Fireplaces & Firewood

[Alistair]

Hello chaps.

Winter is well and truly upon us here in WI, so my mind has turned to firewood.

My fireplace is mostly an aesthetic thing. I like the appearance, the smell, the noise, and the coziness, but realistically it isn't a primary heating source. It's a fairly large, totally open grate fireplace with an excellent draw. To be perfectly honest it's probably pulling as much heat up the chimney as it's putting into the room. The advantages of old, brick built Tudor-revival style houses.

I muddled through the last couple of winters purchasing bundles from the gas station on an ad-hoc basis, which worked fine, but this year I'm thinking I want to use my fireplace a bit more regularly and should probably buy some wood in bulk.

A few questions to those with more experience with that.

Firstly, how much is a reasonable quantity to last a season, assuming a couple burns a week, call it 4-6 hours each? I'm thinking a 1/4 cord should be sufficient? This is WI, so I'm using it now, and I'll still want to use it in late March.

Do you have specific recommendations on type of wood I should consider? Oak seems a default choice, but open to Cherry, Hickory, or whatever if it's worth it. Again, smelling nice, looking pretty is as important as actual heat output, but it does need to chuck out enough to make the room feel cozy. I'm happy to do some tending of it, but something that'll last a little while without stacking on more logs would be welcome. Price isn't really a factor, I'm not using much and there doesn't seem to be meaningful differences either way.

Where are you guys storing your wood, and do you have a recommendation on a storage frame or similar? I can set something up in the basement, or outside, and am happy to spend a few hundred bucks for a convenient solution. I'll probably buy kiln dried stuff for the most part, so bugs etc shouldn't be an issue if storing inside.

Cheers!

 

[Betterinthebush]

In north central Pa, right now, Ashe is being burned by everyone. The emeral Ashe borer infestation has reached its climax and we’ve lost all our trees (thanks China, ‘preciate that). It’s excellent firewood. After that I like hard maple, beech, oak, cherry and lastly birch in that order of preference. For me, until this year I needed BTU’s for heat and use it as a primary source of heat in the basement, so my opinion is based on that. Plus I cut down, skid, saw, split and stack myself, so I’m picky about what trees are going to give me the best heat return for sweat investment versus just building up a huge stack of wood.

For just aesthetic and ambiance enjoyment I’d say whatever is cheapest, but would stay away from bundles of cherry as cherry spits and sparks a lot and doesn’t burn as long as the other hardwoods I listed. Oak is excellent overall but my favorite is hard maple. Maple burns very well, kicks out nice heat and has a pleasant smell.

 

[Pondoro]

Here in Norway I personally buy oak, alternatively birch..Oak is most economical to burn.. Our house(s) and mountain cottage have installed modern fireplaces/ovens that burn emission gases twice. The ovens are also covered with thick slate plates to store heat. The wood is stored in garage and purposedly built storage sheds.. This is done because she wants it warm but also as a precaution against longer powercuts caused by possible sabotage/hybrid war/war..also have gas grills for cooking.

 

[Russ16]

Here in Virginia I buy mixed hardwood as that’s most economical. I burn a fire a fair amount run them hot so I go through a lot of wood—about a half a cord a year. If I was in Wisconsin I would imagine closer to a full cord.

If price is not a factor cherry is my favorite followed by oak. But I would go with whatever you can get locally that’s well seasoned.

 

[Altitude sickness]

1 full cord should do you. Starting and stopping fires is not efficient. The better designed old fireplaces don’t work by heating from the flame. The good ones work by Heating the Stone around it and that takes a while. if you start and stop it you’re losing the benefit. If it’s just for ambience then it won’t matter.

If money is the focus, loggers will sell hard and soft woods mixed.

Wood generates heat proportional to its weight. Generally the more it weighs the more BTUs. You may find some other less popular species like Beach, locust, etc for a bargain.

Ensure it’s split or you split it. Wood left un split will decay. Split wood under shelter lasts much longer.

Make sure it isn’t infested with carpenter ants and other wood borers. And don’t store too much next to your house or on the porch for the wood borers to migrate. Or spray a good chemical barrier down first.

I moved to an outdoor wood boiler to heat the floors, water and air and for the safety and security reasons. Fire risk and insects.

 

[Ray B]

Extended family has a meat shop in NE Iowa and they run a smokehouse full time. They go through several cords of Hickory in a year. Here in the Cascade Mountains of Washington State I get wood with a USFS permit for dead, on the ground trees. Favored is tamarack/Larch but mostly I get Douglas Fir. We run a fireplace from the first snow (end of fire danger) usually in November to the end of March when things warm up and fireplace not needed. We'll go through about 2 cords a Winter. My neighbor heats almost exclusively with wood in a wood stove system and he goes through about a cord a month. Since you are using hardwood and it is supplemental to your heating system I'd guess a cord would get you through the entire Winter.

 

[Wildwillalaska]

If burning a couple to three times a week, and 4-6 hours at a time, I think you’ll need a good bit more than 1/4 cord. Our “season” is much longer in Alaska, but also burn in a Nordic soapstone, masonry style stove that has a smaller firebox and burns pretty efficiently. I cut or have wood cut to 12-14” length to fit the smaller firebox and accordingly use less at a time as well. Even with that, we burned a bit over two chords last winter, which was an overly warm winter to boot. I’m in south central Alaska and our new place on the lake is only a few miles from the coast, so not the deep freeze of the interior. We don’t burn as primary heat, more ambiance and supplemental heat in our sunroom that’s 270-degree floor to ceiling windows.

Wish we had option to burn oak and hickory or other hardwoods. Most folks are burning spruce from all the standing dead due to spruce bark beetle, and I burn some as well, mostly because it starts so easily and it’s super, super cheap right now, but I burn birch mostly. We have a fire at least twice a week, and weeks we have our girls and home on a weekend vs off skiing, then may have fires 4-6 days a week, with one going most of the weekend.

 

[Ontario Hunter]

Before you do anything else GET THAT CHIMNEY CLEANED AND INSPECTED! Make sure the tiles inside it are in good shape. If it is not completely tiled or tiles damaged, forget it! We nearly burned our house down just after moving in because the old chimney was not completely tiled. Insurance companies do NOT like old open fireplaces. Make sure your company knows you have one or any damages emanating won't be covered.