Anyone get hit hard by the cold spell in their woodstore?

[seedspreader]

I've used more wood this year than planned. I went through cord in 12 days during our cold spell.

Anyone else get hit harder than planned in their wood stores?

[APPway]

yeah hit hard here also
with the -30c to -40c temps we have burned alot more wood.
maybe if we all pray spring at the same time it will happen eh!

[DocM]

No, because I prepare for the worst winters we've had, not the mildest.

[gccrook]

Yeah, but then I wasn't really prepared anyway. I have had to go out and cut wood every weekend for the last month and a half. I had plenty of wood, just didn't get around to cutting it to length in time for winter. Not really a bad problem, just more work in the cold weather.

[michiganfarmer]

I think we get a cold snap evrey winter. I dont think I used anymore than usual. I did add some insulation to my outdoor wood furnace Last fall. It likes wood anyway. I think the insulation has heps a little.

This summer Im going to put some wood in the basement for my forced air furnace. I can use that in milder temps, and save some wood.

Did I say that my outdoor wood furnace likes wood?

[amwitched]

Originally Posted by michiganfarmer

Did I say that my outdoor wood furnace likes wood?

Yup! But I just figured that you were saying that your outdoor wood furnace eats just as much wood as my home's furnace eats propane.

[Lynne]

The wood pile will last until mid April, I have been mixing in some of the less seasoned wood from last spring.
Now the hay may not - so I’m planning on picking up a couple of round bales this week.

[nehimama]

Sure did go through a lot more than in years past! Here in Missouri-land, I buy wood by the truckload, so don't know how many cords (if even one) I went through.

Had a lot cut, but had to spend many a weekend out in the barn, splitting. That warmed me up; that's for sure!

From now on, I will be prepared for the worst winters; not the mildest ones, as DocM says!

NeHi

[Cindy in NY]

We were doing really well until February hit. It's been the coldest February in at least the last four years. We'll still have more than enough to go through the rest of the season but won't have quite as much leftover as we had hoped.

[turtlehead]

This winter was definitely worse than last winter. We used about the same amount of wood, though, because we've been working real hard on sealing up drafts in this old house. It's MUCH improved over last year, but still a lot to do.

I don't think we could have kept the pipes from freezing if we'd had this years temps and last year's house, no matter how much wood we burned.

[HermitJohn]

I ever finish splitting that last pickup load, I will probably have enough to get through most of next winter also. But far as I am concerned, you always think 2 years ahead on firewood unless you want to burn green or buy it. I will probably buy log ends from sawmill this year for 2008-09 as I intend to start on another house this summer, but may have to take down couple big trees anyhow so they just as well get made into firewood and become usefull.

[Ramblin Wreck]

We had a milder year than up North, so my wood pile held up well. All the bad weather tended to hit the middle of the country and slide East and North this year. I've got enough trees down from clearing fence lines to heat the house next year, but I've got a lot of sawing and splitting to do. I like the wood to season a minimum of six months, with a year being preferable.

[moonwolf]

December was warmer than usual. In fact I think with January, it was record warm, so I used much less wood than I would in a 'normal' winter. The cool snap in the last 3 weeks or so isn't so remarkable. It's still within 'norm's' for our part of the world.
So I'll end up using almost a record 'low' amount of wood to heat over this past winter.
That will make my stockpile for next year a bit easier pace over the year to manage.

[Sgt.Sausage]

Southern Ohio here (Brown County) -- up until Feb, we've had a pretty mild winter. 60 and 65 degree days in Dec pretty regularly and hardly a day below freezing in Jan. Didn't get really cold until Feb. As such, didn't use near "normal" amounts of wood for Nov, Dec, and Jan. A bit more than normal for Feb, but still ahead due to less being used in Nov, Dec, and Jan.

I like to keep about 20 full cord on hand. We rarely use more than 8 for a season and most seasons it's closer to 6 cord. It would take a really, *really*, REALLY cold spell for me to get hit hard enough to make a dent in that.

Ours is a combination wood/coal. I'm sitting on a reserve of somewhere between 8 and 10 ton of coal too. I think I'm set for a good 3 or 4 years. We don't normally burn the coal as we can usually get wood for free (and coal costs money), so we keep collecting and burning free wood. Some day I'll try a whole season on coal to see how much we use.

Any other coal burners out there? How much do you use?

[a1cowmilker]

yes we most certainly went through the wood, however ,the last few winters here have been mild so in a sense we kinda got caught up. We still have plenty of wood for next year but by fall we will have two winters worth just in case.
Our wood man ran out of wood this year. We always bought some and cut some. This March my dh will take a day off work to get some wood cut. He may decide to cut it all this year just because he can. It would save us a few dollars. He has felled trees waiting to be cut up so I suppose we will have plenty of dry.
As a side note, we have have a lot of wood on hand because it is my dh's gift to me. It doesn't bother him to only have a year or year and half wood supply but it bothers me quite a lot, so he has promised to keep the wood lot full because it makes me happy. Now, isn't that sweet?

[diane]

I have gone through more wood this winter than the past few, but the past few have been pretty mild. I did hear that we went through the worse cold spell in ten years though. It seemed like it was just sucking up that wood when it was so cold. I am about to go into what I thought would be next winter's as we always try to enter the winter with two years wood put up. This is my second winter with the 600 square foot addition so really only had last winter to compare with as far as wood consumption. I know my inside stove doesn't even come close to sucking up the wood my neighbor's outside stove does. I can't believe how many truckloads they have gone through!!

[Charleen]

We've gone through quite a bit this year too. We have a wood furnace in the basement and we usually only light that when it's below freezing. With the cold temps we've had I think it was burning for a full 4 weeks without stopping. This ate through quite a bit of wood we had stacked in the basement. I think we had 4 months worth, (for a more mild winter) and we had to put more into the basement to dry.

Our kitchen wood stove has been burning daily.

[tamsam]

We also used more wood than other years. We could not get coal as the power company was sucking it all up, but we still have plenty left. If need be we will get a load of slabs from the sawmill. Hope everyone stays warm. Sam

[indypartridge]

As of mid-January I had hardly put a dent in my woodpile - then 4 weeks of sub-freezing temperatures and it's looking pretty meager about now. Probably enough to last IF we don't get another really cold spell, but I'll be cutting it closer than I'd like.

[creeklady2000]

Yes we have but it has been a normal winter for us been mild the last few winters we ahve gone though 10 so far this year and since my husband had his surgery no more cutting wood this year so I had to break down and buy wood 90 for 2 cords havent bought wood in this is going on the second year