Wood stove burning...

[coachgrd]

I just had a wood stove installed in the family room of our home. I am located in northwestern PA. I would not go so far as to say we have Minnesota cold but ours are no walk in the park and they seem to drag on for 13 months a year.

Anyway, my intent in purchasing the stove is to take the chill off in the house while perhaps cutting into the propane consumption. My plan is the burn evenings & weekends throughout the season. I may even fill it up before I leave for work on exceptionally cold days. Any of you with stoves have an idea how many cords of wood I should get ready with a burning pattern such as the one I described?

Thanks in advance...
Gary

 

[ToadHill]

In Catt County we go through 5 full cords, or 15 face cords during the heating season.

 

[vallyfarm]

I live in upstate NY in a 1,000 sq ft house. Put in a small woodstove two years ago, and haven't used the furnace since. I burn 3 to 3 1/2 cords a year. My only problem is keeping the house under 85 degrees! You can burn twice that much if the wood is damp/unseasoned or soft (pine etc.) I burn almost only Cherry from the fence lines. I thought that I was only going to use it on the weekends too, but after you get used to the "real" heat from wood, you'll not want to go back to that old furnace ever again. P.S. I burn oil hot water, and the stove, pipe, and install paid for itself by Jan. of the second heating season. Mike

 

[schmism]

What size stove? who many sq feet will you be heating?

my uncle burns a Vermont Castings DEFIANT (the largest) to heat his entire home. He burns between 5-7 chord.

I run a small stove in my garage and only burn on weekends, and i can burn through a chord if its a busy shop winter.

 

[Thomas]

Morning Gary.
Around 6 cords should do it...better to have little left over,also plan on some scrape wood for fire starter.
Your gonner like that dents heat warming the chil bones.

 

[irwin]

My original plan was to cut down on heating oil expenses. What happened is, the furnace gets turned on very rarely - so instead of, only nights and weekends, I would load the stove before leaving for work, and have plenty of embers to just load it again when I returned 11 hours later. Last year in southern ct we burned 6 cords. Thats 6 cords, heating 1,300 sq ft, home without trying to be frugal.

 

[Red55]

Gary- it really depends on the type and size of the stove you have. I used to have a vermont casting defiant and that stove would devour wood. I upgraded to a stoapstone w cataylic converter (which my neighbors love cause a lot less smoke) and the new stove give twices the heat with half the wood. Three cords should be enough. It is critical for the wood to be season otherwise the moisture takes the heat up the chimmney. I had oak (red& white) that took over two yrs before it would burn right. Please check or/and clean your flue at least once a year. good luck and nothing beats the warmth of a wood stove. ED

 

[jbrumberg]

coachgrd:

Wood heats you many times over . When you cut the tree down, when you haul it, when you cut it up, when you stack it, when you haul it into the house, when you burn it, and when you clean the woodstove and chimney out . I clean my chimney out twice a year, but I burn some questionable wood on occassion (poplar; NO PINE). I heated my house for almost 20 years with wood heat and at one time had 4 operatonal wood stoves. Now I am down to one stove and I might burn 1 cord a year (vs 3+) since we went to central heating. Jay

 

[hazmat]

I have the smallest vermont castings stove (catalytic). I go thru 3 cords in a winter - trying my best to heat 24/7 (I often have to relight when returning from work - 11 hours). When my wife took the year off after my daughter was born, we used 4 cords.

 

[scott_vt]

I just had a wood stove installed in the family room of our home. I am located in northwestern PA. I would not go so far as to say we have Minnesota cold but ours are no walk in the park and they seem to drag on for 13 months a year.

Anyway, my intent in purchasing the stove is to take the chill off in the house while perhaps cutting into the propane consumption. My plan is the burn evenings & weekends throughout the season. I may even fill it up before I leave for work on exceptionally cold days. Any of you with stoves have an idea how many cords of wood I should get ready with a burning pattern such as the one I described?

Thanks in advance...
Gary

Mornin Gary,
I burn propane at my Vt home, but my neighbor with a 3 bdrm ranch and attached 2 car garage with a bdrm above burns 6 to 8 cords per year. At my Ct home were Im at most of the time I burn 4 cords per year and pretty much keep the stove going 24-7. The stove is located in the basement so it keeps my woodshop warm along with my first floor. Hope that helps !

 

[dmccarty]

We heat our 2400 sf house with a "small" stove that is rated for a house 1500-1800 sf. Our house is well insulated with 2x6 walls. On the other hand we have huge windows in every room. They are casements and we don't feel cold sitting next to them but they can't help.

We burned 3-3.5 cords last year. The wood was so so seasoned. This years wood will be much better season wise. The one thing that really help us run the stove was getting a stove temperature gage. It sits on top of the stove and against the double wall chimney. It allows us to choke down the fire but still keep it hot enough to prevent creasote buildup.

We try to run the stove 24 hours during winter. Sometimes we will have to rebuild it with kindling but usually there are enough coals to start it right back up. I do get up in the middle of the night and throw wood on the fire though. But the dogs get me up to go outside so I'm up every night anyway.

Our power bill, everything is on electric, is around $100 all year except in summer when the AC is on at which point the bills go to a high of $150-160. Without the wood stove I think our electric bill in the winter would be at least $200 a month.

I'm busy getting 5 cords, 4x4x8, ready for this season.

Later,
Dan

 

[coachgrd]

Thanks for all the responses so far and I welcome others too.

For those of you who asked, the stove I purchased is a Quadrafire 3100 series with Advanced Combustion Technology (which essentially burns the smoke as well.) The literature states this results in "cleaner air, less chimney maintenance, and fewer trips to the wood pile."

The stove is rated for up to 2200 square feet and our home is about 2700. The literature also states that it will heat up to 52,000 BTU/hr. using cord wood.

Heres' a link to the stove I have:
Fireplace Stoves, Gas Stoves, Pellet Stoves, Fireplaces, Fireplace Inserts by QUADRA-FIRE: Products - Wood Fireplace Stoves

 

[schmism]

i burn a lot of pallets in my garage durring the winter.

I cut the slats along the runners with a skill saw, then cut the runners on the band saw.

The slats are THE best item for kindling as they split easy, and is a ready available never ending supply of dry free sticks.

a dozen broken pallets from the industrial area of town will last me a month or 2 deping on how much real firewood i mix in with it.

 

[scesnick]

I think you will really enjoy heating with wood. Not to mention the money you will save. I heat a 3,500 sq ft. log home with a AHS multi fuel boiler in the dead of winter but I also have a Harmon mark II that I use when it isn't brutally cold out . ( I live at 3,000 ft on top of a wind swept mountain on the Md/WV. border. )
I burn %80 coal. It burns longer and hotter than wood. My total heating bill for last winter was $250 !!!
With you living in one of the best anthracite coal areas in the world I am curious as to why you didn't go with a wood/coal stove?

A few good sites for alterantive heating:
Anthracite Coal Forum

http://www.arboristsite.com/forumdisplay.php?f=55

 

[8561]

Your usage sounds about the same as mine, nights and weekends. I generally will start the stove around 5:30 or 6 when I get home and fill the stove at about 9:30 or 10 and let it go out overnight. Depending on how cold, I might start it in the morning, and run one load of wood through it. It does burn all weekend. I use about 1.5 cords a year, give or take a 1/2 cord depending on how cold and how dedicated I am. My house is about 2700SF and new so it's well insulated. I have a Heathstone stove which is soapstone. They're a little pricey, but when they get hot they stay hot.

 

[schmism]

how long can you continously burn with out haveing to empty ashses?

my uncle in his VC can go about 5 days 24/7 countiously.

 

[irwin]

Boy I must be bad at this wood stove thing! You guys are getting a winter's worth of heat from 3-3 1/2 cords.. What am I doing wrong? I burnt 6 cords. It would make my life easier if I didn't have to cut and split as much wood, not to mention storage issue.. my my my..

 

[ByronBob]

Irwin

I think the difference here is a Full cord and a face cord. They are 2 different sizes of wood. Read above in an earlier post about the differences.

I would start out by going overboard and split 15 face chord for this winter. I doubt you'll use all of it but you'll have a jump on next winter with dry wood. Covering it to reduce water absortion would also be a good idea.

 

[knute_m]

I use 4-5 full cords of hardwood per winter. My main heat is a wood/coal/propane furnace from Yukon. Wood Furnace by Yukon-Eagle

I also installed a Quadrafire Yosemite into my fireplace at the beginning of last season. It is mainly for use early and late in the season. Fantastic little stove. It is extremely efficient, with virtually no smoke out the chimney.

We heat about a 2100 sq ft. log home in the mountains of WV, where the heating season starts in mid to-late October and lasts well into April most years.

March 17, 2007

 

[coachgrd]

Knute...that's a great looking cabin you've got there. We were through your neck of the woods earlier in June as we drove from nw PA to Tennessee. It certainly is, as your plates say, "Wild and Wonderful."

Say, maybe you can give me a quick idea how you post that link without pasting the entire URL in the message...Others seem to be able to just post LINK but I'm dumbfounded how to do it.

Thanks for giving me an idea how much wood each of you are burning each season...keep 'em coming if you haven't chimed in yet!