How much wood have you burned this season?

Thanks for the welcome former farming friend! You sir sound wise beyond your years. Both houses are no closer than 200' feet from our outdoor wood stove! when we installed it we put in centrally between the houses. In retrospect I do sometimes wonder if two separate owb's would have been smarter. But it is nice having the wood & associated mess in one location on the property .

 

Welcome to FHC! I'd bet from my experience & some of my friends as well, that 2 boilers wouldn't save you any wood or work. Still takes the same BTU's to heat those houses & heaters. The amount of hot water we used in the milk house alone back in the day was enough to justify a boiler. Think of the expense of gas, electric, propane, or fuel oil when you're loading that boiler.

 

I keep the wood I'm going to burn for the season under cover, loading up these two racks in the early spring.

So far I've burned through about 3/4 of these two stacks. I supplement with propane, but dont use too much.

Maybe burned a cord or so. Wood is cut a little longer, maybe 20".

 

I remember a year or two ago, someone ( Backwoods Savage ?) mentioned a rule of thumb along the lines of, "You should have half your wood left by (insert date here)." The idea was that if you hadn't burned through more than half the wood int he shed on that day, you are likely to be OK. Anyone have a useful rule of thumb?

 

"Always have more wood than you need"

 

That I certainly do, but most of it is outside in stacks hidden under the snow!

I have burned about 1/3 of what I have put in the woodshed for this year. That includes extra burnt dring time off at Christmas and Thanksgiving. So, I think all is well ...

 

Up until this past week, I was way ahead of my expected burn rate, mostly because of my OWB problems. I was pretty sure I would have to get into my 2017-2018 wood. Now, with the new boiler, I'm gonna be good until the end of the season. Might even have enough left to heat my pool in the spring for a few weeks.

I always figured that my heating season started during the first week of October and ended in mid April. So, somewhere around now, or within a week, would be my 'halfway' point. I think the coldest weather for this winter is still ahead of me, though. So maybe 'halfway' isn't for a couple more weeks.

 

Does the 3 year plan apply to hay also?

 

I'm not even sure how much I have been through this year. I know I started late because of the temperatures and the project I had going on. I would guess we have been through 2.5 full cord though. With heating hot water for five of us it is understandable. The girls and the showers and Jacuzzi baths. Dam Jacuzzi bath tub.

 

What's the amount of BTUs in a bale of hay? Is that a full bale, or a face bake?

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Hello Dennis. Wife and kids love it. They generally each take about one bath a week, shower other days. So, fill it like any tub. After it is full turn the jets on and relax. As long as you want. When jets are on a heater keeps the water hot for you. It is just a little bigger than a regular tub, but looks similar. With jets all around that are really soothing for your sore muscles. When done, pull the plug and drain it. I bought it and all plumbing at Lowes. About 6-7 years ago I did a renovation of two small bedrooms and a bathroom. Turned it into one larger guest bedroom and a large bathroom/laundry combination. These two rooms are connected by a door and have their own entry door as well. Makes it nice for guest. Here is the Jacuzzi Tub/shower combo I installed. I did all the renovation accept the tile around the tub. I don't do tile, don't want to, and want it done right. So I paid a guy to do that. All our domestic hot water (DHW) is heated with firewood from boiler which heats an in-direct water heater.

 

It looks a lot better than I had imagined it!

 

Mmmmm beans and beer.

 

Best guess is around 3/4 cord. Been pulling from different stacks depending on temps, plus I sold about 3/4 cord. Sitting pretty here

 

Well that's what I was thinking but you've got me wondering how much extra wood I burn heating all that pipe in the ground.

 

Think we're about five deep so far, maybe six. Stat has been set at 64 the whole time except three days in the hospital while my wife delivered our new daughter.