but if I burnt only hardwood I'd probably use a little less.


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