Save money switching to gas?

[LLigetfa]

Thanks for the links. I'll be sure to check them out.

Sorry for venting here, but people that think they know it all are really annoying to those of us that really do.

Some of you are probably thinking that I should have filled one half of the woodshed right away with green wood as per her theory and left the other half out in the sun to stack in later. That way I could have tested both theories and simply drawn from the side that dried the most. Makes too much sense to me and I know this sounds like an excuse, but I had to do a bunch of remedial work on my shed.

Being a pole shed, the frost has been jacking the poles unevenly and it was badly ramshackled. The worst pole was jacked up a foot and threatening to break the roof. I had to go around the shed from pole to pole and with a helical screw anchor and a come-along, try to return the poles to their former depth. On some poles the soil had subsided and so the poles would not go down all the way. I dug down beside the worst one in hopes of the subsided clay oozing up which helped a bit. I had to go around and raise the others to match the tallest and then get the space under them to fill in. After I got all the poles to the same depth, I gained 6 inches in height overall. I screwed in two long heilical anchors at each pole and bolted them to the pole in hopes of it stopping the frost jacking. Time will tell if it works. So... anyway... that's my story as to why I didn't half fill the shed in the Spring, and I'm sticking to it.

If my anchors don't work, I will jack up the shed, essentially pulling out all the poles, cut them flush with the slab, fill in the holes, and just let the whole thing float on grade. I just need to add some diagonal bracing to stop it from racking.

 

[caber]

Do you have a neighbor, coworker, friend or relative who heats only with gas? Find one with a similar size house and ask them what their monthly bill is. And what temperature they keep their house at.

I'm routinely shocked at what people I know pay monthly to heat their houses in Maryland.

 

[Wet1]

It sounds to me like you need to consider a divorce rather than which fuel to burn!

 

[jtb51b]

My situation is a bit different, but comparable.. Before the wood stove, I was heating my basement with a Kero heater. This cost was (at last purchase) 4.00 per gallon for K1 and I used around 2 gallons per day.. My basement WILL be warm as I work down here.. Thats a cost of 8.00 per day, I was getting a good bit of heat rising upstairs, it cut my natural gas bill from around $200 monthly to around 140$ monthly, keep in mind I am in a much warmer climate than you. I installed a wood stove 2 years ago (switched to a secondary burn stove this year) and my average gas bill is WELL under 100$ per month.. During the summer months I have a 30$ bill--- last bill was 70$.. Most of my increased usage is now from a space heater in my downstairs bar while we have folks over. I am slowly able to phase that heat out as well. My furnace only comes on when I am too lazy for a fire, or out of town for too long. We keep the basement toasty warm, and the upstairs is now at around 72, compared to a past thermo setting of 68.. Hope this makes sense, and helps.. Luckilly my wife pretty much gets out of my way on things like this and just enjoys her and her pets being warm..

Jason

 

[Pagey]

Wow. Lots of math and complex social/spousal issues here. All I can offer is this: We spent nearly $5,000 for our Endeavor, install, labor, hearth pad, etc. It will take at least 6 seasons to break even...or more. But there are some things you can't put a price on - like being warm in your own home. Even if we take 10 years to 'break even', I feel we made the right decision to go with wood heat. I'm comfortable in my own living room for the first time in 5 years of being in this home. The wife and kids enjoy the heat as well. Also, after spending 45-50 hours a week riding a desk (I work in a local community bank), it is nice to get out and get in some work hauling, splitting, and stacking.

Hopefully the two of you can agree to not over analyze the situation.

 

[rob bennett]

So figure out the cost difference. Then see if the cost is worth the enjoyment. If it costs you a few hundred more a year for wood, is it worth it for the fun factor? Also it puts a dollar number to the argument. "are we really going to argue over (insert money here)? "

 

[bokehman]

We spent nearly $5,000 for our Endeavor, install, labor, hearth pad, etc. It will take at least 6 seasons to break even...or more.

That's not relevant here; the OP already has both forms of heating installed and just wants to compare the fuel price. Also, I'm sure if you started both installs from scratch (central heating versus woodstove) the woodstove install would be cheaper.

 

[Redox]

Do you have a neighbor, coworker, friend or relative who heats only with gas? Find one with a similar size house and ask them what their monthly bill is. And what temperature they keep their house at.

I'm routinely shocked at what people I know pay monthly to heat their houses in Maryland.

My neighbors won't tell me any more! ;-)

Chris

 

[carp]

Did you factor in the temp you keep the house at with wood vs where you would set the thermostat for the gas heat? Even at $250 a cord black locust my house is warmer for cheaper than gas in Cleveland Ohio. At $250 a cord it cost me $375 for the entire wood heat season. Gas, with thermostat at 65 most of the time would cost $900-$1200. If I set the thermostat to 70-72 which is where things hover with wood, It would be double that. The first year I used wood I ended up with a $600 credit on my gas bill. Three years later that credit is still over $300.00(been using furnace more, mornings and when I get home from work to help get house temp up as stove gets going).

shut the stove down and set the thermostat to the temp the house is usually at burning wood. I think your wife's jaw will hit the floor when she sees that gas bill.

 

[LLigetfa]

I think the reason I could not use math and logic with her is because she knew she was full of BS and was simply trying to manipulate me into harvesting my own Poplar and saving the $1200 cash outlay. There was also our disagreement on seasoning time where I insist on staying two years ahead. Yes, it is possible to heat with wood that is seasoned less than 2 years, but the difference is discernable. When I raise as evidence, the hissing, foaming, smoking stench of wet wood, she blames that on me, saying that seasoning it out in the sun and rain is the culprit.

She is in charge of the wood buying and two years ago she dragged her heels so I by the time I interceded and tried buying wood, I missed the deadline on Spring half-loading restrictions. Log haulers get real busy that time of year bringing the real money trees to the mills and don't have time for firewood which doesn't bring the same price. I have to take my deliveries in the Winter on frozen ground and most of the firewood in the bush can only be taken out in Winter.

I truly think she figured I would just go get Poplar instead, but the last time she pulled that stunt, I bought some Ash and diseased Elm in June from my neighbor who was cutting Poplar across the road from me for the local mills. He delivered it with his tractor and really chewed up my driveway and yard. I bucked, split, and stacked it in the shed right away and it was terrible stuff to burn and I went through way more than previous years. That was two years ago and one year ago I finally got my way with her placing a 12 cord order that I'm burning now. It's not the best right now but getting better every week and it will be really good next year. Now, one year later, she didn't want to shell out for wood I will be burning two and three years from now.

As for comparing gas bills with neighbors, most of them are older homes and probably a poor comparison. As was mentioned too, they probably keep the thermostat at 68 versus my 74+.

Now she's starting to comment on how much gasoline I go through in my snow thrower, splitter, and tractor and is probably going to try to get me to shovel, split, cart, and mow by hand. She's chock full of ideas on how to save money by me working harder. I've worked hard most of my life, first growing up on a farm and then later working contruction. I now work as an Information Technology professional who can afford labour saving tools and I've earned my right to use them. I don't see her giving up her clothes dryer or her vacuum cleaner or her car.

 

[NEDLAX]

I have a 2000 sq ft ranch I heat w/ gas its from $$150- 250 usually, 300 last year one month. my furnace is 80% efficent and way over sized so it shortcycles and never run properly. I think it worked fine before i gutted the house and reinsulated and air sealed. I was the guy with the blower door on the other post. Another thing on the naurtal gas generator they have a unit that you can buy.the premise on it is your saving on your electric bill.its cheaper to make your own energy w/ the generator because your not paying for the energy lost on the transmission lines, also the heat produced by the unit is pumped into your ductwork, I believe it produced around 40000btu, the big thing is all the excess power you generate can be sold to power company. I dont remember what the name of it was will try to find it online.

http://www.toolbase.org/Technology-Inventory/Electrical-Electronics/combined-heat-power

 

[LLigetfa]

Yes, CHP or cogen is interesting technology. Of course it is more beneficial if you have greater heating needs than cooling needs. It also protects you from electrical utility outages since the gas distribution system generate their own and are not dependent on the electrical utility. Another interesting technology is natural gas powered heat pumps that use a small turbine engine.