Heating Budget

[LouNY]

Well lets see I still have a nice double walled buried 1000 gallon oil tank,
as well as a few above ground tanks. I will have to get my last delivery for the year soon,
another 3-400 gallons. I use oil for my primary heat through a boiler which is also
my hot water through a boiler mate.
My auxiliary heat source is an insert in my fireplace for COAL, yep the dirty old American product
from PA. Between 3 to 5 tons a year of coal.
I looked at wood and outside boilers a great many years ago. If I had gone that route
I would be on at least my 3rd unit and I would be cutting 5-8 cords of wood a year.
While wood is "free" to me my time and the equipment is not. And the last few years with health issues
and surgeries and such it would have been difficult to impossible to cut wood and maintain that system
I am certainly glad I did not put in a wood burning system, I do wish that I had put in a coal boiler.
Oh, and for just general info when I grew up we were heating with wood, great big ol central furnaces in the basements
of my folks house and my grandfathers house. About 15-20 cords per year, cut in the winter and skidded out,
stacked in the wood yard, till time available between crops and the buzz saw set up on the tractor and that wood cut into furnace and stove wood lengths, then split and stacked in the basements and wood sheds, then all the kindling split for the stoves and wood carried in daily,
then ashes hauled out of the basements and stoves frequently.
Hell no I don't have any desire to burn wood even "free" wood.

 

[3930dave]

Oh, and for just general info when I grew up we were heating with wood, great big ol central furnaces in the basements
of my folks house and my grandfathers house. About 15-20 cords per year, cut in the winter and skidded out,
stacked in the wood yard, till time available between crops and the buzz saw set up on the tractor and that wood cut into furnace and stove wood lengths, then split and stacked in the basements and wood sheds, then all the kindling split for the stoves and wood carried in daily,
then ashes hauled out of the basements and stoves frequently.
Hell no I don't have any desire to burn wood even "free" wood.

That ^ describes my paternal grandparents farm, when I was a kid. When my last Uncle living there moved off the farm to the new bungalow he had built, I asked him if he was putting in wood heat.

Same answer as you "Not only No, but _____ NO ! Been hauling wood and ashes all my life, had enough" Do that much all the time.... Gets Old fast enough....

Your oil system serves you well (my sister has something similar), and you have an alternate source too.... always nice to have.

Might have been the first Winter in the new place, or maybe the second, same Uncle did laugh about No Wood later...... Ice Storm of '98 took down the grid, for something like 10 days.

Coal... I recently posted elsewhere... UK brought back a bit of coal-fired elec generation, as Natgas has spiked high there lately..... Increased Costs aren't that attractive, unless you can kick them down the road to somebody else......

Rgds, D.

 

[3930dave]

This is too good to only see here once.

DzlBound brought up the topic, so I'll credit him .

Rgds, D.

 

[DieselBound]

This is too good to only see here once.

One of the first things that I'd mentioned to my wife when we first met was how lucky we were. I understood what things were like around the world. She grew up exceedingly poor, in the Philippines: she'd started a new life in Canada when I found her. I was a bit more fotunate, though my grandmother was once drug through a field over a barbwire fence by a team of plow horses: no silver spoons in our family tree.

I'm a big believer in folks traveling a bit to see that there's a big world: and no, not as a tourist!

Best book title: Want What You Have.

 

[DieselBound]

Heating with wood has helped save me money. Yeah, it's work, but here in the PNW I don't require as much wood as many others do. Hoping that money "saved" can go toward a more efficient home. I know that my trees will be out there in the future. No idea about any other fuel source in the future: yeah, there are concerns with firewood being banned; any such bans, however, won't last indefinitely (I'll spare everyone my dissertation on why I believe/expect this).

One of the bigger firewood headaches for me was all the stacking, having to handle the wood so much. I drastically improved on this with the introduction of wire crates. I now haul out crates to the field, cut and split wood and place in crates (and haul back) and never touch the wood again until I'm pulling it out for stoking the stove. Of course, this requires gasoline for the chainsaws and splitter, and for diesel for the tractor.

It's all about what's manageable.

 

[3930dave]

One of the first things that I'd mentioned to my wife when we first met was how lucky we were. I understood what things were like around the world. She grew up exceedingly poor, in the Philippines: she'd started a new life in Canada when I found her. I was a bit more fotunate, though my grandmother was once drug through a field over a barbwire fence by a team of plow horses: no silver spoons in our family tree.

I'm a big believer in folks traveling a bit to see that there's a big world: and no, not as a tourist!

Best book title: Want What You Have.

By Timothy Miller ?

Thanks for mentioning that, I'll check it out.

Rgds, D.

 

[DieselBound]

Dave, it is/was a small, side-table book. I don't recall anything between the covers. The title was sufficient in itself! Likely around somewhere, buried...

I've got a 21 year-old car that I "love" (as much as someone can love an inanimate object!). It does everything I need such that I have no interest in anything thing else: I keep it out of the landfill and it keeps me out of the poor house!

 

[3930dave]

Dave, it is/was a small, side-table book. I don't recall anything between the covers. The title was sufficient in itself! Likely around somewhere, buried...

I've got a 21 year-old car that I "love" (as much as someone can love an inanimate object!). It does everything I need such that I have no interest in anything thing else: I keep it out of the landfill and it keeps me out of the poor house!

Didn't get a direct hit on the title, but this one looked on-point:

How to Want What You Have: Discovering the Magic and Grandeur of Ordinary Existence: Miller, Timothy: 9780805033175: Books - Amazon.ca

Like exercise, one of the comments about it being irritating (therefore, of value) caught my eye....

Rgds, D.

 

[3930dave]

Heating with wood has helped save me money. Yeah, it's work, but here in the PNW I don't require as much wood as many others do. Hoping that money "saved" can go toward a more efficient home. I know that my trees will be out there in the future. No idea about any other fuel source in the future: yeah, there are concerns with firewood being banned; any such bans, however, won't last indefinitely (I'll spare everyone my dissertation on why I believe/expect this).

One of the bigger firewood headaches for me was all the stacking, having to handle the wood so much. I drastically improved on this with the introduction of wire crates. I now haul out crates to the field, cut and split wood and place in crates (and haul back) and never touch the wood again until I'm pulling it out for stoking the stove. Of course, this requires gasoline for the chainsaws and splitter, and for diesel for the tractor.

It's all about what's manageable.

Wire-cages..... Having stacked wood, I like that approach. A lot.

Just do Us All a favour...... don't start a Wire-Cages in Fields thread on TBN, whatever you do !

Rgds, D.

 

[DieselBound]

Maybe not the same book but it sounds great (probably a better read)!

I've taught myself to accept things that I DO and that it's OK to NOT like something of what it is that one is doing, but that its good to step back and see the larger picture which almost always shows that it's all about context, context that you assumed self-responsibility for. Feeding my dog can sometimes be a grumbling experience, yet, I do it because all else about the dog and its existence in my life is a net positive. Not meaning to make it so so pedantic, but sometimes flowery stuff distracts from the core...