Estimate Firewood Requirement

40701085

Evening Folks,
I'm trying to find out how much timber I'll need for the winter.
These are the parameters:
-I'll have to buy seasoned softwood
-I'll be buying small-end logs or thinnings for sawing from Coillte/other
-Needs to feed an 8Kw stove (dry-no back boiler)
-Fire will be on 5 hrs/day for 180 days approx.

I'm wondering how many m3 of softwood I'll need for this - if anyone has any recommendations or experience of what this would take, I'd be grateful for advice.

Cheers

locky76

40701085 wrote: »

Evening Folks,
I'm trying to find out how much timber I'll need for the winter.
These are the parameters:
-I'll have to buy seasoned softwood
-I'll be buying small-end logs or thinnings for sawing from Coillte/other
-Needs to feed an 8Kw stove (dry-no back boiler)
-Fire will be on 5 hrs/day for 180 days approx.

I'm wondering how many m3 of softwood I'll need for this - if anyone has any recommendations or experience of what this would take, I'd be grateful for advice.

Cheers

I've used two old cattle boxes full of split spruce each winter for the last three yesrs, I would estimate about 10 cubic metres.

Bizzum

If you buy what you're looking for handy and have plenty of storage why not buy an excess. It keeps well. You can top it up at your leisure then, and if ya need to light the fire for an extra month, the fuel is there!
It reminds me of a local bachelor, living with his sister, he ordered a load of turf, but it wasn't to be delivered till after Christmas.....Cos "She'd only burn it" :-)

blue5000

1 kg of dry timber has 17 mj

You have an 8 kw stove, it will take 28.8 Mj to run it for an hour, x 5 = 144. divide by 17= 8.47 kg of firewood per day, say 8.5 kg.

Have a margin of error of 1.5 kg per day, ballpark 10kg of seasoned firewood per day.

40701085

Bizzum wrote: »

If you buy what you're looking for handy and have plenty of storage why not buy an excess. It keeps well. You can top it up at your leisure then, and if ya need to light the fire for an extra month, the fuel is there!
It reminds me of a local bachelor, living with his sister, he ordered a load of turf, but it wasn't to be delivered till after Christmas.....Cos "She'd only burn it" :-)

and he probably wonders why he's a bachelor

MugMugs

Why softwood and not hardwood?

Surely you get a better burn out of hardwood?

Dampintheattic

MugMugs wrote: »

Why softwood and not hardwood?

Surely you get a better burn out of hardwood?

Spruce and all it's relations, is nothing more than the devil's invention, for fuokking up, boilers, stoves, flues and chimmney's
Build up of dangerous and flammable gunk, from these timbers, inside flues, is incredible over time.

40701085

Agreed, but its hard to come by in logs (not split) down west where I am

MugMugs

Dampintheattic wrote: »

Build up of dangerous and flammable gunk, from these timbers, inside flues, is incredible over time.

Even if well seasoned?

40701085

MugMugs wrote: »

Why softwood and not hardwood?

Surely you get a better burn out of hardwood?

Agreed, but its hard to come by in logs (not split) down west where I am

locky76

Dampintheattic wrote: »

Spruce and all it's relations, is nothing more than the devil's invention, for fuokking up, boilers, stoves, flues and chimmney's
Build up of dangerous and flammable gunk, from these timbers, inside flues, is incredible over time.

don't agree, buy a mositure meter and season it to 20% and it burns fine.
It's the primary fuel source throughout europe for good reason- it's cheap and is easily processed...

MugMugs

40701085 wrote: »

Agreed, but its hard to come by in logs (not split) down west where I am

That would make sense alright ! Sorry for the hijack was just curious to see the reasonings behind the Softwood !

stoeger

I get a full rigid and drag load each year around €1200 for myself and 2 friends if you have the room its well worth it .i have a load ordered for next week and still have some left over from last year

Sam Kade

Would seasoned timber burn on its own in a stove or would you need coal with it?

stoeger

Sam Kade wrote: »

Would seasoned timber burn on its own in a stove or would you need coal with it?

I never burn coal if you have place to keep wood dry if will burn great put some pallets under timber when storing it to let air true

Sam Kade

40701085 wrote: »

and he probably wonders why he's a bachelor

Sounds like a fella that wouldn't give his sh1t to the crows, I doubt he would ever have thought of taking on the expense of a woman.

MugMugs

Sam Kade wrote: »

Would seasoned timber burn on its own in a stove or would you need coal with it?

I stock load Seasoned hardwood and try to burn just that. Never burnt coal and never felt the need to either. A few logs is just as good IMO.

Sam Kade

MugMugs wrote: »

I stock load Seasoned hardwood and try to burn just that. Never burnt coal and never felt the need to either. A few logs is just as good IMO.

would it take long to season spruce?

40701085

stoeger wrote: »

I get a full rigid and drag load each year around €1200 for myself and 2 friends if you have the room its well worth it .i have a load ordered for next week and still have some left over from last year

Thanks stoeger (I presume the €1200 was for unseasoned)- what's a rigid & drag - is it like 2 lorry-loads stacked to the top? What kind of diameter logs were you getting?

Sam Kade wrote: »

would it take long to season spruce?

I believe (but not 100% certain) it takes about 2 yrs to get it to 25% moisture. I was talkin to a supplier in the midlands who said he's only got wet to sell in logs - he's running out of dry logs that he cuts, splits & sells bagged himself, such is the demand. Might be true or he might just be tryin to offload a pile of wet stuff to me...

stoeger

Any logs i get have been cut for a while and don't need long to season ill be cutting and sliting then and in to shed till start of winter wet timber can take a long
Time to dry if not stored properly
thay come in anything from 4"to 18 " and yes a rigid and drag is like 2 loads

Mad_Mike

Sam Kade wrote: »

would it take long to season spruce?

It's one of these very difficult to answer questions.
Depends on a lot of factors such as log diameter, whether split or not, when it was harvested and most importantly, what the weather is like when trying to season it.

Generally speaking, you are looking at anything from 6 months to 18 months, but in theory you can harvest in the spring and it's perfectly seasoned by winter. Just make sure to split the logs early and store it somewhere that it can dry well.

Mad_Mike

Dampintheattic wrote: »

Spruce and all it's relations, is nothing more than the devil's invention, for fuokking up, boilers, stoves, flues and chimmney's
Build up of dangerous and flammable gunk, from these timbers, inside flues, is incredible over time.

This is true of ANY wood which is not correctly seasoned, not just spruce.
If the moisture content is correct AND the fire is a good bright hot one, there is no build up of creosote (flammable gunk)

Burning wet or damp firewood and loading up a fire with lots of logs and letting it smoulder rather than one or two logs burning very bright and hot are two of the biggest causes of crap building up in chimneys. One other important point is the chimney should be well insulated. If not, the vapour condenses on the inside of the flue once it rises and hits the colder surface.

milkprofit

stoeger wrote: »

Any logs i get have been cut for a while and don't need long to season ill be cutting and sliting then and in to shed till start of winter wet timber can take a long
Time to dry if not stored properly
thay come in anything from 4"to 18 " and yes a rigid and drag is like 2 loads

what seize lorry

stoeger

milkprofit wrote: »

what seize lorry

4 axle rigid and trailer
The ones you pass hauling timber form forestry

milkprofit

stoeger wrote: »

I never burn coal if you have place to keep wood dry if will burn great put some pallets under timber when storing it to let air true

stoger
How would this compare to your load
Would it be half
What s it worth

stoeger

milkprofit wrote: »

stoger
How would this compare to your load
Would it be half
What s it worth

Ok so that's a load of hard wood great for burning . Id say around 350 400 max as its only a dump trailer Google Irish timber lorry pics and youl see it way bigger

GY A1

stoeger wrote: »

Ok so that's a load of hard wood great for burning . Id say around 350 400 max as its only a dump trailer Google Irish timber lorry pics and youl see it way bigger

dont think its worth that much,
not alot in that trailer really, and theres roots in there too

stoeger

GY A1 wrote: »

dont think its worth that much,
not alot in that trailer really, and theres roots in there too

Can't seem to up load pic on this are you on Facebook if so ill post some pics of load i got today

Frere Jacques

Just a quick important tip.
Wood dries out through the ends, ie the fibres dry out along their lenght much faster than through the fibres radially so if you get a load in make sure to cut it into 10" inch rings and then stack these with a lot of air gaps.
My alder and ash are burning fantastic now. I took them down in Feb. Stored well in a north facing 3 sided shed with a good overhang to make sure the rain couldn't be driven in to reach the wood and a six inch air gap under the pallets.
I burn everything at max air intake and then the stove acts like a storage heater for the night. Will burn the Alder till the real cold hits, lovely flame but you want the ash belting out the btu's for the really coal nights.
My next project is to put a vent behind the stove to feed the kitchen aswell as the front room.

Sharpshooter82

Sam Kade wrote: »

Sounds like a fella that wouldn't give his sh1t to the crows, I doubt he would ever have thought of taking on the expense of a woman.

got sense before the rest of us

FT7

Frere Jacques wrote: »

Just a quick important tip.
Wood dries out through the ends, ie the fibres dry out along their lenght much faster than through the fibres radially so if you get a load in make sure to cut it into 10" inch rings and then stack these with a lot of air gaps.
My alder and ash are burning fantastic now. I took them down in Feb. Stored well in a north facing 3 sided shed with a good overhang to make sure the rain couldn't be driven in to reach the wood and a six inch air gap under the pallets.
I burn everything at max air intake and then the stove acts like a storage heater for the night. Will burn the Alder till the real cold hits, lovely flame but you want the ash belting out the btu's for the really coal nights.
My next project is to put a vent behind the stove to feed the kitchen aswell as the front room.

Intersting on the vent, was thinking of doing this my self , burn nothing only wood , all hardwood ..mostly ash we will be felling next year's fire wood next week, we also sell some surplus and like to have it well seasoned.

reilig

FT7 wrote: »

Intersting on the vent, was thinking of doing this my self , burn nothing only wood , all hardwood ..mostly ash we will be felling next year's fire wood next week, we also sell some surplus and like to have it well seasoned.

We normally fell trees in November and December when the sap will be lowest in them and then leave them on the ground until spring where we saw them into lengths and stack standing on their ends. We draw them to the shed during summer and saw and split at this time of year. It's a never ending job, but satisfying!

Dampintheattic

FT7 wrote: »

Intersting on the vent, was thinking of doing this my self , burn nothing only wood , all hardwood ..mostly ash we will be felling next year's fire wood next week, we also sell some surplus and like to have it well seasoned.

Thought February was the point in the year when sap is lowest. Hence best time to fell trees for firewood. Could be wrong though.