I only save $0.50 a day by burning wood?

[EbS-P]

I struggled with my stove early on, but with the damper closed It's a pleasure to generate heat from an arm full of logs for a big chunk of the day. Hard to put words to it. At first I tried to quantify my cost of the stove, plus splitter, plus time and effort to have wood delivered or to process what I get here and there for free from my property or elsewhere.
If you just try to match dollar for dollar against burning say oil or dare I say natural gas if you have it available, you will probably at best break even.
But go get a quote for a new furnace plus install.
Also consider that wood heat provides an emergency backup both short term and long term. All you need is some wood piled up in the yard for a few years

I figure if you can reduce the runtime of any hvac equipment by xx% percent you extend its service by a similar percentage

 

[fvhowler]

I have a heatpump that generally stays off when using the wood stove. My HVAC guy told me that anytime my heatpump is not running/heating its extending the life of the system. He said heating your house with a heatpump is harder on the system than cooling the house during summer.

 

[crstrode]

My house has a big heat pump (needs to be big for a 4000 ft house built in '72 with cathedral ceilings and acres of glass).
There is also and equally giant gas furnace. After replacing the heat pump 3 years ago to the tune of $6000, I only run the heat pump in the AC mode. For sure, that expensive heat pump will last longer if only operated in the summer.

Any extra heat my Blaze King Sirocco insert provides, is a big reduction in my gas bill! Besides, it just feels better with wood heat.

It can be 80 degrees in the basement to make my wife from LA happy, and tolerable upstairs for me (born and raised in North Idaho).

 

[icestationzebra]

I've been burning 5-6 cords of wood annually on average in an FPX insert in our large living room/kitchen/dining area . I also have an oil furnace and 4 zone baseboard heat. Based on my math and my experience with wood/oil over the last decade, I have estimated 1 cord of wood to equal 100 gallons of oil. The last few years I've been buying wood (vs cutting/splitting my own) at about $225/cord. During that same period, oil has been running about $4.50/g here. So..... so some savings, but not much. I have 22' ceilings in much of the house and lots of floor to ceiling windows.....very difficult place to keep warm in the winter.

 

[bcar]

I have smart T stat's that track run time and two HVAC systems for east half/west half of house. Stove is on the East half and I can stay completely ahead of that east unit when burning wood. I haven't gotten down to the gnats a$$ but I know that I cut my propane use by at least half, so roughly works out to probably saving $10/day; and a warm happy wife is priceless.