How much wood do you burn?

[Tom]

Just being nosey. I've just got through a 1 ton bag of logs and chunks of wood in about 3 weeks. That's having the wood burner going all day, most days. How does that compare to anyone else? There's probably a lot of variables to take into account, though; size of room, size of stove, supply of wood etc. Like I say, I'm just being nosey

 

[JoceAndChris]

One medium sized basket per evening? That's on an open fire in the drawing room. 3 wheelbarrow loads of logs per week - but far, far more if mother in law is here, certainly a heaped wheelbarrow per day - father in law keeps it going for her all day, but I just find that too much effort.

And, sorry, a large sack of coal every couple of weeks as well.

 

[Tom]

That sounds like quite a bit less than me, then. I don't burn ant coal, though. Why do you need coal, Joce?

 

[Jill]

I don't burn any, Pauls in charge of the fire. He says I can't make them - I have tried but he reckons i'm rubbish so I leave it to him. I managed to get one lit when I was home alone and then panicked as the flames were going too far up the back of the fire and I was scared the chimney would set a light. This week he's been burning the carpet grippers but i can't tell you how many. We use coke? nugget things and they seem to last longer than coal.

 

[JoceAndChris]

The coal is just because you can put on a big heap of it, walk away and still have a small fire 5 hours later without a moment's attendance. The logs burn through in half an hour and need constant attention on an open fire, which is fine if I'm in the room, but not very handy for nipping to the shops, going down to the basement kitchen or whatever.

If we make a really huge fire in the bedroom fireplace with a generous heap of coal, at 11 pm, it's still smouldering in the morning and is easy to re light - it's nearly impossible to achieve that on that size fireplace with wood alone.

I could burn through a lot more in the daytime but as Chris chops every log it seems mean, as it is most Sundays are given over to log chopping, tree felling and storing.

 

[worms]

The estimates I have seen are that if you are using only wood for all heating, then 6 tonnes of softwood logs per year is a reaonable ball-park figure for an average house in an average year.

 

[Tom]

@ Jill....Don't be such a girlie! :wink: Try and get to grips with making a fire...it's so much fun and very rewarding. I'm very possessive about mine and won't let anyone else touch it :lol:

@ Joce....Ah, that makes sense about the coal then. See, I like 'playing' with my fire so leaving it alone to do its own thing would drive me mad :lol:

@ Worms....Hmm, it's difficult to judge my use against that. Although we use 1 ton bags to store the wood I don't know how much each one actually weighs. Plus, some wood is surprisingly heavy compared with others. For example, I pulled out some Lilac tree logs the other and they were unbelievably heavy for the size of them :shock:

 

[worms]

Again, using ball park figures for softwood, I believe a tonne is roughly equal to a cubic metre of stacked short-logs as they come from the forest. Obviously it all depends on moisture content and hard-woods will be considerably heavier.

 

[Tom]

I'm probably getting through quite a bit then as most of mine is hardwood; Ash, Oak, Apple and Greenheart.

 

[worms]

As you say, it is difficult to tell. But let's assume your bags do weigh a tonne and you keep on the one-bag-every-three-weeks for 26 weeks of winter, then you will burn about 9 tonnes in the year. That would be 50% higher than the ball-park I was quoted, but then your house is not average, and you are burning all day every day, which is probably not average either, so it doesn't seem excessive to me.

 

[Jill]

@ Jill....Don't be such a girlie! :wink:

:lol:

I did put in my original message that I was being a wuss but deleted it as I thought that may be a local description. I think my fear stems from tales of my grandpop once setting fire to the chimney. I'm sure i'll get to grips with it one day, in any case its one less job for me to do :wink:

 

[vicky whitworth]

Round here it seems that logs are delivered by the load or half load, and that there is no proper measure of what that is in tonnage. We have a guy who we think gives a generous load and dry logs, but we are being pressured by a friend to take his logs but his load is much smaller - dictated by the size of his trailer.
Is this how it works elsewhere, and if so how do you make meaningful comparisons to decide who's offering the best deal?

 

[benmc]

About 4 cubic m last winter when we had no rads downstairs.

This was feeding a Jotul F500 every night and most weekends.

 

[Penners]

About 6 or 7 logs per evening in the woodburner keep our modest sitting room "toasty warm" according to Mrs P; "stifling hot" according to me.

 

[philpjuk100]

in this neck of the woods most suppliers seem to use a builders bag as a measure (the big bags you buy bulk sand/gravel in) price for hardwood is £65/£85 a bag with a £5 surcharge for the bag.We buy ours by the trailer load (£95) but our first load this year seems less than last years loads (may have to shop around) phil.

 

[Bitstreams]

Wow that sounds a bit steep.

The local supplier in the village wants £55 for a pickup load of logs. But we collect ours in our little pickup and that costs £20-30 depending upon how brave I'm feeling.