Outdoor Wood Furnace Info
All-Purpose OWF Discussions => Fire Wood => Topic started by: maine owb on March 15, 2009, 05:26:07 PM
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Jan 23- Feb 21 (4 weeks) = 1.5 cords (colder than normal (-25 one night)
Feb 21 - March 15 (3 weeks) = 1 cord or 1/3 of a cord per week
Based on this wood usage i will use 7 cords of wood from November 1 - Apirl 1, that is what i will have cut and ready this summer.
My house is a 4 bedroom two story house (9 foot wall height on first floor)in a very windy field in central western Maine. I heat 3100 square feet and all my Domestic hot water. In addition to that my basement (1100 square feet is between 70-73 degrees)
I burn dry, cut and some split/some logs wood. A mix of white ash, red maple, birch, red oak, a little cherry and apple wood. I have this wood in a wood shed beside my OWB.
I will not burn wood during the summer...
I am keeping track of this day to day as well as heating degree days and wind.
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I have a homemade OWB, and this is my first year of use. I'm still figuring the stove out, and trying to fine tune it. I had a problem with my aquastat, and feel that it caused me to use more wood than I normally would have. I first fired the stove on Oct. 23, and plan on burning it until May 1st.
I heat my home, which is 1680 sq. ft. and keep the thermostat on 72-73 degrees. The house is a very well insulated, single story home that I built 4 years ago. I also heat 1100 sq. ft. of my shop/garage which has 10 ft. ceilings and is also well insulated. I keep the temp. at 45-50 at night, and crank it up when I need to work in my shop, which is at least 4-5 days a week. I don't heat my domestic water YET, but I will be at the start of next season.
I cut, split, and stacked in my shed, 7.5 cord of oak and hickory at the beginning of the heating season. I dropped the trees in late spring/early summer, so I know the wood isn't completely dry. Next year will be a different story, as I have seven or eight large oaks in a stand that died 3 years ago that I will have on the ground soon. Hopefully, using dryer wood will reduce my usage.
As of today, I have used 6.5 cords. I have one full cord left. With the milder temperatures lately, I feel confident that the cord I have will easily last me the rest of the heating season.
I'd be interested to know how much wood everyone has used.