Earlier I explained why we went from a gas stove to a wood stove again; it has everything to do with our move. While a gas stove is very practical in itself, I am now very happy with our wood stove, especially because we use it regularly and it is just a bit more cozy than before. Now that we have lived here for a while, I can tell you how much wood we now burn per evening, or per time the stove is switched on.
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During the week we don't use the wood stove very often. By the time we have finished eating, exercising, walking the dog and taking care of the pigs and goats, it is often already 8:30 pm or later. And on a weekday we don't really think about lighting the wood stove. But Friday, Saturday and Sunday are pre-eminently the days when we like to make a fire when it suits us. Especially Sunday is actually my favorite day when it comes to firing.
If it's a rainy day, I like nothing better than cocooning in the living room with the stove on. A cozy crackling fire in the background while I'm reading a book? Yes please! Add a glass of wine and I'm completely in my element. This is a perfect way to relax, especially if we have done some work on Saturday and Sunday in the morning.
Now Frank is the one with us who usually lights the stove and keeps throwing the firewood on it during the time we let it burn, but to be able to answer the question 'how much wood do you burn per evening' I also regularly watched. It really depends on the type of wood you use.
There are an incredible number of types of wood available for the wood-burning stove. At the moment we still have wood that was still here in the animal pasture under a layer of plastic. And wood from a few trees that stood around the pond that we said goodbye to last year with our garden renovation. That is not the very best wood of course, it has been rotting on the ground for years, so it has not dried very well. And the wood from the fruit trees that we removed ourselves is only just drying in our new Corten steel wood storage. This wood has to dry for a relatively long time, so we can't use it yet. Incidentally, it is beautiful wood for burning!
For the time being, we still have some old wood that has been in our garden house in the old house. It is now in our shed at the new house. That has dried very well, but is again small pieces or leftovers from DIY projects. We can easily make that up when we start firing, it's just difficult to say something about how much wood you burn per evening. We currently have hardwoods and softwoods that we use mixed up a bit.
If we really only fire the wood stove for a few hours in the evening, then we opt for a soft type of wood, such as birch or alder wood † This wood burns easier and faster. So you have a nice fire very quickly, but you have to get up relatively faster to get a new log for the wood stove. The advantage of this is that - if you go to bed after a few hours - you can quickly leave the wood stove alone because the wood has burned out.
If we are going to burn for a longer day because, for example, we already turn on the fireplace on Sunday afternoon, we prefer to choose hardwood. This is because you last much longer. Once it's on the wood stove, you won't have to worry about it for a while. Provided you have a good burning fire, that is, because your stove must already be warm enough to let a large hardwood block burn nicely. Harder woods are, for example, oak, beech and ash †
So how much wood you burn per evening depends entirely on how long you want the wood stove or fireplace to burn. You can assume that a log of the soft variant burns about 1-1.5 hours and a hardwood log about 1.5-2 hours. Depending of course on the size of the log 😉 .
In addition to the burning hours that a certain type of wood provides, the experience that a particular type of wood provides is also important. Hardwood gives off a more intense heat. Very useful if you want to heat a large room, for example. But suppose you have, for example, a fireplace in your bedroom as you see above. Nice and romantic! But it is not so pleasant if it burns very hard and gets very hot. You actually want to have a small cozy crackling fire. So that the room is not too hot later in the evening, which makes sleeping very unpleasant. In this case it might be better to look at an eco-friendly way of heating.
The same applies, for example, to a wood stove in the kitchen. I would very much like (after our major renovation) to have a hanging fireplace at the dining table. I find such a fire so cozy when you are having a drink with friends, for example. But even then it can quickly become too hot again, so here too I would rather opt for softwood and burn slowly.
As you can see, how much wood you burn per evening depends on various factors. What type of wood do you prefer to burn? Or do you not like the wood stove at all, but do you prefer pellets or a gas stove?
