Do I have enough wood? A calculation

[brenndatomu]

4 cords of Cottonwood or Osage Orange? There's a BIG difference. (54 MBTU's vs 132 MBTU's)

I dunno...its just by far the most mentioned annual consumption I see people mention.
Probably CW though since its MUCH more common!

 

[JRHAWK9]

I dunno...its just by far the most mentioned annual consumption I see people mention.
Probably CW though since its MUCH more common!

You get what I am saying though, as 4 cord could be anywhere from not very much to a heck of a lot, depending on the species.

4 cord of Cottonwood is roughly the same as 1.6 cord of Osage orange.......or 4 cord of Osage Orange is the same as almost 10 cord of Cottonwood. Yes, I am taking the extremes to prove a point. That point is comparing a volume of wood burned between different species of wood is pointless.

 

[brenndatomu]

I'm followin ya...

 

[Todd]

I’m in NW Wis and have 23 acres of mostly Quaking Aspen. I’ve looked at all the BTU charts for this species and most state around 14 mill BTU but have also seen higher. After burning it for a few years I’d say mine is pretty much on par with soft Maple. Plenty of heat and plenty of coals for overnight burns. Very easy to process and drys within 6 months. It’s all I burn now and last year went through 3.5 cords. Just don’t burn the standing dead stuff with no bark, it’s light as a feather and burns up like it’s soaked in gasoline. Good fire pit wood though.

 

[JRHAWK9]

I’m in NW Wis and have 23 acres of mostly Quaking Aspen. I’ve looked at all the BTU charts for this species and most state around 14 mill BTU but have also seen higher. After burning it for a few years I’d say mine is pretty much on par with soft Maple. Plenty of heat and plenty of coals for overnight burns. Very easy to process and drys within 6 months. It’s all I burn now and last year went through 3.5 cords. Just don’t burn the standing dead stuff with no bark, it’s light as a feather and burns up like it’s soaked in gasoline. Good fire pit wood though.

That's impressive. That's the equivalent of about 2 cords of Red Oak. You must not have much of a heat load or you supplement with other forms.

 

[BK's_ghost]

I’m in NW Wis and have 23 acres of mostly Quaking Aspen. I’ve looked at all the BTU charts for this species and most state around 14 mill BTU but have also seen higher. After burning it for a few years I’d say mine is pretty much on par with soft Maple. Plenty of heat and plenty of coals for overnight burns. Very easy to process and drys within 6 months. It’s all I burn now and last year went through 3.5 cords. Just don’t burn the standing dead stuff with no bark, it’s light as a feather and burns up like it’s soaked in gasoline. Good fire pit wood though.

Cool, good to know on the standing dead.

I’m also burning quacking aspen specifically. I almost didn’t bother with it because of the reputation, but I’m glad I did. The straight and tall branchless trunk makes it very easy to harvest and process. Pretty good burning and coals for me as well. If I had a large firebox I might consider just burning the aspen, but with right around 2cf I’m glad to have some harder wood for the next 3 months.

It was Utah state extension that pegged the aspen at 18 Mbtu.

Page Not Found | Utah State University

That seems right from my limited experience. I plan to have some to burn every year.

 

[BK's_ghost]

Heat loss calculations depend on several variables like the velocity of the air, length of the run, ambient temp vs internal temp, insulation, sealing, etc. Typical forced air systems are leaky and poorly insulated. They can get away with this because the outpt temp in the supply plenum is around 145º so the losses are less noticeable. Hot air still comes out of the registers unless the run is quite long. Heat pump systems don't have this luxury. When I converted our system over from propane to the heatpump I sealed and insulated everything due to the lower output air temp of the HP. The difference is quite impressive.

Heat Loss from Ducts Equations and Calculator

Heat Loss from Ducts in a Building, basement or home Equation and Calculator. Include cost of energy loss.

www.engineersedge.com

Interesting, thanks for the resource. I didn’t calculate my whole house, but the example problem they provide has a single 16’ duct loosing ~5392 btu/hr of runtime, or 11 Mbtu per year. Certainly not insignificant as I initially thought.

 

[Todd]

That's impressive. That's the equivalent of about 2 cords of Red Oak. You must not have much of a heat load or you supplement with other forms.

600 sq ft log cabin with 200sq ft loft and high ceilings. Pretty small but wood is my primary heat source Oct- May. I load the stove 1-3 times per day depending on the weather.

I did have better firewood the first couple winters here, mix of Oak, Maple, Locust and Ash. Probably went through 2.5-3 cords per season with that.

 

[brenndatomu]

I’m also burning quacking aspen

I've never experienced quacking aspen...I bet that is spooky in the woods at night!