Thanks! I've owned wood stoves before but used to work in a mill so, got free scraps. In any event, I'm a bit new to this game. If you could guestimate, if I'm running this thing for most of November to March (aside from warm days), how many cords are we talking about? I think my sweeper said he has 6 at any time, but, of course, he might be getting favors. Anyway, just trying to figure out the logistics.
Surely you know my post was not worded correctly (I changed it when I realized). And no, I am not calling you Shirley
It's hard to say. I heat from mid October to early May, my house is remodeled and insulated very well. We live in central PA, smack dab in the middle of the state. So keep in mind, we do get some nasty winters. I'm heating 2800sq ft and using two appliances in the really cold spells, some winters I go through 5 cord, really bad winters I can use almost 8. Depends on wood species used, temps, wind and other factors...... Hard to say for sure, keep in mind woods like locust and oak hold many more BTUS than others, and last much longer than other species in the stove. There are a lot of factors to consider that affect usage.....
I suspected as much but only after looking at your post count was like "eh, I probably shoulda waited". All good.
I realize it's a moving target and supply will be variable. Just looking for a ballpark figure. Thanks!
Another PA guy here... we heat with an insert for our primary source. We've burned as much as 5 cord and as little as 3 cord depending on the severity of the winter. In a lower consumption year (like last year) we actually ended up using our secondary source (oil furnace) more than during a cold year as burning the stove would overheat the house. I actually like it more when it's a bit colder when we can just keep the stove burning 24/7 and not worry about wanting to run short burst of the oil furnace. BTW, our house size is only 1600 sq. ft., but my wife is home during the day so we have heating needs the whole day. We'd go through less if we both worked and didn't need to pump as much heat during the daylight hours. Beyond that, can't really provide any more suggestions than the above. I suspect most of the guys who've already responded have more years of burning experience than I do. I do know that getting to the 3 year plan will provide big dividends down the road... I'm just about there. Just keep at it, slow and steady.
Lots of good advice already provided but I will chime in and advise do not stack your wood in the locations you have chosen. Under trees conifers that you may think shed water will drop plenty of needles that absorb water and keep your seasoning wood damp, promoting rot and bug infestation. You're top 2-3 courses could turn into punky-rot and lower levels will grow mushrooms
Another vote here for the moisture meter. If you don't have dry wood this year, I'd use the gas and take it as a learning experience. It looks like you live where neighbors are relatively close. Smoking them out with wet wood does them wrong and makes wood burning look bad. Waiting until you have dry wood is courteous and reflects well on all of us. I have a neighbor who heats with an OWB. He gets a load of oak in about September or October for the current burning season. Judging by the amount he burns, I think his house is insulated with copper and his doors don't close. The smoke he generates is unbelievable. Fortunately for me, he is at the other end of my very long driveway so the smoke doesn't affect me except as I drive in or out. But it still leaves a bad impression. I am all for live and let live, and I fully understand that sometimes with wood burning there's going to be some smoke, sometimes people are going to throw parties that make noise late into the night, whatever. I could never tolerate living in a place with a homeowners association and all the busybodies associated with it. But there is a huge difference between the occasional thing or something that is none of my business like what color you paint your house and blatant disregard for others. Polluting the air by burning wet wood 24/7 for several months falls into the latter category. With jackasses like that running free, I fully understand why some neighborhoods ban wood burning. I make every effort to burn cleanly and I expect that my neighbors will overlook the occasional puff of smoke. But I don't think I would deserve that courtesy from them if I didn't make every reasonable effort to avoid poor burning practices. It isn't 1850; clean heat is available. Unless you are in a dire financial situation and have to burn wet wood to stay alive, be a good ambassador for wood burning and use the gas this year. Or buy a load of bio bricks and burn those, but either way, protect the lifestyle we all love by burning responsibly and courteously.
A moisture meter is the only way to know where the wood you have is at. Poplar, if split and stacked will be easily ready in a year. It seems to season properly in 9 months. Oak, yeah, 3 years is a good start, but 4 years seasoning and you'll know it's good. Dead standing trees, elm, cherry, and ash would be 3 species to target. Dead standing elm, when the bark has fallen off is usually good to go providing it hasn't rained out snowed a lot recently. You'll find the mm will tell you what's good or not now, or for later. Dead standing trees. From a good 6-8 feet from the ground will typically be good. Tree trunks that are still attached to the ground will carry more moisture as the wood does act like a wick to a certain extent, although the living trees actively suck water up the tree through turgor pressure. A couple of weeks ago, I cut up and split a downed dead American elm top that ended up being 2/3 of a cord of dry ready to burn wood. I've been burning it since that day, Moisture content was no more than 19%, but much of it was 15%.
If you've got a smartphone, get the ryobi phoneworx mm. Home depot has them. It uses your phone as a display, and it works great. They are $25 when on sale and no waiting for Amazon.
I heat my house primarily with my Quadrafire 4100 insert. It heats my 1700 sq ft house very well, even with the insert being at the far end of the house. I see you are in Pennsylvania. I'm in Wisconsin and it gets very cold here. I burned about 2.5 cords last year. I burned a lot of quick drying or already dry wood, and i know I didn't burn all of it as efficiently as I have been burning this year. I've been burning firewood in a stove, a fireplace, or an insert for as long as I can recall, and I know I started loading the stove and processing firewood in one respect of another since I was 4 or 5 years old. While last winter was warmer than average, I have no doubt that my insert can keep the furnace from turning on in all but the craziest of low temps. With 1 full season of this particular insert in my house, both the wife and I are getting very good at using it and getting as much heat out of each split as possible. An efficient insert works very well, and those that have used them know exactly what I'm talking about.
Welcome Woodwhore, you're gonna like it here, I guarantee it! Nice job on the nic...We like pics, dogs and beer...Most are certified addiction counselors who will "help" in times of need, so you got that going for ya right off the bat... Nice to meet ya
glorth2 you have been given some good advice by others and I can't offer a lot more but will try. First off basod really hit the nail on the head with your wood pile. I was surprised others had not picked up on this factor sooner. If you look at the picture, the first thing that struck me was the fact you are stacking against trees which can be bad as it will damage the trees. Wind moves the trees and the wood rubbing can cause the damage. Then consider that the wood is stacked under all those branches. Trees are close together and it appears also close to buildings. End result is a definite lack of air flow. Sunshine usually is not real important (air flow is most important) but in your case some sunshine will help. In addition, if you have sunshine on the wood stack that also means the wood is stacked more in the open air which is what you need. Another thing that could help you for this winter is to go through that entire wood pile and split those splits again. Make them smaller and they will dry faster. Again, the air will get to those fresh splits to get rid of some moisture quicker. One more thing is to do some reading: Primer on Woodburning by Backwoods Savage Are you screwed for this year? Not necessarily so. Sometimes we just have to burn what we have on hand. You can aid the burn though by splitting the wood smaller, getting some perhaps in the garage and out of the weather. Getting some of the compressed sawdust to add to the stove which will help the higher moisture wood get rid of its moisture quicker and also give you heat. Pick up some old pallets and add some of that wood to each wood load because usually those pallets have some very dry wood which will aid the fire a lot. By all means, I would not wait until next spring or summer to clean the chimney! Of course, if you can check it from time to time this will help but not all allow good checking so a cleaning might be best. I not so fondly recall one winter when we cleaned our chimney 6 times! We made do that winter and no, we did not freeze but we tended the fire a lot! Another is like Scotty stated: get on the 3 year plan as soon as possible. Good luck.
My wife is home during the day keeping the stove going as well. That being said, she burns small maintenance fires unless its below zero, keeps the house warm so our evening fires are smaller as we don't have to heat the house due to it's already warm. So it balances out.
