Backwoods Savage said:
Dennis,
One thing I forgot to ask you.......what is your average indoor temperature?
Thanks for all the great info!
Hiram
How much wood have you burned this year?
- Thread starter Backwoods Savage
- Start date
-
Active since 1995, Hearth.com is THE place on the internet for free information and advice about wood stoves, pellet stoves and other energy saving equipment.
We strive to provide opinions, articles, discussions and history related to Hearth Products and in a more general sense, energy issues.
We promote the EFFICIENT, RESPONSIBLE, CLEAN and SAFE use of all fuels, whether renewable or fossil.
- Status
Dennis,
One thing I forgot to ask you.......what is your average indoor temperature?
Thanks for all the great info!
Hiram
RegencyNS said:
I started burning about the same time, will finish in early April, and will use about the same as you have. Opposite end of the country, same use of wood heat.
We started burning at the same time - mid October (we usually end in late March). Wood heat is our only heat source aside from a single space heater for long absences. We usually burn on and off into November; sometimes one a day, sometimes 2, sometimes none for 2 or 3 days. Even in Dec and Feb, we usually have 2 or 3 day stretches where we only need a morning and evening fire. This season was very different. Once we started in October, it was minimum 3-4 a day every day. There has yet to be a day since we started burning this season that we have not had at least 2 fires. And the wind chill
oh boy this was a rough winter for wind and that really sucked up the wood supply. With 30-40 mph steady winds, we needed a constant fire going to keep the floors warm instead of burning, letting it go until it was cold enough to make another. Seemed like every week there was a couple days with minumim 25 mph winds gusting to 45. And those were always the "warmer" days which became pointless because of the wind chill.
Bottom line, this winter was a rough one. Made it thru, need an even bigger reserve of wood for the future.
oh boy this was a rough winter for wind and that really sucked up the wood supply. With 30-40 mph steady winds, we needed a constant fire going to keep the floors warm instead of burning, letting it go until it was cold enough to make another. Seemed like every week there was a couple days with minumim 25 mph winds gusting to 45. And those were always the "warmer" days which became pointless because of the wind chill.Bottom line, this winter was a rough one. Made it thru, need an even bigger reserve of wood for the future.
I'm a little less than 3 cords and the wife has use about 60 gallons of oil this year. Much better than the 400 gallons and 3 cords we went thru last year! I love my new stove.
Hiram Maxim said:
75-80 degrees. Depends on how many females (and how they look) are around! lol
My woodshed holds 4 rows @ aproximately 1.16 cord per row. First row went from start of season to 1-26-09, second row from
1-26 up till now and there's still a couple days worth left in this row.
Edit: I should add that I've also burned ~40 bags of pellets in the castile during those -10F or less days or when I haven't been around to feed the fireview. The castile is about to be replaced by another Fireview thanks to Woodstocks nice sale and the 30% tax offer. Going back to natural gas as back up since at this point it's less expensive than buying pellets.
1-26 up till now and there's still a couple days worth left in this row.
Edit: I should add that I've also burned ~40 bags of pellets in the castile during those -10F or less days or when I haven't been around to feed the fireview. The castile is about to be replaced by another Fireview thanks to Woodstocks nice sale and the 30% tax offer. Going back to natural gas as back up since at this point it's less expensive than buying pellets.
I've burnt 2 cords. Got a late start on burning, stove wasn't installed till November. Was way behind on wood, learned alot. Got a lopi answer, helped burn less wood more efficentaly. Thank gosh for pallet wood or I would not have saved over a grand on the pro-PAIN. Already have three cords to go for next year and looking to keep on adding for the years ahead. Along the way I have been blessed with a farmer who has 20 acres of woods and said take all you want, just make sure it's standing dead or already fallen. Mess up and that will be it. I said no problem.
We have burned 10.5 cords so far this winter, cold winter. We didn't burn one drop of oil though, the Tarm Solo 60 carried the house even at -53. I think we had a 3 week period it never got above -35, so lot's of cold weather. That puts our wood burn at 1.31 cords per month. Burning split, dry, white birch.
Nushagak
Nushagak
That's cold, Nush. Just cold.
I've now got enough wood for about 2 weeks steady burn that's ready to roll.. I'm sitting on it. I've got 250 (got 100 for $1.84 today)gallons of oil in the tank (550 tank, used 280 gallons instead of 1000 from October to April, not bad at all). I'm very happy about the less usage.
Figure I'll sit on the wood for cold nights, still possible here, but if it's 40 out, my burner runs very little.
Next year, however ;-)
I've now got enough wood for about 2 weeks steady burn that's ready to roll.. I'm sitting on it. I've got 250 (got 100 for $1.84 today)gallons of oil in the tank (550 tank, used 280 gallons instead of 1000 from October to April, not bad at all). I'm very happy about the less usage.
Figure I'll sit on the wood for cold nights, still possible here, but if it's 40 out, my burner runs very little.
Next year, however ;-)
Got Wood said:
First year burning here too as most of you know already.
I think I just heard my new nickname (anal) mentioned... here are my stats so far this year:
Hardwood: 1632 splits which I estimate to be 3.25 cords (will know better after I consolidate and measure leftover wood)
BioBricks: 384
EnviBlocks: 128
Starting fires:
SuperCedars: 18.2 (I break them into pieces)
I estimate the "hardwood equivalent" of the BioBricks and EnviBlocks to be about another .8 cords, thus I am figuring I used about 4.05 cords worth of wood this season.
As to house temp, we warmed the house up to around 70 most days with the fire, our 'normal' temp last season with oil maxed at 64 so we were keeping things warmer than before. Did not burn 24/7, more like 18/6.5 as I didn't figure out how to get good burns until later in season - can't wait til next year when I start burning the wood I just stacked that is longer/larger/drier than what I had this season!
I reduced my heating oil burn by 252.5 gallons compared to same period last year (52% reduction) which is not too shabby considering that we had a colder winter this year and the house was considerably warmer.
From a $ cost point of view - the total cost of the fuel actually burned in my stove (some was scrounged, what I bought cost me about $300/cord) was $1033. With oil hovering at just about $2/gallon the oil we didn't burn would have cost $505 so we paid $528 more for heating fuel than if we had stuck with oil IF weather and house temps had been equal. My rough calculations (won't bore folks with them here, heh) indicate that an argument can be made that taking into consideration the degree days and the higher temperature in the house, we probably just about broke even cost wise.
What do I get out of all this?
1) We paid too much for wood - need to work harder to scrounge and bargain hunt (bought last minute, paid too much for less than optimal wood)
2) Cheap oil makes it harder to argue from a financial standpoint to burn wood when you are buying it 'cut/split/delivered'
3) This was a year to learn how to operate the stove better (get more out of it, reduce waste will increase heat/split) a good education is expensive sometimes, but worth it in the long run.
4) I spend too much time logging data into spreadsheets and keeping track of what goes into my stove. I can't wait to compare next year's data
Mr. slow-anal,
I see that you used today's price for oil compared against last years price for wood. I propose that it would be more appropriate to compare last year's price of oil against the wood price from the same period. Oil in my area was over 4$ last fall so.....
I see that you used today's price for oil compared against last years price for wood. I propose that it would be more appropriate to compare last year's price of oil against the wood price from the same period. Oil in my area was over 4$ last fall so.....
Highbeam said:
Fair point to make.
Wood prices (if bought off CL) in this area are still running at about $300/cord for "seasoned" wood (the same pseudo-seasoned wood I'm sure) while oil last I was quoted was $1.89. I actually paid $2.20/g my last fill (has been a while) and slightly higher for the end of summer fill to start the season (I burn oil for hot water, can't do much about that at the moment... still working on another solution there, topic for different forum).
When doing the cost analysis there are a lot of different ways to figure things out - should it be the 'replacement cost' or the 'acquisition cost' that we measure? I tried to go with the actual cost of what went into the stove as I had that handy, and for the 'unburned oil' went with the easy to calculate off the top of the head $2/gal (ok, very un-anal of me I apologize for stepping out of character! heh). Ever wonder how they end up with $20,000 hammers on a govt contract? take a cost accounting course and you can see how a bean counter can justify it in the numbers.
Anyway - wood prices on open market don't seem to have changed much, but I don't plan to pay them over time (I'm building contacts to scrounge and already friends have offered to cut here and there). Oil prices have changed dramatically (as they do) and I also don't expect them to stay so low - I'm sure they will be back up again. So the economic analysis of last season's heating in my house could have been far different - had oil stayed at $4.50/g as it was when we first decided to buy the stove it certainly would have changed the final conclusion here even overpaying for wood.
Back to the topic, I have burned between 3 1/2 and 4 cords already. Not burning much now it gets too warm in the house. We have fires in a regular fireplace for ambiance when it is warmer out, and let the insert sit cold.
I have between 6-7 cords already split with 4 stacked already. The wife wants me to build a holtzen with the remaining wood.
I have between 6-7 cords already split with 4 stacked already. The wife wants me to build a holtzen with the remaining wood.
Hey Wet1,even though the BK has a humongous firebox the junk wood I'm trying to get rid of just won't go away.I thought I'd be able to burn it up during this shoulder season.To my disappointment the Blaze King won't let me.Wet1 said:
Okay on topic, I am now into my fir and will likely burn for another 6+ weeks. Since beginning the season mid October I have consumed just under 3.75 cords and will end up right about midway through the fourth cord for the year.
Hey I did a cool thing, accused of being anal too, I have a metal tag tied to the stove that includes the EPA info. On the back of that tag I took a black sharpie and recorded the beginning and ending dates of the burn season and the cords consumed. Kind of like an odometer.
So 7 cords last years over 9 months of burning and this year I started a month later and will burn way less wood. I wonder how many cords a stove is expected to burn in its lifetime?
Hey I did a cool thing, accused of being anal too, I have a metal tag tied to the stove that includes the EPA info. On the back of that tag I took a black sharpie and recorded the beginning and ending dates of the burn season and the cords consumed. Kind of like an odometer.
So 7 cords last years over 9 months of burning and this year I started a month later and will burn way less wood. I wonder how many cords a stove is expected to burn in its lifetime?
Highbeam said:
I ran 105 cords plus or minus a few splits through my old stove. Never less than five cords, sometimes six, a year for 21 years. Wish I would of had the 30-NC all of that time at three and a half or so cords a year since I go from stump to stove.
BrotherBart, thats exactly the way I feel going from the cemi1 to the hampton. What a difference not just splitting, but hauling it to the house, then in the house. Not to mention the extra ash. I like the old stuff, but quickly learned to love the new insert
3 cords of hardwood and 3 tons (pallets) of BioBricks... 78 gallons of oil Sept. to March. Burning oil now, saving 2 pallets of my $300 per ton BioBricks for net season. Oil is cheaper for now...
Can't wait to clean my chimney liner and see what/how much comes out...
Pretty amazing that all that tonnage fit nicely into two 30 gallon cans.
Can't wait to clean my chimney liner and see what/how much comes out...
Pretty amazing that all that tonnage fit nicely into two 30 gallon cans.
- Status
Similar threads
