Think I am around 2 cords maybe a yad more. Burned a lot when it wasnt necessary and the stove was new to me. Definitely been warm in the house all winter and the wife is happy.
Four + cords last year just about two so far this season. Most of my burning has been shoulder season fires every afternoon and evening then nothing till next afternoon. Our house is new and VERY well insulated so once it warms up it stays warm for a day. So to keep from over heating this year it's been off and on fires.
You're kidding right??? There's been times with the light fluffy feathery couple o inches snow that only a broom is used!
Wood usage is less, but I have no measurements on what I have burnt with the OWB. I'll get them though!
Woodstock Ideal steel seems much more efficient but our 3 days of 20 below this year compared to 30 last year had an impact too.. Feb 2015 was I think the bigger stove allowed sleep for 6 hours which made me less cranky which is always a good thing
I'm way down this year too, I've only used about 2/3 of a cord. Although part of the reason is I was letting the furnace run while my wife was home on maternity leave so she didn't have to go to the basement and load wood during the day. The first fire I lit was the second week of January. Last year I burned about 3.5 cords.
I really can't keep good track of my wood use because I burn year-round for both heat and hot water, but I'm probably only about half a cord ahead of where I was last year. I have a photo of the inside of my wood shed taken 17 February 2015 and there's only about six splits left. Right now I have enough wood in the shed for at least another couple of weeks, especially with the warm temps expected next week. I burn a total of around 10 cords a year. I do have enough cut and split for at least the next two years so I'm not worried about actually running out of wood. The only difference I notice between hot water only, and heat/HW combined, is I have to load the firebox twice a day - once at 6 am and once at 6 pm - during times when there is a heating demand. Otherwise it's only once a day, so I think I use about 30% to 40% of my wood over the course of a full year for heating, and the rest is for hot water. My heating season generally runs from late October through late April, so it's 6 months of heat demand.
Same here. The house is fairly new and will stay warm a long time. I do two fires a day even during the really cold days. I use a lot of kindling and fire starters.
I have about half left of what's usually staged for a whole season. A good bit ahead of the game - leftovers will keep well for next year.
I think we were somewhere around 4 cord last year. So far we are somewhere around 2 cord here this year.
So, how much do you think at this point have you used compared to what you would have used if using the same stove as last year?
I wish I was way down. I was living alone last year, so I burned roughly 5 cord. Now that someone is home all day, I am in between 6 and 7 with about 1.5 left. I have an emergency stash, and 4 cord split for next year. Time to fire up the Stihl's
Backwoods Savage Well I loaded 4 cord of shoulder season wood on the deck (mostly popular) .. figuring that I would burn 2 in fall... reload 3 of winter wood (ash and Sugar maple) guessing that would put me at 7 total.. or half of what I used last year that was 85% sugar maple. I ran out of shoulder season wood last weekend... I never added til last weekend .. burning a mix of ash and pine now that's working really well. So guess I will burn about 5.5 cord total this season.. to be fair this season was definitely not as cold as last year BUT popular has far less BTUs than sugar Maple.. I guess # of cords isn't always accurate.. I Joined hoarders last February when all I did was taxes and load stove.. Popular this year was dryer than maple (last year) both had only been seasoned 18 months (9 frozen and 9 in 80% humidity). but I hadn't heard of 3 year plan back then Dennis.. in March of last year I was on cord 12 plus.. I am hoping next year with normal weather some more house upgrades I will stay around 5 cord.. I think reading others post I burned more than needed to as until recently never put my air much below a quarter.. On a positive note I have a 5 year supply of kindling as I only have lit the IS 4 or so times.. Old stove in 4 hours you needed match and kindling..
Barring the extreme cold I think a cat stove like the IS transforms what's normally shoulder season wood into winter season wood. It flattens out the curve you get with the hot but fast burning woods by going lower with the air. Put those hardwoods in like red oak and locust though and it's go time.
I agree but will sort wood less because after a night of iron wood and sugar.. need pine or paper birch to burn coals down..
Sorry I mixed up your new stove!! Big difference between the two. Guess I have something on my mind, that being an NC30 for here that will not fit my fireplace.......
WW, with 2500 members I'm surprised you keep you remember all you do... what's your secret.... a FHC spreadsheet ... So is a fireplace remodel on hubby's to do list?
