Burning through wood like mad. How are you doing?

Last year I burnt about 2 1/2 cords. I brought 2 1/2 cords up to the house for this season. I have already brought another cord up and will have to bring another cord up this week to get through.
I was happy going into this season. Figured I had this season covered, next season CSS and the following season after about done. Best laid plans go to h**l I guess.
Back to the wood making.

 

That 2-3 week arctic blast we had a few weeks back definitely increased my consumption significantly....but the past few weeks have been warmer than usual, so Ive burned less than typical for late January.

Overall it all balances out for me, 8-9 cord per season...Im sure I'll be right on that mark by the end of burning season.

 

Probably been through eight or nine so far, pretty much on track for the fifteen cord I planned for. The double digit negatives didn't do me any favors for a few weeks there, and I'm sure there's more to come - but that's part of why we plan ahead, right? Cold is part of the gig here in winter - no complaints from this guy!

-edit- Not trying to come off snarky or anything, just glad that I'm finally getting ahead!

 

15 cord?!

I see you run a Woodmaster 4400 too...do you heat multiple buildings with it? I do my 2400 sq ft house, garage kept at about 50 degrees, and domestic hot water...and I burn from Nov 1-May 1 or so. Typically about 9 cord.

 

So far about 6 1/2 cord here in mn. The ugly cold for two weeks did not help matters. Last year only about 7 ish cord. But I’m also burning more in garage which keeps me happy knowing I have a warm place to work on projects or just drink beer! No complaints here.

 

It's plumbed to the garage, but the heat exchanger cracked according to the prior homeowner so they capped the lines. We do DHW and the house, probably 1600' of space. Windows are replacements, but insulation is minimal, house is circa 1850 with fieldstone foundation, dirt floor basement. W have an oil furnace, but it's only ever run for testing since we moved in, so we usually burn mid October through early June. Usually half hardwood, half pine.

What do you use for temperature settings on your Woodmaster? I've got ours set to cut in at 165, and out at 175. Forced hot air system, so usable heat is minimal under 150 when it's cold out.

 

I supplement wood heat with my fuel oil furnace. I work 6 days a week 35-ish miles away, so pure wood is not an option for me. House is really old (160 years) so not the best insulation or energy efficient. But so far I believe I've burned about 2 cords so far. Leave my house set at 59F for while I'm gone and then fire up the stove when I'm home. My house loses heat fast enough where I can go to bed with the living room at 74F and a fire going and by morning it's back down to 59 with furnace running. haha We'll say without the wood supplement I don't know how I'd afford to heat my place.

 

Oh ok, quite a bit different than my setup. Our house was built in 2006 so newer construction/insulation. I burn exclusively hardwood too, so by using 1/2 softwood you're obviously going to burn more cord, so that makes sense. We probably are pretty comparable in terms of actual amount of BTUs we each burn.

My OWB loops to a plate heat exchanger and forced hot water zones pick up heat from there and circulate through the house. I think its a 30 plate heat exchanger...I just recently picked up a laser thermometer so Im going to really see how much heat the zones are picking up from it and maybe upgrade to a 100 plate exchanger next year.

I vary the settings I keep the boiler at, earlier and later in the season I keep it lower and in dead of winter I keep it higher. Right now I have it kicking the fan on at 170 and off at 185. I find that if I dont increase the temp to the 185 range the zones are calling for heat much longer before they get up to temp so the fan is kicking on/off more frequently anyway. By keeping the temp high like that the zones are able to heat up the space a bit quicker/easier.

In warmer months though it can sit and smolder without really having any heat pulled from it for so long the temp will steadily increase even up into the boiling range! So by keeping the temp lower (around 160) it doesnt ever reach boiling temps.

Im excited to give this thermometer a shot and really see what temperature the water circulating through my baseboards are getting up to.

 

I keep thinking of how nice it would be to insulate and seal up our old place, but then I think of the cost, and look at how much I've spent on wood over the last couple years.. There's only a $0 on one side of the ledger.

 

I think we are about wrapped up on cord 3, will be 4-5cords this year which is our average it seems.

There were weeks where the stove was going full speed ahead 24/7, id even run home from the office to refill, it was so cold out.

Then there is weeks like last week and this week, where its gets to almost 60 some days, and 30's other... 50-60* days, i let the heat pump run, even at night in the 40's. I find it relaxing to take a "day off" here or there.

In september Im anxious to fire her up, and its way to hot. By late Feb I'm cussing at her because Im a slave to her... Its funny how that works.

 

Snarky? You? Psh. You’re doing work and keeping warm. I didn’t see anything rude...just do what you do best to stay in the means.

 

What is the hot water going into - radiant floor heat, baseboard? I agree that the softwood definitely goes faster and probably levels off our compared btu demand. Getting it dropped off at no charge, I can't say no.

I'll have to give your temperature settings a shot and see how they work out. Thanks for the idea!

 

Im not sure of the expense in the least. We moved into this home 4-5yrs ago. Its 2x6 framing with spray foam, built in 2008... Its amazing how efficient it is. I didnt want the house, but I wanted too move, and the wife said this was the one (she didnt want to move). Its 2800sqft, and only two of us, which is nuts... But when its 40's and 50's, the two heat pumps spinning our electric bill is $200 or so a month. Our old house in the city was 1400sqft with a gas furnace, and the exterior walls could have frost on them, no lie, and our bills would be $400+

 

So glad I was ahead of the game. Just a little sad that my beech and hickory supply is going to the stove earlier than I wanted. Was really looking forward to quality wood next year. Got about a face cord of cherry, beech, and walnut in reserve when it gets real cold. What I am bring up now is mainly ash. I have enough to get through with out getting into my 2 year old oak (next year's good wood).

The artic blast after Christmas sure put a dent in my wood.
My house is also 100 years old and a wife that would freeze to death in h***. Insulation not good, but new windows. Hard to heat. Back up is electric baseboard. Sure can't afford the bill if we have to kick it in.
Had a $600 one month electric bill 6 years ago before I started wood burning. Now the electric runs around $135 year round. Stove runs 24/7.

 

We'll limp into February with about 3 cord through. Pics are from Sunday with east half remainder put in the garage. Managed a little better than the past few years. I'm hoping to have 1.5 to 2 cord left in the shed by the time she says she's done. Although we all cried uncle the first week of June in last year, which ate into our September stores.

 

The spray foam is where it's at - one of these years we'd like to build our own place and use the spray foam extensively. Bet that would cut the wood consumption right down!

 

Um... I’m gonna say...1.5. I honestly don’t know....haha I feel foolish but I didn’t methodically take out wood like most people wood. Usually when you finish a pile. It’s move onto the next but I ended up choosing wood that didn’t burn as hot because it has not even been all that cold. I enjoy a fire absolutely. But the element of control with temperature is often easy when you control the type of wood burning. Anything above cherry btu’s is ridiculous heat. Mostly Alder, doug fir, cedar, soft maple, birch, cherry then a bit of black locust and small amounts of oak (this was just an off the wall find so its quite interesting that I can say I burned some this year. ) oak and hardwood pallets..

 

It does great, but like i said 4-5 cords isnt out of the question... But that includes roughly a cord of tulip poplar in sept-oct, sometimes November just depends on the weather... Like I said I'll let the heat pumps run during warm ups this time of year as a "break" but i really pride myself on the free heat.

It does show in the summer. I keep the house at 72* year round the best I can, and MD summers, especially on the shore are hot and muggy.. $180-250 is the bill for everything. Ive seen $300 once when we had that crazy 110* heat wave 2yrs ago.

 

You might want to contact Mass Save. I hear they recommend things that can be done, and, pick up a good chunk of insulating $'s.

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Same here-average 3.5 cord per year, I'm into cord 4 right now...that 2+ week cold snap sapped my usual reserve...Thank goodness for the 3 yr plan-soon as I'm shoulder ready, watch out Ash...I walked my farm today looking at dead standing-Hope to be done w PT and cutting by April...