Heating Costs

[shooterdon]

You can split a cord in 4 hours? I'm nowhere close to that!!!!! Can't even do a quarter of a cord in 4 hours with my 22 ton log splitter.

There are a few things to consider when looking at splitting wood.

First, is cycle time. I would rather have a 15 ton machine that has a 10 second cycle, than a 27 ton with 18 second cycle. But I am not splitting large gnarly rounds.

Second is the size of your rounds. If most of your rounds can benefit from using a 4 way wedge, a slightly slower but more powerful splitter increases output

Third, split size. I do not split pieces less than 6 in diameter or thickness. They burn fine in my insert

Fourth, length of the rounds. By cutting to 20” instead of 16” you gain 25% more split wood per cycle. My insert accepts up to 22”. By cutting to just under 20 I get 5 pieces per 100” log. The loggers cords I get are logs 100” long. This also reduced the number of cuts, and chainsaw costs by 20%.

Fifth, efficiency in handling rounds. How are rounds are staged? Are you bending over to pick them up, or sliding no them off a trailer or pick up truck bed? Do you have a picaroon? Does the splitter have a table to prevent pieces that need to be split again from falling to the ground?

 

[HillStreet]

I have a single story 1700 square foot home built 3 years ago. Some may remember my thread that I had problems with my propane fired radiant heat system that my go*amned stupid selfish unqualified piece of sh*t neighbor plumber druggie basta*d muth*rf*c*er scumbag installed for me but I fixed that myself with the help of TBN members.
I burn propane now because it is cheaper than burning coal, and it is so convenient. I will burn coal for 3 or 4 days during the real cold snaps. I oriented the house to the sun and used big windows so solar heating is terrific. My costs for one year of heat/hot water/cooking/generator/clothes drying is between 600 and 730 gallons of propane. Per gallon I pay $2.79 which is high but prevailing here. I can live with that because the house is 70 all the time, higher with solar midday.
By the way, the propane company called me at 10:30 this morning (a big company) to give me heck because the delivery truck came by for a delivery and my driveway was not plowed. I told her that I do not plow while it is snowing and what were they thinking. I understand efficiencies and all but change the route for the circumstances (I delivered oil for a few years part time).

 

[goeduck]

You can split a cord in 4 hours? I'm nowhere close to that!!!!! Can't even do a quarter of a cord in 4 hours with my 22 ton log splitter.

Something does not sound right unless you have some awful tough wood. I would have to take a couple of coffee breaks to use up 4 hours on a cord using my 22 ton single wedge H/V splitter. I would estimate a cord takes me 3 hours, stacked (not tossed in a pile) given the unsplit wood is near the splitter (no hauling).

There are some tricks like splitting next to the stack, stopping the return stroke at the length of wood rather than letting it go fully back, minimizing footsteps, etc. etc.

 

[goeduck]

My set temperature is 65*. But that is irrelevant to the cost comparison.

When my fiancé is here it is 68* and she is still cold. When we get married, I suspect it will be 70*.

Lifestyle will determine how much one spends on heating, but it will not affect the relative cost of different fuels. If you enjoy a 60* set point, that is what works for you and you will spend less.

No way my wife would tolerate 65 degrees, the heat pump would be back on in a flash. She tolerates (with constant muttering) 69 degrees.

 

[oosik]

As I've aged, I consider convenience as a major factor. I had 15 years with a wood stove and 10 with a pellet stove. Now I use the electric heat.

Nothing to locate, fell, chunk up, split, transport, stack. And I don't bring bark, bugs or dirt into the house. No equipment to maintain. I stand up - walk over - turn a knob. BTW - electricity is 6.5 cents per KW here. I maintain the house between 66 to 68. Too dry to go much lower than that.

I really enjoyed everything about burning wood. But then, I was 38 years younger too.

 

[shooterdon]

As I've aged, I consider convenience as a major factor. I had 15 years with a wood stove and 10 with a pellet stove. Now I use the electric heat.

Nothing to locate, fell, chunk up, split, transport, stack. And I don't bring bark, bugs or dirt into the house. No equipment to maintain. I stand up - walk over - turn a knob. BTW - electricity is 6.5 cents per KW here. I maintain the house between 66 to 68. Too dry to go much lower than that.

I really enjoyed everything about burning wood. But then, I was 38 years younger too.

I am "only" in my late sixties but feel the pain already. Until 10 years ago I split by hand but not any more. I think I can use firewood for maybe another 10 years and am setting up to do that. Getting the tractor this year was helpful. Before getting the tractor I used a SxS and a beater truck. The advantage of the tractor is that it allows me to move wood on cut down pallets to reduce stacking and handling. See YouTube video below that gave me the idea:

How to make Portable Firewood Pallet Racks - YouTube

My little Deere FEL cannot handle a lot of weight (700 lbs), so I am using a carry all to handle the pallets. Each pallet holds 1/4 of a cord (should be about 1250 lbs max). Pallets will be loaded directly from the splitter. When needed, pallets will be moved to the garage using the tractor. In the garage, a pallet jack will be used to move pallets into place. Splits are only handled twice...once when stacked on the pallet, and again when moved to the fireplace.

Buying a tractor to process firewood does not make sense in my case as I do not use enough firewood, but utilizing it certainly reduces the work.

BTW, invested in a new LP furnace this year. It should last until I am forced to leave my little slice of heaven. I realize that as I age, my use of wood will ratchet down.

 

[LD1]

My insert has an advertised efficiency of 65%. It does not get all the BTU’s out of the wood.

Yup, loose a lot of heat up the chimney.

I heated in my house for 2 years prior to getting my geothermal up an running. (but grew up heating with wood so no stranger at all to cutting, splitting, hauling, etc).

My house took 6 or so cords a year to heat.

Thing is....I enjoy cutting, cleaning up the woods, splitting, etc. But dont enjoy the mess in the house, and the hassle associated. So I sell. The 6 cords I burned a year....value of $960 (I sell for $160/cord).

The added electric cost of running geo......yup, right about $1000 per year.

Geo is about 4-5 times more efficient than electric (electric considered 100% or 1:1)
Air to air is ~3 times. But that may be a bit dated...maybe they are even better now.

So given your results.....geo would cost you ~$987-$1233 per year.
And air to air would be about $1650 per year.

Compares real favorably to wood

 

[MossRoad]

I set up a spreadsheet yesterday to run the numbers. I estimated 150 million BTU's of heat for the year.

In my situation, using realistic burning efficiencies and the cost to process firewood (gas, oil, chains maintenance) came out as follows:

"Free" wood costs me about $35/cord to find, haul and process. 20 million BTU's per cord. (mix of woods) 11.5 cords...$404/year
10 Loggers cords purchased for $800 will yield 8 cords of split wood. 22 million BTU's per cord. (better wood) 1.3 Loggers cords...$1206/year
Purchased firewood $180/cord delivered. $22 million BTU's per cord. 10.5 cords....$1731/year
Pellets $200/ton. 13 million BTU's per ton . 13.9 tons....$2780/year
Propane $1.39/gallon. 91,500 BTU's per gallon. 1708 gallons...$2374/year
Electric $.11 kwh. 3412 BTU's per kwh. 44,860 kwh...$4935/year

I also looked at the time required to get those 150 million BTU's. Maybe not of interest to those who "love" processing wood but some might be lazy or have other interests. This includes finding "free" wood (2 hr/cord, moving material), processing wood (cutting - 2 hour/cord,split-4hr/cord) , stacking (1.5 hr/cord) etc.

Processing "free" wood...127 hours
Loggers cords...94 hours
Purchased firewood delivered to site... 32 hours
Pellets...21 hours

What was interesting....
I only save $525 ("earn" $8.33/hr) by buying and processing loggers cords over buying wood ready to burn. If I could speed up the splitting time from 4 hours/cord to 2 hours, I do not save any more money, but I "earn" $12.50/hr.

"Free" wood is not free but a heck of a value!! If you have a local wood lot that can be harvested, the time requirements are reduced. If you have to go find it, it is time intensive. Buying a bigger tractor, grapple, high end splitter, (say $10k investment) to process firewood is hard for me to justify. I save $1300 a year by using "free" wood, but spend an additional 95 hours to do it.

I currently heat 60% with propane as I do not like burning at night and I travel a bit and not here full time. My costs are $1900/year.

Not sure how accurate some of the "activity" numbers are...like stacking, splitting etc...just a best guess, but they will not affect costs. I wanted to get a feel for the value of my time. The "hard" numbers like BTU/unit, cost/unit, and efficiencies should be very close.

Now figure in the cost of your splitter, tractor, truck, trailer, chainsaw, chains, gas, oil, repairs, safety equipment, etc.... and figure if you worked 127 hours at McDonald's you'd make about $1200.

 

[shooterdon]

Now figure in the cost of your splitter, tractor, truck, trailer, chainsaw, chains, gas, oil, repairs, safety equipment, etc.... and figure if you worked 127 hours at McDonald's you'd make about $1200.

I did include the cost of consumables, that is why “free” firewood is not free. The only dedicated capital cost I have for firewood is the splitter. In my case, I have 20 acres, so the tractor and truck are needed for other tasks...but make handling firewood much easier. I sold my trailer this year as I was not using it much. I was planning on adding a carport this year to provide storage for both firewood and the tractor, and that will cost $1500-2000. I was also planning on a new splitter, but after running the numbers, I doubt it makes sense.

Frankly, unless I get wood off my property or from a neighbor, it is not worth the effort. But I would rather cut and split wood than drive 25 miles to work at Mickey D’s.

 

[AllDodge]

Ever think about adding propane storage capacity?
If there is enough capacity then the propane can be bought when price is the lowest. I own my tank and can buy when and where I choose, and 400 gallons (One 500 gal tank) is enough to get me though. If I used propane full time, could add another or larger tank. Just a thought