Just back to my ol' Kentucky home after an extended Christmas trip to Columbia County, NY to visit relatives. It's about 28 out an 79 inside AND we have 2 windows opened at the top and bottom about 8 inches. The Buck 80 is chugging along makin' free heat, and pleanty of it. Believe it or not, I'm going on 14.5 hours on a mix of white ash and red oak. I'll reload in about 30 minutes. It's gonna' be in the upper 30's so I've got a load of cherry and soft maple ready to load. All dem po folks payin' fur der heat! I'll member ya'll in my prayers!
Have to agree! 79° though? Holy Buckets thats warm!! The warmest I've had the house was 76. The stove room/living room in the basement does get up to 82° though. I love opening the door into the garage to let some heat in there though. And an opened window now and again for fresh air into the house is refreshing!
There is nothing like wood heat and it's free. It's scary what some of my friends paid for oil last year to heat their house and they were still walking around in sweat shirts. My kids walk around in t shirts and shorts ..
Even with prices down and mild weather my non-wood friends are paying way more than I would want to pay to keep their house at 64!
Its a wonderful thing. Experiencing this for the first time is great. My electric bill was 90 dollars hahaha
[QUOI couE="capetownkg, post: 435205, member: 66"]Its a wonderful thing. Experiencing this for the first time is great. My electric bill was 90 dollars hahaha[/QUOTE] If I could find a 12 volt blower motor to replace the 110 volt blower in the stove I could cut my electric bill in half. I switched a couple of ceiling fans to 12 volt and it made a big difference in the warm weather electric bill. I bet some of our talented membership could come up with some sort of 12 volt fan conversion....
I'm kicking myself for not getting a wood stove 10 years ago. Never could have guessed how big a difference heat wise and money wise it would make. I'm with NYCountry on this, it's free heat. Sure, you have to work for it, but my personal time is worth nothing until you (someone besides me) want to use it.
In reality, no such thing as free lunch or free heat. Various cost aspects must be borne some where/how. That said, wood heat is an extremely viable option around here. Some friends were moaning recently about problems getting access to their local gym. Really? I bit my lip. I mentioned how I'd gone a few hours back to a nearby Audubon property, where I volunteer, and went for a woods-walk with chainsaws and dropped/bucked some bad leaners overhanging a trail. Lots more to do on both their huge properties, clearing blowdowns and removing invasives. My kinda gym. I get to use brushcutter and various saws- lots mo-betta than indoor nonsense. (I do get pick of the litter of wood to take home.) Been using woodstoves regularly since the late '70s, won't go back.
Cost effective would be a better description? Exercise with something to show for? Your time for the things you do, for yourself, is truly worthless, without a dollar amount, until the exercise is so futile as for it to just make sense to pay someone else to do it. You realize you're arguing the point by quoting my post, yet I'm the third person to mention it...
If I could find a 12 volt blower motor to replace the 110 volt blower in the stove I could cut my electric bill in half. I switched a couple of ceiling fans to 12 volt and it made a big difference in the warm weather electric bill. I bet some of our talented membership could come up with some sort of 12 volt fan conversion....[/QUOTE] No real talent here, just a Rube Goldberg kind of guy. Have you looked at the heater fans that are installed in cars?
I agree with you saskwoodburner If it was purely a trade off for the cost of our time we would do other things. Its the same thing as not wanting to buy the $45.00 sockeye salmon in the grocery store but going out and harvesting a rainbow or char from one of our lakes when your day costs you far more in the end. The exercise and personal fulfillment is worth the price of admission.
My wood pile is my gym as well, when you stand back at the end of the day looking at whats been processed, I simply feel very satisfied that I did all that.
"when you stand back at the end of the day looking at whats been processed, I simply feel very satisfied that I did all that"...... hoarder's reward...
I have seen our thermometer hit 80 as well. It just feels like you are wrapped in a big blanket and it feels great
The stove is in the basement here. Overnight temp was 10°f. Loaded the stove last night as always before turning in and this morning the upstairs wall thermometer was 74°. Gotta love burning wood!
Pellet pig downstairs, and a propane fireplace backing it up. House is built into what passes for a hillside in eci so it's sorta like a cellar dweller. I'm not liking shelling out for pellets. Blaze king princess upstairs in the fireplace. That thing is a jewel. I went out to Dad's today and cut up one tank's worth of what was dragged out on Christmas. Filled the s10, and left the rest of it lay, along with the trailer. I'm gonna always try to get out and see my dad at least once a week anyway, so wood is about as cost effective as it gets for me. So easy to harvest, so plentiful, and almost always at least partway dry. Gotta love it!
