Outdoor Wood Furnace Info
All-Purpose OWF Discussions => General Outdoor Furnace Discussion => Topic started by: intensedrive on January 23, 2019, 09:57:18 PM
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This may be my issue only, I'm not a big winter fan, but about mid Feburary I hit a wall. Becomes more of a chore to fill and clean the boiler. The thought of filling for another 2 months is a struggle mentally.
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The thought of buying oil keeps me motivated lol!
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Or watching the meter spin! :) Installed a GS100 this week on a house that just had a $450 electric bill.
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Definitely not for those who live the sedentary lifestyle. Sometimes I feel the same way, but taking a 1 hour shower at 160 degrees changes that.
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I enjoy not hearing the oil burner running. Quiet is a wonderful thing to me now that I'm getting older. I don't consider taking care of her as work but more as part of my wellness program. I think the last time I did a thorough cleaning of the Edge 550 was about a month ago. I will do it again in the next couple of weeks to gauge how much build up I can expect throughout the winter and how much she'll need to be thoroughly cleaned. Roger
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Easy motivation is ask anyone how much there LP bill is . Don't forget what's temp of your house . Or what's temp in your house during polar vortex . And long super hot showers is just a bounus . Other bonus is waving to LP truck as it drives by .. and watching LP prices to can keep your wood focus in check .. another good thing to keep focus is what can do to burn less wood . ( That can fill space of alot brain cells ) it's where motivation meets wallet . 👍😁
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Curious what the price of propane is. I thought it had come down a lot but maybe not. I buy a load of logs for $950, then spend about 60 hours bucking, splitting and stacking them into a temporary pile. It takes another 20 hours to restack them into the wood shed. There is a natural gas line that goes past the house. A quick back of the envelope calc suggests I could heat the house for a cost of $1200 burning only clean reliable natural gas. Certainly these numbers makes one question their sanity.
I just finished next years wood. Still needs to go in the wood shed.
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Propane here is $1.59 a gallon right now. I think it was $1.09 last summer.
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If I had a natural gas line running to my house there is no way that I would be burning wood. With the price of natural gas it makes no economic sense. I burn wood because electricity or propane are my only heat options.
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If I had a natural gas line running to my house there is no way that I would be burning wood. With the price of natural gas it makes no economic sense. I burn wood because electricity or propane are my only heat options.
Have a nat gas line here, fantastic for drying corn however I’m already giving the utility far more than I like for electricity every month, like $375/month on a budget plan, I ain’t paying for enough gas to heat the house, shop and sidewalk.
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Just a few more quick back of the envelopes if anyone is curious.
In my area (the Socialist Republic of Canadastan), a load of logs is generally $950 for about 9 cords, nat gas is 50 cents a cu meter, fuel oil is $1.09 per litre, electricity is 20 cents per KwH. These prices take all factors like delivery costs and services charges into account. We will use RSI's number for propane at $1.59 per gal. If we convert everything to BTU's and then figure out how many BTU's we get for a penny and then factor in the efficiency of the furnaces (very subjective of course) we get a useable output cost.....
wood 2278 BTU/cent @50% eff = 1136 BTU/cent
nat gas 714 BTU/cent @95% eff= 678 BTU/cent
propane 588 BTU/cent @95% eff= 558 BTU/cent
oil 333 BTU/cent @82% eff= 273 BTU/cent
electricity 170 BTU/cent @100% eff= 170 BTU/cent
Using wood as the baseline
wood 1.0x more expensive than wood
nat gas 1.7x more expensive than wood
propane 2.0x more expensive than wood
oil 4.0x more expensive than wood
electricity 6.7x more expensive than wood
Of course, many here get their wood for free, but this usually entails more work. Some may have wood lots and like to keep the dead stuff cleaned up, so wood is the best choice for many reasons. For me, if the option is oil or electricity, I would go with wood for sure. If nat gas or propane is available, then you had better not hate handling wood, as it is a tougher case to make.
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If you're looking at straight cost per BTU then yes, wood is the cheapest. But what do the calculations look like when you factor in the cost of the stove, concrete, boiler shed, underground pipe, in-house components etc.? I could buy a lot of natural gas for $15,000-$20,000 plus $1000 per year for the wood...
Of course I'm certainly not against wood burning, but sometimes I question my sanity. :)
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Yes, this is only looking at it from a fuel cost perspective. If you are starting from scratch, you would need to take capital costs into account. You could also debate the fuel costs. Wood cost seems fairly stable. The cost of fossil fuels can be fairly erratic. Nat Gas spiked in 2008, 4X higher than its current price. If it is ever decided that fracking is bad, and the practice is outlawed, watch the price spike again.
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I can understand not liking February it is the crappiest month of the year I think. That is why they make it so short.
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Ahh yes, the startup costs, from scratch. Little did I realize my forecasted $8000 venture would turn into $20k. Granted, my particular setup isn't exactly bare bones, but the break even point appears to be about 16 years from now, and that's if I never buy wood.
So, my personal rule to myself is that I will not buy wood, period.
In the meantime since it is a done deal I will enjoy hot water to the fullest, even if it means making giant steam clouds with the pressure washer in the dead of winter.
And for what it's worth, wood will be around if the trucks stop running.
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I like the whining about burning wood . Because you can make wood burning as cheap as you want . Depends on your wood hoarding skills..
It really boils down to the person you a coucher or a outside doer. It's that easy . Burning wood my whole life . Some years wood is free. Some years you pay more . But across years of burning . I would of saved about $500-$3000 a year . When you buy a gas furnace those options are out the window you are locked in just don't forget there is a $3000 furnce that needs attention also. Service calls need to added to the gas bill . And monthly service charges on meter to your house. Ooo the details . 😎👍
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I like the whining about burning wood . Because you can make wood burning as cheap as you want . Depends on your wood hoarding skills..
It really boils down to the person you a coucher or a outside doer. It's that easy . Burning wood my whole life . Some years wood is free. Some years you pay more . But across years of burning . I would of saved about $500-$3000 a year . When you buy a gas furnace those options are out the window you are locked in just don't forget there is a $3000 furnce that needs attention also. Service calls need to added to the gas bill . And monthly service charges on meter to your house. Ooo the details . 😎👍
I do feel obligated to point out that a typical gas furnace is no more than $800 and maintenance/service is decades apart, so there's that. And the monthly charges are there regardless unless you don't want backup which is entirely silly in my opinion.
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I like the whining about burning wood . Because you can make wood burning as cheap as you want . Depends on your wood hoarding skills..
It really boils down to the person you a coucher or a outside doer. It's that easy . Burning wood my whole life . Some years wood is free. Some years you pay more . But across years of burning . I would of saved about $500-$3000 a year . . 😎👍
I've never pay for wood. Way much to be had for free around my area.