We were in England, Wales actually in a house that resembled a saltbox. I went to my parents room and before then saw the coal fireplace down in the den. All open and functional. Parents had one too. Mind you I was only 9 so I just saw this glancing at it. Then I took a closer look after asking my parents if we could light a fire in their room, they said "ok!" Wasnt that warm even in the summer, so I went to set it up and noticed that it had been covered, no flue, just a hearth with the open grate. Oops. Luckily we had one or two fires downstairs. Something to experience since we never burned coal before.
price of HHO was down to $1.58 here but last week it climbed right back up to $1.69. Who knows where crude is going, up or down. hardwood firewood is $225-$250 here - the kind that has been seasoned in a huge 30/40 foot high pile. About the same price as last Spring. With all the dead oaks I'm surprised there isn't a glut but most of those dead trees are still standing. I have a buderus boiler that is supposed to be 90% efficient, with a direct vent, and if I could get $300 to $350 for my 4 year stacked, seasoned oak I would sell it in a heartbeat and burn oil . Actually I would burn some pine and bank some more cash. I burn pine to hoard the oak, as it is !!! LOL. If I was super busy and had to buy firewood I would probably burn oil the way prices are right now .
Not saying I need to get $300/350 for my oak, that's what I value it at. Even at the predominate rate of $250, HHO is cheaper (for me) to heat with right now. HHO - $1.68 (138,670BTU/gallon) = 90% efficient boiler = about $13.50 for 1 million BTU HHO - $1.68 (138,670BTU/gallon) = 70% efficient boiler = about $17.30 for 1 million BTU oak hardwood $250/cord (24,000,000BTU/cord) = about $14.90 for 1 million BTU cheap pellets at $250/ton (16,500,000/ton) work out to about $21.50 for 1 million BTU (pellets are tough as the BTU equivalents seem to be all over the place as are different burner efficiencies, but 16.5million BTU/ton seems to be a good base figure ) even with HHO prices as low as they are I'm still glad I made the investment in a higher efficient boiler when I did (about 5 or 6 years ago ) I once roughly figured to cut up a tree in my yard for firewood worked out to a little over $6.00 for 1 million BTU ( I think I paid myself halfway decent, iirc ) If instead of putting a monetary value to your time and consider it a substitute for sitting in front of a boob tube absorbing CNNWAPOPMSMSNBC propaganda, cutting, splitting and stacking firewood is healthy and good for the body and soul.
and doing so no longer requires that fancy gym membership- or those fancy exerciser machines. That is until ya get about 5 years ahead and then get lazy again.
Here we understand the truth behind this statement. Everyone else would rather watch TV. Not too many things I'd rather do than head out to the log pile, split a trailer load and go stack it. Definitely good for the body and the soul.
Yup, the exercise thing is a part of wood burning that is very positive IMO. But I would rather spend my spare time / money shooting and reloading. So high prices for firewood just free up time for those activities for me. Although both indoor and outdoor (where the firing point is actually in a 4 bay garage- like building) ranges at my brother's shooting range DO have woodstoves, so you can do both things at one time. Not me- my indoor range is heated with the dreaded fuel oil and the outdoor ranges are really outdoors so no heat. Brian
BDF you sure stirred up a hornets nest...lol I get ya.. you buy wood.. don't have a reputable dealer cut split... log length is out because your in a major remodel adding a 2nd story so time is precious.. my hho is still 205 gallon I like your prices better how a but some reno pics man!
Well, maybe but I think a hornet's nest formed around my polite and sensible post in the first place. Sort of like a tornado in Kansas.... that is not really Kansas' fault in my opinion. But that is my opinion of course so maybe it IS Kansas' fault. And given a free and open place of conversation (this forum), it is bound to happen now and then. Called a firewood dealer today and got the machine- asked for a call- back, said I was looking for firewood and wanted a price if possible. So far, not possible I guess- no call back (and this is a full- time business with a receptionist as well as over 30 employees, not a guy with a chainsaw in one hand and a cell phone in the other hand). Just called another guy (and I think it really is a guy or three, small firewood processing business) and also left a message requesting a call- back though that was just a few minutes ago. Will call a couple more vendors. Not sure if I mentioned this or not but the local log- length dealer has dropped their price from $900 / truckload (7 cord guaranteed, 7 to 9 cord actual) to $800 / truckload. Still not quite low enough to be attractive to me. I am collecting 5.56mm (or .223 if you prefer) brass by the 5 gallon pail full, literally, from duties as an R.S.O. Got a bunch of primers and currently getting ready to try out a new powder: if these firewood prices hold, I will use oil to heat my house and reloading area in an out- building and we will all be happy. Outdoor range is... well, outdoor and indoor range is heated with.... wait for it.... the dreaded #2 fuel oil. Go hornets, GO! I am wearing my asbestos shorts and have on my suit of armor, oiled of course with fuel oil..... 'cause I will not pay the [what I believe are too high] prices to lube my suit of armor with firewood. I have 'other fish to fry' and can better spend my time on stuff like this to stay in shape (though it ain' workin') and save money: All framing, electrical and plumbing shown done by me and Mrs. BDF. Floor trusses, wall framing and roof trusses courtesy of a local (fair- to- middlin') local contractor. Sub- floor and 1,958, 028 screws installed by me and Mrs. BDF, entire floor flat and level w/in 3/32". Brian (better buckle up, it may be a rough ride)
Seems I cannot edit last post so I will add comments to photos in that post: Top left: framing, looking north into laundry room and master bedroom. Not clever use of industrial lighting masquerading as 'floor lamp' from Wally Word (read: cheap but works). Top right: junction box with those clever, new- fangled lever- lock wire connectors. These things are pure gold! Unlike the previous push- lock connectors, which only bite the wire with sharp teeth, these things use a strong internal spring to bear the connector down against the wire and are fast and easy to use, just like a wire nut but totally different. Five 12 ga. junctions shown in each lever lock connector. Bottom Left: the new structural floor trusses are a clever Canadian invention and do not use any fasteners such as gang nail plates as conventional trusses do. These trusses are 16" tall and span the entire 24 feet of the houses' width. They 'fly' over the original, inadequate 2 X 8 construction, literally a new floor above the old floor. Bottom Middle: all services are drawn from the basement to the second floor in one step that will become a chase. From the left: 1 1/2" washing machine drain pipe, 3 zones of hydronic hot water plumbing, fire sprinkler feed, cold water feed for domestic water, hot water loop (pair) insulated feeds for DHW. Then 100 amps of power, and various electrical / electronic feeds: 3 zones of thermostats, CAT5E Internet (so I can connect faster with this forum of course), coax for cable, telephone cables and a couple of extras for future use. Bottom Right: sub- panel that feeds entire second floor, including electric dryer and all A/C compressors. Rough- wired, wires not yet stapled in place. Note that although a sub- panel, there are main breakers in use; the 100 amp tandem pole breaker back- feeds the panel buses so I can turn power ON / OFF from upstairs as I add breakers and continue to wire. Second floor now powered through this panel, no more extension cords dangling down the staircase well! Brian (building an entirely new house on top of an incredibly old house ain't all it is cracked up to be and not for sissies)
Funny world and how things turn around. Gentleman comes to my house first thing this AM; he is from a tree cutting service and going to trim some parts from an ancient oak tree so the power co. can run new lines. Nice guy, and he is wearing a 2nd amendment tattoo on his left arm so we chat about that for a bit. Then I ask if his tree service sells firewood and he says no, they are under strict and exclusive contract with the power company and cannot do that. But what they CAN and DO do is to constantly get rid of truck size (7 to 9 cord), log length wood. I ask about buying some of that and again, they cannot do that but do give it away.... and then says he will call and put my name in and they will drop some by. Now that is the right price for firewood. Log length so it will need to be cut and split but even if I can only get to it for a few hours 'now and then', I can easily keep myself in firewood forever and should be able to get ahead on c/s/s supplies. Also got a call early this am from the vendor I called who is literally down the road: he wants $225 / cord. See my earlier posts in this thread for my opinion on that.... Brian
Well, I am not too excited because saying 'sure, we can drop off logs' is a long way from actually seeing any in person. This may well go nowhere at all. So maybe I do not suck quite yet.... And even if I do, it is not because of all the free logs I got. Brian
This post is for PapaDave. Hi Dave, I was going to write you a private message but since out little bit of friction was done in the public view, I thought I would post this in the public view also, trying to be more fair to you. If there was a little bit of a problem in public, I will try to fix it in public also because if it was my fault, it is only fair that whomever read the posts that started this also read this post to be fair. I took your post as a little jab at me; maybe it was, and maybe I was mistaken and did not understand your post correctly or as you intended it. I gave a bit of a sarcastic reply. So after a few days, I have re-read these posts and it certainly may be that I over- reacted, and it is certainly possible that in reacted incorrectly if I did not understand you post in the first place. I certainly have made mistakes in the past, and trying to communicate using just the printed word can be tough sometimes I think. I am also in the middle of a project that is simply too large for someone my age and so my stress level may have been high when I replied. At any rate, if I have made a mistake, I apologize. If not, what was said was just not that bad and so I am more than happy to acknowledge that it was not all that big a deal after all, shake your proverbial hand, and forge ahead on this great forum, sharing ideas and knowledge, if you are willing to do so. If not, I understand and accept that, wishing you no ill will and only the best going forward. Certainly you can respond, also publicly if you choose, or privately if you choose that, or not at all if that is your choice. I think this is about the best I can do to smooth over this and move forward, and it would be great if a lot of other people did not post and comment so that we can let this thing rest. Of course that is just my thought and everyone / anyone is free of course to say whatever he / she wants, I just think that there is little good to be gained with further discussion among a large group of people. Best Regards, Brian
Got a price from the gentleman right down the road for a cord of firewood: $225. Too rich for my blood, and as he is well- stokec (like to Mt. Olympus), best of luck for him to move it at that price. The price of log- length wood is dropping but not enough to temp. me yet. And fuel oil is still in the $1.60 / gal. range, which I can live with. Brian
Not sure which one you mean but the guy selling splits sells all hardwood, mostly oak but no spec. on species. The log length is again, all hardwood and they claim it to be 90% oak. I believe that the guy selling the firewood that is processed may well be buying his log- length from the same supplier that I got a price from for log length wood. I say this because all of the logs stacked at the processing place down the road fit all the parameters I was given when asking for a price and delivery for log- length wood. Brian
Oh ok I just wondered if he was selling anything you wouldn't have bought at that price. At that price, seems OK not too high but if you get oil at a better price for the btu's then stay with that. Im going to also agree that guy does get his wood at cost then sells to get the upper hand on anyone. Plus methinks he might also be aware of oil prices so he sells at slightly above that as tactic to his clientele...
Firewood prices around here seem to be influenced most by the height of the seller's "seasoning" mountains. When the mountains are high the prices gets closer to Two Benjamins. When the mountains are lower the prices rise towards Three Benjamins. Too often a low advertised price is a two cord minimum. I don't buy firewood cut and split but I was looking for triaxle prices for a while. No one wants to drive very far with a load.
Its just split but not stacked. Its hardly ever stacked. Someone who does that stacking realizes that if they are selling, there's a task they should be doing rather than stacking and that's getting the wood split and getting it in someone else's place. Ive only bought wood like that once. It was basically a small truckload of cedar and a couple pieces of doug fir. 60 bucks. I hadn't been hoarding at the time but I had nothing else that was dry enough at the time. But That's when I realized that the wood was not worth buying and I had the tools to do the collection so it just snowballed from there. Now since Ive got more than enough split, I tend to sell the wood Ive made just for the pit because its been dried and covered for a few years. I just ended up splitting it and out. Makes it easy to sell so I can get back out to scrounging better woods.
