How Much Wood Do You Burn?

[jessepona]

A thread in the survival/preparedness forum made me wonder how much wood people in different areas burn. I recently read a book called "Cache Lake Country" where the author put away 20 cords just for one winter. I'm thinking we'll only use about three cords (of course, wood isn't our primary heat source so that makes a big difference). He was in the UP of Michigan, I believe.

So how much wood do you burn in a typical winter? Is wood your primary heating source?

Jessica

[goatsareus]

yes, wood heat is our primary heat source. Not only primary, but the only one we use.

Depends on how cold the winter is.

We have roughly a 3000 sq ft house. The house is superinsulated. We use between one and two cords of wood a year. The square footage is more, but we do not heat the greenhouse.

[highlands]

Wood is our only heat source. Well, there's the dogs, our bodies and appliances. Our old farm house, which lacks much in the way of windows, takes about 3 cord a winter to keep it cool (about 50°F) here in Vermont. I once tried to keep it warm. Foolish.

Our new tiny cottage will probably take a fraction of a cord, primarily cooking wood, because it has huge amounts of thermal mass and solar gain. A friend joked we'll only need to light a candle to heat it.

How much wood to I stock pile? About 10 cord. If the new cottage performs as expected I'll might cut back a bit but it is efficient to cut that much at a time and then it dries getting better and better all the time.

Cheers

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

[wyld thang]

Usually it's about 3 cords give or take, depending on how early or late flal or spring is. We burn mostly oak(a hardwood). But if we were just burning fir, it would take twice that amount. I wonder if the person was burning a lot of softwood(like fir or birch)? Who's the author? and what year?

[rj_in_MA]

We have a 2000 sq ft house that we keep way too warm for my taste, but my wife and kids love it to be about 75. We heat with only wood and burn oak, cherry, maple and a little ash - and burn 5 to 7 cords per year. But the stove is in the basement, so really we heat closer to 3000 sq feet.

[anniew]

I have a poorly insulated house of 1.5 stories that was built to be a garage, and never meant to be a home, so I use about 5 cords each winter. It is 95 percent of my heat...if I just need to take the chill off in fall/spring, I may turn on electric for a couple hours rather than starting up the wood stove.

[RichieC]

We heat primarily with wood, oil back-up. 175 year old, 1800 sf farmhouse on a windy hilltop in New Hampshire. Five cords of wood and most of a 275 gallon tank of oil.

[Big Dave]

Last year was our first year with our wood burner. We used 2 1/2 cords. !200 square ft home. We are in west central Arkansas. I have three put up and some extra for selling.

[sammyd]

We get 6-7 cords a year and use it all plus a touch of LP.
2500 sq ft 2 story farmhouse.

[Cheryl in SD]

Four dump truck loads. I *think* there is about a cord and a half per load. That would make 6 cords.

[tyusclan]

We use only wood for the main part of the house, which is about 2000 sq. ft. We go through between 1 1/2 and 2 cords a year. Once I get the inside completely finished, I don't think we'll use that much, probably a cord a year.

[Alice In TX/MO]

South Texas. Wood heat only. Less than a cord per winter.

[veme]

3-4 cords
We mostly heat & cook with wood .

Sometimes we will let the oil furnace kick on at night if it is very cold or somebody is sick.

[mwhit]

I only burn wood-- we have a furnace in the basement, but we haven't used it at all in a few years. Last winter we went through about 10 cord, but I was still having a small fire in June. I've already had a fire a few mornings this year (we've had a couple nights in the 20's). This year I've put up 12 cord or so (filled the woodshed) and we've been cutting down trees for next years wood.

Maybe the author was talking about 20 face cord-- that's how wood is sold here. Last year I used over 20 face cord...

Michelle

[crafty2002]

I use about 3 cords a year so far but we use an electric heater too sometimes. Especially when we get a bath. Seems to be the coldest room in the house and doesn't even have a window.

Cheryl, a dumptruck load should be more than a cord and a half. A cord is stacked 4' high x 4' wide x 8' long. Most dumps are a little better than 7 foot wide with atleast 4' sides and the shortest dump I ever saw was 12' long.
That should be closer to 3 cords than 1 1/2. I *think*, LOL.
Dennis

[mink]

im in northern new york, our winters are pretty severe and i only heat with wood with an outdoor furnace i use about 20 face cords of 24 inch wood. my wood is maple . beech and cherry, with the occasional white birch . i keep my house about 72 all winter. its and old farm house that has been remodeled and insulated, 4 rooms downstairs and 4 bedrooms upstairs.........mink

[mwhit]

Hey, Mink-- I must be near you. I'm in northern NY too (St. Lawrence county) and we burn about the same amount of wood.... We cut a lot of ours, but I paid $48 per face cord this year (24") for what I did buy. What's the price in your area??

Michelle

[Cheryl in SD]

Well, I thought it would be more too, but the neighbors all insist it is only a long cord. I thought at least two cords. But then they also insist that their pickup rounded full is a cord, too. I always thought it looked shy. I hated to overstate.

I didn't finish the question either. We live in the Hills of SD. I had to have a small fire late August and have needed one about half the time in September. Most nights from here on will need a fire and by the first of November most days, too. I will still be having a fire most nights through May and occasionally in June. We heat 1600 sq. feet with the wood stove. I do have electric in our basement bedroom. But if it isn't so cold I need the heat on there to keep pipes from freezing, I sleep upstairs on the couch and don't turn on that heater unless dh is home.

I guess that means we use about 8 cords a year for 9 months worth of heat. Our cost is $125 a dump truck load, so $500 for the year to heat our home + what I need to heat the bedroom. The load comes cuut to length, split and delivered for that price AND the guy has been known to plow my drive after a snowstorm while "delivering" a load. He is a good neighbor.

[michiganfarmer]

I heat my water all summer, heat my house and water all winter, and boil maple syrup. I use around 12 pulp cord per year. A pulp cord is a pile of 8 foot logs that is 4 feet tall and 4 feet long.

[pinfeather]

Wood is our only heat source for our small home (960 sf). We cut, chop, burn 1 cord per year.