Consumption

[NFN]

I see quite a few comments about wood consumption, wood hogs, etc. Can someone quantify?

Our furnace (cheap Clayton) uses approximately 2 full cords (6 face cords) of dry hardwood over approximately 14 weeks. I'm in North Carolina (southwestern) at 2000 feet. House is 2000sf, built in 2019. Basic insulation. We keep the house 73-76 in the day and let the fire die at night.

Is 2 cords a lot? Would a kuuma burn less? How much less?

 

[brenndatomu]

If you are only burning 2 cords/yr in a Clayton, you apparently don't have enough heat demand to justify buying a premium efficiency machine like the VF (unless you just want one! ) Even if you cut your usage in half, would it really be worth it just to save 1 cord/yr?
If you buy processed firewood a year or two (3?) ahead, (so that you know its actually dry!) that costs, what, $150-200?

 

[Citationls]

Buying a new wood furnace for that little amount of heat demand would be like buying a new car to save on gas for a 5 mile commute. Except a car doesn't require dragging a 600lb chunk of steel in and out of your house/basement. I replaced my old jenson wood furnace with a heat commander last season due to insurance and the jenson being rotted out. The heat Commander is nice but I certainly would've kept the jenson if I could have.

 

[NFN]

Except that my Clayton is 6 years old and falling apart. Debating propane or a new wood furnace. I think our house is tighter than I thought.

 

[brenndatomu]

Except that my Clayton is 6 years old and falling apart. Debating propane or a new wood furnace. I think our house is tighter than I thought.

Well that changes the equation then...what's your propane bill like now...any sense of what it would run per month during the coldest parts of the winter without wood heat?
Would a freestanding stove be of consideration?

 

[NFN]

We only have the Clayton wood furnace and an electric heat pump (which we don't run when it's below 45F outside). We run the Clayton almost full time for 14 weeks a year.

I would like to stay with wood if I could load it once or twice a day. I feed the Clayton every 2-3 hours, although obviously I don't use very much wood compared to many people. On a cold day I feed it 2 wagon loads. How much wood can you load into a kuuma?

 

[brenndatomu]

On a cold day I feed it 2 wagon loads. How much wood can you load into a kuuma?

What's a "wagon load"?
I live in farm country, a wagon here could hold 4-5 full cords.
Every house is different, it's hard to say how much you'd need, but I'd venture a guess you'd maybe use similar to what we use in warmer weather (say 30* low, 35-40* high)
That would have me loading 4-5 average sized splits once, or maybe twice per day if it is windy, or on the lower end of that range or something. That would be about 25-30 lbs of dry wood (15-18% MC) per load. In warmer weather I'll do 20-25lbs 1Xday, or as needed.
But like I said every house is different, and totally different climates, so not sure how relevant it really is. 1940 brick Cape cod with ok insulation/windows...heating to 70-72*.
Oh, and the Kuuma provides 99%(+) of our heat, that's 4 to 4.5 cords per year on average, about an hour south of Lake Erie.
Heating season usually starts around mid October, ends April, or May, depends on the year...spring heating can be real spotty.

 

[NFN]

That's some good information, thanks.

A kids wagon filled to the point that a piece might fall off as you pull it. If I could stuff a whole wagon load into a kuuma and not come back for 8 hours, that would be pretty good.

 

[brenndatomu]

That's some good information, thanks.

A kids wagon filled to the point that a piece might fall off as you pull it. If I could stuff a whole wagon load into a kuuma and not come back for 8 hours, that would be pretty good.

Hmm ok...a whole wagon load will last more like 12 hours, unless you turn the computer up to, say medium or so? During the cold spell we just came through I was burning about 110 lbs day, running on medium, house at about 71, coldest day was about zero for a high, 10-15 below low. I would guess that to be about the equivalent of your two wagon loads? Depending on species/wood density.
Bottom line is, you can't burn up much wood in 8 hours on low, and I think you'll find most VF owners here leave it on low the vast majority of the time, I do. A day or two in January is about the only time she gets to stretch her legs at all...which didn't happen at all last winter.

 

[hobbyheater]

Hmm ok...a whole wagon load will last more like 12 hours, unless you turn the computer up to, say medium or so? During the cold spell we just came through I was burning about 110 lbs day, running on medium, house at about 71, coldest day was about zero for a high, 10-15 below low. I would guess that to be about the equivalent of your two wagon loads? Depending on species/wood density.
Bottom line is, you can't burn up much wood in 8 hours on low, and I think you'll find most VF owners here leave it on low the vast majority of the time, I do. A day or two in January is about the only time she gets to stretch her legs at all...which didn't happen at all last winter.

Impressive numbers

 

[brenndatomu]

Impressive numbers

Yeah I guess it is when you stand back n look at it!
I just looked the exact number up (yes I weigh and record the weights) and I was a bit off...highest days usage last week was 128#, not 110. If it had continued to stay that cold I would have had to turn the computer up past medium, as I was starting to build up coals. @JRHAWK9 has colder weather more often (higher heat load) and deals with having to run on medium and high a lot more than me. And yes, it's impressive what he gets out of his Kuuma, using just a cord or so a year more than we do here.

 

[JRHAWK9]

. @JRHAWK9 has colder weather more often (higher heat load) and deals with having to run on medium and high a lot more than me. And yes, it's impressive what he gets out of his Kuuma, using just a cord or so a year more than we do here.

It's hard for us to compare volumes, as I burn almost exclusively hard woods (red/white oak). So, by volume, we are probably somewhat close, however, by weight I definitely burn more.