How much firewood should you store?

Good Size Log Store

Huge numbers of people are putting in Wood Burning Stoves, Boilers and Ranges at the moment. They’re doing this for a number of reasons: to beat rising gas and electricity prices, to reduce their carbon footprint,  or to improve the resilience of their heating system in the face of peak-oil based supply issues.  The first challenge appears to be actually getting hold of a stove – apparently Dunsley have a 6-month backlog on orders for some of their stoves, And Stovax reported a 50% increas in orders in the last quarter of 2008. Once you have your stove though, how resilient is it likely to be? Unless you have your own woodland you are dependant on a supplier – so will there be enough wood for everyone who is currently putting in a stove or range?

The Guardian recently discussed the problems there are with firewood supply, and there are some of the facts:

• Current UK consumption is about 1,180,000 tonnes a year.  Only 1m of those are produced in the UK, so we’re currently importing 15% of our firewood needs.
• However, if you’re not fussy about what you burn, then there are 2.5m tonnes of burnable wood going to landfill every year – so if you see a skip full of random timber or broken pallets take it home and burn it – you’ll be helping the UK become firewood-independant.
• Demand is increasing at around 25-30% a year, and resulting shortages resulted in price increases of up to 30% at the end of 2008.
• The increase in demand is particularly resulting in an increasing supply of green, un-seasoned logs that will need to be stored for at least a year before being burnt.
• There are wide price variations across the UK firewood is most expensive in the North and West, and cheapest in the South East.
• The Government is working to bring another 2m tonnes of firewood to market by 2020. They say this will be enough to heat 250,000 homes (an average consumption of 8 tonnes/yr/house).

With the current supply chain under significant stress, the easiest way to ensure that your wood-fired stove or boiler continues to provide heat is to make sure that you have stored enough wood yourself. The general guidance is that wood should be stored for a year to reduce its moisture content from the 70-50% it is when felled down to an ideal <25% for burning. If you haven’t been through a full season with your wood-burner yet the general guidance is that an average house will consume 8 tonnes a year – around 12 m³, depending on your level of insulation, how hot you keep the house, whether it’s also heating your hot water etc. So – how much wood have you got stored? Two months supply? Less?

If your wood-burning stove is essential to your heating/cooking/hot water then you need to take wood storage seriously. Build a wood store – a shelter with a roof (clear if possible), open sides, and use pallets for the base and to divide sections to maximise airflow. Preferably split it into at least two sections so that you can have one section “seasoning” (drying) and one section that you are burning. Store the wood end-on to the airflow after chopping it to the right size for your stove. Make the stack as tall, long and thin as possible to maximise airflow.

Do that, and your wood-burning range can provide a really resilient solution to your heating, hot water and cooking needs.

Resources

• Wood Fuel Wales – Energy availability from different wood fuel sources
• Centre for Alternative Land Use @ Bangor University – leaflet on drying firewood
• Lancashire Logs – Logs supplied to Manchester & North West
• LogSuppliers – Lancashire-based log suppliers, £75/m³
• Green Ground – Tree Surgeons selling logs to North West
• BuyShedsDirect – Supply small log stores (good for a little one by the back door)
• Weston Forest – Logs Supplied from £60/m³
• Gumtree – firewood listings for Manchester
• Belmont Tree Surgeons – Bolton-based tree surgeons. Logs Supplied from £40/m³