How many of you have heard this...

[kennyp2339]

I usually think of it as the bunghole, not the armpit.

If I didn't live here, where would you get your amusing photos of all the big manly Barbie Dress-Up Pickups?

I call them "highway queens" we get them up here after a big snow fall, all the city folks love to go skiing and tubing.

 

[kennyp2339]

So to add to the cost for wood heat, I'm about to drop 800 hundo on building materials for a few driveway wood storage sheds. My choice, I want to make something really nice.

 

[Highbeam]

My numbers came from me using $350 natural gas to heat my home and the water for a whole year. I worked the therms back to BTU and I would need ~ 1.5 cords to equal the energy of the gas. 1.5 cords seasoned, split, delivered and stacked would cost about $600.

So you pay 400$ per cord of firewood! This is one of those times when garbage in = garbage out. Use the canned fuel cost calculators, input real #s and your output will be different. That is, unless you insist on also paying someone to stand there and load your stove too which will also artificially inflate your per cord cost.

Your Grand Coulee Dam might account for some of the electricity discount as compared to other states, as it's the largest hydroelectric producer in the US.

Not just the grand coulee, we have a whole bunch of smaller dams too that make tons of cheap hydro power 24/7.

 

[Squirrely]

Not just the grand coulee, we have a whole bunch of smaller dams too that make tons of cheap hydro power 24/7.

Dams are beautiful works of engineering.


Greg

 

[RobbieB]

I pay much more than $400/cord, I buy bundles at the grocery for $7/bundle (16 liters). That's $1600/cord. The $400/cord comes from these guys;

http://www.1888oldalmond.com/checkout.html

$460/cord, delivered and stacked.

I told you I'm comparing to natural gas which comes delivered and ready to use. I don't have to dig the gas well or run the pipe.

 

[WoodyIsGoody]

I pay much more than $400/cord, I buy bundles at the grocery for $7/bundle (16 liters). That's $1600/cord.

I can beat $1600/cord. Just use toothpicks off Amazon for your cord wood. Free delivery right to your front door (if you're a prime member) and the cardboard boxes can be used for kindling. I estimate a cord is "only" $24,000.

Now you can see how much less gas heat costs vs. wood heat!

 

[RobbieB]

I wouldn't go that far. I'm just doing a fair compare. I really only use $350 of natural gas for the entire year of house and water heat. That energy works back to 1.1 cords of wood. As my furnace is 95% efficient and my stove only 75% that works out to 1.4 cords.

Toothpicks? Really?

I'm not going to compare with my bundles, but seasoned, delivered and stacked is a fair compare. I have zero interest in gathering or processing firewood. I'm not a scrounger and I don't live in a forest either. I don't want it dumped in my driveway, I won't be able to park my car. I get enough exercise doing home repairs/maintenance w/o the need to be splitting and stacking firewood.

 

[Highbeam]

I'm not going to compare with my bundles, but seasoned, delivered and stacked is a fair compare. I have zero interest in gathering or processing firewood. I'm not a scrounger and I don't live in a forest either. I don't want it dumped in my driveway, I won't be able to park my car. I get enough exercise doing home repairs/maintenance w/o the need to be splitting and stacking firewood.

Some people are just furnace people. There is an admittedly wide range of wood burners on this forum. RobbieB is on the opposite end of the spectrum from me but I can see his logic and am happy that he discloses his extremely high cost figure for the sake of others reading this thread. I don't scrounge or live in a forest either, so I get logs dumped in my pasture for 100-150$ per cord by a guy who takes cash, and then process them for "free" using equipment I already own and a fart's worth of fuel to power the equipment. So my cost per cord is 101-151$.

I will admit that if I had NG availabel and plumbed to the house like the city slickers I might be inclined to consider a nice jotul cast iron gas burner. Hard to argue with ridiculously cheap fuel, thermostatic, and no moving parts.

 

[Wolves1]

I heat the house with wood 24/7 I use about 4 cords and a bit. About 3 years ago we had a very cold winter I had exactly 4 cords and a bit, I ran out of would and used my gas boiler. My wife tells me "it's not the same heat we need to make sure this never happens again". So she's out there helping me stack wood every year, we now have 9 cords.

 

[Highbeam]

I heat the house with wood 24/7 I use about 4 cords and a bit. About 3 years ago we had a very cold winter I had exactly 4 cords and a bit, I ran out of would and used my gas boiler. My wife tells me "it's not the same heat we need to make sure this never happens again". So she's out there helping me stack wood every year, we now have 9 cords.

That's exactly my current situation. I use 4-5 per year and in the backyard I have just over 9 cords right now. By staying one year ahead I only have to replace the 4-5 cords I burnt each year and then I have 1) really dry wood that is seasoned two years and 2) twice what I need which will come in handy if a) the winter is extra harsh or b) I get sick broken and can't process wood one year.

I believe that after 2 years of seasoning outside (no shed for me) that the softwood species I use are past their expiration date and start loosing weight too fast.