# Actual cost of "free wood"...VS pellets



## iceguy4 (Nov 27, 2013)

I have burned a LOT of wood over the years...mostly free standing wood.  It must be cut down$$$ cut up into stove size pieces$$$  loaded ..trucked home$$$, split$$$ stacked and stored$   
   For those of you who use a chainsaw, power log splitter and a pickup to do this, how much you figure you spend (TIME and $$) doing this?
     Heres my list to the best of my recollection..all based on a cord of wood
 1) cut down load and move wood home   one 8 hour day...labor? (small truck 3 loads) gas$15, oil,$3. chain...$10??
 2) split , stack...3 hours...labor?? gas$10


For ease with figures will you concede 1 cord of wood will take 10 hours to get ready to burn? (I'm sure there are young "whipper-snappers" out there who can do it in seconds)   Other costs include time to clean up wood trash(from working it) bug spray and listening to mama about bugs. Time when you have to get up and stoke it.  This combined with having to tend burner on its schedule ..as apposed to working it around your schedule. 
   So , its my contention if you apply  $10/hr for labors ...my $200/ton pellets are in fact CHEAPER...
 correct me if I'm wrong


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## PassionForFire&Water (Nov 27, 2013)

Is that you in avatar picture, .... and what are you looking for?


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## ewdudley (Nov 27, 2013)

Cost of gas, equipment, maintenance, you name it, more than I care to admit, but hey, free exercise!
Depriving the county of $8.00 tax revenue on every $200 worth of pellets I don't buy, priceless!


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## PassionForFire&Water (Nov 27, 2013)

ewdudley said:


> Cost of gas, equipment, maintenance, you name it, more than I care to admit, but hey, free exercise!
> Depriving the county of $8.00 tax revenue on every $200 worth of pellets I don't buy, priceless!


 
That's only 4%, I taught NY had 10% or so on tax


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## mustash29 (Nov 27, 2013)

I spend more time and more fuel mowing a 1/2 acre of lawn and sucking up oak leaves than I do C/S/S ing 3-4 cord of wood.

I know for fact it took me 1.5 gal of saw fuel mix and 1.5 gal of splitter gas to do 2.5 cord this summer + three 30 mile round trips with the truck & trailer to get it.  So 3 gal gas + about 6 gal diesel, so maybe 50 bucks total including 2 stroke oil & chain sharpening.  That's enough to heat me for 12 weeks in the dead of winter.


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## ewdudley (Nov 27, 2013)

PassionForFire&Water said:


> That's only 4%, I taught NY had 10% or so on tax


I think the normal maximum for sales tax is 4% state and 4% county.  But there's no NY State sale tax for home heating fuels.  Nevertheless the counties can charge up a up to a total of 4.75% for residential coal, fuel oil, and wood (for heating), apparently.

http://www.tax.ny.gov/pdf/publications/sales/pub718r.pdf


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## iceguy4 (Nov 27, 2013)

I have never paid tax on pellets yet . Now heating oil is a different story. I live in Albany county no tax...Schenectady county...tax


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## iceguy4 (Nov 27, 2013)

PassionForFire&Water said:


> Is that you in avatar picture, .... and what are you looking for?




 Yea its me...how I got the name Iceguy.  I was looking for any non Harman owners who actually want to be warm in the winter!   LOL


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## muncybob (Nov 27, 2013)

I don't count the labor cost into it as I consider it a hobby and needed exercise. But if you are comparing apples to apples you have to consider the gas used to go get the pellets, the tax paid on the purchase and your _time _(labor cost) to get and bring home to the storage area.

Before processing wood I paid a gym membership of $35/mo. in the winter just to stay in shape. Last night I commented to my wife that I need to get out and cut some more wood as the jeans were feeling a bit snug


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## jdonna (Nov 27, 2013)

I can speak from both sides since I burn pellets and firewood.  I find there are hidden costs with the pellet stove, electricity, parts (Pots, Sensors, bushings ect).  I have to move bags of pellets around and truck them just like cord wood.  The ash, dust and proper cleaning take time on the pellet stove just as much as the wood stove. 

Hard to get a true handle on costs.  You have to figure in the cost of the saws, splitter and any other related equipment.  I had a blowout on my trailer hauling two cords of wood on the way back from FIL farm a month ago.  All my equipment is second hand stuff, so it was pretty low cost.   

At the end of the day, the exercise, enjoyment and satisfaction of burning wood on a cold day trumps dumping a bag of pellets in my noisy machine.   I had 15 power outages last winter and if i did not have the Fireview, I would be SOL.  

Also, when a big storm rolls through and lots of trees are down, I enjoy helping people out since I have the machinery.


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## MarkW (Nov 27, 2013)

I don't count the labor costs because no one is going to be paying me to sit on my butt in the mean time.


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## jdonna (Nov 27, 2013)

Yes, some pay big money for gym memberships.  Just think if you charged 20 dollars a weekend when you are in the heart of firewood season to run a boot camp!  Give a young man an ax and a pile of wood to split, the anger management therapy is priceless.


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## McKraut (Nov 27, 2013)

Don't know how to put a price tag on the sense of accomplishment I feel after a long day of hard, honest work out in the woods. I enjoy my time in the woods, being alone, getting splinters, bruised shins, poison ivy and I love to beat the cr*p out of the wood with a maul.  I spend 12 hours a day dealing with the public, and I often fantasize that I had a maul with me at work....... Splitting wood is very therapeutic for me. A lot of people don't get it (wife, son, daughter) but I can tell you that I will be very sad the last time I will be physically able to split wood. There are times when a bag of pellets looks good, but until the day I can't lift a maul over my head, I'll keep my choice as firewood. Just my 2 cents.


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## maple1 (Nov 27, 2013)

Dejavoodoo all over again.

I'll just paste my reply from earlier this morning to another thread, into here:

Strictly on a dollar/time basis, if I take X hours of spare time to make Y cords of fuel, that displaces Z amount of fossil fuels (or pellets) I would have to buy.
If I didn't take that spare time & do that, the Z amount would have to come from somewhere out of our existing income - and we only have so much coming in. So using that spare time like that is pretty equivalent to earning decent wages at a second job. I don't think I'd take a burger-flipping second job [nowhere near $16/hr here] if I had to turn around & hand all the money I earned from that over to a fuel oil company or pellet vendor.

Aside from that, I am getting much needed exercise (spend way too much time in front of a computer during the week), in a way that I really enjoy (I spend my resting moments during the week thinking only of which spot I'll hit next), and improving our property in cleaning up the rubbish & trail-making.

Plus it's a hoot winding the Stihls out & making sawdust fly - on my own time & when I feel like it.

To each their own in their own different circumstances though - I have no doubt that eventually my circumstances will change and I won't be in the woods like I am now. But right now I'm making the most of it and wouldn't trade it for anything. Well, except maybe for a winning loto ticket.


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## Fred61 (Nov 27, 2013)

If you're spending 15 bucks on gas to buck up a cord of wood and depreciating the chain to a tune of 10 bucks, I suggest you clean the dirt and mud off the logs before starting.


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## iceguy4 (Nov 27, 2013)

muncybob said:


> I don't count the labor cost into it as I consider it a hobby and needed exercise


 I agree. This post made me look for a picture of me working wood. I'm smiling ear to ear cuz I loved it.... and miss it too. Now I think there is a common denominator in people who come to this forum. W e all like to save money on something we need and have to have and we get little or no residual value. We also like to tell ourselves silly things that we start to believe...like free wood.
 When I burned wood I use to say it was free and my labor is free. Its not.  Now at 56 YO I don't have the energy to gather wood...stand in front of a log splitter for hours (I miss this the most)   I use to turn my nose up at pellet burners too. 
         Now  I feel pellets are WAY better. (boiler... mess downstairs) 
   Now I'm NOT saying burning pellets doesn't have a price. Just look at the pellet forum and see some of the problems you will NEVER have as a wood burner. Is there maintenance. .yep and a lot of it...but almost all of it when you want... not when the stove needs (falling asleep on couch and waking up and not having to stoke a stove...Priceless) Going away for the weekend and not coming home to a cold house (my setup will burn for up to a month un-attended...maybe) ...priceless...
     Wood stove...no power, no problem...priceless. exercise outside exactly where I like to be...more then priceless  Honestly I would rather spend time in the woods cutting wood rather then just spend time in the woods...miss it terribly.


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## Fred61 (Nov 27, 2013)

iceguy4 said:


> Now at 56 YO I don't have the energy to gather wood...


Have you mentioned this to your doctor? I'm in my mid seventies and although I've slowed down considerably I can still fell and block a cord on one day and split the next with plenty of time left over.


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## maple1 (Nov 27, 2013)

Fred61 said:


> Have you mentioned this to your doctor? I'm in my mid seventies and although I've slowed down considerably I can still fell and block a cord on one day and split the next with plenty of time left over.


 
I'll be 52 in January (holy crap  ).

Get more aches & pains now after a busy weekend, but my teenagers still can't keep up.

No hand splitting for me though.


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## iceguy4 (Nov 27, 2013)

Fred61 said:


> If you're spending 15 bucks on gas to buck up a cord of wood and depreciating the chain to a tune of 10 bucks, I suggest you clean the dirt and mud off the logs before starting.


 you're splitting hairs...


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## iceguy4 (Nov 27, 2013)

Fred61 said:


> Have you mentioned this to your doctor? I'm in my mid seventies and although I've slowed down considerably I can still fell and block a cord on one day and split the next with plenty of time left over.


  Holly crap..   impressive    never figured on an "old wiper-snapper"


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## Fred61 (Nov 27, 2013)

maple1 said:


> I'll be 52 in January (holy crap  ).


Just a pup!!

I have been fortunate in my life and made a lot of the right decisions and can well afford oil or any other fuel to heat my home. I am an independent sort that doesn't like to be trapped and that's the way I feel when using a manufactured or processed fuel. I like the freedom of using fuel that I can harvest from the land and it has also become a hobby for me. Before I started burning wood to heat my home, I burned wood in my hunting camp in the early 50s and couldn't wait to get up there when it was cold and sit by the fire. It's a hobby for me.

Sticking it to the Arabs and their buddies  is another benefit that I enjoy. Perhaps I'm a bigot.


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## MaineGuy (Nov 27, 2013)

I must have my operation streamlined because I can normally figure on 40 hours to cut down, drag, cut up, split and stack (well my wife helps me split and stack) about 10 cord of wood.  I figure my fuel costs are around $100.00 between the splitter, saw and tractor.

I figure I'm making about $100.00 and hour compared to burning $4000 dollars worth of oil a year.


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## NateB (Nov 27, 2013)

life cycle of a wood burner
teenager = why are we burning wood its a lot easier to just go buy a tank of fuel
20's = I don't know why you guys waste so much time with fire wood when you could be out having fun.
early 30's = Hmm we spent an awful lot of money to heat the house. (Man am I getting fat)
late 30's = man those guys that burn fire wood might be onto something. (buy a stove a chainsaw and a maul)
40's = I really like this fire wood thing
50's = my back hurts (buy a hydraulic splitter, some type of front end loader, and try to get the teenager interested in helping out)
60's = well you know it might be cheaper to burn pellets or coal. yeah I could still burn wood if I wanted to but it is cheaper to burn pellets
70's = I remember back in my day...
80's = ....
and repeat


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## mass_burner (Nov 27, 2013)

Personally, i like bucking/splitting/stacking. Its good exercise and fun. I only collect green logs, like tonight I'm going to look at 7 20' oak logs and offer a small amount to remove it. So the time/labor expense is not a issue for me. A few hours here and there isn't alot of time anyway. Put that against 3.65/gal oil. Plus, I don't have a pellet stove!


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## Jags (Nov 27, 2013)

Built my wood splitter at a cost of $600 with a resale much higher than that.
My MS361 would have a used resale of 80+ percent of what it cost me.
Already owned a truck.
Would have a trailer anyhow.
So really it is my time and a few bucks in fuel. (local wood sources). My firewood is _very near free _and my other investments really are "investments".

Plus...my wood stove has never "just quit".


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## jdonna (Nov 27, 2013)

I have a retired farmer neighbor who is 86 and loves burning wood.  We will work together sometimes and it is his claim to health and longevity being out in the woods with the saws.  

Everyone has their personal reasons and preferences.  Me personally, having a pellet stove as a secondary source to my wood stove is the best of both worlds.  Can be gone on the weekend, stay late at work or whatever but yet not rely on feeding it pellets constantly. 

Bottom line, not using propane and staying energy independent is worth it to me.  

I read recently that electricity prices are up 42% on average across the nation from a year ago.  I wonder how long until the natural gas market trends upward?  Seems like there is only two guarantees.... Inflation and Unforeseen price hikes.


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## jeffesonm (Nov 27, 2013)

I started splitting and stacking wood because the property I was renting at had a few trees taken down and it seemed like good fun.  Every once in a while, I'd burn some in the open fireplace for the ambiance.

Fast forward a few years and I've got my own house, probably 15+ cords c/s/s and hardly anywhere left to stack more.  I'm contemplating a wood boiler or second stove so I can get through it faster.

Collecting, cutting splitting and stacking is what I enjoy... "free" heat is a convenient byproduct of my hobby.


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## wenger7446 (Nov 27, 2013)

ewdudley said:


> Cost of gas, equipment, maintenance, you name it, more than I care to admit, but hey, free exercise!
> Depriving the county of $8.00 tax revenue on every $200 worth of pellets I don't buy, priceless!



Part of my motivation is just what Dudley posted. Lack of tax revenue.


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## slowzuki (Nov 27, 2013)

I keep getting people dumping wood here so I haven't had to cut any trees in a while.  I store my wood in pallet huts and apple bins.  A bit less than 1/2 cord in my pallet huts, about 1/4 cord in the heaped stacked apple bins.

Cutting, splitting, stacking into the apple bins takes about 30 mins per bin with the splitter over the bin, so 1/2 cord per hour roughly.  Moving bins adds some time too.  Cutting splitting stacking into the wood huts takes about 2x longer as wood can't fall down from splitter into the hut and you have to kill your back stooped over stacking inside it.


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## Seasoned Oak (Nov 27, 2013)

Fred61 said:


> Have you mentioned this to your doctor? I'm in my mid seventies and although I've slowed down considerably I can still fell and block a cord on one day and split the next with plenty of time left over.


MY hat is off to you "Sir"


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## Deering (Nov 28, 2013)

I burn both pellets and cordwood and I agree with most of the arguments made for both.  But if you want to experience the true cost of burning cordwood in a woodstove, try rolling over in bed early one morning in a cold house and whispering the suggestion into your wife's ear that she go fire up the woodstove so the house is warm when you get up.  I've tried that.  The cost was...visceral.


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## arngnick (Nov 28, 2013)

It made sense for me because it helps keep the property cleaned up. So the time would be spent cutting it anyway.


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## BoilerMan (Nov 28, 2013)

NateB said:


> life cycle of a wood burner
> teenager = why are we burning wood its a lot easier to just go buy a tank of fuel
> 20's = I don't know why you guys waste so much time with fire wood when you could be out having fun.
> early 30's = Hmm we spent an awful lot of money to heat the house. (Man am I getting fat)
> ...


 
Can tell your not from Maine 

I fall into one of your lower age groups, and well I have a splitter (too young for that) and have been burning wood since well my teens. 
Now that I've built my own house wood was the only fuel I'd consider (although coal was a top candidate).  Sadly I'm now on the brink of moving up one of your age classes in a week............

Oh and my back has always hurt.

TS


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## Lapeer20m (Nov 29, 2013)

I live on 60 acres in a forest. It would be silly for me to not burn wood.

While I agree its not free, it requires surprisingly small quantities of gasoline to produce a cord of wood, especially since I don't need a truck to haul my wood home.

If it takes 3 gallons of gas to process a cord of ash (about 3k pounds)

I don't know the cost of 1.5 tons of pellets, plus fuel to haul tem, and your time moving and stacking.

Everyone has their own unique set of circumstance that may dictate that one fuel makes more sense than the other. For me and my household firewood works best for us.

This spring my buddy and I are planning to build a processor which should allow us to process an estimated 1-3 cord per hour.   In a single day ill easily be able to process all of my firewood for an entire season.

We have an owb that only requires loading every 12-24 hours, so our house has nice even heat and I don't wake up to a cold house.


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## rowerwet (Nov 29, 2013)

grew up lugging wood and doing some of the splitting until age 10, parents built a new house with low oil usage.
Got into pellet burning in my mid 30's as the oil beast was about to croak (per wrong! oil co service guys) 
Late 30's, move to an old drafty house with a wood stove. This will be my first season heating almost 100% with wood I cut and split my self. 
Heating my much smaller house in ME with pellets still ran about $1,000/year.
There is NO WAY my wood for this season and next season or more cost anywhere near a grand!
Even figuring the $225 dollar saw, the $180 saw, the $120 splitter and the $50 Fiskars axe (last year so $25) plus all the sharpeners, safety gear ($80), waggon, etc. (which cost less per season as I use them, and could be resold at the same cost or better) 
My chainsaw and splitter gas is free, but even the gas for the van to pull the trailer wasn't bad. 
I may have spent a grand for two seasons of heat, to heat a MUCH larger house.
Health wise, I nordic skate, row, mountain bike, or paddle a few times a week, wood was just another work out.


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## jdonna (Nov 29, 2013)

Patience, creativity and blessings help lower the costs of cord wood.  I help my father in-law farm and there was a very bad ice storm last winter, so every time I drive my truck and bring the saws with and come back with another load of wood.   Had to drive anyways, so two-birds with one stone and they have a grove now that is free of man-killer hangers that the grand-kids won't get hurt around.  I was starting to worry a little bit about our wood supply!  We are finally diversified from burning 10 years of super dry white elm.


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## iceguy4 (Nov 29, 2013)

Lapeer20m said:


> I live on 60 acres in a forest. It would be silly for me to not burn wood.
> 
> While I agree its not free, it requires surprisingly small quantities of gasoline to produce a cord of wood, especially since I don't need a truck to haul my wood home.
> 
> ...


 Youtube has a kool bobcat with a processer on it...grabs the log, advances log chainsaw swipes it and it drops ...ram pushes throw star blade over wood pile.


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## simple.serf (Nov 30, 2013)

Wood is my main hobby these days. I took a week off this spring to get all of next year's wood. I'm 28. My wife and I do everything we can to be as self sufficient as possible. Not because we feel that "the end is near", but because we feel it is the right thing to do. Not being reliant on the big corporations is an important part of our lives. Our goal for next year is to grow/raise 75% of our own food. This shouldn't be too hard given that we run a small egg and vegetable operation. We get our "free" wood as part of our farming operation (we help another farm with 2500 taps of maple), and I have to be out cutting all of that wood anyways. Dad and I split a used splitter, and I had most of the tools anyways (what farm doesn't have a good chainsaw and an axe). I grew up heating with wood, and I really really hate paying the $1600 oil bill.

Pellets would have required the same amount of $ spent on the actual burner itself, plus the ongoing cost of pellets. Then factor in control boards, motors, blowers, etc. (I fix large commercial ovens for my regular job... Gotta factor in the inventoried parts), and the cost of burning pellets is about the same.

My wife just said that what it really comes down to is a question of value. Is it more important to not be spending the time getting the wood and doing the work, or do you enjoy spending the time in the woods cutting? Everybody is going to have a different answer as to what part of this is important to them.

Anybody have both a pellet burner and a wood burner that they are using about equally, who can take really really good records?


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## dmmoss51 (Nov 30, 2013)

Something else I thought of is the income taxes you don't pay on the.money you save.  I save about $500 per year over natural gas with fed state ss Medicare taxes that's about 800 in gross income not to mention the taxes on the utility bill that I include in that 500 or with the comparison to pellets state sales tax.


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## Seasoned Oak (Nov 30, 2013)

dmmoss51 said:


> Something else I thought of is the income taxes you don't pay on the.money you save.  I save about $500 per year over natural gas with fed state ss Medicare taxes that's about 800 in gross income not to mention the taxes on the utility bill that I include in that 500 or with the comparison to pellets state sales tax.


Exactly ,a lot of people overlook the fact that they have to earn about $1000 for every $600 they give to the conventional fuels people,some of which includes MORE taxes.


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## arngnick (Dec 1, 2013)

Never thought much about the tax advantages with burning wood. Saving on income, sales, and fuel specific taxes. This is becoming more important and true with a nation who's debt is reaching 17Trillion. No doubt our taxes will be going no where but UP!


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## vwmike (Dec 1, 2013)

We have both in our house, and I can't help but treat the pellet stove like the  Ng furnace.  I know I just paid 200/ton for the pellets, so don't wanna waste them.  Seeing as firewood only costs me some free time and a little gas money I never hesitate to throw another log on the fire..... !


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## perchin (Dec 1, 2013)

vwmike said:


> We have both in our house, and I can't help but treat the pellet stove like the  Ng furnace.  I know I just paid 200/ton for the pellets, so don't wanna waste them.  Seeing as firewood only costs me some free time and a little gas money I never hesitate to throw another log on the fire..... !



^^^^ This is exactly my scenario as well. I burn approximately 2.5-3.5 tons of pellets and 12 to 15 face cord a year. I haul in the back of the pickup, and pull a large tandem axle trailer to maximize my loads per trip out. I easily spend more on the pellets.


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## iceguy4 (Dec 1, 2013)

vwmike said:


> and I can't help but treat the pellet stove like the Ng furnace.


  Wish I had a NG furnace. I wouldn't have installed a pellet boiler.  It would be hard for me to put in pellets if I was saving so little. Saving  is saving though and I have burned wood instead of NG too.  Pay back of my equipment will be a few more years, but it will pay for its self.....then comes profit.


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## JP11 (Dec 1, 2013)

Price

Frankly.. it's not ALL about the price.  Now, if oil was 10 cents a gallon.. I might not be so crazy about wood.

I have a bit of acreage.  It's almost entirely wooded.  That wood is NOT going anywhere with respect to price.  Ok, if gasoline went to 50 bucks a gallon it may cost me a bit more for my saw gas and splitter gas, and diesel for the tractor to log.

In reality, it's got many benefits.  Stable cost, gets me exercise.  Is "green" and renewable in my lifetime.  It's a great feeling to have two years worth of "heat" piled up and ready to go.  The security means more to me than the dollars and cents.

JP


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## iceguy4 (Dec 1, 2013)

JP11 said:


> The security means more to me than the dollars and cents




Agreed...no worse a feeling then heating season approaching with your pellet stash still being at the store...  No wait...it would feel worst to have heating season approaching with NO pellets at the store!!    If the crap "hits the fan" pellet burners will wish they were wood burners!


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## rowerwet (Dec 1, 2013)

I cut my fuel bill in half going from oil to pellets, would have been fun to see what pellets to wood would have saved in the same house.
of course if you want to figure in the cost of the equipment for pellets I didn't save a cent


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## iceguy4 (Dec 1, 2013)

rowerwet said:


> if you want to figure in the cost of the equipment for pellets



what kind of stove and equipment?

$2174.00 is what I figure I'll save just this year!  $1691.00 last year..  pretty good start on capital investment payback....figure 4 years total to break even.


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## rowerwet (Dec 1, 2013)

$7,200 outdoor pellet boiler, 85' of thermopex, 20 plate brazed heat exchanger, 2 taco circulator pumps, cement pad, 100 feet 12 gage underground wiring, 150' 1" pex, cicuit breaker, ash bucket, plenty of fittings, black iron pipe and the wrenches to install it. In all I saved about $3,500 in oil over 4 years. 
trying to sell the pellet boiler, thermopex, circulators, HX, with no luck, right now I'm looking into getting a hot tub with the electronics shot to hook it to. Might be the only pellet fired hot tub around...


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## YkDave (Dec 2, 2013)

I've done a lot of calculations and comparisons between different heat sources, in my particular case and probably about the same for everyone it went from most expensive being oil, propane, pellet, wood

But, if I have to actually buy wood, that throws the wood advantage out the window @ $350/cord

Wood costs me, out of pocket, about $70 a cord.  I have to make a 320km round trip to get a load of wood which sucks but it's a good way to spend the Saturdays. That's $60 in fuel for the truck and ~$10 gas/oil in the saw

Of course their are the unexpected maintenance costs that add to the cost of the wood (such as being 160km from home ready to cut wood and realizing the oil pump drive gear on the saw is FUBAR, so you just cut your load of wood anyways and burn up a chain and bar, $80, but I'd rather smoke the chain and bar and still come home with wood than waste the fuel and a day!)

Burning around a cord a month takes my heating bill from $600-700 a month on propane to less than $100

I had pondered switching to pellets for the convenience(already had the wood stove) but with pellets running me appx $400 a month it would take a few years to recover the cost of the stove

So long story short, in my case pellets are about 4x the price of wood, and oil/propane nearly double the price of pellets


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## dmmoss51 (Dec 2, 2013)

Wow that's a long drive for wood... I assume that you're on or near the tundra???


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## YkDave (Dec 2, 2013)

Yes, it's not a very far drive north of Yellowknife (in the winter lol) till you hit the tree line.  Not much vegetation around Yellowknife, lots of little pecker poles, definitely not worth the effort to harvest and burn.

We all resort to heading to the west or southern side of great slave lake where the trees start to almost look like trees again haha,  still hate this place compared to growing up in BC where it only took 1, maybe 2 trees to put more wood in the truck than it ever should be hauling

Thus the reason buying wood locally is expensive, the closest commercial cutting is nearly 200km out

But still I can't complain, less than $100/month for heat and I get some exercise rather than spending the early winter Saturdays sitting In front of the wood stove with a bottle of whiskey


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## ewdudley (Dec 2, 2013)

YkDave said:


> 320km round trip to get a load of wood


[Edit: answer was posted already] At the risk of hijacking the thread, I gotta ask what kind of trees are there even that close Yellowknife?  Also, I've spent a fair amount of time driving around the town via google streetview and I thought I saw a window air conditioning unit at the Arctic Energy Alliance building across the street from the True Value hardware.  Is there really such a thing as air conditioning in Yellowknife?


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## YkDave (Dec 2, 2013)

Haha yea, kinda derailing here 

It's pretty much all jack pine up this way, the odd birch

And yes air conditioners are the cats meow up here!  We literally go from -50c to +40c,  it can get pretty warm in the summer and being such a short summer even 30c sucks when your not climatized


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## Seasoned Oak (Dec 2, 2013)

And it gets Coooooooooooooo.........................ld there in Yellowknife. So always nice to have a backup.


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