Heating. Propane vs Electric vs Wood Pellet

[shooterdon]

My wood processing time takes away from sitting around and not doing much.

When I did my spreadsheet to look at energy savings, I also looked at labor time. I calculated it would take me about 66 hours to process my yearly requirement to heat 100% with wood if I purchased logs. I would save $1000 over using propane. That works out to about $15/hr. I would need to earn over $20 an hour to net that, and then add in the cost of driving to work for a part time job...say another $3/hr. So I would need a part time job that pays about $25/hr....or work over 120 hours for $12/hr

What was interesting was that the hourly return was about the same if I tired to find and harvest my own wood as I factored in the cost of driving to and from and cutting it down etc. I saved an additional $680/year but did needed more time invested and more wear and tear on the truck to do it. One reason I purchase my logs. Wood from my own property is essentially free. I need to attend to it anyway to maintain the land, so that makes the savings even more attractive, but I did not factor that in as I could sell it if I did not use it. I used the worst case senario of having to find wood off site or buy logs to determine my savings.

Working 20 hours a week I can put up a lot of wood in a few weeks and still do other things. I can decide my own hours and never leave my little slice of heaven. Dealing with wood is far more satisfying for me than dealing with people...but YMMV.

 

[Everhard]

Phew, all caught up. Wow.

So Ya I heat with wood primarily, I'm young enough and enjoy the fitness outdoors and all the other reasons as others have said.
But!
My work alone means I'm not home for a minimum of 26hrs when I go on shift. Leave out going away for more than a day to visit friends etc. Now while I do load up the wood before I leave ultimately my baseboards kick back in to heat the house. Which is costly. To quantify those numbers my electrical bill on the coldest months will hit $300+ per month. If I worked a job that meant I was only gone say 10hrs a day for work then burning wood would cut that cost in half or better and that's a conservative estimate. Still it's not the end of the world, my cost to run this house for a year everything factored in is similar to some one living in the nearest town in suburbia with NG available etc. They can stay there, I'll stay here thanks!
Anyway, my biggest thing is I don't like being unnecessarily inefficient if I don't have to be. Plus there's other factors like I want to be able to run my house off my generator in emergency (takes a monster generator to run all these baseboards!!!) and many others which means I don't like being solely reliant on heating with wood.
I'd love to hear of anyone that has had experience with geothermal with a ductless solution. I know it's the more expensive option if it is even an option otherwise I'll go air to air. They are much more effective today by all accounts. I think I can heat this place well enough with those.

E.

 

[ovrszd]

My wood processing time takes away from sitting around and not doing much.

When I did my spreadsheet to look at energy savings, I also looked at labor time. I calculated it would take me about 66 hours to process my yearly requirement to heat 100% with wood if I purchased logs. I would save $1000 over using propane. That works out to about $15/hr. I would need to earn over $20 an hour to net that, and then add in the cost of driving to work for a part time job...say another $3/hr. So I would need a part time job that pays about $25/hr....or work over 120 hours for $12/hr

What was interesting was that the hourly return was about the same if I tired to find and harvest my own wood as I factored in the cost of driving to and from and cutting it down etc. I saved an additional $680/year but did needed more time invested and more wear and tear on the truck to do it. One reason I purchase my logs. Wood from my own property is essentially free. I need to attend to it anyway to maintain the land, so that makes the savings even more attractive, but I did not factor that in as I could sell it if I did not use it. I used the worst case senario of having to find wood off site or buy logs to determine my savings.

Working 20 hours a week I can put up a lot of wood in a few weeks and still do other things. I can decide my own hours and never leave my little slice of heaven. Dealing with wood is far more satisfying for me than dealing with people...but YMMV.

I am very impressed that 66 hours of labor per year will heat your house!!! You are much more efficient with your time than I. If your burning time period is 132 days (tryin to make the math easy) that's 30 minutes a day to block, spit, stack your wood, carry it to the house, stoke the stove and take out the ashes. No way I'm that speedy.

 

[jpm]

I use a outdoor wood boiler for the main winter heating with a indoor stove for late spring/early fall . As for cutting, splitting,and,stacking I will do a couple of hours a day on and off for a couple of weeks but it is also exercise and I enjoy it. A different type of heat would just be not the same

 

[fruitcakesa]

Since my Tarm indoor boiler needs 2 yr dried wood; I cut, haul, split, stack and burn pretty much year round with much of the cutting, hauling and burning n the colder months and the splitting and stacking in the warmer.
While I do have oil backup on the boiler, it is only used when we are away for more than a day or I am sick or lazy.

 

[shooterdon]

I am very impressed that 66 hours of labor per year will heat your house!!! You are much more efficient with your time than I. If your burning time period is 132 days (tryin to make the math easy) that's 30 minutes a day to block, spit, stack your wood, carry it to the house, stoke the stove and take out the ashes. No way I'm that speedy.

I am 69 so not very speedy any longer...LOL.

The game changers for me were an MTL grapple ($1000), IBC totes ($800 - enough for 2-3 years of wood) and a cutting table. I rarely if ever need to pick up anything, or do constant bending, and I only stack once. Using totes provides protected storage without a building or using tarps. See below.

I buy logs. See below. That means wood that is easy to split and no large rounds. Any logs less than 5" in diameter are not split. The grapple takes the logs off the pile and puts them on the cutting table. From the cutting table (that is slightly higher than the splitter), the rounds are directed to the splitter. The splits are taken off the table of the splitter and stacked into totes. Each tote holds just under 1/2 cord of wood. Loaded totes are moved to an area for seasoning. Totes are moved into the attached garage before winter and as needed as I run low. I use a pallet jack to station totes in the garage as my tractor will not fit under the doors. This was the fist year using totes, and I was able to put four cords in the garage. I will be able to store about 6 cords next year.





I am not saving a lot currently by using wood because LP is at $1.40. But four years ago my contract price was $2.30.
When that happens, wood nets a significant savings. If I get to the point I cannot process wood, I have two local suppliers that will fill my totes for $75 ea. ($150/cord). Totes make wood handling almost a non-issue in my situation. Totes require a lot of FEL or 3PH capacity as mine weigh about 2000 lbs, so not a good option for those with smaller tractors.

 

[Smokeydog]

Heated primary with wood for 40 years. In 1991 installed a Buck model 91 catalytic insert and lined the masonry chimney with insulated stainless steel liner. Reduced firewood consumption and time to less than half but needed high quality wood. Oak seasoned in the dry for two years. One of the benefits is that my wife and I like cutting wood and definitely a good team building exercise. There’s a pride and satisfaction of having a stack of wood ready for the winter season. 8 years ago installed a mini split. Now just supplement with wood. Reduced our wood use by more than 90%. Still using the wood pile before the heat pump.

 

[goeduck]

I am very impressed that 66 hours of labor per year will heat your house!!! You are much more efficient with your time than I. If your burning time period is 132 days (tryin to make the math easy) that's 30 minutes a day to block, spit, stack your wood, carry it to the house, stoke the stove and take out the ashes. No way I'm that speedy.

Maybe have a few more cups of coffee?

 

[ovrszd]

Maybe have a few more cups of coffee?

Spiked coffee!!!

 

[5030]

Lets see. So far this winter I've consumed about 1.5 tons of free corn and half a pallet of wood pellets. The pellets were $214 bucks for a ton, so my total heat bill has been about $125 bucks so far (electricity to run the stove included. 73 in here right now. Nice and toasty.