wood to oil breakdown

[lmathews]

Hi all,
I was curious if you could help me on an oil question.I burned 12 cord of wood that was 30" long last year.What would that convert into gallons of oil?
1 cord of wood 4x8x4= how many gallons of oil? Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks Lee

[sk8heaven]

I think it depends on the type of wood you burned. this website lists the btu/cord many of the different wood types :

http://worldforestindustries.com/forest-biofuel/firewood/firewood-btu-ratings/

Oil is roughly 139,000 btu per gallon.

[lmathews]

I thought I would have had more responses.I will rephrase- I would like to know what a 4x8x4 cord of popple would equal in gallons of oil?

[DrTimPerkins]

Depends slightly on what species you mean by popple. A full cord of aspen would be equivalent to about 106 gallons of fuel oil. A cord of cottonwood is somewhat less, about 97 gallons of oil. For comparison, good hardwood fuel (maple, beech) would be worth about 173 gallons of oil. Spruce would be about 115 gallons.

[markct]

also remember that more of the btu can be extracted from oil than wood usualy in an evaporator, ie much lower stack temps, so its not a direct comparison by btu quanity alone

[lmathews]

Thank you.That was what I was looking for.
Have a Merry Christmas ALL!!!

[adk1]

there is only one sugarmaker here that I know of that burns oil, all others burn wood, but wood is readily available. Most burn softwood, hemplock & white pine since most around here burn the hardwood to heat there homes, as I do

[wiam]

I burn mostly hardwood in my arch because that is where it makes me money. The softwood goes in my house boiler.

[DrTimPerkins]

also remember that more of the btu can be extracted from oil than wood usualy in an evaporator, ie much lower stack temps, so its not a direct comparison by btu quanity alone

Correct. Those figures are maximum. Your actual results will depend upon a number of different factors.