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Author Topic: cords to gallons  (Read 3187 times)

coolidge

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cords to gallons
« on: March 09, 2014, 06:38:13 PM »

How many gallons of oil to a cord of wood? Lets say 2 year seasoned. I see a lot of different numbers ranging from 125 to 200 gallons on the internet.
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mlappin

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Re: cords to gallons
« Reply #1 on: March 09, 2014, 06:55:33 PM »

Would all depend on the wood, hedge (osange-orange) would have over twice as many BTU's as basswood.
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ST98

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Re: cords to gallons
« Reply #2 on: March 10, 2014, 04:01:50 AM »

I ripped though about 15 full cord already.  That seems like an awful lot of oil at 200.  At that rate I paid off my OWB in one year!   :thumbup:  I burn dry well seasoned oak.
« Last Edit: March 10, 2014, 04:03:43 AM by ST98 »
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BoilerHouse

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Re: cords to gallons
« Reply #3 on: March 10, 2014, 05:09:14 AM »

There is roughly 33 million BTU's in a tank of oil (250 gal tank)  and 23 million BTU's in a cord of wood (hard maple).  Four tanks of oil should roughly equal 6 cords of wood.  Of course it rarely does - Oil furnaces are usually a lot more efficient, there are no line losses transmitting heat from boiler to house, many of us keep our houses warmer when we use an OWB, often we heat other buildings with our OWB etc. etc.
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RSI

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Re: cords to gallons
« Reply #4 on: March 10, 2014, 03:20:27 PM »

There is roughly 33 million BTU's in a tank of oil (250 gal tank)  and 23 million BTU's in a cord of wood (hard maple).  Four tanks of oil should roughly equal 6 cords of wood.  Of course it rarely does - Oil furnaces are usually a lot more efficient, there are no line losses transmitting heat from boiler to house, many of us keep our houses warmer when we use an OWB, often we heat other buildings with our OWB etc. etc.
With a good oil furnace you can get around 84% efficient. That puts the 250 gallon tank at around 27 million BTU. If you have an old oil furnace that is closer to 60% it is about 20 million BTU.

You probably get closer to 12 million btu per cord of actual heat delivered to the house on average. (some better and some worse)
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slimjim

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Re: cords to gallons
« Reply #5 on: March 10, 2014, 06:20:53 PM »

Thank GOD( and i'm not particularly religious ) that we all burn wood, Nobody had to die to get my wood and my wood usage money will never be spent on an IED
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martyinmi

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Re: cords to gallons
« Reply #6 on: March 10, 2014, 07:46:25 PM »

my wood usage money will never be spent on an IED
Hopefully you'll never need an IUD either! :) >:D
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Re: cords to gallons
« Reply #7 on: March 11, 2014, 07:08:16 PM »

  When everyone is throwing around the word "cord" are they referring to a face cord or bush cord?  When I read posts on piling, stacking, processing and consumption and one says "cord" what is the forums agreed reference? Face or bush?  When it comes to caloric expenditure for me its a huge impact.
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Re: cords to gallons
« Reply #8 on: March 11, 2014, 07:25:33 PM »

A cord is a legal unit measure and is 4' x 4' x 8'.
No others should be used as there is no fixed size to them. (ie: a face cord is 8' long and 4' high but has no fixed width even though most common is 18")
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mlappin

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Re: cords to gallons
« Reply #9 on: March 12, 2014, 06:33:58 AM »

A cord is a legal unit measure and is 4' x 4' x 8'.
No others should be used as there is no fixed size to them. (ie: a face cord is 8' long and 4' high but has no fixed width even though most common is 18")

Exactly, the smaller the pieces the longer I cut em as well. Small ones may be four foot long instead of 18".
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