Mtsoxfan
Platinum Member
You must have some pretty cheap electricity prices to heat for that price...Electric boiler radiant heat in slabs. Costs $100 a month per 1000sq-ft of house in winter. house is larger than 1000 sq-ft
You must have some pretty cheap electricity prices to heat for that price...Electric boiler radiant heat in slabs. Costs $100 a month per 1000sq-ft of house in winter. house is larger than 1000 sq-ft
Oh wait.... Does he mean $100 p/month p/1000 sqft only during Winter months? Heating costs should always be stated per year.I thought that was an accurate assessment.
John, let's all admit it. A large part of wood cutting is the toys and the opportunity to put them to work.Firewood still standing in the forest here goes for about $10/ full cord - and that's if the access is easy. If you are working far from a road or with otherwise difficult access it may be worth nothing. All of the real value is what is added in the harvesting, processing, and delivery.
I'm not the most efficient firewood harvester. I do it in my own way and at my own pace. If I kept track of all of my equipment costs and billed my hours at what can can make otherwise, it would most likely not be the cheapest way to heat. I do it because I enjoy the work (well, I enjoy it other than the splitting and stacking part.) I also plan my firewood harvesting to accomplish other goals, such as improving wildlife habitat or timber value or putting in recreation trails. The logs I take out for firewood are just a byproduct of that activity. Most are not good for much else: too small or poorly formed or diseased to use for lumber, though I do occasionally harvest trees to turn into lumber or logs for construction projects (some of the structures in the obstacle course in our woods are made from logs/lumber I harvested here.)
The catalytic exhaust on wood burners is actually a good thing. It causes a hotter burn, so less emissions and more heat.Far as I can tell, if you want a wood stove or outside wood fired boiler, today you now have to deal with the EPA and their catalytic combuster stuff to contain particulate emissions and I've read that in some areas, wood stoves have been outlawed.
None of that happens with a biomass stove because they all meet or exceed the EPA guidelines for visible and particulate emissions and biomass stoves are carbon neutral as well (not that I care), but they are and quite a bit of pelletized fuel comes from Forestry slash and discarded wood products like old pallets and skids that would wind up on landfills.
One of my favorite companies that uses their forestry slash and excess lumber (from the trim of their flooring mills is) Somerset Hardwood Flooring in Somerset, Kentucky. What started out for them as fuel to heat their boilers and plant has become quite a value added business. Somerset hardwood pellets are sold all round the Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana and Michigan area. Even have their own fleet of delivery semi's.
I actually carry rolls of orange flag tape on my tractors and RTV. I mark trees that I see have died or going to die so when I go back in the Winter with leaves off I know which ones need removed.John, let's all admit it. A large part of wood cutting is the toys and the opportunity to put them to work.
I used to travel through my woods looking for good firewood prospects for managment. Now ..... well, just don't ever get a sawmill
They seem to have a tendency to plug up as well or at least the guys on Firewood Hoarders Forum say they do. I don't know, neither of my biomass units require one.The catalytic exhaust on wood burners is actually a good thing. It causes a hotter burn, so less emissions and more heat.
The catalysts in catalytic stoves will last many years if you operate them properly. Two key points: don't burn stuff other than wood in them, and make sure the stove is up to proper operating temperature before switching in the catalyst. The single biggest reason for catalyst failure is turning it on before the stove is up to proper temperature.They seem to have a tendency to plug up as well or at least the guys on Firewood Hoarders Forum say they do. I don't know, neither of my biomass units require one.