If money was of no concern, and fuel was unlimited...

[Simonkenton]

Burning wood is a big bargain for me. I paid $1300 for the stove, maybe $500 for pipe, installed it myself.
I own 49 heavily wooded acres. I have an unlimited supply of free firewood, black walnut, locust, poplar, some oak. Living out in the country, I have to have a 4WD pickup truck anyway. I used 3 chain saws to build my log house, 2 Stihls and a Husqvarna. I did have to pay $35 for my Monster Maul.
I am putting up an entire winter's supply of firewood for about $50, in truck gas, chainsaw gas, bar oil, and replacing a chain occasionally etc. Of course it involves a lot of work but that is good exercise, I don't have to pay a gym membership.
I am saving about $1,000 a year in propane costs. So I have saved over $15K in the eighteen years I have been in this house.

 

[FionaD]

I would buy enough land to be self sufficient in all respects including wood. I would have a passive house but with a small stove or open log fire becuase it speaks to the ancient part of a human being in a way that I dont think solar panels, heat pumps etc ever will.

 

[CenterTree]

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

I wouldn't be needing my wood stove at my mansion in Tahiti.

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$






.

 

[DougA]

Y'all can join me in Cuba now that you are talking neighbors, well sort of. Even in Cuba, it can get mighty chilly at night in the winter but the cheap rum heats the body very well.

 

[claybe]

If money was of no concern, I would still heat with wood. The thing I would change is that I would have an endless supply of oak trucked in and it would be kiln dried so I would never have to worry about moisture. I would also have an enclosed wood barn. I would probably also redesign my house so that I could install a free stander. Merry Christmas.

 

[Charles1981]

Given the scenario:

1) My main source of heat would NOT be wood but rather geothermal
2) Solar would be used to supplement any other further necessary heating (electric water pump, in floor heating, baseboard, stove, refridgerator, ect)
3) I would still have a wood burning stove however because we like it but I seriously doubt it would be used nearly that much with the said above things.

The goal of course to get off the grid.

Right now we burn exclusively with wood. Have electric baseboard heating as backup with no HVAC installed.

Our power bill is never over 100$ a month except when we leave in the winter for vacation and turn on the baseboard heaters.

I would love to install solar but with power only being 100$ it is hard to justify.
I would love to install geothermal but without HVAC installed and easy enough access to a forester that delivers to my house at a reasonable price it isn't worth it. Burn about 500$ tops of wood a year works out to about 75$ a month in heating cost during the winter months.

 

[Warm_in_NH]

We just did a job for a guy, mid 50's retired. He and his wife just bought the house they're in. 3/4 mile long driveway, to their 50+ acre parcel at the end of it that sits on a decent sized pond. From what I can see and have been told, money is no object for these people.
They're about the nicest, most down to earth customers I've had the pleasure of working for. He's got his brand new tractor and 4 wheeler. He gathers wood around the property all day, bucks it and splits it for next years heat in their insert. It's what keeps him out of trouble all day. He seems pretty happy doing it too.

 

[Sleeper-6]

I would still have a stove, and still enjoy burning in it. However my main motivation right now to burn wood is to avoid paying the propane man.

I installed a full under floor radiant system with a nice mod-con boiler last year, so if I were to use that as my primary heat it wouldn't be so bad. The even heat and warm floors are tough to argue with.

 

[Seasoned Oak]

IF money were no object more wood burners would have masonry stoves. And some would hire a feller/chopper/splitter/stacker to do the work.

 

[northwinds]

IF money were no object more wood burners would have masonry stoves. And some would hire a feller/chopper/splitter/stacker to do the work.

I wouldn't. While masonry heaters are beautiful, I like the heat cycle of a wood stove better. 1 or 2 short, hot fires per day doesn't satisfy my thirst for a fire view throughout the day. Running a stove 24/7 is part of what I enjoy about winter.

 

[Dakotas Dad]

If money was no object, we would have more land about the same house but a little more energy efficient (passive solar and grid tie solar electric), and an Equinox. I would spend my time preparing the sacrifice and worshiping the hot rock.

 

[begreen]

If money was no object I'd be spending my winters in Hawaii or Costa Rica. Heat, bah. I would heat with the sun. My northern house however, would probably have a masonry heater. I've always wanted a Tulikivi.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

If money were no object, I'd let buderus get a constant workout keeping the house at 72. But I would also change wood stoves every year and use only perfectly seasoned wood flown in from the best forests in the world.

That's awesome! All those super dense hardwoods from the rainforest must throw some mean heat!

"So, on the really cold nights, only cocobolo has the heat I like. I fly it in from the rain forests of Brazil. Yes, my carbon footprint rivals Al Gore, but I'm doing my part to make the winters warmer for all you little people."

Rolling on the floor over here!

 

[NHcpa]

Nuclear. Heck, I would even open all the windows.

 

[alforit]

A custom enameled blaze King Ashford of course.......duh

Merry Christmas everyone !

Hahahahaha

 

[BrotherBart]

If money wasn't an object, the houseboy would maintain the stove and keep it fed.

 

[Simonkenton]

FionaD: " I would have a passive house but with a small stove or open log fire becuase it speaks to the ancient part of a human being in a way that I dont think solar panels, heat pumps etc ever will."

Yes, Fiona! We Celts think alike.
It speaks to us because, for over 20,000 years, the modern European man lived in the Ice Age in Europe. In Scotland, in France, in Germany, fire was life. In the winters, with a low of 40 below every night, you had to get into a cave, and light a fire, or you would die.

The modern humans who survived over 20,000 years of the ice age, and who were alive, 12,000 years ago, were fire-makers.

And, for 200,000 years before that, our ancestors the Neanderthals, lived in Ice Age Europe. Same thing for the Neanderthals, either they build a fire, or they died. Although it had been thought that the Neanderthals went extinct, modern science has proven that they did not! All people of northern European ancestry still carry Neanderthal genes. I got my dna run on 23andme.com, and I am 3 percent Neanderthal. The average is 2.5 percent, few people have a higher percent of Neanderthal dna than I have. No wonder I love fire!

 

[Phoenix Hatchling]

You don't need a heat source on Bora Bora!

 

[Swedishchef]

Swedishchef I am in the mountains of North Carolina. We do get 2 to 3 feet of snow annually here, last winter had a low of 7 below, so we certainly have 4 seasons here.
But, we have poison ivy/oak that you wouldn't believe, grows up onto trees as a vine. It will strangle your trees, I have cut poison oak vines that are 3 inch diameter. Cutting that with a chain saw would be a death defying feat for most people as the saw sprays sap all over your arms; thank God, I am not allergic to poison ivy sap.
We also have snakes up here. One day I was checking the level of my propane tank and found this guy curled up in the lid of the tank:

NO THANKS

This year I had 1 foot of snow in my yard on November 1st. It will be gone come May. NOTHING (other than some humans, yetis, abominable snowmen and Santa) likes snow for 6 months of the year. None of that business in my home province of New Brunswick either....

 

[bboulier]

I grew up in rural Nebraska, where we had no opportunity to have wood fires. Best I could do there was cook over buffalo chips. When I moved to NC after graduating from high school, I discovered the mystery of fireplaces.

I enjoy cutting and splitting wood. Watching a wood stove is much more entertaining than watching a gas furnace. The wood stove is also a good back-up if the power goes out. I don't buy any wood, as I get enough through careful scrounging and tapping my son's woodpile. He had about 6 cords of wood cut down when he moved into a new house. I probably don't save all that much money with the wood stove, but I wouldn't give it up. Like Tenn Dave, this is more a hobby (or maybe an obsession, as I always comment to my wife about potential sources of wood seen along the side of the road.) If I had more money, I would add another wood stove in the family room that is in the basement of a split level. That area gets cold when I run my current stove on the main level.

 

[johninwi]

Money is no object..
metalsped is going to be carrying the bags of pellets to the basement and filling the stove, i believe the hopper will flow best with the pellets placed north/south rather than just a haphazard dumping, also, fires will only be lit using the teepee stacking method, none of this fancy fire gel or auto ignitor. Any spare time will be spent with a thermometer verifying the appropriate temps thruout the house, any devation will require prompt placement of fans to correct the devation.
and what did they call the brick's that were placed in the fireplace and then used to warm a bed? getting them too.
metalsped did ask the question, didn't he? assumed he was volunteering.

 

[Montanalocal]

I would definitely keep burning wood. I have a big two story log home that I heat all with wood. The only alternative for a log home is the electric baseboard heaters in most rooms. Besides being expensive, they simply can not keep up with the 20 to 30 below zero days for weeks on end like we can sometimes get here in central Montana at 5000 feet elevation. Love that cozy warm wood heat.

Having said that, if money were no object I would probably buy my wood rather than getting it all myself as I do now. I am pushing 70, and the felling, limbing, bucking, debarking, loading, unloading and splitting are simply not as much fun as they used to be.

 

[mass_burner]

Really, I need to read up on this.

 

[Poindexter]

I would still burn wood. If money were no object I probably would pay some young person to all the prep work, but nothing quite matches the warmth of a wood stove.

 

[mass_burner]

FionaD: " I would have a passive house but with a small stove or open log fire becuase it speaks to the ancient part of a human being in a way that I dont think solar panels, heat pumps etc ever will."

Yes, Fiona! We Celts think alike.
It speaks to us because, for over 20,000 years, the modern European man lived in the Ice Age in Europe. In Scotland, in France, in Germany, fire was life. In the winters, with a low of 40 below every night, you had to get into a cave, and light a fire, or you would die.

The modern humans who survived over 20,000 years of the ice age, and who were alive, 12,000 years ago, were fire-makers.

And, for 200,000 years before that, our ancestors the Neanderthals, lived in Ice Age Europe. Same thing for the Neanderthals, either they build a fire, or they died. Although it had been thought that the Neanderthals went extinct, modern science has proven that they did not! All people of northern European ancestry still carry Neanderthal genes. I got my dna run on 23andme.com, and I am 3 percent Neanderthal. The average is 2.5 percent, few people have a higher percent of Neanderthal dna than I have. No wonder I love fire!

Wait, are you saying the Neanderthals weren't a separate. species of human that went extinct?