How much firewood do I need for a Cape Town winter?

The short answer

One bag a fire, fifteen fires a month, so about 15 bags a month for a medium closed-combustion fireplace burning most evenings. A two-month winter stock is 30 bags, plus six bags of kindling and six boxes of firelighters. Everything below is how that number moves for your fireplace, and the calculator does the arithmetic for you.

Bags per fire, by fireplace

These are the numbers we use, worked out from twenty-five years of watching what people reorder and from our own unit at the yard. They assume the blend we recommend for a closed-combustion unit — half bloekom, half Namibian hardwood — and a fire built once and fed, not left to die and relit.

Closed-combustion unit	2–4 hour fire	4–6 hours	6–8 hours
Small (6–9 kW)	½ bag	¾ bag	1 bag
Medium (10–13 kW)	¾ bag	1 bag	1¼ bags
Large (14 kW and up)	1 bag	1¼ bags	1½ bags

Open fireplace: add half again. An open hearth sends most of its heat up the chimney, so a medium open fireplace on a 4–6 hour fire is about 1½ bags, not one. Pick small, medium or large by the size of the opening and the room.

The kilowatt figure is on the plate at the back of a closed-combustion unit, or in its manual. If you cannot find it: a unit heating one room is small, an open-plan lounge and kitchen is medium, a double-volume space or a farmhouse is large.

Fires a month: fifteen, not thirty

Nobody lights a fire every night for four months. A Cape winter has warm days between the fronts, evenings out, and the odd week away. We plan on about 15 fires a month — four or five a week — and that is the number that turns out to match what our regulars actually get through. Plan on 30 and you buy a wood store you will still be burning in October.

Worked examples

Fireplace	Fire	Per fire	Per month	2-month stock	Kindling + firelighters
Medium closed unit, blend	4–6 hrs	1 bag	15 bags	30 bags	6 + 6
Small closed unit, blend	2–4 hrs	½ bag	8 bags	15 bags	3 + 3
Large closed unit, blend	6–8 hrs	1½ bags	23 bags	45 bags	9 + 9
Medium open fireplace, blend	4–6 hrs	1½ bags	23 bags	45 bags	9 + 9

A two-month stock for the medium unit, delivered and stacked: 15 × Blue Gum / Bloekom ±20kg bloekom at R109 and 15 × Kameeldoring ±18kg at R120 comes to R3,435 for the wood, plus the delivery fee for your route and the starters.

Why the blend, and what changes if you burn one wood

A closed-combustion unit is happiest on a mix: bloekom to get it going and give a lively flame, Namibian hardwood on top to hold a steady heat with fewer top-ups. Pure kameeldoring all night runs the unit hot and hard; pure bloekom means you are up and down to the wood basket. Half and half is what we burn at the yard.

• Bloekom only — about a quarter more bags than the table. Cheaper per bag, more bags. Blue Gum / Bloekom ±20kg, R109.
• Blackwattle only — a little under bloekom. Denser, hotter, better coals. Blackwattle ±20kg, R109.
• Kameeldoring or sekeldoring only — about 10% fewer bags than the blend; Namibian hardwood gives roughly 1.4 times the heat of bloekom, kilo for kilo. Kameeldoring ±18kg, R120.
• Heat Logs — for an apartment unit or a small closed-combustion stove, a 10kg pack of twelve Eco / Heat Logs (R115) burns uniform and low-ash.

Storage decides how much to buy at once

Dry wood stays dry if it is off the ground, covered on top and open at the sides — a wood store, a garage, a carport, a pallet under the eaves. If that is you, buy two to three months. If your wood lives on an open stoep or under a plastic sheet, buy monthly: the Dry Guarantee covers the bag as it arrives, not a wet July afterwards. How to store firewood through a Cape winter has the detail.

Offloading and stacking the bags: included. We carry them to your wood store, garage or braai and stack them neatly where you want them — put it in the order notes and it’s handled. Unbagging — emptying the bags onto your pile — is R10 a bag, added at checkout.

Questions people ask us

How many bags of firewood do I need for a month?

For most homes, between 8 and 23 bags. A medium closed-combustion unit burning 4–6 hours an evening uses about one bag a fire, and a realistic Cape winter has about 15 fires a month, so 15 bags. A small unit on shorter fires is closer to 8; a large unit on long fires closer to 23. The calculator on this site gives your number in three taps.

How long does one bag of firewood last?

One evening, give or take. A ±20kg bag of bloekom or a blend of bloekom and Namibian hardwood is about one 4–6 hour fire in a medium closed-combustion unit. In an open fireplace the same bag lasts about two-thirds as long, because most of the heat goes up the chimney.

Should I buy the whole winter at once?

Two to three months at a time is what most of our regulars do: one delivery, one fee, the wood store full before the first front. Four months is fine if you have covered storage. If your storage is a corner of the stoep, buy monthly instead — dry wood stored badly stops being dry.

How much kindling and how many firelighters do I need?

One bag of kindling and one box of firelighters for every five bags of wood. A 15-bag month is three of each. Running out of firelighters is always discovered at the worst moment, so round up.

Is your wood actually dry?

Yes, and we stake 25 years on it. Our bagged wood is seasoned and stored under cover, so it lights properly and burns hot instead of hissing at you. If a bag ever disappoints, tell us and we’ll make it right — that is the Dry Guarantee. Read the Dry Guarantee.

Get your number, then order it in one delivery

Order online and the bags are carried in and stacked where you want them, or WhatsApp us and we will say what we would put on the truck.

See prices · Delivery from R200 WhatsApp an order — 060 978 8945