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[maine owb]

From Dec 9,2010 - March 9,2011 I used 5 cords of wood to heat a two story house 2500 sq ft plus basement and a 600 sq foot garage and my hot water. This was a cold winter here in maine with a lot of wind and snow. Now I am using much less, I think when it is all over I will use 7 cords and stop the first week in may.

Like to hear what other people used and how cold it was at their house.

[RSI]

How dry was the wood and what kind of stove do you have?
I never kept track of how much I used and was sometimes fairly wet (standing dead trees) and just burned as I cut.
Now I am putting in a gassifier so will have to stop doing it that way.

[Sawdust]

Sir,  I am heating about the same Sq footage that you are. I estimate that I have used 4 cords or maybe a little less. Fired up my furnace Nov. 4th. We have had the worst winter in several decades here both in duration of low-cold temps-10 to 20 deg. , and lots of snow. I have used a minimum of dry wood, just enough to keep the green wood burning, mostly white,red,chestnut oak with some hickory and locust mixed in. I burn extremely large chunks 24-30 inch length 12-18 dia. The furnace is a woodmaster 4400, has a large burn chamber. My heating cost have dropped expotentially. If I don,t  count my labor. I live on a small farm and have my own woodlot. If my health holds, so that I can cut wood and operate the unit, it should pay for itself in three winters use.

[red devil]

You live in maine I don't think thats bad?Me I kinda tell my wife or kids if your cold turn the heat up that probably costs me a cord and a half atleast a year. I come home and thermos are set at 75# which I dont mind at times but I think the dogs and the cat are spoiled while we are at work and the kids are at school. I'm alittle less down here in pa but maine is a whole new world I snowmobile love it there.

[willieG]

i live in ontario canada and the goverment here says that it takes about 100,000,000 btu to heat a home here on average

the best wood i can find on any chart is hickory, it has about 20 million "recoverable" BTU in each cord now if you have a non-gasifier stove the "experts" tell us it will be about 50 to 60 percent efficent so that would mean (using 60 percent) that we would get about 12 million BTU from each cord. to get our 100 million needed for a heating season that would require about 8.3 cords plus what ever we used for hot water (if you heat your domestic)
if you have a new gassifier that is 85 percent efficient you would get 17 million out of each cord of hickory. you would require just under 6 cords to get your 100,000,000 BTU. these figures are an average estimate without domestic hot water and using only the best dry wood. other woods have less btu per cord because they weigh less. a pound of wood,no matter what kind carries the same amount of BTU

when i see some one come on here and say they live in northern michigan (or somewhere jsut as cold) and they tell us that they heat their 2000 square foot home and domestic water and their 800 square foot work shop all winter for 6 cords of mixed hard and softwood..it reminds me of a certain farmer in our area...he always says he planted 300 acres but when the crop comes off and his average seems a little low he changes his tune and says he harvested 250 acres...i think some guys on here cut  10 cords but they seem to grow in size as the winter wears to a close they only burn 6!

i am sure some folks on here do use less wood but they likley also live in a much more warmer area too.

[yoda]

I heat an older 1400 sq foot house, DHW, my 1500 sq foot shop at around 40 degrees, and a small chicken house/dog house. Between 12 and 15  cord of hard wood a year. I'm always sceptical about some peoples stated wood consumption.

[Scratch]

I've never actually measured all my wood so I'm not sure how much I burn, but If I had to guess... I'd say I burn around 12-15 cords of wood each year.  I live in Wisconsin and am heating a 5000 sf home, and a 600sf garage.
CB6048, mostly whatever junk wood that has fallen throughout the previous summer, some split, some not.

I'd love to cut enough for future summers like some people do on here, but I'm lucky enough to find enough time to cut one seasons worth of wood.

I am also skeptical of the people that burn 5-6 cords a season........

[Bull]

Around here people measure wood by the ric or rick not sure of the spelling. This is a face cord cut to anywhere from 16 to 24 inches long. I have been burning about 1 ric a week to heat about 1300 sq/ft house and about 2100 sq/ft garage (at about 50 F). I hope to improve on that next year by adding insulation to the house, garage and stove (its a Hardy H2) or replacing the stove maybe. 

[artbaldoni]

I always bought and sold by the cord (4'x4'x8', 128 cu') so face cords and ricks confuse me. How do you know how much wood you are actually getting? Do you get a face cord of 18" wood for one price and a face cord of 24" wood for a different price? I guess I am just ignorant being a PA born and bred hick...
Back on topic, 1st year with the OWB. Fired in January. Have used maybe 4 full 128 cu' cords so far. 

[martyinmi]

Around here a cord has always been 4'X4'X8'. A face cord has always been 4'X8'X16"- or one third of a full cord. I was visiting a friend of mine a few weeks ago and he showed me how much wood he throws in his CB 6048 once a day. He then showed me the area in his wood shed  where he had been burning from. This area measured 8' tall X 10' wide and 20' long. In our neck of the woods that amounts to 12.5 full cords, or 37.5 face cords. In his mind, a face cord is 4' X 8' by whatever length you prefer to cut it at. He cuts his at 2' EXACTLY. Therefore the area that he has burned already in his wood shed amounted to 25 face cords as far as he's concerned. He and I always joke around about what's what as far as face cords are concerned. He thinks I'm wrong, and I know he is. I started burning Oct. 1st and so far have burned about 6 FULL cords, or 18 face cords. I'm very happy with my consumption since I bought my gasifier(installed Jan. 30th). I only burn about 55- 60 percent of what I did with my old one. Next year I should go through about 45% less wood. In my friend's defense, the underground pipe he buried in '01 was horribly inefficient, so we always figured he is going through WAY more wood than he should. The ground over the line almost never freezes.
   Marty
   

[MattyNH]

So far burned 6 cord of wood from dec 16 2010 to march 21 2011..Heating 1800 sq foot house with a constant house temp of 75 F and endless hot water..Here in central New Hampshire very cold and snowy winter..Couldnt imagine paying the current price of $3.69 a gallon for #2 heating oil

[red devil]

Matty that seems to be about right with these temps.Then you have a cord and a half before dec and a cord and a half after march depending when and if you shut stove down. 15 cord thats alot of cutting but so is ten atleast we arn't buying oil guys. A house built within five years should use a 1/4 if not 1/3 of fuel compared to a house built in 1970,Well that is what I believe we find here in pa. but colder states and countries were always alittle better Iwould think with insulating there homes but they should see a difference with the new technologies that we have now?

[red devil]

Im sorry guys in my last post I meant 1/4 less in fuel consumption compared to a 1970 home.

[teburman]

I started the wood burner November 3, and have used 6 full cords mixed hard wood (128 cu ft) and 400 gallons of oil as of March 23. I am heating a two story four unit apartment building total 4,300 square feet located in the Northern Adirondack Mountains of New York State. This is heat only – each apartment has its own electric hot water maker and the tenants are responsible for the electricity. I expect to use another ½ cord before I shut the unit down for the summer.

I used oil because the boiler was down several times due to creosote build up in the blower motor causing it to fail.

This is an older building built in 1860s? a two story addition was built in 1926. It had blown in insulation when I bought it and since I bought the building in 1995 I have been on an energy improvement program. I used 3,700 gallons of oil in the 1995 – 96 season. Six new entrance doors with storm door, 41 replacement windows and 8 additional inches of fiberglass attic insulation brought my oil consumption down to 2,200 gallons for the 2007 – 2008 season. This is heat and hot water for four families. I converted to wood in 2007.

The first season with wood I used 11 full cords of wood and 500 gallons of oil. I isolated the domestic hot water from the house heater after two months on wood heat. It was too difficult to determine when to feed the boiler due to fluctuating hot water demand. I have continued with the energy improvements – spray foam around the sill inside and out, plus added three inches of foam board to the outside of the building. It is almost draft free and very comfortable most of the tenants keep their thermostat set at 68 and they say they are comfortable. I have one tenant that keeps the thermostat at 70 – whenever I go to that apartment I find it too hot. I still have energy improvements to finish. I think I can reduce my wood consumption to less than 6 full cords.

[mikenc]

Burned 5 128 cu ft cords from October1 to april 1. Most of wood is red and white oak. Heating 1850sq ft. to 74 deg. and basement to 70 deg. plus DHW. Live Western NC, no where near as cold here as up north. try to keep wood cut at least 1 year ahead so it has time to season.