Wood Stove: How many cords?

[anythingyoucanimagine]

Hello Garage Journal... I need some help calculating cords of wood vs propane use.

My wife and I are starting a wood stove program in the house. How do I reasonably or sensibility convert about 1,000 gallons of propane into "how much wood do I need to burn" --Because every chart/wood BTU thing I can find is all specific species. And you don't know where I live, just like I don't know the exact species of wood that will be delivered to my driveway (Rhode Island, New England).

Is it reasonable to think that I need to expect to burn 4.55 cords of wood this winter? That seems crazy. My wife and I expected it to be 2-2.5... maybe 3 cords.

 

[zak77]

Depends on lots of things. How big is the house, insulation, windows, location, etc. I burn wood but last year i put in a mini-split for the fall/spring months and now i'm down to about 5 cords of wood for a 1500sq ft house, although the stove is in the basement so i guess technically i'm heating 3K sq ft. Just make certain you get seasoned wood, not what someone called seasoned wood but wood that's actually been seasoned properly otherswise it's gonna be a PITA. I usually buy green wood and let it season for 2-3 years but recently i've been dropping dead oaks so i just let it sit for a year then burn it.

 

[tweidman]

Wood will be your only source of heat? How many sq ft will you be heating? How well insulated is your house?
How many months will you need to run your stove?
3 cords seem really light to me without knowing more.

 

[tweidman]

Just make certain you get seasoned wood, not what someone called seasoned wood but wood that's actually been seasoned properly otherswise it's gonna be a PITA.

I was thinking the same thing, the "seasoned" wood they deliver will still need time to dry. At least, that has been my experience.
Test that wood with a moisture meter immediately.

 

[MongoTA]

These are old numbers that I've had tucked away in my head. But one cord of seasoned hardwood at about 75% efficiency is roughly the same as 200 gallons of propane at ~90% efficiency. And I emphasize "roughly the same". lol

That'd be 5 cords of hardwood versus your 4.55 to offset your 1000 gallons of propane. That's reasonable.

Ask your firewood guy what wood he sells. I'm in CT, it's generally a mix of oak (red and white) and hickory (shagbark) where I am, though there can be other woods like ash and beech.

Depending on your wood storage, your wood may be dry, wet, damp. Might get dry snow on your stack or your wood may be wet from sideways blowing rain. You might have leaves in your stacks that bring on bark rot. Or not. But if I was trying to go full Little House on the Prairie, I'd get 6 cords.

 

[Shiftless]

Another consideration is the relative efficiency of a wood furnace vs. propane.
It‘s a lot more than just comparing the theoretical BTU equivalencies of the 2 fuels.

If your wood furnace has exactly the same efficiency as a propane furnace, you would need something like your 4.5 cord number. That’s seasoned hardwood, right? If the wood furnace is less efficient it would need MORE than 4.5 cords.

 

[Sumboodie]

Hello Garage Journal... I need some help calculating cords of wood vs propane use.

My wife and I are starting a wood stove program in the house. How do I reasonably or sensibility convert about 1,000 gallons of propane into "how much wood do I need to burn" --Because every chart/wood BTU thing I can find is all specific species. And you don't know where I live, just like I don't know the exact species of wood that will be delivered to my driveway (Rhode Island, New England).

Is it reasonable to think that I need to expect to burn 4.55 cords of wood this winter? That seems crazy. My wife and I expected it to be 2-2.5... maybe 3 cords.

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edit... does that load? I can't get it to open? I've directed customers to that calculator for years.

 

[Sumboodie]

I heated my 1400 sq ft place on about 2-2.25 cords a year with a Blaze King. That wasn't being cheap on the wood or anything, as that's what I did for a living, so was "free". And I had no plans on coming home after working outside all day and being cold there too.

 

[Shiftless]

A wood burning stove will do a fine job heating one room but not so good at heating the whole house. The propane furnace will heat the whole house.
If you don’t mind a chilly house and just hang out in the room with the wood burning stove, the numbers will be way different.

 

[ericm]

Hello Garage Journal... I need some help calculating cords of wood vs propane use.

My wife and I are starting a wood stove program in the house. How do I reasonably or sensibility convert about 1,000 gallons of propane into "how much wood do I need to burn" --Because every chart/wood BTU thing I can find is all specific species. And you don't know where I live, just like I don't know the exact species of wood that will be delivered to my driveway (Rhode Island, New England).

Is it reasonable to think that I need to expect to burn 4.55 cords of wood this winter? That seems crazy. My wife and I expected it to be 2-2.5... maybe 3 cords.

Species matters as the density and thus BTU content vary widely. Usually you order by species though sometimes not. Most wood sellers charge more for some species than others. In the west hardwoods sell for more than softwoods.

When I was in California I burned about six different species, mostly hardwoods. Before the stove we'd normally go through very roughly 1000 gallons of propane each winter- a fillup of about 150-180 gallons about once a month. When I heated mostly with wood I'd burn 2-2.5 cords. We'd still be buying propane but it would be much less. You may use more or less wood depending on a lot of factors including stove efficiency and if you get tired of feeding the stove.

2 cords is a lot of wood especially when you're felling, splitting and stacking it. You'll feel it just stacking 2 cords and moving it in the house to burn.

Most wood sellers claim their wood is seasoned but it's usually not. Not enough to burn properly in a modern EPA stove. It's a good idea to get a year or two ahead and stack the split wood under cover (not a tarp) where it can dry. When I got two years ahead the wood burned a lot better. Eucalyptus is very dense and needed three. Fir does ok with one summer drying stacked and split.

 

[Sumboodie]

A wood burning stove will do a fine job heating one room but not so good at heating the whole house. The propane furnace will heat the whole house.
If you don’t mind a chilly house and just hang out in the room with the wood burning stove, the numbers will be way different.

Mine heated the house fine. I just had a box fan at the end of the hallway to move air, plus the stove had a fan kit on it.

 

[Sumboodie]

Species matters as the density and thus BTU content vary widely. Usually you order by species though sometimes not. Most wood sellers charge more for some species than others. In the west hardwoods sell for more than softwoods.

When I was in California I burned about six different species, mostly hardwoods. Before the stove we'd normally go through very roughly 1000 gallons of propane each winter- a fillup of about 150-180 gallons about once a month. When I heated mostly with wood I'd burn 2-2.5 cords. We'd still be buying propane but it would be much less. You may use more or less wood depending on a lot of factors including stove efficiency and if you get tired of feeding the stove.

2 cords is a lot of wood especially when you're felling, splitting and stacking it. You'll feel it just stacking 2 cords and moving it in the house to burn.

Most wood sellers claim their wood is seasoned but it's usually not. Not enough to burn properly in a modern EPA stove. It's a good idea to get a year or two ahead and stack the split wood under cover (not a tarp) where it can dry. When I got two years ahead the wood burned a lot better. Eucalyptus is very dense and needed three. Fir does ok with one summer drying stacked and split.

I'm sure it varies by state, but here it's illegal to sell wood that is advertised as seasoned but is over 20% moisture. DEC gets involved.

 

[larry_g]

I typically don't load the stove at night to burn all night. I have a well insulated 2800' home and will use 3-4 cords a year in a wood stove. Contrary to what was said above I heat the whole house with one wood stove. I run the furnace fan to move the air around the house. In spring and fall It depends on the day wether I build a fire or just let the furnace take the chill off in the morning. We are retired and home most every day. I'd say that 70% of my heat comes from wood and the rest electric.

lg
no neat sig line

 

[NUTTSGT]

I would suggest not going "all in" the first year if you're new to burning wood.

Are you buying your wood or doing the sweat equity version ?

 

[Wolley]

Depending on the stove I would expect three cord minimum to keep a fire going all winter. Depending on the area and layout of the house it could be double that.

 

[mngundog]

Seems to me, the conversion he is asking for, wouldn't change regardless of a bunch of factors people are mentioning, like insulation, size of building, or location. Species of wood sure.

 

[PopcornSutton]

I use a wood stove all winter to supplement the heat pump. I burn about 3 cords per year and it usually runs 24/7 once the cold sets in. I cut split and stack all my wood. Stove is in the basement and I use a wheel barrow and wheel it right next to the stove. Usually one a day. I use whatever species dies or falls on my place, except pine or cedar. I'll be using a fair amount of "tree of heaven" this year. I cut every one on my place down to get rid of the lantern bugs. It's light wood, rots quick if on the ground. Probably won't heat a great deal but I figured early and late winter might do OK.

 

[u2slow]

Why not have 4 delivered and see what you use? Whatever extra will carry over into the next year.

A precise estimate doesn't matter a whole lot.

 

[Natty Bumppo]

A gallon on propane contains about 90,000 BTU's x 1000 gallons = 90,000,000 BTU's. A cord of firewood contains anywhere from 18 to 30 million BTU's depending on species. That's where the OP is getting the numbers....2.5 to 3 cords of firewood.

However, I suspect propane furnaces are more efficient than wood stoves. Thus more of those BTU's in a insert go straight out the chimney. Even more in an old fashioned fireplace.

 

[jack stand]

Wouldn't knocking those 1000g of LP even down to 700-800g be a joy?
Multiple sources of heating is always good and your goal of eliminating lp completely is premature at best.
Good luck and I think you'll enjoy starting off supplementing with wood.

 

[.mike.]

I burn through about a 1/3 cord per week

 

[American Locomotive]

Word of warning: We haven't been able to find a "good" wood guy in Rhode Island in a long time. They all lie. Every cord of "seasoned" wood we had delivered in the past 10 years has been soaking wet garbage that hardly burns. In a modern efficient wood stove, it will really struggle.

It's best to stack it properly, and let it dry for a year or so. If you really want to start burning this year, go buy a wood moisture meter. Test a few logs from a delivery and reject it if it's wet. Eventually you'll know by feel - green/wet wood is so much heavier than properly dry wood.

I would say 5 cords sounds about right if you're burning 1000 gallons of propane a year. Get some better insulation!

 

[Dagny]

I cut 30 cord but have 2 or 3 left every year. like it very warm in the house.

 

[Dagny]

Green wood and wood that has been rained on are not the same.

 

[bbxlr8]

To answer your initial Q - 5 cords ballpark sounds about right to me.

FWIW Been burning for 16Y Here in NE PA. Was new to woodstove vs. Heatilator FP insert in last place. Love it, but it's been a learning curve. SO many factors, but all points above are valid. I enjoy it, and it started as a double benefit by clean up of neglected old growth mixed forest woods turning to a warm heat & $$$ savings.

Put it up here before, but a great resource is:
https://arboristsite.com/ in the woodburning section.

I say this tongue in cheek, but be careful . Went from inital years on craftsman homeowner saw & hand splitting to big Husq, splitter & tractor which reduced my touch points and labor immensely!

edit: Have not been able to justify wood heat in detached garage due to insurance specifically excluding it... Many do in the area but take the risk or were grandfathered in.

 

[anythingyoucanimagine]

I would suggest not going "all in" the first year if you're new to burning wood.

Are you buying your wood or doing the sweat equity version ?

We are planning on buying 3 cords of 16-foot log-length that I'll buck and split, and 3 cords of pre-cut & split that I'll just stack. We are thinking 6 cords should get us through this winter. The 3 cords of log-length are about 5 years old so should be fairly OK to burn this winter if I get to the sweat equity part ASAP.

One of the things I'm worried about is what to build to keep the wood dry, and also fire management. We had a stove when I was a kid, but that was 30+ years ago. When my brother and I used to get in trouble, my dad handed my brother and I boys axes and he told us "better get that pile split while your supper is still warm because we don't go to bed in this house unless you eat everything on your plate". I'm really not worried about the sweat equity part. I know what I'm getting into with bucking and splitting 3 cords (that's why only 3 cords --if it ***** that much we'll just buy cut & split going forward).

It's just the fire management part.

It's a new-ish house to us. It is my father in law's house (where my wife grew up). The insulation isn't great, windows aren't great. It needs a bunch of work and he never had a stove. We will be installing it --not we, just like "we" won't be using chainsaws & axes to buck and split wood --I will be installing the wood stove in the next few weeks and I will be the one bucking and splitting the 3 cords. My wife and the dogs will enjoy the wood stove.

We just don't know how to calculate usage. I work from home and my wife is a nurse. She works 3x 12h shifts so she's not here 3 days a week, I'll be there 24/7. When she's not working it is the usual running errands, grocery store, etc. but when she's not working she's here most of the time too.

 

[FTG-05]

If you want to use wood heat this winter, you better start putting wood up like crazy. If you expect to use 4 cords, put up 8. The first year will ****; the 2nd much better.

Put up double what you need for 3-4 years and life will be much easier.

I haven't processed firewood the last 2 years and I now still have enough to last us 8-10 years.

 

[Firebrick43]

A wood burning stove will do a fine job heating one room but not so good at heating the whole house. The propane furnace will heat the whole house.
If you don’t mind a chilly house and just hang out in the room with the wood burning stove, the numbers will be way different.

Depends on the house. We have a tiny Jotul F100 stove and it heats our 1450 square foot house just fine although its going full bore in sub zero weather. The far bedroom is going to be 60-65 instead of 75-80 like the living room but I cant stand to sleep that hot anyways. Actually if the wife has it going that high I am usually in any room but the living room. It all depends on location and floor plan/how open the house is. Our living room, dining room, and kitchen are very open and the three bedrooms on on a short hallway.

A few friends have wood furnaces with similar style house, they burn 8-10 cords in comparison. The rest had wood boilers but all of those smoke dragoon are gone. Some of them were struggling to keep wood cut with over 15 or more cords. Every single friend that had one didn't replace them when the water jacket finally holed or cracked.

Hello Garage Journal... I need some help calculating cords of wood vs propane use.

My wife and I are starting a wood stove program in the house. How do I reasonably or sensibility convert about 1,000 gallons of propane into "how much wood do I need to burn" --Because every chart/wood BTU thing I can find is all specific species. And you don't know where I live, just like I don't know the exact species of wood that will be delivered to my driveway (Rhode Island, New England).

Is it reasonable to think that I need to expect to burn 4.55 cords of wood this winter? That seems crazy. My wife and I expected it to be 2-2.5... maybe 3 cords.

Our the original part of our house is 1450 square feet and 2x6 walls with R60 in the ceiling. The couple of years my wife was going to college we burned pretty much full time to keep the bills lower, and used 2.5 cords. We still burn a cord a year on days below freezing and that lowers our propane usage to about 300 gallons. We usually don't fire the stove on the typical Indiana winter day averaging 35 or 40.

Dry wood makes a huge difference on how much you burn. Wood cut a few weeks, even if it was "good and dead" isn't dry. We usually have 2.5 to 3 cords drying so the stuff we are burning is been dried for over a full year.

 

[Copymutt]

This was my near zero cost build as a wood shed. Using pallets blocks wind driven rain/snow, but leaves plenty of airflow for drying. If the wood is green rack it instead of stacking.

 

[anythingyoucanimagine]

To answer your initial Q - 5 cords ballpark sounds about right to me.

FWIW Been burning for 16Y Here in NE PA. Was new to woodstove vs. Heatilator FP insert in last place. Love it, but it's been a learning curve. SO many factors, but all points above are valid. I enjoy it, and it started as a double benefit by clean up of neglected old growth mixed forest woods turning to a warm heat & $$$ savings.

Put it up here before, but a great resource is:
https://arboristsite.com/ in the woodburning section.

I say this tongue in cheek, but be careful . Went from inital years on craftsman homeowner saw & hand splitting to big Husq, splitter & tractor which reduced my touch points and labor immensely!

edit: Have not been able to justify wood heat in detached garage due to insurance specifically excluding it... Many do in the area but take the risk or were grandfathered in.

Thanks for the link. Same here: no stove in detached or they won't cover it. I'm already shopping for a "big-boy" chainsaw. Trying to decide between Husky 562xp, 564xp and go-big-or-go-home 372xp. I really like the 372 but I'm not getting any younger. I really like the idea of the 564 --but the computers and auto-tune thing... I promise you that I won't be using my dad's echo cs300 30cc climbing saw that he gave me when I was doing landscaping work. Or my father in law's Poulan 42cc "Wild Thing" saw, or my wife's grandfather's Mac-Mini 110 saw.

We need to figure out a bunch about this property. It's my father in law's house (where my wife grew up as a kid). We lost him a year ago and my wife and I are buying his house. It is only 4.6 acres. Interestingly, after the Civil War, the area that his land is on was gifted to a General as reparations/payment for his service, and it was used for hardwood/firewood growth. But it is only 4.6 acres. I'd clear-cut the woods in a few years and I'd rather have trees to build tree-houses for my kids, and walk my dogs in the woods.

We just have no clue how much wood we will go through --and we are not "statistically normal" because she works 12h shifts as a nurse and I work from home so I'm here 24/7. My parents had a stove when I was a kid but that was like 35 years ago. So I guess I'm new to wood burning? idk. We BBQ smoke a bunch so I understand timing and fire management (how to make a stick burner fire that will last X time at Y temp)... I guess we just need to figure it out. And we need to get on a program so that I can buy green/not-seasoned wood and have a few year's worth of wood in the rotation.

The other nice side effect of a wood stove is that I'm looking forward to be able to sleep with my wife alone again: We've got two dogs. One sleeps on top of the covers/sheets and one sleeps under the covers/sheets between us. My guess is that the second we light a fire and put beds/blankets in front of the hearth --we'll never see our dogs again

 

[anythingyoucanimagine]

@Shiftless I get what you are saying. The house has forced hot air heat. It is two floors and 1500-ish sq/ft. We are (fingers crossed, this will be the first winter) hoping that by having the thermostat trigger the air handler to circulate the air in the house for 10-15 minutes every hour, it will make a huge difference in heat distribution so we don't have to nuke/crank the wood stove/living room all the time. Hopefully if we can get the HVAC air handler to cycle the air around the house, it'll evenly distribute and (again, fingers crossed), hopefully it'll work the way we think it will.

Also, it's not a wood furnace. It's a Jotul F500 wood stove.

 

[anythingyoucanimagine]

This was my near zero cost build as a wood shed. Using pallets blocks wind driven rain/snow, but leaves plenty of airflow for drying. I the wood is green rack it instead of stacking.

That's really cool. I am not going to show my wife that picture because she'll want it and I don't know if that configuration will work for the property. What do you mean "rack instead of stack"? My goal is to have about 4 years worth of wood on hand and do a rotation, so that the wood I'm burning this year will have had 3x years to dry. I was going to buy green wood, buck it, split it, stack it, then let it sit for 3x years, and burn it on the 4th year. Is that long enough for it to be considered dry?

 

[Roert42]

Eastern Pennsylvania here.

About 7 cords last two years. Mix of Ash and Oak. Long cold winters.

I have electric baseboards that stay turned on all winter, keep the pipes from freezing when no one is home. Also overnight.


Wood is not a comfortable heat. Living room is 90* rest of the house is comfortable. Living room is comfortable, rest of the house is 50*.


Go to sleep without the blankets on because it’s so hot upstairs and wake up with two comforters because it’s 55*.

 

[Firebrick43]

Thanks for the link. Same here: no stove in detached or they won't cover it. I'm already shopping for a "big-boy" chainsaw. Trying to decide between Husky 562xp, 564xp and go-big-or-go-home 372xp. I really like the 372 but I'm not getting any younger. I really like the idea of the 564 --but the computers and auto-tune thing... I promise you that I won't be using my dad's echo cs300 30cc climbing saw that he gave me when I was doing landscaping work. Or my father in law's Poulan 42cc "Wild Thing" saw, or my wife's grandfather's Mac-Mini 110 saw.

We need to figure out a bunch about this property. It's my father in law's house (where my wife grew up as a kid). We lost him a year ago and my wife and I are buying his house. It is only 4.6 acres. Interestingly, after the Civil War, the area that his land is on was gifted to a General as reparations/payment for his service, and it was used for hardwood/firewood growth. But it is only 4.6 acres. I'd clear-cut the woods in a few years and I'd rather have trees to build tree-houses for my kids, and walk my dogs in the woods.

We just have no clue how much wood we will go through --and we are not "statistically normal" because she works 12h shifts as a nurse and I work from home so I'm here 24/7. My parents had a stove when I was a kid but that was like 35 years ago. So I guess I'm new to wood burning? idk. We BBQ smoke a bunch so I understand timing and fire management (how to make a stick burner fire that will last X time at Y temp)... I guess we just need to figure it out. And we need to get on a program so that I can buy green/not-seasoned wood and have a few year's worth of wood in the rotation.

The other nice side effect of a wood stove is that I'm looking forward to be able to sleep with my wife alone again: We've got two dogs. One sleeps on top of the covers/sheets and one sleeps under the covers/sheets between us. My guess is that the second we light a fire and put beds/blankets in front of the hearth --we'll never see our dogs again

I wouldn't go with a 372 as a main saw.

I have a 362 stihl which is comparable to the husky 562 and sometimes I think it would be nice to have a MS260 for a limbing saw. The 362 is a nice saw for 36" and smaller trees although can do up to a 48" log without to much issues. And its not too heavy, just tiring, to do smaller stuff.

I also have an MS660 for really large trees and milling a tree occasionally into lumber. I know its bigger than a 372 but god does it **** to do anything other than set on a big log and let it eat to section it.

 

[Shiftless]

The important thing here is to get the hot air around the wood stove moving around the whole house. With a second story it becomes more difficult to even things out. Heat rises of course and if you like to sleep cool and your bedrooms are upstairs, that’s more of a challenge. If a guy already has a forced air furnace, there is probably a way to get the fan to move air without the furnace burner coming on. Relying on a thermostat might not be as good as just figuring out a manual on off switch. I’ve got a relatively new condensing natural gas furnace here and the thermostat the guys installed has a fan only on-off switch position. I use that sometimes to even out the temps in our one level house. The front west side gets warmer in the late afternoon because we have big single pane windows but we spend most of our time in the back side family room. Using the furnace fan also moves all that air through the filter so that keeps dust more under control.

 

[Sumboodie]

We are planning on buying 3 cords of 16-foot log-length that I'll buck and split, and 3 cords of pre-cut & split that I'll just stack. We are thinking 6 cords should get us through this winter. The 3 cords of log-length are about 5 years old so should be fairly OK to burn this winter if I get to the sweat equity part ASAP.

One of the things I'm worried about is what to build to keep the wood dry, and also fire management. We had a stove when I was a kid, but that was 30+ years ago. When my brother and I used to get in trouble, my dad handed my brother and I boys axes and he told us "better get that pile split while your supper is still warm because we don't go to bed in this house unless you eat everything on your plate". I'm really not worried about the sweat equity part. I know what I'm getting into with bucking and splitting 3 cords (that's why only 3 cords --if it ***** that much we'll just buy cut & split going forward).

It's just the fire management part.

It's a new-ish house to us. It is my father in law's house (where my wife grew up). The insulation isn't great, windows aren't great. It needs a bunch of work and he never had a stove. We will be installing it --not we, just like "we" won't be using chainsaws & axes to buck and split wood --I will be installing the wood stove in the next few weeks and I will be the one bucking and splitting the 3 cords. My wife and the dogs will enjoy the wood stove.

We just don't know how to calculate usage. I work from home and my wife is a nurse. She works 3x 12h shifts so she's not here 3 days a week, I'll be there 24/7. When she's not working it is the usual running errands, grocery store, etc. but when she's not working she's here most of the time too.

5 yr old log length is likely quite rotten.

 

[Mainiac Mat]

Here's a look at my woodburning system...

Note: after seeing friends who get up in the wee hours of the night to stoke their woodstoves, I committed to never be a slave to wood. So we augment with wood and have LPG via. Rinnai heaters and Jotel gas log stoves. We burn 2 to 3 cords of wood harvested on our lot and ~600 gal. of LPG. But the LPG is also consumed by a hot water heater, clothes dryer, and stove. I also have a Hot Dawg in the garage, but that is only used when I'm working out there for extended periods. We're in northern New England and get our fair share of snow and cold.

I use welded metal warehouse bins, converted IBC totes, and DIY pallet bins to store and move my firewood. Three bins make a generous cord.






I cut off my own property and buck and split with a shop built PTO log splitter right where the tree lands. Then load into the bin and use forks on the tractor to move to my storage location (which is away from the house due to carpenter ant concerns).

Come November, I move 4 bins up close to the house with the tractor forks and bring wood in in bags. I cycle the bins when I get down to < 1 at the house.

So I touch the wood with my hands twice... once when I cut, split & stack in the bin. A second time when I load a bag and haul it into the house.

This "system" has been developed over 25 years and I'm always tweaking it. In 2023, I built a lean-to off the back of the garage and now I store my "emergency wood" stash of 2-3 cords there... so I wind up having ~2 years of wood on site come fall.



We heat our well insulated colonial house primarily with wood from November to April, using a centrally located Finish Fireplace. We have a wide open 1st floor and master BR is above so no problems heating the main house. The small cape addition doesn't get much of the wood heat though.



I never get tired of staring at this...



Posted all this to give others who are new to burning wood some ideas. I realize not everyone has access to this type of equipment (bought the New Holland 1720 used in 1993, and it's paid for itself many, many times over). I find burning wood very satisfying and we've organized our lifestyle around doing so.

ETA... a note about buying wood... I got deathly ill back in 2017 and couldn't cut wood. Then when I built the garage in 2020, I had to work every spare minute to get weather tight by December, so we have purchased wood 3 years out of the last 26... and all I can say is that it will spoil you very quickly. But now we have Ash borers killing some 15 trees, so I've got my work cut out for me.

 

[larry_g]

12.8 million to 15 million BTUs per ton (about 6,400 to 7,500 BTUs per pound) at 20% moisture content. While different tree species change the weight and volume of a stack, the chemical energy per pound of dry wood fiber remains nearly identical across types at roughly 8,600 BTUs per pound. [1, 2, 3]

Use the above information to convert your wood to a comparison to propane. The volume of wood, cords, is less important than the weight of the wood. Once you know the species of wood you may get you can find the weight per cord and then you can convert to BTU's for your comparison to propane.

Do your own search on 'BTU per ton of wood'

lg
no neat sig line

 

[bbxlr8]

Thanks for the link. Same here: no stove in detached or they won't cover it. I'm already shopping for a "big-boy" chainsaw. Trying to decide between Husky 562xp, 564xp and go-big-or-go-home 372xp. I really like the 372 but I'm not getting any younger. I really like the idea of the 564 --but the computers and auto-tune thing... I promise you that I won't be using my dad's echo cs300 30cc climbing saw that he gave me when I was doing landscaping work. Or my father in law's Poulan 42cc "Wild Thing" saw, or my wife's grandfather's Mac-Mini 110 saw.

Good plan.
FYI Gone through 2 and use very hard for someone that doesn't do it for a living. Had the 76cc one w/o auto and went to the 562 w/auto about 6 years ago, and it overachieves with a 24" (you need pro/full chisel chain) Read up beforehand & check out the chainsaw section of the link as well

We need to figure out a bunch about this property. It's my father in law's house (where my wife grew up as a kid). We lost him a year ago and my wife and I are buying his house. It is only 4.6 acres. Interestingly, after the Civil War, the area that his land is on was gifted to a General as reparations/payment for his service, and it was used for hardwood/firewood growth. But it is only 4.6 acres. I'd clear-cut the woods in a few years and I'd rather have trees to build tree-houses for my kids, and walk my dogs in the woods.

Should be great - baby steps!
Mine had been last harvested for industry about 100 years ago but adjoining had been done about 50. You can tell the difference and you will get ahead just taking care of the problems and deadfall. IF you get to the stage where you need more, reaching out to tree companies can get you a load usually pretty easy & low $ or free.

 

[Copymutt]

That's really cool. I am not going to show my wife that picture because she'll want it and I don't know if that configuration will work for the property. What do you mean "rack instead of stack"? My goal is to have about 4 years worth of wood on hand and do a rotation, so that the wood I'm burning this year will have had 3x years to dry. I was going to buy green wood, buck it, split it, stack it, then let it sit for 3x years, and burn it on the 4th year. Is that long enough for it to be considered dry?

Racking is alternating the direction of the split wood by 90* leaves a huge amount of airflow. Downside is you wont be able to fit as much in a given space.
For your aging plan put 2 doors in. One on each end otherwise the oldest wood will end up being inaccessible behind whats been recently added. Dense wood such as oak, hickory can take multiple years. Three should be a great plan.