Have you ever wondered if heating with wood would trim your fuel bills? Look over the information in these charts to help find the answer.
Find the kind of wood you will burn from Chart One.
Find the kind of wood burner you use from Chart Two or Three. Chart Two is for wood stove users; Chart Three is for fireplace users.
Read the figures that apply to your present fuel: oil, lpg, natural gas, electric heat.
Example: If you have a high-efficiency stove, and burn a cord of wood from Group B, and use lpg to heat your home, then Chart Two tells you that for each cord of wood you burn, you save 185 gallons of lpg. You can compare the cost of the cord of wood to the cost of 185 gallons of lpg to see what you are saving in dollars.
Wood Heating Chart | Heat Values of New England Fuel Woods Photo Credit : Janis Christie
WOOD HEATING CHART ONE:
Relative Heat Values for Common Fuelwoods Found in New England
(air-dried eight months or more)
GROUP A
(best fuels)
apple, black birch, dogwood, black locust, hickory, hop hornbeam (ironwood)
NOTE:
First figure in each trio = box stove or Franklin fireplace (closed)
Second (middle) figure = airtight stoves only
Third (last) figure = high efficiency stoves only
All figures are adjusted to reflect efficiencies of woodstoves, gas and oil furnaces, electric heaters.
WOOD HEATING CHART THREE:
Fuel Equivalences for Listed Woods
(Standard Fireplaces / High Efficiency Fireplaces)
A Cord of Wood from:
Equals
Gallons No. 2 Oil
Gallons LP Gas
Cubic Feet Natural Gas (Thousands)
Kilowatt-Hours Electricity
Group A
=
25/63
34/84
3.07/7.67
674/1686
Group B
=
23/58
31/77
2.84/7.0
616/1540
Group C
=
21/52
28/70
2.53/6.33
557/1393
Group D
=
19/47
25/62
2.27/5.67
499/1246
Group E
=
16/41
22/55
2.0/5.0
440/1100
Group F
=
14/36
19/48
1.73/4.33
381/953
NOTE:
First figure in each pair = standard fireplaces only
Second figure = high-efficiency fireplaces or Franklin stoves (open)
All figures are adjusted to reflect efficiencies of fireplaces, gas and oil furnaces, electric heaters.
Efficiencies Used in Charts:
Standard open fireplaces = 10 %
High-efficiency fireplaces = 25 %
Standard box stoves = 30 %
Airtight stoves = 50 %
High-efficiency stoves = 60 %
Standard oil furnaces = 65 %
Standard lpg/natural gas furnaces = 75 %
Electric heat = 3.41 BTUs-hr/watt-hr
Fuel Values Used in Charts:
Group A Woods = 23 million BTUs/cd
Group B Woods = 21 million BTUs/cd
Group C Woods = 19 million BTUs/cd
Group D Woods = 17 million BTUs/cd
Group E Woods = 15 million BTUs/cd
Group F Woods = 13 million BTUs/cd
Gallon no. 2 oil = 140,000 BTUs
Gallon lp gas = 91,000 BTUs
Cubic foot natural gas = 1000 BTUs
Kilowatt-hour electricity = 3410 BTUs-hr
