Heating Budget

[Rustyiron]

I just fired up the indoor wood (gasification) boiler yesterday. Not very cold yet, but the shop was getting cold. I just spent the day switching the tractor to plow mode for the winter, the shop is now 60* with the radiant heat going in both the shop and house and all the "free" hot water that we can use.
I can't say enough good things about the ductless mini splits that for the house, do a great job with no difference in the electricity bills. They kept us nice and warm up to this point in the heating season.

 

[DaveinValdez]

Hydro probably won't come back online until April. Everything is frozen. It just warmed up to the 20's this week. We are lucky to have hydro part of the year. In the villages up on the Bering coast, they are all diesel generators. You can bet they are paying $8+ for fuel of any kind. Yea, after four back operations it is time to stop doing the wood thing. The pellets I have figured out a handling solution for moving them around. The Kubota was one of the best things I have ever purchased. Car batteries, wood, tires... so many heavy things are so much easier to move now.

 

[3930dave]

I just fired up the indoor wood (gasification) boiler yesterday. Not very cold yet, but the shop was getting cold. I just spent the day switching the tractor to plow mode for the winter, the shop is now 60* with the radiant heat going in both the shop and house and all the "free" hot water that we can use.
I can't say enough good things about the ductless mini splits that for the house, do a great job with no difference in the electricity bills. They kept us nice and warm up to this point in the heating season.

Nice setup Rusty.... though you knew that already . Great distributed heat, and the water is a bonus (being the energy-sink that it is....).

Modern mini-splits are pretty slick, and a great way to get local heat/cooling.

Rgds, D.

 

[3930dave]

Hydro probably won't come back online until April. Everything is frozen. It just warmed up to the 20's this week. We are lucky to have hydro part of the year. In the villages up on the Bering coast, they are all diesel generators. You can bet they are paying $8+ for fuel of any kind. Yea, after four back operations it is time to stop doing the wood thing. The pellets I have figured out a handling solution for moving them around. The Kubota was one of the best things I have ever purchased. Car batteries, wood, tires... so many heavy things are so much easier to move now.

Understood now on the hydro... being "down south" here relatively speaking, I'm used to large-scale year-round hydro. Glad to hear that it's not a de-activated-for-good hydro installation....

Haven't been to Valdez, or Alaska, but my perception is that it's not Remote remote where you are, like the villages you describe.... those I'd expect to be on diesel.

Backs..... One operation seems like too many to me ! That and knees can take us all down.... I do regular physio to deal with relatively minor issues with my back, and just had a lengthy chat with my kid-sister, who only recently had a proper diagnosis of her more serious (than mine) back problems.....

Got take care of our backs, and somehow still pay the Heat bill too !

Rgds, D.

 

[Carl_NH]

We replaced old oil boiler in 2009 with a Buderus 90% eff blue flame boiler for heat and DHW - cut our oil usage from 850 to 500 gal per year, and pre buy oil each year 2020 was $1.99, and this year $2.49 so $1250 a season for oil heat and hot water.

Installed 7.2KW of solar panels in 2014 and then three Mitsubishi mini splits, for heat and AC, and our total heat/elec cost per year is $1800 net for oil and electricity or $150/month for 4000 SF heated.

I agree the Hydro QC power thru the NE would be a "good thing" but there are so many competing and politically motivated energy projects in New England these days.

From the wind power farms off the coast, pushing all MA customer to all electric heat (mini splits, geo thermal) away from natural gas makes it hard for consumers to know what to do - like other have said, every 10 years there is a "new shift" in direction to benefit the few, and not the consumer.

The more self sufficient in energy generation you can be with Wood/Solar etc, is the way to go IMO.

 

[Patrick Herd]

Natural gas is going to rapidly become an energy source in its twilight. At least here in NZ, connection charges are rapidly rising. Friends recently replaced their NG boiler with a heatpump system and their overall energy bill is now lower.

 

[3930dave]

The more self sufficient in energy generation you can be with Wood/Solar etc, is the way to go IMO.

Roger that Carl. Nice #'s you've attained, on 4000 sf.

Rgds, D.

 

[3930dave]

Natural gas is going to rapidly become an energy source in its twilight. At least here in NZ, connection charges are rapidly rising. Friends recently replaced their NG boiler with a heatpump system and their overall energy bill is now lower.

Demons Change, with Time.

NG is the lowest cost heat source here, for now. We, and much of the USA has abundant NG resources.

Smoke and Mirrors aside, I expect ALL centrally controlled (not personally owned) energy costs to rise significantly in the next decade.

Rgds, D.

 

[Patrick Herd]

The world is starting to wise up to the scale of the LEAKS involved with NG extraction and distribution... Something I can see turning out to be a source of emissions as big or bigger than the actual use of NG. At my old job we bought a building that had been occupied by a company that specialised in gas fitting, initially the place absolutely stunk of gas. We had to get a gasfitter in three times to fix all the leaks we found.

As regulators start to catch up to this and pass the costs on to well and pipeline owners, that plentiful energy source aint going to be so cheap anymore

 

[i7win7]

I have a pellet stove coming and am replacing the wood stove. 120-pound hopper and 3 day burn time is a plus.

Using simular pellet stove. Consider this, it's micro-processor controlled. A 1300VA or 1500VA UPS power supply for a computer $200 or less. Will run stove about 10 min. It will beep when power goes out, has a display to let you know power consumption.

Our stove, when running uses 5A, more if igniter must run. Run a power cord thru wall or floor so a small 1000W generator can run stove. The UPS beeping lets you fire up a generator before the house gets cold.