Is burning worth it?

Can I come stay with you

 

Any time brother! You just have to work your way up to Minnesota!

 

If I had to buy wood at $300 a cord I wouldn't be burning wood to save money, I'd be burning wood because I end up keeping the house a little warmer with wood. There have been times when the price of HHO was really low I've been tempted to sell my wood and pay for an awful lot of HHO, but I never did it. Once I've got the sweat equity into my stacks they are really hard to part with. Wood heat is just too nice. Making firewood isn't really all that hard either, just gotta get out there and do it.

 

I just love cutting wood. Like, I have a problem. Being outside, the exercise, sense of accomplishment, etc etc.

We certainly keep the house much warmer with the stove than we would if I were burning propane. Love coming in a toasty home on a cold day knowing the heat is free.

I have to admit thought, sometimes I'm throwing wood in the stove just to make room in the stacks for more cutting.

 

As others have said, we enjoy the heating pattern of wood heat, i.e. a steady uninterrupted flow of warmth. Propane cycles would leave us chilled during half the day. My firewood costs me $50 per cord ($30 for SUV gasoline/$10 battery depreciation/$10 everything else) and we burn 4 to 5 cords per year. Propane ($2/gallon) would cost us around $1000 more than wood but those cyclical chills, brrrrr!

We enjoy staying active, being outside, and find all our downed wood by hiking. In the last 5 days we moved 10 tons of stuff by hand: 8.25 tons of 1" stone spread on the drive with a rake, shovel, 5 gallon bucket, and a hand truck. Cut, hauled (SUV), split, and stacked 1 ton of sugar maple (two trips, cut with a 14" battery chainsaw). Stocked the basement with 0.75 tons of dry firewood from the stacks (hand truck). We are both over 65 and no gym membership. The last time we rocked the drive two years ago, we spread 8 tons of 1" stone by hand in a day and a half (upper drive two years ago, lower drive this week). Both loads of rock were $150 each, not bad to rock the entire drive for $300.

 

iowahiker I like your determination and tenacity!
BUT make friends with someone with
I still help out my neighbor, plumber, contractor etc etc with mine..
8 ton of 1 inch is less than 2 hours with mine..

 

BUT the drive looks MUCH nicer spread by hand!

 

Just pulled CSV data from my thermostat. We've run the heat 4.25 hours for the whole month of November so far.

 

Monetarily, burning wood is the only solution for me. I had my first fire of the season this year (2024) October 5th, night temp was 35°. This was a month later that in 2023, first fire was September 15th. Granted, during October, there were days I let the fire go out, but we've had many days in November and December when night lows were in the teens, and daytime highs were low 20's. So far this year, I have burned just shy of half a cord. This equates to about $150. My house temp never gets below 75° degrees, and more normally, we keep it around 77°, it's just where we like it. I'm heating 3,000 sq ft, well insulated 2x6 construction. When talking to a heating/cooling guy a couple years back when debating putting in a propane furnace, he told me it I wanted to maintain those house temps with propane, I should figure on $4,000 to $5000 dollars for the winter and, with the on off cycling, I still would not feel as warm. I am now buying my wood split and delivered, and last winter, I burned 2.5 cords which cost me about $420, and we were warm, very warm! When I visit the average person heating with gas, I'm usually always cold, so, I'm dressed in a flannel shirt etc. I just had a guy doing a nearby tree removal drop off four trailer loads of logs for free, so, in three years, after it's seasoned, my heat will be free. There's no question for me that heating with wood is worth it both money wise and for real comfort. And then, on top of that, the comfort of watching a nice cozy fire burn.

 

Our first season with a basement wood stove installation was the 2022 heating season. It took me a full season to really understand running my stove, which Oldhippie was a huge resource for me. This season I feel like me and the stove are finally good friends. I've been tracking the gallons of oil delivered to our house in the year since that installation. Our last delivery of oil was early October and I'm still sitting on about 60% of a tank. But we also haven't had consistent cold in Southeastern MA and probably have only had about 15 days of running the stove this year. But so far we haven't yet bought wood as I've scrounged, cut, and split myself. I'm good on wood for this season (24-25) and next season (25-26) but need to get after something for the 26-27 season and beyond so that it's ready. Dare I say it, but I've always benefitted on securing wood following a good Nor'Easter blowing through here. But I do have some trees on our property that are ready and able to be dropped if I can get around to them. If I had to buy split wood, it would still be worth it if we were keeping the annual oil costs this low.

 

We've only lived on the farm with wood heat for 5 years now. Compared to the 5 years of living in town with electric heat there is no comparison. Wood heat is better in many ways. Calculated it saved $2500-$3000/year.

In town, less wind, newer construction, plastic over all windows, and we kept the house at 65f to save money. Electric heat only. Still cost over $350 the coldest month of the year.
Farm, more wind, older house, only cover picture window and solid wood door with heavy curtain when below 0f. Keep house at 72f. I scrounge all our wood. Haul, cut, split, stack it all. All my saws, truck, splitter, chains, and most axes were bought or gifted used. I have 6 saws and maybe paid $800 total. 2 new axes, one new hatchet, and 3 new cable chokers to skid logs. Heck, I buy used sawchains from companies that don't resharpen them. I bought 3 pack of new Stihl chain on sale last year and felt like I was going bankrupt. I've had a truck since I was 17 on the farm.

I'm behind on my 3 year plan. Elderly couple down the road needed firewood last winter. Both got out of hospital and their only source of heat is firewood. They used a years worth on top of my winter use last year. I have 2 years cut up waiting splitting. I stack wood on an old summer kitchen foundation and planned on putting a roof over it last summer, didn't happen. Splitter went down and I got busy with life the last 6 months. Hand split a face cord initially this fall and got splitter fixed to split the rest of a cord before I had surgery.

Got 120 gallon propane tank installed this summer for backup heat through main HVAC. We may see how much we typically save if I can't split wood the rest of this winter. I'd say $50/ cord is a good cost estimate for all fuel/oil/gloves/beverages used to scrounge it up. $200/ year is a lot cheaper than any other heating method.

 

Few years back, I wanted to see what electric heat would cost so I shut down my outdoor wood boiler and went 100% electric. I kept the house at the same 75-77° like when I was burning wood so I could get a true comparison. My December bill (for November usage) was $900, and my January bill (for December usage) was $1,100. I immediately fired the boiler back up.

 

When my wife and I were starting out in our first house and first baby was on the way we heated with wood because that's all we could afford. One chainsaw and one maul and the work truck. We saved a ton of money. I loved it then and I love it now. It is good exercise. It is also about the most relaxing thing I can do. My mind can zone out or ponder life's problems while I'm cutting, splitting, stacking and moving wood. Today I guess you could call it a hobby with a purpose. I look forward to the seasons changing and getting out to cut wood every year.

 

[QUOTE="....My December bill (for November usage) was $900, and my January bill (for December usage) was $1,100. I immediately fired the boiler back up.[/QUOTE]

Wow! I remember when I was building my house here in Massachusetts, right on the New Hampshire border. I called the electric company and asked about possibly doing an electric heat house. The guy at the electric company said, "That's crazy! Do what you're doing with the oil burner, and think about a wood stove." Well, I was already on the wood stove page, more from a country farmhouse mindset than actually heating the house with it. It didn't take me long to get to 24X7.

 

>>> "...Today I guess you could call it a hobby with a purpose. I look forward to the seasons changing and getting out to cut wood every year." <<<

I'm down with that!

 

We upgraded our wood fireplace to wood stove two years ago. The change has saved us 1000 gallons of propane each winter. At about $2/gal, that's a $2000 each winter. I figure I need another two years to pay off the stove/installation and the hydro splitter, then I'm making money.

Only disappointment is the price of cats. My stove has two, and at $350 per cat, that's a big expense. If they need to be replaced every three years (~12,000 hours), that eats in to my savings. But definitely still worth it!