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Firewood

J

JenElliott

New member
Hi everyone. I’m new to Yurt life. We bought a 22’ Yurt from Groovy Yurts that will be delivered to the Kootney Region of BC this summer. I want to make sure I have enough firewood for the winter. I’ve got a used Pacific Super 27 that I’ll be using. Can anyone share how many cords of wood they think I may need to stock. Snow is usually November -March. Mountain town so likely heating from Sept/October- May

Thanks for your feedback
 
Surely not directly helpful, but the joke below slept into my brain after reading your lines: :D



It was autumn, and the Indians on the remote reservation asked their new Chief if the winter was going to be cold or mild. Since he was an Indian Chief in a modern society, he had never been taught the old secrets.

When he looked at the sky, he couldn't tell what the weather was going to be. Nevertheless, to be on the safe side, he replied to his tribe that the winter was indeed going to be cold and that the members of the village should collect firewood to be prepared.

Also, being a practical leader, after several days he got an idea. He went to the phone booth, called the National Weather Service and asked, "Is the coming winter going to be cold?"

"It looks like this winter is going to be quite cold indeed," the meteorologist at the weather service responded. So the Chief went back to his people and told them to collect even more wood in order to be prepared.

A week later, he called the National Weather Service again. "Is it going to be a very cold winter?"

"Yes," the man at National Weather Service again replied,"it's definitely going to be a very cold winter." The Chief again went back to his people and ordered them to collect every scrap of wood they could find.

Two weeks later, he called the National Weather Service again. "Are you absolutely sure that the winter is going to be very cold?"

"Absolutely," the man replied. "It's going to be one of the coldest winters ever."

"How can you be so sure?" the Chief asked.

The weatherman replied, "The Indians are collecting wood like crazy."
 
I don't think it will be possible for you to cut too much wood lol. I have a 30' Pacific Yurt that I only use as a part time cabin and heat it while I am there hunting and then 2-3 weekends in deep winter and 6-8 weekends in the early Spring and tack on a couple weeks of vaca. I go through about 4-5 full cords of wood just doing that. Perhaps 1.5 months of heating

Now a Pacific Yurt is MUCH higher and has more volume to heat but at 22' I would say you are maybe 3/4's the way there.

I live in Northern NY near the Canadian border and looking at the map, not much further South than your region.

Keep in mind, I am frequently bringing the yurt up to temp from a dead cold, whereas you don't normally do that living full time. I would think you are going to want 12-15 full cords of wood to be safe. I would always do more than you think you will need because the worst that can happen is, you have to do less firewood the next season. ;)
 
15-20 cords. I'm guessing more towards the 20 side with full on Canadian winter. Better to have too much then too little the first year. After a full year you'll know exactly what you need based on experience. Good luck.
 
I live full time in my 24’ White Mt Yurt in NH and only use maybe 4 cords. BUT. I don’t try and keep it 70 degrees 24/7. (Lots and lots of posts here discussing my “system”. Lol. Sometimes it’s 80 sometimes it’s 25 degrees. Sometimes I’m in shorts & bare feet and sometimes in head to toe outdoor gear. I’m here for the adventure. :)

Better to have extra your first year. Especially if getting another cord of dry wood in March would be difficult for whatever reason. Roads, cost, etc. Neither Bob nor I have said it for a couple years, but “Yurts are just big tents”, right Bob?
 
Check out Zelig posts! I think they have a 22’ Groovy Yurt and it seems it waaay more efficient than our Americanized yurts. 15-20 cords! Yikes. That a full time job!
 
Got that cordage figure from John Rowlands 1947 book:

Cache Lake country: Or, Life in the North Woods

That was winter wood for a small hand made log cabin in the Canadian wild. Incredibly (by todays standards) 15-20 cords were cut by hand with axe and saw over a months labor. When I was in my 20's I cut and split winter firewood by hand using a saw and axe. Them days is LONG gone. Chainsaw and splitter for me, thanks.

Btw I've read my paperback copy of 'Cache Lake Country' many times. In fact it's a permanent book in my night stand. It's a FANTASTIC book that captures the spirit of the north in the mid 1900s. It's filled with all kinds of old school woods lore. Plus the illustrations perfectly capture the prose, and the spirit of the wild Canadian north. I just can't recommend that book enough. It will lift your spirit. 5 stars. Available online.
 
The right answer of course is more than you need. I run an outdoor boiler in Ont and will cut anywhere between 20 and 80 face cords a year. Have multiple log piles and firewood piles. Great exercise and never goes to waste. Ideally like to have a 2 year stockpile. This past winter my skidder had issues with its oil pump and instead of freezing and dealing with it in the bush, i just left it till spring. Had plenty of wood!
 
Bob Rowlands said:
Got that cordage figure from John Rowlands 1947 book:

Cache Lake country: Or, Life in the North Woods

That was winter wood for a small hand made log cabin in the Canadian wild. Incredibly (by todays standards) 15-20 cords were cut by hand with axe and saw over a months labor. When I was in my 20's I cut and split winter firewood by hand using a saw and axe. Them days is LONG gone. Chainsaw and splitter for me, thanks.

Btw I've read my paperback copy of 'Cache Lake Country' many times. In fact it's a permanent book in my night stand. It's a FANTASTIC book that captures the spirit of the north in the mid 1900s. It's filled with all kinds of old school woods lore. Plus the illustrations perfectly capture the prose, and the spirit of the wild Canadian north. I just can't recommend that book enough. It will lift your spirit. 5 stars. Available online.
Click to expand...

Thanks Bob! I will give Cache Lake Country a read this winter while I’m by the stove. Sounds like I need to get splitting some wood so no time for reading right now!!!
 
I had to look up "face cords" as I've never heard the term. Face cord is a third of a cord. So when people mention 15-20 cords, it really means 5-7.

There is a guy that posted this:
"I'm in Northern Ontario and have lived in a 22ft Groovy Yurt for 6 years. We average 4.5-5 bush cords per winter. 70% of that is spruce, 20% poplar and 10% birch. There is a very noticeable difference when we have a good berm of snow up against the walls. Wood consumption drops considerably."
 
Josée…thanks. Good eye for detail in regards to face cord. I was a bit panicked when folks were quoting 15-20 cords🤦*♀️ I missed that. Thanks for sharing the groovy yurt experience of another
 
I'm thinking one full cord a month won't heat a small log cabin in the 'pre climate change' Canadian north. If the heating season is seven months that's approximately two full cords a month, or one cord every two weeks, or a half cord a week. It might be face cords, but my guess is no.

I've read it would take a month for a man to cut and split a winters worth of firewood up north. Taking that literally, and based on 15 cords, that would be cutting and splitting a 4x4x8 full cord every couple days. I do know something about labor having carpentered since 1973, and still working right now in fact. That amount of work every couple days is reasonable.
 
10 cords of rounds the right length for your fire box

1 cord split

Lots of bucked but not sized logs

I person who splits their wood warms themselves twice. You'd be surprised how much heat you don't need from your stove when you're doing your splitting mid-winter. Leave the snow on your roof, too.
 
Cut it, load it in truck, unload it, split it, stack it, fire the stove. Lots of work. But work is VERY good for your health.

My wife and I cut two truckloads yesterday. I LOVE chainsawing wood, and splitting it with a gas splitter. Very satisfying work.
 
Bob Rowlands said:
Cut it, load it in truck, unload it, split it, stack it, fire the stove. Lots of work. But work is VERY good for your health.

My wife and I cut two truckloads yesterday. I LOVE chainsawing wood, and splitting it with a gas splitter. Very satisfying work.
Click to expand...

Great topic. We live next to a Siberian larch forest on common land. I believe we can take fallen wood. At the moment I have limited tools (a hand axe and a circular saw) and a 4WD truck with a short bed (Ssangyong Musso) for transporting.

Within a small budget, how can I setup my own firewood collection, preparation and storage? Links are welcome.

We don't need a full heating solution because we've got underfloor electric heating and low-cost electricity but I'd like to have additional heating for our waking hours. We live in our gers full time and our climate is extreme. January averages in our mountain camp in Mongolia is -33C (-27F) average low and -19C (-2F) average high. We're below freezing for 9 months of the year at night.
 
TSRalex said:
I´m suggesting IR-heating panels.....
Click to expand...

My underfloor heating is IR-film. It's not cheap to run but not terrible. How would IR-panels be different?

Firewood is essentially free except the labour to collect it and prepare it. I'm retired so I've got the time to do the work required.
 
UKadventurer said:
My underfloor heating is IR-film. It's not cheap to run but not terrible. How would IR-panels be different?
Click to expand...

OK - my assumption was an dry underfloor heating, with the radiant heat transferring through the floor itself:

Infrared Panels vs Underfloor Heating

UKadventurer said:
Firewood is essentially free except the labour to collect it and prepare it. I'm retired so I've got the time to do the work required.
Click to expand...

Moving the old muscles & bones keeps you fresh & healthy :D

But you asked for a solution, to have additional heating for your waking hours.

Beside electric heating - which is cheap as you wrote - I can´t see any alternative possibility....
 
TSRalex said:
OK - my assumption was an dry underfloor heating, with the radiant heat transferring through the floor itself:

Infrared Panels vs Underfloor Heating



Moving the old muscles & bones keeps you fresh & healthy :D

But you asked for a solution, to have additional heating for your waking hours.

Beside electric heating - which is cheap as you wrote - I can´t see any alternative possibility....
Click to expand...

Electricity costs about US$0.04 per kWh normally but might be free at night in winter or we might get a free allowance of 350kWh per month. Depending on what the government decides. The free night time electricity would be better for us. Unfortunately, 350kWh is hardly anything for electric heating in winter. Our previous house - a rental - needed 10 times that to heat it with electricity in the coldest months.

What could be cheaper than free wood? We have the stoves already, just not installed yet. This model. I believe it's a German brand or design, if that is significant.

wood burning stove.jpeg

The forest starts about 50m from our door and is quite substantial.

Lots of trees.jpg
 
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