Firewood Burn Rate?

[Peacock]

How fast does your woodstove go through the firewood?

Here's mine, an Appalachian insert we put in this past July:



And it goes through one of these carts full in about 24 hours, stacked up as far as I can possibly stack, smoldering a bit overnight:



But although I love it, I'm about to smack the salesman who told me it would heat 2500 square feet. I didn't believe him then, but it's apparent to me now that the claim is absolutely ridiculous!

[MELOC]

2500 sq. feet is a lot. i guess it depends on how well the air circulates, both around the stove and throughout the house.

[moonwolf]

I would burn about that cart load a day in my outside wood furnace like now when it's 30 below. It heats my floor thermally in 1400 sq. ft. basement, forced air heat in the house, as well as getting free hot water heated by that.
I burn almost exclusively aspen wood. (poplar)

[Silvercreek Farmer]

That cart load would probably only last me about 16 hours in my voglezang (non-airtight) and only heat 1400 sq ft.

[Rockin'B]

I burn a bit more than that in 24 hours. I have a Hearthstone Bennington, which is a pretty big stove. It's been quite cold with overnight temps below zero and I'm burning at a fairly high rate right now.
But, it's 74 deg inside and 12 below outside!!!

[RedneckPete]

I burn a full cord every two weeks when it is really cold outside... Like it is now.

Pete

[Billy Clyde]

edayna,

Your woodstove and mine burn about the same number of sticks. I have an airtight cast iron stove with a blower in my 1000 square foot heavily insulated shop and it keeps inside temps at 70* while outside temps are in the teens. Ceilings are 12', though, and the shop has Northern exposure. This winter the North winds have been brutal. Weather stripping the iron doors has made a big difference. Reversing the ceiling fans, also. We burn oak because it is so plentiful around here...mesquite as well. Haven't had any creosote or other build up in the stove or stove pipe so far.

Billy Clyde

[HeavenHelpMe]

We burn quite a bit now. I can't wait until these single digit and below zero temps are over so we can lighten up on the wood a little.

We burn mainly ash, elm, and oak. Wish I had some more poplar. Have to plan better next year.

[Ramblin Wreck]

I have a Vermont Castings model that has a catalytic converter. The converter probably will (but hasn't so far) increase my maintenance cost over time, but it sure cuts down on the amount of wood I go through. Also, once the stove gets hot and the converter is engaged, there is absolutely no smoke to be seen coming out of the chimney. When I'm there and have a fire going, my furnaces never come on. My house is 2350+ square feet, but it is very open and the ceiling fans do a good job of circulating the heat. A house that has more doors and rooms will not be as easy to heat as one that is more open. I only burn dry, well seasoned wood, but not always the best stuff (which in our area is hickory, oak, or maple).

If I were burning wood full time, I estimate I would go through three or four cords of good, well seasoned fuel in a typical Winter.

[highlands]

We heat about 1,000 sq-ft of a old (230 year?) farm house. The rest is closed off. The heat comes from a Sam Daniels wood furnace in the basement. We've recorded the wood usage for 16 years and average about two to three cords per winter of seasoned sugar maple here in northern Vermont. That comes to about six logs a day. We do keep the house fairly cool (40's in the morning to a high of 60's sometimes) and are protected from the worst of the wind. Wear layers.

Cheers,

-Walter
Sugar Mountain Farm
in the mountains of Vermont
http://SugarMtnFarm.com/blog/

[edcopp]

The question has no answer?

What kind of wood? How long was it seasoned? How warm, or cool do you keep your house. The question is like asking how fast my car will go, without knowing what kind of car it is.

[Peacock]

Well yes, I agree Ed...it wasn't very scientific. I like my house warm and it's mostly heated with an oil fired boiler. The woodstove does a great job of heating the ground floor/basement (split level on a hill) and cuts down on oil usage a bit. The wood is mostly ash that was cut this past summer and has been sitting uncovered, so it's only kinda-sorta seasoned but as the winter progresses it's looking better.

I just keep shoving it in there as it burns down, especially when it's cold like this -- just trying to get as much heat out of the stove as I can, then pack it to the gills before bed and close off the air inlets about halfway so it burns only moderately but doesn't lose the flame for several hours. Usually.

[FrankTheTank]

I guess this is why so many people live in the tropics! )

[SeptemberWolf]

I can't tell how big your firebox is, but it looks smaller than mine. I have a locally-made Kuuma that's in the basement. It's just a big box of a thing. It will hold about 8-10 split 16-18" long pieces of wood - each piece maybe 7-8" maximum girth. This amount will burn overnight nicely. The dry wood burns faster; also depends on the draft. When the wind isn't blowing from the Arctic, this stove alone will heat my house just fine - provided I don't mind house temp of 64-68 degrees. My house is 30X40', one story with full basement.

[edcopp]

Originally Posted by edayna

Well yes, I agree Ed...it wasn't very scientific. I like my house warm and it's mostly heated with an oil fired boiler. The woodstove does a great job of heating the ground floor/basement (split level on a hill) and cuts down on oil usage a bit. The wood is mostly ash that was cut this past summer and has been sitting uncovered, so it's only kinda-sorta seasoned but as the winter progresses it's looking better.

I just keep shoving it in there as it burns down, especially when it's cold like this -- just trying to get as much heat out of the stove as I can, then pack it to the gills before bed and close off the air inlets about halfway so it burns only moderately but doesn't lose the flame for several hours. Usually.

It was -10* on the front porch this morning at 7A.M. that's as cold as it has been this winter so far. I have been burning a load of mixed stuff that had not seasoned quite long enough. So I know what you mean.

Now I did use some of my secret stash of firewood last night. That is some Hickory that is cut almost as long as the firebox on the stove. It just barely fits in, and is about 5X6 inches or so. It is pretty heavy and has seasoned for just over 2 years. This stuff burns real hot, and is well worth seeking out.

Enjoy the new snow this afternoon.

[PyroDon]

reguardless of the type tree be it balsa or osage orange 1 pound of wood will produce the same number of BTU.

[MELOC]

Originally Posted by PyroDon

reguardless of the type tree be it balsa or osage orange 1 pound of wood will produce the same number of BTU.

that is basically true, but it is misleading. some woods are nearly twice as dense as others, therefore you can squeeze a lot more BTU's in the firebox with a wood like black locust vs. a wood like tulip poplar.

[Kung]

I go through about 10 'blocks' (a block being a foot long by 8 inches wide by 6 inches high) of solid oak block ends.

[moonwolf]

Originally Posted by MELOC

that is basically true, but it is misleading. some woods are nearly twice as dense as others, therefore you can squeeze a lot more BTU's in the firebox with a wood like black locust vs. a wood like tulip poplar.

If both black locust and tulip popar weigh a pound, you get the same heat value (btu's) from them. It's just that the locust us probably the denser, meaning less volume (but same weight) has to be burned. In the case of what is being talked about how often to load the wood stove, obviously with tulip poplar weighing less, would burn more 'pieces'. Thus a wheelbarrow load of locust would maybe be enough for the day to burn, while a wheelbarrow load of tulip might not be.

[januaries]

I heat my 700 sq. ft. house solely with a Jotul 602.

When I'm burning it hot to raise the temperature of the house, it'll consume three 12"-long (5" diameter) pieces of split and cured oak/hickory mix in 45-60 minutes. (The firebox is pretty small, so that's about all it will hold at once.)

When I'm burning merely to maintain a warm house, I can cut back to 1 large or 2 medium pieces an hour.

Overnight--the only time I use the damper--those same three pieces of wood will be a bed of hot coals in four hours.

Or, to put it another way, from 5:30pm to 8:00am (the evening and overnight hours I am at home and have a fire), I burn a med-small wheelbarrow of split, cured hardwood.