Most of the time when my wood stove comes up in a conversation the same old question is asked, "How much do you really save?" While many of us already know this, it did get me to thinking of the question in a much different way. Here it is, " How much would have I've spent?" I won't shy away from the fact that in the dead of winter I like it warm 74-76F on the main floor and about 70-72F upstairs.. I bust my butt getting ready for the winter with wood so I'm going to enjoy my wood stove. So, if I were to run my furnace which is Natural Gas base board to produce these toasty temperatures..I wonder what my monthly bill would look like? I have a split level ranch with about 1800sq ft... Math Geeks enjoy.......
Figure the BTU per cord of whatever wood you're using, then use an online comparison calculator to get the number.
Math math, not meth math. Meth math isn't good for anything. When I got my quadrafire insert, I determined through math math, that it paid for itself the first winter I had it. Plus, real wood heat is much warmer than forced air furnace heat. So even if it were a wash, the wood heat would still win.
Sitting here with the furnace running and stat set at 70. Soon after it shuts down, the house will start feeling a bit cooler. That doesn't happen with the "always on" wood stove heat. I'll know better the cost of running the furnace after this winter. New building would be a HE nat. gas fired boiler and in floor radiant. There'd also be a woodstove.
Natural gas can be tough to figure because the price fluctuates year round, but you should be able to target a reasonable average and compare BTU from that. Probably around $1500.00 /year. Put that savings into a CD every year at 3% current rates and in 40 years you have $120,000 , or an extra $3600 a year to retire on the interest. Invest it in riskier vehicle(s) and you can double or triple that likely as well. It's not chump change that's for sure.
Far too random to truly get a precise number. Too many changing variables. First would have factor in the efficiency of your NG system and how much fuel it would use on a given day at X°F or Celsius. Cost of NG during that timeframe. Then you'd have to calculate the amount of wood to keep the house at the same (or comparable) temperature. Then you could calculate a daily snapshot, but you also have to take account of gasoline price to run the saw, bar oil, and gas oil mix. Your time, that is dependent on how much your time is worth while you could be performing some other financially beneficial task. This includes moving the wood, as well as time tending to the stove, ash cleanout, chimney sweeping, etc. So, if gas prices rise, and NG prices fall, you're saving less. Vice versa if the numbers are reversed. Being that most cost variables can change on a weekly or daily basis, it's like trying to hit an extremely erratic moving target. The math can be done, but it wouldn't be an easy or quick answer. Ok, beer time again.
@bill3b ,I think at one point, I calculated it would run us about $1500/winter for Nat. gas so so your estimate is pretty spot on. Our rate actually dropped recently though, so ..............maybe $1400.
Our wood use when full time since we've been here has averaged 5 cord/year. Comparable Nat. gas would run us about $1500 (or 1400), so our savings is close to half by using wood, even with a new HE furnace and using a fairly HE wood stove. The house is warmer using the wood stove too. Pretty easy. I can also pretty acurrately tell anyone who asks how much wood I'll use in any given month, unless there's a super cold snap (or conversely, a warm spell). Does your Nat gas price fluctuate that often?
I will not argue averaged costs, just that a precise number is hard to nail down. We have no NG here, even though there will soon be two gaslines running through the property. Our first two years here it ran us ~$1300-$1600 per winter for FO. I've never tended to the math of cost of procuring, producing, moving firewood. Nor have I calculated the approximate time spent on the stove feeding and tending. Also, how does one factor in the consistent heat of wood vs the on & off of a forced air furnace?? I very much prefer the consistent temps vs the "chilly/hot" aspects of the furnace. That's not an easily attainable number, but the OP is dealing with baseboard heat, which tend to have less highs n lows. Once we went with our first woodstove, I've not bothered to factor the numbers, nor would I ever go back.
lets see stove, hearth, and installation chainsaw(s), splitter, axe, maul, pickaroon, fuel truck, trailer, tractor, ATV, 4x4, fuel TIME it is a losing proposition but we WANT to so we justify it.
Let's not forget how much time is spent making money (and all the extras that need to be added) to pay for a different fuel. This could get extremely tedious. Agreed.
I don't care, I like saws, warmth, really hot water, & a reason to get outdoors & do something. I know if I was heating with propane I'd have spent 4-5 times what I have on all my wood tools & toys. I set the stats where I want the temperature & don't worry about getting a bill or being chilly. I don't have to justify chit, I like wood heat period.
Yes...and if you heat with NG, or FO, in the springtime what do you have? A $200 furnace and an empty tank (or NG bill) But in the springtime a firewood hoarder still has a stove, chainsaw(s), splitter, axe, maul, pickeroon, truck, trailer, tractor, atv, 4x4...and time well spent in the woods...which is good exercise, that pays you back...unlike the rest of the world that pays out for their exercise...in germ infested gyms. Lemme see...I'll stick with my wood heat thank you very much...
Another way to look at is by amount of fuel used. When I started burning wood, fuel oil consumption fell by 75%. I had been burning around 600 gallons of oil and I cut that down to 150 or less. For those that would be burning NG you have to look at the number of therms you would use if not burning wood and the number of therms used when you do burn wood.
