We got the farm we applied for last week but are very interested in trying to heat it mostly with the woodstove, which we have no experience with. I'm home during the day, so I'll be there to babysit it. We also have small children so it the house would have to be kept at about 68. The house isn't huge (I'm not sure of the sq ft) but it's 150 years old and although they're blowing new insulation in, I doubt it holds heat very well. I think it's probably a personal thing, every kind of does what works for them, but I'm just wondering how many cords (or face cords?) I should be ordering to get us ready for the winter when we get there in Jan/Feb and how long it might last. We'll have to put oil in the tank too, but at $2000 to fill it, I'm trying to avoid it as much as possible right now. Any information you have about wood would be fantastic!
That sort of depends how warm you like it, how open the floor plan is, etc. We have a small house, about 1100 sf, very open plan. We have a Hearthstone soapstone wood stove we have installed in the fireplace. Takes about one and a half (full) cords for a winter for us, usually, and we heat exclusively with wood, though we do have a heatpump. Congratulations!
Last year we used about 5 or 6 cord. We have a really old stove that is not energy efficient at all. This year we added a damper to the stovepipe and a return air from the wall up high above the stove into the ductwork and are having a new quadra-fire stove delivered soon. We haven't used much wood and have been heating the whole house (3000 SF) using the stove and the house fan. Well, "heating" is not really the right word. We are "warming" the house and we are comfortable with a light sweater on.
We have a very small house like 1200 sqft. My Husband has an old big woodstove in our basement. We leave the basement door open which is located in the center of the house and the woodstove is to the lef under our living room, dining room, and kitchen. Our bedrooms are to the right at the other end. I tell you all of this b/c my husband did this purposely b/c he likes it cold when he sleeps but, warm while lounging and cooking in the house. We can fit a wheel barrow full per day and We approimately go through 3 cord of wood per year and 2 tanks of oil 220 gallons that heats our hot water too. We can't light our woodstove unless daytime temps are below 55 degrees or we roast!!!! LOL We usually keep a few windows cracked in the home allday and night for fresh air. And I walk around in tee shirts and shorts in the house b/c it can get up to 80+ degrees easy somedays. Hope this is helpful. I don't live in Canada but, in New England/CT on a mountainside that has alot of shade the way the sun rises and sets. Best Wishes on your new Farm and woodstove venture!!
ETA: Our soapstone stove doesn't have a blower. Isn't needed with the efficiency of the stove and the open floor plan we have.
I use between 1 to 2 cords a year depending on the winter. However I have a house built in the 70's and is well insulated, plus we have one of those 70's "airtight" woodstoves the EPA won't let manufacturers make anymore cause they are too efficient and you have to manually operate them with knowledge or you may create a creosote problem and burn down your house. Your climate and your house and your situation will dictate how much wood you use. My house is also orientated to maximize winter sun into the windows and minimize summer sun into the windows by the eaves arrangement-----your house has to have been built that way to do that. You can start reading here: http://www.motherearthnews.com/search.aspx?search=woodstoves
We have about a 1200 sf home and heat exclusively with wood. House is fairly well insulated, but with kids and a working farm, the doors are being opened and closed hundreds of times a day it seems. Also my wife is very cold natured and likes to keep the house a lot hotter than is comfortable for me. Most years we use around 5 face cords. Our heater is one of those odd built things, will ony burn 18" wood at the longest. We could probably get by with three face cord in a year if we needed to.
This is all excellent, thank you so much for taking the time to reply and tell me what's working for you! And a good point came up, I'm going to have to check and see if our hot water is dependant on our oil heat as well, as I was planning to put enough oil in for February to get us started and then see how it went with the woodstove. I know it's a new stove, they just put it in in the spring, but it also has no blower, etc... The floor plan is very 'closed' as far as I'm concerned, kind of ramshackle and all over the place, but the stair well going upstairs is very small so I'm hoping to keep the main floor comfortable and the upstairs cooler for sleeping (My DH is the same, loves it cold to sleep and I freeze all the time, I'll be utilizing my electric blanket - how rustic of me). I had never heard of a woodstove in the basement (I know, that sounded dumb) that's really cool! It looks like we'll set ourselves up with about 3 cords (or face cords? ) and see how that goes. I figure we just need to get through Feb/Mar and part of April, that should be doable, and if we have any left, we'll still need it next year This is going to be a fun adventure I think! Then spring will be here and we'll have a ton of work a head of us and a new baby, I think we're either insane, or more sane than your average person, I haven't decided which Thank you everyone, I love the information, and thank you for the Mother Earth link, I'm book marking that one. I even pulled out all my Mother Earth News/Harrowsmith/Small Farm/Hobby Farm/Hobby Farm Home/Chicken! magazines to see if any of the information I just thought was neat a year and two years ago might now be handy
we use around 3 to 4 cords per winter the wood stove is our primary source of heat. please be sure to clean your chimney and stove pipe regularly we have a triple walled steel chimney. i also do not recomend ever using a csl log that caused our chimney to back up when the cap pluged up with creosote. you will enjoy having one when the power goes out you can cook on it to if need be we have lol it was the best spaghetti we have ever had.
We ran about 5 cords last winter because the snow and bitter cold temps would not go away. Almost seemed like it was below freezing for a month straight. A normal winter sees about 3 cords of wood used.
