Wood heat and high oil prices

[cmhyland]

Here in the north east we heat with oil.... The prices are
through the roof and I expect them to go up more.

I have one wood stove but the house is big and I'm
thinking of maybe a second or a fireplace insert with a blower....

What is everyone doing to combat the high cost of
heating for this winter? Insulation, cutting firewood,
new windows?

Regards,
Chris

 

[beenthere]

Cutting trees!

Actually, just trying to keep ahead of the dead and dying, which keeps me in wood year around.

I heat water with wood, and pump the hot water around the house.

 

[ByronBob]

Wood pellet stove. Price per ton hasn't moved in over 3 years.

Propane in 2002 was 1/gallon
2003 was 1.29
2004 was 1.55
This year (gulp) 1.85
Next year? /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

 

[PhilNH5]

We run a fireplace insert from October to April. We also have a woodcookstove that gets used a lot for heat. We try to cut and split as much of our own wood as possible. Last year we brought tree lenght logs and bucked to size and split that.

Buying firewood in SE NH is pricey. In Sunday's paper it is going for $260 -285 a cord /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

I also prebought 700 gals of oil last February at I think 1.19. Don't think we'll be seeing those numbers again.

We use insulated curtains and run a ceiling fan in reverse to push some of the heat back down. Plus we wear sweaters.

Phil

 

[cmhyland]

Bob,
In 2004-2005 winter we paid $1.59 a gal for fuel oil.
In 2003-2004 we paid under a buck a gal.

This year it's $2.36 a gal. We use about 1500 gallons per winter for heating and hot water.

Regards,
Chris

 

[woodlot]

I've got an outdoor wood boiler to heat approx 4,000 sq ft. It usually takes 10-12 cords per winter at $55.00 a cord. I buy wood in 10 cord loads, 8 foot lenghts. The other 2 cords I cut off the property. That boils down (pun intended) to a yearly heating bill of 550. My wife, one teenager, and I can cut, split, and stack 10 cords in about 3 & 1/2 days, working 6 hours per day.

 

[dmccarty]

cmhyland said, </font><font color="blue" class="small">( What is everyone doing to combat the high cost of heating for this winter? Insulation, cutting firewood, new windows? )</font>

Yes to all three questions. We finally got our new house built on our land and moved in this past January. Our walls have an R value around 25. Insulation in the attic is about R45. We also put in very good quality casement windows. Wood with aluminum cladding. The new house is 2400/2500 square feet.

Our old house was about 1250 s/f. 2x4 walls with wood siding. They are lucky to be at R15. Metal windows that moved energy in and out of the house. Who knows how much insulation in the attic. R20? Not the most energy efficient house but it was almost 30 years old.

My power bills on the larger house are the same as from the smaller house. And we are more comfortable. Insulation and good windows works....

We have a wood stove. Unfortuantley the wood we had to burn this past winter was not seasoned well. Hopefully this year will be different. The wood is seems dry certainly better than what used over the winter. I'm hoping that boosts the heat in the house and lowers the power bill.

One thing we did have builit into the house is a pipe/vent that brings outside air into the house to the stove to provide combustion air. I think that makes a big difference on preventing heat loss up the chiminey.

If the next couple of winters continue with high power bills, we will look at putting in a automatic feed corn stove on the other side of the house....

We also have some passive solar design aspects to the house that helps warm the house in the winter and cool in the summer.

Later,
Dan

 

[beenthere]

I've been hearing of pulpwood prices up around $125-$140 per cord this year. Is that affecting you?
Do you get mixed hardwood, or some softwood, aspen, etc.?
Do you buck the logs to firewood length in the pile? or roll them out onto a 'deck' someway? Is that 10 cord a semi-trailer load? like 4' high of 8' wood and 40' long? Maybe 50,000 - 60,000 lbs?
Have wondered how to get loads of wood that way.

Sorry for all the questions, but this seems like a good way to 'go' if no woods is available to cut in.

 

[ratter]

Our windows are in good shape, but we have no storm windows. So that's on the list. And I think I'll lay some additional insulation in the attic. That, and like the earlier post said, sweaters. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif Although, we have a little one, so we have to keep the temp reasonable for her. If it was just me, I could live with 60 degrees.

Oh, and these oil prices have got me thinking about restoring/replacing an old fireplace that was put out of commission a long time ago. But it'll require a lot of thought and probably a lot of money on it's own, gotta be safe, after all.

 

[ejb]

Timely thread...after waffling a few years I am just about to pull the trigger on a Tarm XL2200 multi-fuel boiler (wood/oil). I really would like to burn some wood (and I have 100+acres of it available), and since I don't have two flues I am forced to consider buying a new duel-fuel burner (which can share the flue since its one appliance). Not willing not have an oil backup in case we need to go away a few days in the winter...

Checked with my dealer the other day and last 5 years I have average 1950 gallons oil/year...darn close to $4500/year at todays prices.

Anyone know what the average oil price has been over the last 10 years or so? any guesses if we'll see those low prices again? (get out your cyrstal balls)

For those of you that heat completely with wood, any regrets? too much work?

This new Tarm boiler with a 1000 gallom heat storage tank isn't cheap; at current prices it'll take a min of 4 or so years to break even, but if the price of oil drops and it takes 7-9-11 years to break-even it starts looking like a pretty stupid investment on my end....

Any other indoor, dual fuel models I should consider?