I'm fortunate enough to not have to think about rationing either. First year burning in the shop I ran a little short in the Spring & had to burn some marginal wood, but not since. I heat with wood for two reasons, 1: I wanna be comfortable! 2: I wanna be comfortable! I lit my boiler in September this year to heat during some "cooler" weather, I've had it burning ever since. Load it once or twice a day & set the stats. If I gotta ration wood & keep my space cooler than I want I'll burn propane. I like 70 in the shop & 72 in the house. I can always cut a little more wood this Winter if it looks like I'm burning more than normal. I'm sitting on about 20 cord seasoned now & I don't know how much waiting for processing.
I have used an OWB since 2004/5 winter season and operate it continuously 24/7/365 for heat and hot water. I can't ration, because if I did, the OWB would go out and there would be no hot water. If I run out, I dig into next year's wood. Things can get a bit sketchy during the summer burning pine, pallet chunks and other junk, but it always gets us through. This winter I am installing a backup, in the form of an electric heat pump water heater (for summertime DHW) so that I can stop burning wood and shut down from Memorial Day through Labor Day. That should save me a couple of cords of wood. Might even be able to extend a couple of weeks in eaither direction depending on weather. We keep the house pretty cool, generally around 67-70 in winter.
I ration in the sense that every fire doesn't need to imitate a steel foundry. Sometimes I short cycle, sometimes I load it up. If the stove is chugging along reading 350-400 F and the room is 66-67 F, that's fine with me usually. My winter base layer is an undershirt, long john shirt, t-shirt, and sometimes a hoodie if it's colder outside. My gal isn't quite so tough, so obviously use more wood with here around. I look at things in a different way than her though, maybe because I'm more practical or the guy who hauls all the wood, who knows. But I do believe there's no such thing as a free lunch, it's just a matter of how you pay for it, right? To keep her happy 100% of the time, I'd need to overclock my stove and dump coals 2x a day, or run a 2+ cubic foot stove, while still using an oil furnace. I don't care if the temp drops when I'm sleeping, because I'm sleeping, and don't know the temperature dropped.
The only reason I ration is keep the den from being 80f. My rule of thumb now is if the temps are 60h/40l the furnace will be running more than desired and I build a fire. Mostly pine & gum to warm up the stove then oak for the overnights repeat in the morning and I have a good coal bed come sundown
What about leaving the freezer door partially open all night? At least with the stove heating us I dont have to yell at my stepdaughter every time she walks out on the porch and leaves the door open "I'm only gonna be a minute! I'll give you the fifty cents!" Next time she says that I'm going to start hitting her up for that money every time so she can see how it adds up.
Mwalsh9152 .. I see we live in similar worlds I finally told my beautiful girl, if you open that window again and don't shut it!! I will screw it shut!!!
We only burn wood for heat, except for the week we go away in the winter, then we burn propane with the thermostat set at 50°. I'm probably 5 years ahead thanks to the EAB and switching to a catalytic insert. I load 6 to 8 splits at 8am and again at 8pm. If it's single figures during the day I may use another 3 or 4 splits. Last night it didn't go below freezing and when I got up at 0700 the house was 84°. I had to open 2 windows and a door!
I hate going upstairs to bed and finding that its warm! I like my bedroom around 64-65 tops. Not loading the stove at night has helped with that.
Yep, we keep the bedroom door closed all day and sometimes crack the window open a bit to keep it right for sleeping.
I woke up one morning, come downstairs and scratch my head. It's like 64F in the house, but the stove, which wasnt reloaded the night before was still warmish. Reloaded and couldn't get the house warm for some reason. An hour later my wife figured out that the kid had her bedroom window wide open all night and it was 40 degrees out.
I cant close the bedroom door because of the cats that live upstairs. Or else it would be fantastic! My walk in closet is like a meat locker usually.
My first year I kept a fire going almost all of the time. This year I am just burning when if feels cold, which is about 65. My place is small and well insulated, it doesn't take much to get it to 75-77 and into the 80s. We have been about 15 degrees below average so far this winter and by practicing burning when I feel cool I estimate that I have gone through about 30% less wood. Will be interesting to see how much I do burn this season since I am not keeping it going all the time now. As long as I am comfortable I am good. And if I can use at least 20% wood, then that makes it easier to reach my 4 year plan although I secretly want a 5 year plan. The less fire wood I need for a season the better off I am in my mind. I feel wasteful if I get the place too hot and start sweating and have to crack a window or two. Waste not, want not.
I sort my wood so the softer hardwoods like poplar get burned when it is cool and then shift to maple for colder temps. When it really gets cold then I throw in the oak or hickory or other long burners. I have two vermont castings that have a downdraft feature that shuts the flue so the wood burns from the bottom so the coals burn the wood from the bottom. Makes the fire hotter since the gases are being burned and not going up the flue. But when it really gets cold I change my party affiliation and throw coal into the vigilant II. Burns long and hot, just don't do it with a wood burner otherwise you will end up with a lump of iron smoldering at 3000 degrees. I am sure coal is a nasty word here but since I am in Pennsylvania it is readily available and many here burn both fuels and it does keep my house warm.
I do as a lot of folks here do, but Moparguy pretty much sums up exactly how I do it. I use the appropriate wood for the temperature required. I have a good variety of wood BTUs to use . I treat the BTUs of each wood like octane ratings of fuel. Regular, mid grade and premium. I will burn it all, except Willow. I enjoy cutting my firewood in the late fall and especially over winter.
Coming from an owb, we've been running the IS pretty much 24/7 since September 27 when we installed it. First time I've ever seen Mrs Papi loaf around the house in her skimpies at this time of year, so that's the way it's going to stay! Up til August or so I was planning to burn 15 cord in the owb, so anything less is gravy.
To start with ... Ditch your fireplace. Put a wood stove insert in its place. You get the same ambience, but serious amounts of heat and way more efficient use of your available wood supply.
Those sliding doors are also really easy to break into by lifting them up. Happened to our neighbors a few years ago. We put in French doors in place of ours. Better looking, better sealing but not as flexible. Still, I wouldn't go back.
