Costs you did not consider before heating by wood.

[Oregon aloha]

^^^600-800 gallons would be incredibly low by some of our standards. When I got my bill for the second fill of propane(400 gal each) I went right out and bought some class A and the makings for a hearth. I had a free stove already. The first 400 were used over a 7 week period in the beginning of a mild winter. Couldn't bear to see what the cold months would have cost.

Our climate isn't as cold here and we did have a small wood insert that came with the house that didn't do much good and our house is only 1440 sq. ft.

 

[begreen]

That new Ashwood looks like a very nice insert. When does it arrive?

 

[Oregon aloha]

That new Ashwood looks like a very nice insert. When does it arrive?

It will be at the dealer on Tuesday, but I won't get it till the mason is done putting my fireplace back together.(Two to three weeks) I'm installing the Ashwood as a free standing stove. This same stove is approved for insert, alcove, or free standing and with the modes to my fireplace I don't want whatever the powers at be wants to call the installation to be a question. The Enviro dealer wouldn't sell me a free standing stove because I was putting it in a modified fireplace, so I found a bought the Ashwood and I like the dealer better and I know they will stand behind my purchase.

 

[Seasoned Oak]

I still haven't been able to understand why folks think it's ok to spend time making money to pay for oil, gas, or elec., pay taxes on that income, pay taxes on the fuel, but think their time is too valuable to gather wood in order to save money.

Exactly! I think people dont include the FULL cost of their conventional heat source. Dont forget they have to earn a salary or wage of about $1600-$1800 for every $1000 they spend on heating fuel accounting for deductions to their pay. When gathering wood for your stove,you dont have to give 40% of every load to the Govt.

 

[Shadow&Flame]

When gathering wood for your stove,you dont have to give 40% of every load to the Govt.[/quote]

Shhhhhh....they might hear you! They are already taking every thing else....

 

[Seasoned Oak]

When gathering wood for your stove,you dont have to give 40% of every load to the Govt.

Shhhhhh....they might hear you! They are already taking every thing else....[/quote]
They may want 40% of your wood someday, so they can distribute it out to all those who dont have enough

 

[Shadow&Flame]

Shhhhhh....they might hear you! They are already taking every thing else....

They may want 40% of your wood someday, so they can distribute it out to all those who dont have enough[/quote]

I already deal with this from relatives...ha

 

[begreen]

frequent stove replacements as noted by browning bar, webby, todd and yours truly.

 

[BrotherBart]

Or a basement full of ones ya just wanted to try. I just have to get around to selling some stoves. Or face stove hoarding accusations. Gave a new GF400 Jotul Allagash to my neighbor just trying to avoid it. They never put in the gas line.

 

[jharkin]

I wouldn't have natural gas in this house on a bet. The only heat in this joint is wood. The heat pump died from lack of use in the nineties.

But when I lived in Texas, where natural gas heat is king, every year at least one house in the area disappeared in the middle of the day. Wood piles don't explode.

Remind me never to move to Texas. My whole town is on gas, and nothing has ever exploded here...

 

[Dave A.]

The only scary thing I recall about NG was my mother lighting the oven. Turning on the gas, then looking around for a match. We kids had learned to get out of the kitchen for that adventure. Later on we took bets on whether or not she'd survive the oven lighting with or without her eyelashes.

 

[simple.serf]

I wouldn't have natural gas in this house on a bet. The only heat in this joint is wood. The heat pump died from lack of use in the nineties.

But when I lived in Texas, where natural gas heat is king, every year at least one house in the area disappeared in the middle of the day. Wood piles don't explode.

See, I work on nat gas equipment at work and have had to respond to "situations". I will not have nat or LP in my house. Period.

If we were to heat with just oil, our bill would be $1500-1700/month. I don't take that much home per month. I usually get some wood from a farmer who I do maple syrup with, and I usually buy some. I have the tools to process the wood, and I enjoy the work.

 

[rowerwet]

the stove came with the house, the 1st chain saw craigslist, the trailer was a free rotted out tent trailer, the sledge I already had, the fiskars x27 Amazon (I grew up with a maul, I won't use one) welding gloves a surplus store, the splitter was also craigslist, the wedge was found in the woods, the wood grenade wedge tractor supply, my gas is free, chain sharpener Lowe's, oil grease, and bar oil from whatever big box I was at.
I'm cheap, and not afraid to run ugly equipment.
however, just like I tell new mechanics at work, some tools you'd be stupid to go cheap on, and some don't matter, the guy with all top of the line stuff just overpaid.

 

[rowerwet]

I'm a caretaker for two buildings, one runs $400 a month for oil, and the other $1,000/month, my family lives in the expensive one, anything I can save adds to my salary.

 

[Ed Williams]

One big thing was missed.

I had to start with a chimney. Let me tell you, 24' of 8", class "A" adds up quick. Many with chimneys already, still need a liner. May not apply to all, but surely to a lot of us.

I agree with the price of admission.

No propane, $70 less in electric from not running the furnace fan, and the fact that a chainsaw is cheaper than a shrink to keep me sane......priceless.

I'll recover my investment soon enough, until then I'll just kick back and enjoy this awesome warmth I have in my house.

For those still contemplating, it's probably worth the extra looking to find a nice 6" stove, just for the less expensive chimney/liner...

 

[Bster13]

Yes, provided a stove that fits that pipe will suit your needs.... 6in FTW. I've also tweaked the list in the beginning of the thread based off feedback (thanks!).

For those still contemplating, it's probably worth the extra looking to find a nice 6" stove, just for the less expensive chimney/liner...

 

[begreen]

I see no method for moving around the wood in the original list. That is almost essential if you are moving hundreds of pounds of wood 2-3 times a week from the shed or stacks to the porch, wood box or wood ring.

 

[Bster13]

Good call, some folks harvest wood from their own land, others get it dropped off, and most of us need to rearrange stacks from time to time. <added>

 

[begreen]

We all need to get the wood from the storage area to the house. Some use a wheelbarrow others use a cart. We tried moving it by the box load for a year but that got old quickly. The next year I bought a jumbo garden cart with big wheels. That has worked out well for the past 18 yrs.. I just rebuilt it last fall.

 

[Bster13]

I work that balance of close enough to the house to use a carrier to grab a load to put directly into the stove (I hate restacking), but far enough away the ants do eat my house (hopefully).

I've also decided I will not keep any wood inside my living quarters...I always miss a bug or two and the wife would freak.

We all need to get the wood from the storage area to the house. Some use a wheelbarrow others use a cart. We tried moving it by the box load for a year and it got old quickly. The next year I bought a jumbo garden cart with big wheels. That has worked out well for the past 18 yrs.. I just rebuilt it last fall.

 

[Mr A]

My cost benefit analysis. A lot of the tools needed, I already had. I buy everything used anyway, got great deals on my stove and wood splitter. I collected too much wood and sold it. Neighbors knock on my door asking to buy wood. in addition to being comfortable, selling extra wood is easy money to recoup costs. I have not had any problem finding plenty of free wood.

 

[rowerwet]

We all need to get the wood from the storage area to the house. Some use a wheelbarrow others use a cart. We tried moving it by the box load for a year but that got old quickly. The next year I bought a jumbo garden cart with big wheels. That has worked out well for the past 18 yrs.. I just rebuilt it last fall.

http://www.harborfreight.com/lawn-garden/wheeled-carriers/steel-mesh-deck-wagon-38137.html works great for me, my 7 yr old brings the wood in using this

 

[mass_burner]

I totally hear you as I have NG as well. My payoff will be ~6yrs....but a nice problem to have I suppose.

I wouldn't take that as a given. NG is both a commodity and more importantly, a distributed and regulated commodity. Take a look at your bill: minumun charges, thermal factor, delivery charges, all kinds of taxes. These are subject to the commodity markets, politics, and utility company incompetence, etc, and those factors affect the price. Also, NG is cheap NOW. Commodities are cheap-- until their not. Oil is expensive, but at least you pay the commodity price and that's it.

My point is: you never know what's going to happen. So wood burning is worth it because its the most stable cost-wise and provides flexibility when oil and NG get too expensive. Can't say enough about air sealing and attic insulation either.

 

[Bster13]

Of course commodity prices fluctuate year to year and their is extra "service" costs associated with my NG service, but historically NG is cheaper and I think give or take I'll still be 5-6 years even with the recent increase in NG production in the US.

I wouldn't take that as a given. NG is both a commodity and more importantly, a distributed and regulated commodity. Take a look at your bill: minumun charges, thermal factor, delivery charges, all kinds of taxes. These are subject to the commodity markets, politics, and utility company incompetence, etc, and those factors affect the price. Also, NG is cheap NOW. Commodities are cheap-- until their not. Oil is expensive, but at least you pay the commodity price and that's it.

My point is: you never know what's going to happen. So wood burning is worth it because its the most stable cost-wise and provides flexibility when oil and NG get too expensive. Can't say enough about air sealing and attic insulation either.

 

[BrianN]

My wife and I just purchased our first home in the middle of nowhere. No natural gas. Baseboard heating below huge bay windows on a 2000sq foot rancher. We moved in April this past year in Michigan. Our first 46 days of electricity cost 365$ to keep the house freezing @ like 59degrees so the pipes didn't freeze and we used the electric blanket and dogs to keep warm. To keep the house warmer but still cold ~65 would have easily been 400-500/month.

So I spent 4k on new stove, professional install, and ordered 6 chords of log length hard wood and split/stacked it in April. Finally burned the stove in the other night (low of 36). Stayed 74 degrees in the upper level (stove in in the basement level, was about 84 down there). I still don't know how much wood we are going to go through this winter I am hoping less than the 6 chords but it could be more. But to keep the house toasty warm if we use 1 chord a month will be ~100 dollars in heating costs instead of 400-500 and that is to keep it substantially more warm as well and keep the old woman happy.

Anyway, If everything factors in right the stove pays for itself in 3 winters. I also get 300 back from the energy tax credit this tax year.

Nothing beats the chainsawing, splitting, and stacking for me so far, it is something I did as a child as we heated with wood and was very excited to start again now. And frankly the heat and ambiance is so much more....bourbon consumption worthy. Lots of homebrewed cold beer to get me through the summer chopping and splitting. Lots more bourbon as i sit by the fire and watch the snow come down in winter.

Many of my co-workers look at me crazy and can't understand how i get pleasure out of manual labor. I look at them crazy and can't understand how they so strongly desire a sedentary life style.


But as for the original poster there weren't to many unsurprising costs....

Stove - catalytic (burning efficiently with less wood was extremely important in stove choice for us, also made it significantly more expensive for stove purchase)

Stove pipe - we ran it up an existing mason chimney

Professional install of stove and pipe - I would and could have done this myself, but our home insurance dictated we purchase a NEW stove, from a STOVE dealer, and have it installed by a LICENSED AND INSURED installer. I wasn't going to mess with the home insurance company on this one. At least i get the 300 dollar tax return

chainsaw - already mentioned (299$ for an echo 18inch bar...its been going strong. No horror story...yet).

maul - already mentioned (30$)

splitting wedges - I have two ~10.00 a peice

Stove thermometer - already mentioned (was about 20$)

Stove gloves - already mentioned but got a deal at a men's consignment shop on mine for 7$

I don't really count the gas can, bar oil, and oil mixutre. I mean to cut up 6 chords of log length wood cost maybe 10 dollars in gas, 8 dollars for a 1 gallon can, 10$ for a gallon of bar oil i still haven't emptied, and oil mixture was like 8$? But that is still like 40$

I still am not ready to move up to purchasing a gas splitter yet. But it did cost me 100$ to rent one from home depot for 24 hours. I was able to split about 4 chords in a day with me and my wife. The last two i finished by hand. We potentially could have gotten through all 6 chords but towards the end of the day I dropped a 100lb on my foot hiking it over to the splitter and thought I had broken it and we stopped when I couldn't stand on it anymore...I did get an x-ray but no charges were incurred for said trip to urgent care the next day .

All in all the big one time purchases are over except for more wood. And while it hurt shelling out for the stove and install, having an electric bill that is only 100$ a month in winter is much more palatable then one that is 400-500 and you have a cold unhappy significant other mad that you purchased an ice house as your first house.

Crap this was way longer than i expected.

I just have to say, the bolded words above are well worth any price.