What does a quintale of wood look like?

A Quintale of wood is 100kg weight, difficult to put into perspective, as it depends how the wood is cut. But as wood keeps and gets better with age over ordering should not be a problem if you have space; also different woodmen seem to differ what load comprises.Best ask a neighbour or your woodman for accurate advice but always over order as getting in wet wood late in the Winter is to be avoided. So the answer to your question is a bit like how long is a piece of string as it depends on many factors; how long do you run a fire every day; how long do you plan to stay etc etc.

If it helps 40 quintale lasted Paul 2 winters in that wood-burning stove you saw. I would go for 5 but make sure you get it from someone who keeps it dry (not a problem at the moment!) otherwise you're 5 quintale would be a lot less.

If you can, go to the woodyard just outside Amandola on the road to San Ruffino. There's a guy in the office there who speaks English and will give you an idea of how much. They will also cut to the size you want. We used to go through so much wood in a small apt, that it was ridiculous. Had 50 Quintale (a lorry load) delivered here 6-7 years ago, for emergency use and it's still taking up loads of room in the garage. Would buy as much as you can, that you can store dry, as most is only seasoned for a year. Best time is now, as been so dry

I hear that is the equivalent of about a hundred weight (!! ??). The volume can change because it depends an the type of wood as some is heavier than others. We are some of the hardy souls who survived the snows of last winter, we tend to use ABOUT 40 quintale a winter (Nov - Mar), this year (this week) we will have 30 quintale delivered. Depends on how long you are here, how cold it is and how hot you like it ! S

We can use 10 logs a night on the woodburner, for Xmas, New Year etc. Problem is room gets too hot!!

No-one can define the length of that piece of string although, one hundredweight (cwt) is 112 pounds (lb) & 2.2 lb= 1Kg. We used to go & collect our own logs in a van & trailer. Our neighbours were all farmers that had their own woodland & cut their own, so had no real advice as to the where, what & how. We eventually found out that the best deal was from our local Coal Supermercato when they ran out of storage space in their warehouse & started stacking the crates of logs outside the shop. We had no idea they also sold logs. If bought in summer, one of those ubiquitous 6ft tall crates would cost, delivered, €110 but as much as €150 in winter. A mix of Oak, which burns hot & slow, & Beech, which burns very hot because it burns fast, is a good & very useful normal mix. One of our stoves had a very short fire box yet most logs would still fit. There is no way anbody here could estimate your needs (altitude, number & size of rooms, comfort level required, number of days in coldest months etc) but I'd advise getting a couple delivered, ASAP, & see how it goes in September when you arrive. Most Italian houses are pretty free from draughts & are fairly well double glazed but.......... have no insulation or ventilation so, in winter are as cold as hell & damp from condensation. Many of our locals shut off all rooms that were not absolutely necessary & never let the thermocamino go out. Pilch

I can fit a quintale into the boot of my Renault clio without putting the back seat down...that said, as people have already said - much depends on how fresh - or dry - the wood is!  If it is for a wood burner - all fresh wood is a disaster best is obviouslydry / seasoned wood preferably cut a full year ago but 2 or 3 years old even better.  The drier it is, the lighter it is.  Dry wood produces more heat than fresh wood - but burns quicker.  In my wood burner, sometimes I put one fresh log in with a couple of dry logs as a sort of compromise.  The fresh one takes longer to "catch" and gives off more resin / residue so cleaning requires more elbow grease on the glass - and blocks the tubes quicker. Here, they won't deliver less than a certain amount (usually 5, sometimes 10 quintale) but that might be different where you are.

...  this is a crude brush stroke but it works well enough for the average family sized stone farmhouse. The total energy you need for heating and hot water over a 200 day winter is 25,000 kW.hrs and 100 quintale of wood will comfortably produce this if it's not wet. It always pays to order a bit more to avoid stress and start off the next year with a dry stash.  These figures assume you use no other energy supply so your basic heating and hot water bill for the winter should be in the range of €1,000 - €1,300.  If you are a part timer then take the number of days you are here and multiply by 0.5 quintale. To give you a feel for how much wood this is it will be a couple of truck loads and you will be using 2 wheelbarrow loads a day when it's really cold. A good quality stove will run all winter without relighting so it is quite easy to run. As winter cold levels come and go as a curve I have a non linear model which can predict heating bills for multiple power sources quite accurately.  The ultimate for economy and convenience is a wood + heat pump combination. The heat pump fills any gaps very well and adds very little to the overall cost because its running cost is not far behind wood and far ahead of the rest of the usual sources.

...for all your combined expert knowledge.  I've got a much better picture in my head now and will be able to avoid asking for silly amounts like "half a quintale". I'll probably get about 15-20 which should be plenty.  Whole family out in September so lots of hands to do the stacking!

Must say, the best decision we made before coming here was to choose the heating system we have installed. It needs no maintenance, cleaning, inspections etc. Going out to get logs in midwinter is not my idea of a easy life!!! No risk of chimney fires either and running costs are low.