New Splitter $1100 New Chain Saw $500 Safety Gear $200 Stove and Chimney $4500 Flag stone to rest stove on $350 Jackhammer rental to remove old fireplace $250 total investment $6850 I had guessed it would take us 3 or 4 years to see a return on the initial investment. Our neighbor spent $4000.00 on propane this winter (800 gallons at $1 per and $1600 at $2 per) I guessed wrong, in a good way. Bragging to everyone that we only used 80 gallons of propane this winter.. priceless.
That is a quick return. After spending all of that money it is nice to know it is worth more than enjoying the stove fire.
Oh yeah, being able to have it 80F in the living room during a cold, windy sub 0 night in January is another one of the many awesome benefits.
Coal and oil. I have a chimney that's remnant of an oil furnace. Actually you can see oil seeping out of the top of the chimney from strong use. I can only imagine what kinds of $$ was thrown around keeping folks warm who didn't like fires. Its ridiculous how expensive it is. My parents do this since they have a fireplace but they also aren't home much during the winter. Furnace is long gone but the coming of a wood stove is just another warming thought...plus the other investments that will keep me in business. Heh well I won't need anyone's permission to hoard wood. At least I'd have reason to do so!
For us, the costs were outrageous prior to getting the quadrafire insert. Used like new Quadrafire 4100i with SS flexpipe and all items needed to install for under $400. We got this insert 2 heating seasons ago. It paid for itself in the first year. Our natural gas bill was $24 in February. That includes a $9.50 fee to have natural gas. Our home has NG forced air furnace, Ng water heater, Ng clothes dryer, and Ng cook range and oven. We cook a lot on the stove and oven. I'd say we burnt at least half of that NG as cooking fuel. We used to have NG bills of $100 regularly before installing the insert. My buddy and I removed the insert from the home it came out of, and installed it as well. My 029s was bought and paid for 17 yrs ago, splitter is my buddy's, and I recently got a Makita 6421 for $300. I bought my Kawasaki bayou ATV for $1000. Next up is a wood shed that will cost me probably $500 in material, and $100 in beer and food for my friend to help build it.
I have not gotten numbers from them, but they said they had to fill it twice this winter. I am assuming they had a 1k tank and did not take it to empty. We hardly used ours and used 80 gallons, so I would assume if we used it full time we could have used 300 to 400 gallons a month, but I don't know, part of why I am asking what folks heating bills were. I do know that their home was for seasonal so not insulated properly, just like mine is not insulated properly. We have no insulation on the roof. I re did the bedrooms to give us R 30 walls and insulated the crawl space below the bedrooms. I think ot is reasonable to think an uninsulated home here at 8000 feet could cost 250 a month in propane to keep 72F all winyer long. Another neighbor has a bigger log cabin home and garage, he has a 2500 gallon tank. He had to call in his reserve at the end of the season. I think he is better insulated, but also has more volume. I looked online real fast and I think I am way over estimating his numbers. I will try to find out what his actual usage was. Maybe his tank is smaller then mine? Maybe they did half fills? If it was two 500 gallon fills then I am back to my original ROI of 3 to 4 years.
Don't forget the "Free gym membership" Health benefits The enjoyment of the outdoors & The warmer temps that you feel with wood heat
This for sure, gets me off the computer. Really enjoy taking Gianna up to the meadows to "help" me cut down trees.
We used to be oil furnace only before the wood stove. It's hard to put a specific dollar amount, as heating oil prices can fluctuate greatly here, but basically instead of using 4 x 500 liters, we're 1 x 500 liters. Or around a 75% reduction in heating oil. As of Sunday, we've used 108 gallons of oil since the start of October. I'm quite sure cost wise everything from the floor to the chimney cap, and my little chainsaw, cleared itself the first year.
I figured about 4 years for my stove and equipment too. I'm 2 years in. However due to certain online forums giving me more ideas and things to want I keep buying more equipment and tools. So now probably another 2 years tacked on. Maybe get that bigger trailer this year... pickaroon might be nice. Get that big bore kit for the 6421 to make it a 7900... oh and maybe a timberline sharpener really want to try one of those ....
That's great. My investment wasn't as large because we had an insert, Buck 80, installed in an existing fireplace. We figured 4 years to get our investment back. The next 2 winters were brutal and propane prices were high. By the end of the second winter we had our money back. But now the propane company wants to charge us a low usage fee because we don't use enough propane. That gets fixed soon. The electric plant down the road is converting to natural gas and the new pipeline is about 4 miles away and closing. We can tap into it if we want. Hell yes we want! Just think, every withdrawal of the wood pile has a corresponding deposit in the bank account! Keep burning! Keep saving!
Cutting splitting stacking nights and weekends............................. continual maintenance on equipment................. fuel and oil......................... Want to go fishing? No I have to get this wood split for 2020 season.......................
I spend an hour here and there. Has not stopped me from completing firefighter academy or shooting with friends. Daughters enjoy going on wood collecting trips. Balance is the key.
plus 1000! It means something to be able to do this. Here in the "south" we use heat pumps and they suck below 20 degrees. If you get a cold snap for 4 or 5 days it will run for those days WITHOUT cutting off. We dont have many of those but still, I like it warm inside when its cold out.
