http://www.askthebuilder.com/B96_Natural_Gas_vs_Firewood_Cost_Survey.shtml just to compare costs in cities around the USA
What does it cost???
- Thread starter geofore
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Locoweed
ArboristSite Guru
Trying to heat with a fireplace using purchased firewood isn't a good deal except in a emergency.
Find some numbers on using a wood stove and cutting your own firewood.
Even deducting the cost of the stove and the equipment to cut and haul wood, it is a great deal.
Find some numbers on using a wood stove and cutting your own firewood.
Even deducting the cost of the stove and the equipment to cut and haul wood, it is a great deal.
Did I read this correctly, are they basing this study on someone using 21 lbs of wood an hour?
Husky137
Addicted to ArboristSite
Try finding a website that is sponsored by wood and stove dealers as opposed to one that is sponsored by the gas log folks. I bet the numbers would be just as skewed the other way.
elektrobot
ArboristSite Member
Total Bs
That article is complete crap. First off, who burns 21 pounds of seasoned wood per hour. Dry wood is much lighter than wet wood, and I'd be lucky to fit 21 pounds of it in my Napoleon insert at once, let alone do it each hour. Last November, we had our wood burning insert installed, and I did not have any firewood prepared, so we bought it. Purchased 3 cords @ $140.00 a cord. Had an average of $40.00 gas bill each month, but thats because prices were way up. The actual therm usage was less than 1/10 of previous years. Even after having to purchase our wood last year, we came out WAY ahead. This year even more so after having all last winter and this early spring to get plenty of wood ready.
If you are thinking of installing a wood burner to heat your house, this article is not accurate, and anyone who heats with wood can tell you this first hand. Nothing beats the cost savings and comfort value of heating with wood.
.... hope all that ranting was worth .02 cents.
That article is complete crap. First off, who burns 21 pounds of seasoned wood per hour. Dry wood is much lighter than wet wood, and I'd be lucky to fit 21 pounds of it in my Napoleon insert at once, let alone do it each hour. Last November, we had our wood burning insert installed, and I did not have any firewood prepared, so we bought it. Purchased 3 cords @ $140.00 a cord. Had an average of $40.00 gas bill each month, but thats because prices were way up. The actual therm usage was less than 1/10 of previous years. Even after having to purchase our wood last year, we came out WAY ahead. This year even more so after having all last winter and this early spring to get plenty of wood ready.
If you are thinking of installing a wood burner to heat your house, this article is not accurate, and anyone who heats with wood can tell you this first hand. Nothing beats the cost savings and comfort value of heating with wood.
.... hope all that ranting was worth .02 cents.
hockeypuck
ArboristSite Operative
cost of wood
I noticed that they were talking about cities. Fire wood in the cities (say boston) costs about 50 to 60 percent more than an hour north or west of the city. This with all the factors mentioned above make that a skewed argument at best. That article was probably produced by some tree huggin group.
Puck
I noticed that they were talking about cities. Fire wood in the cities (say boston) costs about 50 to 60 percent more than an hour north or west of the city. This with all the factors mentioned above make that a skewed argument at best. That article was probably produced by some tree huggin group.
Puck
laynes69
Addicted to ArboristSite
I was going to call the article crap, but wanted to see what others thought about it. Around here in Ohio I cut my own wood, so its free. Even if I had to buy it and I burned a Cord a month at 150.00 Still beats a 400 to 500 dollar gas bill a month. Also if it was the same price as gas, might as well burn it, because nothing beats good wood heat! I would never turn my furnace up to 76 in the winter time. Sounds to me like someone is against wood burning (Tree Hugger). :hmm3grin2orange:
At a rate of 21 lbs. per hour I would use a cord of Oak in about 7 1/2 days !!
Hell, at that rate I would use 16-18 cord in a heating season, man the damper was open on that stove!!!
Propaganda(?) for the uninformed
Jeff
Hell, at that rate I would use 16-18 cord in a heating season, man the damper was open on that stove!!!
Propaganda(?) for the uninformed
Jeff
Don't be so surprised. Natural gas is very cheap in some cities.
They compared 75k BTU's I think.
Red oak at best dried...3757 pounds. 16.8 million BTU's recoverable.
=447BTU's/lb
So 75k BTU's=16.8 LBs.
I wouldn't be surprised if I have stuffed 21lbs/hour in my modern stove during some windy cold winter days.
They compared 75k BTU's I think.
Red oak at best dried...3757 pounds. 16.8 million BTU's recoverable.
=447BTU's/lb
So 75k BTU's=16.8 LBs.
I wouldn't be surprised if I have stuffed 21lbs/hour in my modern stove during some windy cold winter days.
Who here has put 500 lbs of wood in a stove or furnace add-on in one day to heat a normal size house with semi-efficient insulation?
Maybe my Canadian brothers from way up north can tell stories of weeks on end with lows of -30 but in the mid-west I just don't have consumption like that.
Dan, doesn't 4 cords a month just sound like a lot a wood?!?
Maybe my Canadian brothers from way up north can tell stories of weeks on end with lows of -30 but in the mid-west I just don't have consumption like that.
Dan, doesn't 4 cords a month just sound like a lot a wood?!?
JeffHK454 said:
Yes, if you average it out over 24 hours. Of course I stuff the stove at night, and don't put in any more till morning. So the average consumption during the night hours are low. Then again the house is kind of chilly when I get up. Not the best insulated house. Their 75kbtu figure is an energy consuption that a wood heater would never maintain over a 24 hour period, so you would not use the kind of wood it calculates to.
