For the wood-burners, how's the season going?

[bigpaul]

Didn't fire my outdoor woodstove up until mid November and thus far I've burned about 6.5 cords.  8 Cords is my normal for me from Nov. 1 until May 1.  Hot water is included.  Late December and Early January cold snap ate a lot of wood. 

[stubborn1VT]

1 hour ago, genesee_mohican said:

Most people use the term cord when talking about firewood. But a cord of wood or full cord of wood is actually 3  face cords and measures 4ft wide by 4ft tall by 8ft long.

A face cord would be a pile of 16 inch length logs, 4ft high and 8 ft long.

I'm familiar with the term, but nobody around here uses it.  They are just as likely to call a face cord a "run" of wood. 

I was talking to some guys from Ontario, and when they say a cord, they mean a face cord..  They call a full cord (4x4x8) a "bush cord".  Language interests me.  

 

[ncountry]

11 minutes ago, stubborn1VT said:

I'm familiar with the term, but nobody around here uses it.  They are just as likely to call a face cord a "run" of wood. 

I was talking to some guys from Ontario, and when they say a cord, they mean a face cord..  They call a full cord (4x4x8) a "bush cord".  Language interests me.  

 

Same up here in the northern part of N.Y..  If someone is talking about a cord of wood they actually mean face cord.. 

I sold 1000s of cords in the 90s. I burn coal now. Working on my 4th ton.

A full cord referred to as a pulp cord.

[WNYBuckHunter]

15 hours ago, philoshop said:

Buy a splitter. I have a small 20 ton Huskee from TSC that has never met a round it couldn't break apart, and I cut some nasty wood. Even if you have to hire a few neighbor kids to do the stacking you'll end up way ahead. JMO

I plan on buying a splitter, but figured a processor would be good so I can knock out the majority at once. I dont mind doing the stacking, lord knows I could use the exercise 

[Five Seasons]

i'm a weekend burner and this is the second winter in this house. 4th with a house in ny with a burner. And I probably burned the second most ever this year. Mine is an insert so it's more about taking the chill off and the ambiance.

works nice at night when the wife gets into some wine... now only if I can succeed in that bear rug goal of mine 

[Dom]

21 hours ago, WNYBuckHunter said:

I have a pellet stove and a wood burner. I had no idea what to expect for usage. I think since we moved in in early January we have burned close to 2 tons of pellets and the wood supply the previous owners left, which they said should be more than enough to get us through, is down to maybe a face cord left. Ive burned close to 4 I believe. Based on what we have used this year so far, Im figuring on getting 5 tons of pellets and 10 face cords of wood next year. Still cheaper than electric heat, which is our backup.

What kind of pellet stove are you using?A ton of pllets a month sounds crazy that is my only heat source and from October to now only burned that amount.

[WNYBuckHunter]

5 minutes ago, Dom said:

What kind of pellet stove are you using?A ton of pllets a month sounds crazy that is my only heat source and from October to now only burned that amount.

A 2 year old Lennox. The pellet stove sits in the basement. If I run that only, on high, it will keep the house at around 60 degrees. Remember, we are talking about a 3000 square foot 2 story house and a 1000 square foot basement. Takes alot of BTUs to heat that about of space. I have noticed that the pellets I buy from Tractor Supply do not do nearly as good of a job as the ones I buy from the local sawmill.

[crappyice]

How many of you take advantage of recent storms and collect your own down trees and process yourself? I have a back yard pit that is fueled only by wood i pick up roadside. Would be a a ton of work for those heating a house but just curious if it’s worth it


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[Dom]

4 minutes ago, WNYBuckHunter said:

A 2 year old Lennox. The pellet stove sits in the basement. If I run that only, on high, it will keep the house at around 60 degrees. Remember, we are talking about a 3000 square foot 2 story house and a 1000 square foot basement. Takes alot of BTUs to heat that about of space. I have noticed that the pellets I buy from Tractor Supply do not do nearly as good of a job as the ones I buy from the local sawmill.

That's a lot of space.Agree pellets from Tractor supply are not so good more dust than pellets,I use a Quadra fire from 2005 and heat just over 1100sq ft on a bag/40lbs a day.this stove burns cherry pits whole corn or wood pellets if I could afford/budget better the cherry burns hotter longer.

[Dom]

7 minutes ago, crappyice said:

How many of you take advantage of recent storms and collect your own down trees and process yourself? I have a back yard pit that is fueled only by wood i pick up roadside. Would be a a ton of work for those heating a house but just curious if it’s worth it


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I bet alot of folks do this and they should but wood collected this year will be to green for heating/burning indoors wood should be dried for atleast 1 year.

[philoshop]

22 hours ago, Dom said:

I bet alot of folks do this and they should but wood collected this year will be to green for heating/burning indoors wood should be dried for atleast 1 year.

It depends on the species of wood, Dom, and how much sun/wind the stacks get. What I've been burning this year was cut and split just last Spring. It's sugar maple and honey locust, and it's burning just fine with no chimney build-up at all. Black walnut, on the other hand, takes at least two or three years to 'season' for firewood use no matter how much sun/wind it gets.

[Dom]

2 minutes ago, philoshop said:

It depends on the species of wood, Dom, and how much sun/wind the stacks get. What I've been burning this year was cut and split just last Spring. It's sugar maple and honey locust, and it's burning just fine with no chimney build-up at all. Black walnut, on the other hand, takes at least two or three years to 'season' for firewood use no matter how much sun/wind it gets.

Yup some wood is ready for the fire when cut like ash.

[TreeGuy]

Anyone in the Erie county area hurting for wood, lmk.

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[Adkhunter1590]

Grew up with a wood stove and we always burned around 8-10 cord(4x4x8) from October-may. It was a nice Harmon wood stove and heated a 2800sq ft house really well. My dad worked out of town during the weeks so I spent every summer splitting wood by myself to keep ahead. I can’t say I really miss all that work.
The house I bought a couple years ago has nothing but oil fired hot water baseboard for heat and we have burned through almost $3grand worth of oil this winter!!! And my FIL owns a damn oil company, so that’s with my tiny bit of a discount! I’ve been working on adding more and more insulation to this old farm house but I doubt it will ever totally seal it up. My last house we had a coal stove that heated all 2300sq ft and burned 4 ton a winter at most. Way cheaper than oil or wood. One of these days I’m going to get around to putting in a automatic coal boiler and be done with oil.

[Doewhacker]

1 hour ago, Adkhunter1590 said:

Way cheaper than oil or wood.

What were you paying per ton? 

[ncountry]

3 hours ago, Adkhunter1590 said:

My last house we had a coal stove that heated all 2300sq ft and burned 4 ton a winter at most. Way cheaper than oil or wood. One of these days I’m going to get around to putting in a automatic coal boiler and be done with oil.

 Absolutely!.. I grew up with a woodstove and burned wood exclusively my whole life . My dad lives just down the rd and we were buying logs to cut and split every year to heat the old farm house. Roughly 10 years ago he had cancer and could no longer take care of the stove.. it didn't take one winter of going down in the late evening and early morning and occasionaly in the middle of the night to take care of the stove before i bought a coal stoker for him/ me..lol... It costs a little less /year for the coal vs buying the logs and cutting and splitting them.. 

I currently have a hand fed coal stove. A self feeding boiler is in the plans though.. They are 100% correct. Once you burn coal you will never want to burn wood again.

[Adkhunter1590]

What were you paying per ton? 

I was paying $225-275 per ton for Rice size coal. Picked it up in one ton bulk AG bags and would then dump those into a wooden coal bin I made alongside my house that held about 4.5-5 ton. Usually refilled the hopper on the stove once every 24-36 hours depending on how much we had it cranked up. The coal ashes also worked great for filling in pot holes in our gravel driveway during the winters too, and it was great for traction on ice if anyone got stuck. It’s cheaper than buying a load of logs then having to spend weeks and weeks cutting and splitting

[Doewhacker]

2 hours ago, Adkhunter1590 said:

 

I was paying $225-275 per ton for Rice size coal. Picked it up in one ton bulk AG bags and would then dump those into a wooden coal bin I made alongside my house that held about 4.5-5 ton. Usually refilled the hopper on the stove once every 24-36 hours depending on how much we had it cranked up. The coal ashes also worked great for filling in pot holes in our gravel driveway during the winters too, and it was great for traction on ice if anyone got stuck. It’s cheaper than buying a load of logs then having to spend weeks and weeks cutting and splitting

 

That’s a lot more than I pay for logs. My labor is free. Lol 

 

[Adkhunter1590]

That’s a lot more than I pay for logs. My labor is free. Lol 
 

Labor is never free. I don’t have enough free time to cut and split truck loads anymore. I make more in OT than I’d possibly save cutting wood. Not to mention the cost of saws, splitters, gas, oil and wear parts or broken stuff. It would take years to even out and most likely would never save a dime. A truck load of logs would get 6-9 cord at $500-750 a truck load. I’ll gladly spend Double that to have next to nothing in labor. I can shovel 4 ton of coal into a bin before you could split a face cord. And once it’s in the bin I’m done for the year. If you get bulk delivery there’s no labor involved.
I guess it all depends on the personal situations of everyone. If I was retired and had lots of spare time I can see cutting wood as a bit cheaper if you have access to free or cheap wood. But with working 60-80 hours a week plus family time, there’s not much time left for cutting wood therefore making any time I’m not working much more valuable.

[Adkhunter1590]

 Absolutely!.. I grew up with a woodstove and burned wood exclusively my whole life . My dad lives just down the rd and we were buying logs to cut and split every year to heat the old farm house. Roughly 10 years ago he had cancer and could no longer take care of the stove.. it didn't take one winter of going down in the late evening and early morning and occasionaly in the middle of the night to take care of the stove before i bought a coal stoker for him/ me..lol... It costs a little less /year for the coal vs buying the logs and cutting and splitting them.. 
I currently have a hand fed coal stove. A self feeding boiler is in the plans though.. They are 100% correct. Once you burn coal you will never want to burn wood again.

A few buddies of mine have been hardcore wood burners since we were young and I’ve gotten a few of them to try out coal. And your right, once you try it you’ll never go back. 3 of my buddies sold their outdoor boilers and went to coal boilers after trying out smaller stoves inside. I do love the smell of wood burners and the nostalgia of it all but in the end it doesn’t make financial sense for me. Idk if I’ll get to it this year but my plans are to stick a auto coal boiler in the garage and pipe it over to the house so I can heat both structures. Looking at a auto feed with auger right from the coal bin so it takes filling the hopper out of the equation, even less labor! Haha

[Doewhacker]

11 minutes ago, Adkhunter1590 said:

 

Labor is never free. I don’t have enough free time to cut and split truck loads anymore. I make more in OT than I’d possibly save cutting wood. Not to mention the cost of saws, splitters, gas, oil and wear parts or broken stuff. It would take years to even out and most likely would never save a dime. A truck load of logs would get 6-9 cord at $500-750 a truck load. I’ll gladly spend Double that to have next to nothing in labor. I can shovel 4 ton of coal into a bin before you could split a face cord. And once it’s in the bin I’m done for the year. If you get bulk delivery there’s no labor involved.
I guess it all depends on the personal situations of everyone. If I was retired and had lots of spare time I can see cutting wood as a bit cheaper if you have access to free or cheap wood. But with working 60-80 hours a week plus family time, there’s not much time left for cutting wood therefore making any time I’m not working much more valuable.

 

Well you could easily balance out the OT around doing firewood so it would save on heating cost and then the lost wages can be made up. But I get what you are saying. I would def consider coal should my oil furnace crap the bed and it would be good to have in addition to a wood stove. 

[stubborn1VT]

12 minutes ago, Adkhunter1590 said:

 

Labor is never free. I don’t have enough free time to cut and split truck loads anymore. I make more in OT than I’d possibly save cutting wood. Not to mention the cost of saws, splitters, gas, oil and wear parts or broken stuff. It would take years to even out and most likely would never save a dime. A truck load of logs would get 6-9 cord at $500-750 a truck load. I’ll gladly spend Double that to have next to nothing in labor. I can shovel 4 ton of coal into a bin before you could split a face cord. And once it’s in the bin I’m done for the year. If you get bulk delivery there’s no labor involved.
I guess it all depends on the personal situations of everyone. If I was retired and had lots of spare time I can see cutting wood as a bit cheaper if you have access to free or cheap wood. But with working 60-80 hours a week plus family time, there’s not much time left for cutting wood therefore making any time I’m not working much more valuable.

 

I see the logic.  Your time is either worthless or priceless, depending on your perspective.  I grew up farming, so my time/labor is free.  I get free wood from my land, family land, and jobs I do.  I figure having saws etc are just a part of owning land.  Everyone is different.  Blocking and splitting a truckload of logs wouldn't take me weeks, and I enjoy it.  

Your coal set up sounds efficient though.  I always thought it was cool when the Kilchers would pick up coal right off the beach and burn it.  

[wolc123]

At this point, I consider the "work" of processing firewood more like "play", and having several lifetimes supply of "free" wood on-site makes it very cost-effective, compared to other heat sources.        

[Five Seasons]

I grew up with nothing but wood. Lot of work and certainty one of the chores required for my allowance haha. I could never imagine having only wood.

That gas thermostat is just perfect for those tweener days.

Burned hopefully my last fire yesterday even though it wasn’t that cold I really like the ambiance.


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[philoshop]

On 3/9/2018 at 8:33 AM, WNYBuckHunter said:

I plan on buying a splitter, but figured a processor would be good so I can knock out the majority at once. I dont mind doing the stacking, lord knows I could use the exercise 

Up until recently I never minded doing all the work; from felling to bucking to skidding to splitting and stacking. Now it hurts more than it really should so I generally ask for help. It's amazing how much faster splitting and stacking goes with two people, one loading and operating the splitter and the other stacking the splits. It's not twice as fast, but more like three to four times as fast.