I live in a heat monster. The last few days been no higher than 9 days and as low as -9 nights. Shut all the windows tight, new and old, and all the storms on the old ones. I moved all the furniture away from the air ducts and the house is back up around 65 with the furnace water at 185. I think I am burning just under a half cord a day.
Hardwood? I'm burning a quarter to a third of a cord of dry softwood slabs a day, same weather conditions.
You may have an air bubble in yoiur heat exchanger or a ad pump. Feel both lines going into your furnace and if both are cold or cool you pump in ot pumping
We're getting almost the same weather this weekend. :-\
I have to switch to my better wood (Oak, Locust, and Hedge) to keep the house warm. Fewer big rounds, more split and 6" stuff to have more surface area to burn faster.
Are you talking a full cord or a face cord?
I am in northern lower Mich and we had not had a day above 5 for the last week. Night temps are running between 0 and -15. I am burning maple fill the stove at night full next morning rake the coals down so they burn up then at noon add a couple pieces of wood until night fill up. Our house has not varied from 74 degres as that is what the thermo is set at. I run the furnace temp at 165
No one wants to hear that the rotten pine,fir,cedar,hemlock,maple,red oak,white and yellow birch is keeping my house as warm as I want. ;D
Must have something wrong with the heaters.
And no way am I burning a half cord of wood either a day.
The guy that installed my system said you can not hold onto copper at 180°,but plastic you can.
Quote from: thecfarm on December 29, 2017, 09:08:02 PM
No one wants to hear that the rotten pine,fir,cedar,hemlock,maple,red oak,white and yellow birch is keeping my house as warm as I want. ;D
Must have something wrong with the heaters.
And no way am I burning a half cord of wood either a day.
The guy that installed my system said you can not hold onto copper at 180°,but plastic you can.
I had 5 acrs of Christmas trees that grew to big and most of the truncks were 8 to 12 dia. I cut them and burned them one winter some of the best wood I have burned. They were green enough that they held a fire very good
I went the green route. :o Just experimenting,fir,white pine and maple. I burn less rotten wood. ;D Man that green wood took some wood. :o I suppose it had to burn the moisture out of the wood to get heat??
That's exactly what's going on. It takes 1 btu to heat 1 pound of water 1°F. Take fifty pounds of water from 0° to 212°, plus s little for phase change, and that adds up. I much prefer softwoods over hardwoods.
Me thinks you are losing heat somewhere between the stove and your house.
I am burning a mixture of green wood white birch and aspen.
I have my stove set to run between 180 and 195 (cut off) and I and I might use 1/8 of a full cord in 24 hrs.
The house is between 72 and 77 degrees
The outside temperature at night has been -35 t0-40 F
Al from the frozen north
never saw 0 today ran a 4000 lbs pickup in the shop this morning . fan never shut off until 2 30 filled the boiler 2 times . 1 wheel barrow each time . That's extreme for me . I don't know how you could even burn a face cord a day . that would be a semi load a month .
I'm burning a dozen or so dry logs per day in the woodstove. A neighbor logger was saying one or two more owb's in the neighborhood and they'll denude the county.
As I said I fill mine once at night and the next morning I check it and rake the coals down so they burn up over the day. At noon I may or may not add a couple pieces just to keep going and the furnace temp never goes down much. If I added more wood in the morning I would have so many coals that I would not have much room for the night loading I figure I am burning 1 1/2 wheel barrows load a day with as cold as it has been. Mine is all maple cut last Jan and stacked in the yard all summer. I cut it to length this fall
All I can say is WOW. That kind of wood usage takes the fun out of having an OWF. I'm wondering if those of you burning 1/2 cord (and more) a day might be losing heat somewhere, have poor insulation or maybe both? I'm gonna bet that your houses probably don't get much sun during the day either? I mean darn guys, that's a bunch of wood!
Central Boiler CL 6048
3,600 sq ft house
Icynene spray foam insulation
Strong Southern exposure
50 Acre Jim, I have the same boiler. The temp right now goes between -5 and 10. I have to completely fill the firebox every 12 hours. It wouldn't be based to figure out the volume of wood I'm using. I'm burning softwoods slabs, which work way better than hardwood for me. When the draft opens, the slabs conned to life right away abd the temp climbs immediately. When I'm burning hardwood, the temp continues to drop until the fire rekindles, then it starts a slow climb back to temp. My house is poorly insulted. I don't have to rake the snow off the roof, it melts by itself. :D
I took a few hours to seal up the duct work and redo the failing insulation on the hot side of our furnace. Have had to cut back on how much I put in the firebox. My wife had to open some windows to cool off! ;D
Betting I cut usage by almost half from sealing the duct to the house. Forced air outdoor stove, not a boiler.
Quote from: woodmills1 on December 29, 2017, 06:31:00 PM
I live in a heat monster. The last few days been no higher than 9 days and as low as -9 nights. Shut all the windows tight, new and old, and all the storms on the old ones. I moved all the furniture away from the air ducts and the house is back up around 65 with the furnace water at 185. I think I am burning just under a half cord a day.
I gather from your post that you are using a water-to-air HX and blowing hot air into the house. And with all the holes you have (lack of insulation, old windows, etc.) it leaks out about as fast as you pump it in. So yes, you're gonna be feeding that dragon until the weather warms up. Is this the first Winter you spent with the OWF?
Quote from: Dave Shepard on December 30, 2017, 10:49:17 AM
50 Acre Jim, I have the same boiler. The temp right now goes between -5 and 10. I have to completely fill the firebox every 12 hours. It wouldn't be based to figure out the volume of wood I'm using. I'm burning softwoods slabs, which work way better than hardwood for me. When the draft opens, the slabs conned to life right away abd the temp climbs immediately. When I'm burning hardwood, the temp continues to drop until the fire rekindles, then it starts a slow climb back to temp. My house is poorly insulted. I don't have to rake the snow off the roof, it melts by itself. :D
Hi Dave, I haven't had much luck with softwood. For my application it makes too much ash and I don't get enough heat out of it. I don't think I would have the same enthusiasm for my OWF if I had to feed it 15 cords of wood a month! Yipes!
I think you are mixing me up with the OP (Woodmills1). I don't know what stove he has, but by his tag line I'm betting he's had it 12 years or so. ;)
Mine is an outdoor unit that doesn't use water at all. Insulated box that circulates air over the firebox and to the house. Simple and has worked well for us the last 3 or 4 years. Hasn't needed any maintenance or repair beyond chimney cleaning and looks like it will need a starting capacitor for the blower. (The insulation and sealing was done chasing the wrong part of the problem. ::)) Can't say much though as I got it used and it's over 30 years old. ;D
We burn about 3.5-4.5 cord in a typical winter, but that is a mix of good wood, junk wood, and sawmill waste. Small house, but not real well insulated.
We've been raging through wood the last couple weeks with the cold. It's not any colder than it's ever been. I think it's the green red oak we're burning. It doesn't seem to dry out in the firebox like sugar maple, beech, ironwood etc. but seems to hold its moisture longer. Maple, beech etc. is pretty well dried out and clean burning after a couple forced draft cycles. The red oak has a smoky/steamy exhaust much longer and a longer forced draft cycle.
I like my wood stove in the house, ;D
Speaking of cold, it looks like we're expecting a low of -3 here tomorrow. So yes, it might be time to toss a couple of logs on the fire!
Hmm, gas logs just cut on. ;D
Now there's some wood I've never seen. I bet that grain pops!
8 degrees here now and they are talking -2 overnight with wind chills 15-20 below. I built my OWS about 4 years ago. Its forced air unit with thermostat inside the house that runs thee draft door. Its worked really good. Keep it around 70-72. With these temps I fill it about 5pm or so. Go out about 11 and top it off and its good till 8-9 am. House could use some more insulation and the furnace room could use some to. I burn mostly dry red oak and post oak along with green red oak and some dry and green black jack. If the house cools off to much I will throw a piece of cedar in. Gonna be a cold one tonight for sure.
Corley,what to see smoke,steam? Try white pine. Cut it down,than 15 minutes later,burn it. I think I burned 20 cord of green white pine. :o I burn less rotten wood than green white pine.
Peter,don't knock it until you tried an OWB. I had my share of burning wood inside. I know,I don't want to go out and fill a OWB in the cold argument. ::) Well when I had a stove inside,I had to go out in the cold wood shed to get wood. ;) I got a OWB to burn all my deadwood,rotten wood,cedar,fir and whatever else I get my hands on. If you all could see my wood pile ,you would not believe it. I have burned all types of wood,green,dried,rotten and I know that burns the best. Here I am with temps in the negative numbers each night and I am nice and warm. Must be doing something right.
My owb is a love/ hate situation. I have to get rid of my slabs, and I can't afford enough oil to heat my house beyond a Delta T of more than 3°F :D I tell people if I had to buy wood, I'd buy oil. ;D
cfarm that is funny I used to say my wood was 15 min.from the stump to the stove . Cut logs all day buck up tops and limbs and split a load on the PU go home and put it in the stove .
I have been burning a lot of wood lately been in the -30C range all week with not much of a break forcasted
Quote from: KamHillbilly on January 01, 2018, 09:16:52 AM
I have been burning a lot of wood lately been in the -30C range all week with not much of a break forcasted
Good lord man, what's Canada got to offer that makes you want to endure those kinds of temps? :D
Gearbox,I have no idea what you had for a stove while doing the from stump to stove deal. :D
But I know in my OWB,it takes some wood. :o Has to dry out the wood to get heat. And how does the wood dry out? It has to burn the wood to dry it out. Well that's how I see it. ;D My OWB went through some wood,trying that experment out. I was warm and had no problems keeping a fire. The problem was keeping enough wood ahead to feed the OWB. ;D I notice a bigger amount of wood usage with white pine,than hardwood. I had a bunch of white pine that was crooked and no good for logs. Well,those are gone now. ;D
Now I clean up the dead wood and stuff that has fallen over or any tree that I don't like the looks of.
Cfarm, I looked at them, For me just too much wood to feed them, I looked at a wood chip one. Now that one would heat the whole street. :D :D :D Too big.
:new_year:
Quote from: 50 Acre Jim on January 01, 2018, 09:26:36 AM
Quote from: KamHillbilly on January 01, 2018, 09:16:52 AM
I have been burning a lot of wood lately been in the -30C range all week with not much of a break forcasted
Good lord man, what's Canada got to offer that makes you want to endure those kinds of temps? :D
There's 36 million of us up here, and we've all got good answers for that . . . :snowball:
Quote from: thecfarm on January 01, 2018, 09:35:13 AM
Gearbox,I have no idea what you had for a stove while doing the from stump to stove deal. :D
But I know in my OWB,it takes some wood. :o Has to dry out the wood to get heat. And how does the wood dry out? It has to burn the wood to dry it out. Well that's how I see it. ;D My OWB went through some wood,trying that experment out. I was warm and had no problems keeping a fire. The problem was keeping enough wood ahead to feed the OWB. ;D I notice a bigger amount of wood usage with white pine,than hardwood. I had a bunch of white pine that was crooked and no good for logs. Well,those are gone now. ;D
Now I clean up the dead wood and stuff that has fallen over or any tree that I don't like the looks of.
I would say it would take a lot of pine to stay ahead of any wood burner. Stuff burns up to fast. At least our pine around here would. Be about like throwing a bale of hay in the stove.
I kinda like to burn white pine,dried that is. ;D No ashes. I burned it all one winter. Than some winters I burn it up until April,just because I have run out of it.
I have a bunch of softwood that is keeping me warm now. Fir,cedar and white pine.a little of hemlock. There is some hardwood,but it's on the rotten side. Had my land logged a few years back and I'm cleaning up what was left behind.
Which that is why I wanted a OWB. There's a lot of wood in the woods and I could not burn it in the wood stove that I had. I tried. :o Wife was not really on board,but after a winter,she was glad we bought it.
I bought two train loads(40 pulp cords) of red and white pine that was removed from state forest campgrounds as hazard trees. I pulled a few logs to saw but gave up on that when it became clear that every camper brought a can of BIG nails and a hammer with them. I ran it through the firewood machine and filled the wood shed late one fall with a mix of it and some green hardwood. About 25 face cords. When we were finishing up I thought we'd probably wasted time and effort and probably should have filled the shed with hardwood and brought pine over to supplement as needed. The shed full, 25 face cords, lasted a bit more than 9 weeks. We finished that winter with a green sugar maple/ironwood mix that gave much better mileage. I burned more of the pine mix that spring and cleaned up the rest the next fall. I got my money's worth.
We burned some baled hay one fall. It was rain hay that was left after a mulch market fell through. We were heating half the area we are now and a 50-60lb bale would last about 8 hours. Nasty smoke though. Had to watch which way the wind was coming from. It was best when it blowing toward the neighbor's. We've burned dry bagged planer shavings too. They'll create a real smoke. Eastern red cedar smoke is really noxious. I hope the neighbors enjoyed that as much as the hay. Two thirty gallon bags of black cherry shavings would last about 4 hours. The cedar not quite as long. I've thought about burning sawdust from the firewood machine by backing the manure spreader into the shed and running it off onto the slab and then shoveling it into the boiler with a mix of round wood to keep the coals. That would smoke too.
One thing cfarm, you and others that burn the junk wood will make your woods and/or yard look like a park.
smiley_thumbsup :new_year:
What I like about the outdoor stove is the mess stays outside and reduced handling. Most of our wood is cut and split in the woods and thrown on a trailer. Trailer is backed up to the stove and unhooked. Wood goes straight from trailer to stove. I have several trailers! ;)
Corley5, Good point on ERC. I'll use some small dead limbs for kindling if needed. It will be dry when most nothing else here is. Otherwise though, I'll only throw ERC in on a hot fire and mixed with other stuff. It burns well, but fast.
Quote from: TKehl on January 01, 2018, 05:05:54 PM
What I like about the outdoor stove is the mess stays outside and reduced handling. Most of our wood is cut and split in the woods and thrown on a trailer. Trailer is backed up to the stove and unhooked. Wood goes straight from trailer to stove. I have several trailers! ;)
Corley5, Good point on ERC. I'll use some small dead limbs for kindling if needed. It will be dry when most nothing else here is. Otherwise though, I'll only throw ERC in on a hot fire and mixed with other stuff. It burns well, but fast.
That's why I built my OWB to get the mess and smoke outside. The down side is going out and filing in the cold but its worth it. I think this is my 4th season with it. I try and burn and cut red oak. It seems to heat and burn the best. But a piece or 2 of good ole black jack will really put the heat out. just a little rough on the saw chain cutting it. I have a farm full of cedar but it burns up so fast.
Kwill do you have a pic of your stove you would be willing to share we use to burn stump to stove also but now the wood/logs I cut this winter will be dry enough to burn next year ill split them about sep/oct and fill the wood shed and it has made a huge difference in the performance of the stove it don't take long for the water temp to recover but with green it was almost double the time soft wood don't last long in chunks but the slab wood seems to be better I think it packs more tighter in the stove I'm in to my February wood now the cedar wood must smell good while it burning but I have to say I like the smell of burning birch wood hope everyone stays warm
Also picking up wood 4-6-8 inches across makes it easier to drive my tractor through the woods. I have fir that just falls over about that size.
Quote from: coxy on January 01, 2018, 08:33:46 PM
Kwill do you have a pic of your stove you would be willing to share we use to burn stump to stove also but now the wood/logs I cut this winter will be dry enough to burn next year ill split them about sep/oct and fill the wood shed and it has made a huge difference in the performance of the stove it don't take long for the water temp to recover but with green it was almost double the time soft wood don't last long in chunks but the slab wood seems to be better I think it packs more tighter in the stove I'm in to my February wood now the cedar wood must smell good while it burning but I have to say I like the smell of burning birch wood hope everyone stays warm
I have some pics on my old iPhone. Don't know if I can get them to load up or not
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/42883/IMG_20180101_171331.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1514861254)
Cut a small load of smaller dead red oak this evening. Gonna be -4 they say over night. Wanted some littler dead stuff to get some quick heat. Had a few cedars about the same diameter I cut a couple years ago that I cut up to throw in the stove to. 1 degree here now and nice and warm in the house