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[maine owb]

I used 1.5 cords of wood during the 4 weeks of mid jan to mid february. I live in maine and it was colder than normal this year, it hit -25 degrees on night. I heat 3100 square feet and heat my hot water. I have a greenwood aspen 175. I have used less wood now that it is march. I have kept a detailed journal of my wood usage and i predict that i will use 6 cords of wood from November to May.

Last year i used 150 gallons of oil during the same time, as a rule of thumb i would say one cord of wood should equal 100 gallons of oil if the wood boiler is of good quality and a gasification type and the house is insulated well. my two neighbors each have the central classic and go through 8 - 10 cords for houses half the size. They can burn green wood but much more of it. But they like it that way.

[willieG]

I used 1.5 cords of wood during the 4 weeks of mid jan to mid february. I live in maine and it was colder than normal this year, it hit -25 degrees on night. I heat 3100 square feet and heat my hot water. I have a greenwood aspen 175. I have used less wood now that it is march. I have kept a detailed journal of my wood usage and i predict that i will use 6 cords of wood from November to May.

Last year i used 150 gallons of oil during the same time, as a rule of thumb i would say one cord of wood should equal 100 gallons of oil if the wood boiler is of good quality and a gasification type and the house is insulated well. my two neighbors each have the central classic and go through 8 - 10 cords for houses half the size. They can burn green wood but much more of it. But they like it that way.

depending on how green of wood your neighbors are using they may be burning the same amount of "dry" wood as you
they could be using up to (or slightly more) than half the "recoverable' BTU's in their wood to "boil" off the moisture in the green wood
and if thye burn green wood and they have a forced fan model of stove i would make a guess that the blower never shuts off

[maine owb]

I agree that nearly half the energy in the wood is used to burn off water in the green wood (I don't know why anyone would burn gren wood). My neighbors burn a mix of split dry  wood and green wood. I would still say based on what i have seen that the gasification type units will use less wood. The stack temps are lower by a couple hundred degrees so that heat is going into thin air. The central classics i am familar with do not have blowers, rather a simple open - close damper door.

I would recommend anyone dry their wood and if they have to burn green wood they should burn white ash if possible. I certainly don't want to cut and split 8-10 cords of wood a year when i could burn only 6 cords if it's dry.