Wood Heat- how much wood for a season?

[mamalex23]

I grew up in homes that used primarily wood heat in NC. Being the oldest girl I usually helped with the littles and other chores while my Mom/Dad and brother took care of the fire, though we all helped to stack firewood : ) Now it is my first winter in my own home with me DH and DS (5.5 mo). We put a woodstove insert in the masonry fireplace this fall and got 3 cords of wood (two hardwood logs and one pallet compressed hardwood blocks). 

We live in NE and use oil-fired, forced hot water as backup (set at 50 to protect the pipes if we're away). We are going through the wood pretty fast. Just wondering how much wood other families use to heat their home in a season? I love the fire, and am the primary fire-keeper in our home. I like to keep it going almost always, anyone else?

Our wood stove can put out 79,000 BTU and heat 2000 sq ft. We have 1600 sq ft and only really heat 2/3 of it.

[rcr]

We go through about two pick-up truck loads a winter. But we are in a warm climate.

[omamasmama]

this is our first winter with a wood stove as our only heat source and we live in a southern but damp climate so it does get quite cold. i'm not sure how much we are going to go through but it's already way more than i had anticipated.

[Daffodil]

We use about 4 cords.  Wood is our main source of heat, but our house is quite small.

[Denvergirlie]

8 cords easy without a blink of an eye, but can burn up to 10 if we keep the back half of the house warm.

However, we have 2600 sqft, and it's all choppy, so some rooms will be 75 degrees and others 60, even using fans to move the heat around.

And the biggest difference I would think is we burn pine, so not nearly the BTU's that hardwood will put out

[babycarrier]

New England, only burn hardwood and heat a large drafty home with oil back up overnight. I would be comfortable starting the season with 5 cords. We are planning a move right now and running our supply out and I didn't realize how unsettling it would be to see wood reserves low in the height of the cold.

[farmkids42morrow]

I heat with wood.  This is my first year doing it and it has been a learning experience to say the least!   I live in northern PA, so it get's very cold...last week the wind chills were below zero.  My home is slightly less than 1000 sq. ft. and I'm estimating that I'll end up using around 7 cords this year by the time all is said and done in spring.  

[limette]

We plan to burn four and are right on track. It's averaged -14 this week but generally hovers between 0 and -4. A friend of ours down the road burns 20 cords and I cannot comprehend that. In order to burn that much, I'd have to be refilling every two hours and running it hot. It would be like a furnace in here.

[woodsymom]

We heat solely with wood (wood boiler) and will go through around 16-18 cord this winter. We live in Western NY, so we need heat from October - April (sometimes May).

[CCJWGM]

I've had wood stoves as a primary (but not only) heat source and used 8-10 cords of oak/cherry mix.

I've had a wood finance for my only heat source and water heater and used 15 cords of well seasoned oak. 

[jason45]

Originally Posted by omamasmama 

this is our first winter with a wood stove as our only heat source and we live in a southern but damp climate so it does get quite cold. i'm not sure how much we are going to go through but it's already way more than i had anticipated.

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[pokeyAC]

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[UnicornFeather]

Originally Posted by Denvergirlie 

8 cords easy without a blink of an eye, but can burn up to 10 if we keep the back half of the house warm.

I'm so glad you said that! LOL

I was feeling out of place. We use 8 to 12 cords. We also heat our workshop with wood, as well. Not all of the time, but when we're working. House is small, but it's imperfect, and the climate is harsh.

[gonyere]

When we heated exclusively with wood (my dad put in a geothermal system a couple yrs ago now), I think we'd go through ~7-9 cords of wood - which meant that we liked to have a minimu of 8-10 on hand in the fall... We're in NE OH ftr, and the house is ~1800sq feet. I think.