First heating season with new stove.... results!

MTMike · May 11, 2012

Heating season is finally over here in the plains of Eastern Montana..... the grass is green, the wind is blowing, etc.

Here is the impact on my heating bill after installing a new stove in mid December and an air-source heat pump last May. compared to last year. The results may be skewed a bit too because last 2010-2011 was one of the coldest winters I can remember, and 2011-2012 was one of the warmest winters I can remember.

2010-2011: I burned 650 gallons of propane to heat my house

2011-2012: I burned about 100 gallons of propane, and my electric bill (from the ASHP) went up about $30/mo, and I burned 1.5 cords of free Poplar from mid Dec. through April. At a rate of $1.75/gal for propane, that is a savings of over $750 for the year!

Can't wait to see what happens when I can start burning free wood in October instead of December

Just thought I'd share! Enjoy the summer....

PapaDave · May 11, 2012

I don't really know for sure, but based on btu values and such, I'm swag-ging that we save about 1200-1500/year on heating cost (nat. gas) by using the stove.
As I've begun using more wood from the property, that goes up. When we get the new stove, it'll go up more (forget having to calculate the cost of the stove in there). Win, Win, Win!!
Any way to completely heat with wood?

swagler85 · May 11, 2012

My first year as well. Heated only with wood all year and loved it, learned a lot about what to do and what not to do. Also a valuable lesson in properly stacked and seasoned wood. Made an extra effort to get two years out on a wood supply, currently have 6 cord c/s/s. Looking to get to 12 cord c/s/s by this summer.

BrotherBart · May 11, 2012

Welcome to wood heating Mike. It just gets better and better.

tfdchief · May 11, 2012

And it is so much more fun than a boring propane furnace

woodsmaster · May 11, 2012

I save around $2,600 a year but I spent a lot to save it if that makes any since. I have a lot of time, money, blood, and sweat Invested.

BrotherBart · May 11, 2012

tfdchief said:
And it is so much more fun than a boring propane furnace

And I have never heard of a wood pile exploding. Falling over maybe...

BrotherBart · May 11, 2012

woodsmaster said:
I save around $2,600 a year but I spent a lot to save it if that makes any since. I have a lot of time, money, blood, and sweat Invested.

Ya just drilled for your own oil.

MTMike · May 11, 2012

Thanks, guys!

I should also mention another variable: that my first daughter was born in late March 2011, so that most of the 2010-2011 heating season the highest the thermostat was set was 65. This year because of having a youngin around, the house was very rarely below 68 degrees, except when we were not home, obviously. And most of the time with the fireplace burning (evenings/weekends) it was 72-75.

BrotherBart · May 12, 2012

This joint gets under 70 in winter, I screwed up.

weatherguy · May 12, 2012

I save 700 gallons of oil a year, so times 700 by a gallon of oil and thats my yearly savings minus the sweat equity of cutting, splitting and stacking wood, which I enjoy doing. My stoves paid for now so its all gravy plus its in the 70's in the house all winter as opposed to 68-70 before.

Flatbedford · May 12, 2012

MTMike said:
. At a rate of $1.75/gal for propane,

My last delivery was just under $5/gal. At your prices it would almost be worth driving out there with a couple empty tanks and filling up! My propane must have gold in it or something.

MTMike · May 12, 2012

Flatbedford said:
My last delivery was just under $5/gal. At your prices it would almost be worth driving out there with a couple empty tanks and filling up! My propane must have gold in it or something.

We fill up in July when it's on sale. In the dead of winter it's $3.50-$4.00/gal

Flatbedford · May 12, 2012

I paid nearly $5/gal. in April!

Rage_Perry · May 13, 2012

This was our first year too. Stove installed on December 12th and started burning that night. I had to buy all my wood this year but I only got 4 loose trailer loads at $70/75 each. That was heating a 1700sqft 2 story house. The gas company called to ask if everything was OK since we hadn't used any gas for our furnace this winter.

4 or 5 nights when the temps were borderline we did keep the furnace off and only start 2 space heaters on the 2nd floor while we slept.

This was a good winter to get started as to learning some stuff about the stove, but not a good winter to test how much wood an average Iowa winter would require.

All in all we spent $290 the whole winter on wood and $0 on natural gas.

Backwoods Savage · May 13, 2012

MTMike said:
Thanks, guys!

I should also mention another variable: that my first daughter was born in late March 2011, so that most of the 2010-2011 heating season the highest the thermostat was set was 65. This year because of having a youngin around, the house was very rarely below 68 degrees, except when we were not home, obviously. And most of the time with the fireplace burning (evenings/weekends) it was 72-75.

Welcome to the forum Mike.

If you think you did good, you will really think it is great once you can get to heat even more with wood. Notice some of the savings fellows are reporting. By the sounds of it, you really did not burn that much wood this winter and even then it was poplar. If you can get some better wood and crank that insert up a bit you can keep the house at 75 or higher.

Is there a reason you burn only evenings and weekends? Why not 24 hours? This is where you will really notice the difference even more because you won't have to spend the energy to get the stove heated up to throw enough heat to keep you warm. If you can keep heat in there full time, that insert should serve you well. Also get to the point of having enough wood for a couple years on hand as that drying time will pay you back with even more heat because you won't have to burn off the moisture that is in the wood. Let Mother Nature do that for you by getting wood ahead of time, splitting it and stacking it out in the wind.

bogydave · May 13, 2012

This helps in figuring out home heating fuel costs:

http://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalog/pdf/ec/ec1628-e.pdf

From previous discussions:
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads...rning-firewood-wood-pellets.78523/#post-78523

The work done for getting woo may be a plus. The exercise you get is beneficial, but hard to measure.

MTMike · May 14, 2012

Backwoods Savage said:
Welcome to the forum Mike.

Thanks!

Backwoods Savage said:
If you think you did good, you will really think it is great once you can get to heat even more with wood. Notice some of the savings fellows are reporting. By the sounds of it, you really did not burn that much wood this winter and even then it was poplar. If you can get some better wood and crank that insert up a bit you can keep the house at 75 or higher.

I burned Poplar because I have literally dozens of cords (maybe even 100) of free poplar at my disposal, so $0/cord of Poplar > $anything/cord of better wood. I do also have several cords of Ash and about 1 cord of Apple drying out for use in future years. Plus, I don't like it warmer than about 72-73 in the winter. If I am paying for the heat (regardless of the fuel) I wouldn't even have it that warm. I prefer cooler temps.

Backwoods Savage said:
Is there a reason you burn only evenings and weekends? Why not 24 hours? This is where you will really notice the difference even more because you won't have to spend the energy to get the stove heated up to throw enough heat to keep you warm. If you can keep heat in there full time, that insert should serve you well.

Unfortunately, our family business doesn't allow for me or my wife to be at home during the day. We dial the thermostat back to 60 while we're gone and then fire up the stove as soon as we get home (usually about 6:30pm) and ramp it up to as warm as possible, load it up right before bed and let it cruise til it's burned out. On the really cold mornings (below zero) we'll burn a small about of propane to take the chill off for the morning showers. I'm sure we could burn no propane if we were home 24/7 but our schedule simply doesn't allow for it now.

Backwoods Savage said:
Also get to the point of having enough wood for a couple years on hand as that drying time will pay you back with even more heat because you won't have to burn off the moisture that is in the wood. Let Mother Nature do that for you by getting wood ahead of time, splitting it and stacking it out in the wind.

That's the plan! I have 2.5 cords C/S/S right now (1 cord ash, 1.5 cords poplar), and another 3-4 cords of mixed (Apple, Ash, Cottonwood & Poplar; all free BTW) piled up ready to C/S/S. I will also be hauling another 3-4 cords of Poplar home in a few weeks, and at some point this summer will be gathering some more Ash.

Ashful · May 14, 2012

MTMike said:
Unfortunately, our family business doesn't allow for me or my wife to be at home during the day. We dial the thermostat back to 60 while we're gone and then fire up the stove as soon as we get home (usually about 6:30pm) and ramp it up to as warm as possible, load it up right before bed and let it cruise til it's burned out. On the really cold mornings (below zero) we'll burn a small about of propane to take the chill off for the morning showers. I'm sure we could burn no propane if we were home 24/7 but our schedule simply doesn't allow for it now.

Same situation here. Auto T-stats bring the areas of the house we use up to 70*F on oil weekday mornings, and set all zones to 62*F otherwise. I tell myself it's good to give the boiler a little excercise, rather than letting it sit cold all winter, although that may just be mental justification for waking up to a warm house. I can say that if I load the stove up before bed for an overnight burn, I'm likely not burning much oil to get the house up to 70*F in the mornings, as the stove is still throwing heat in the AM.

We spent last winter (our first) letting the stove go out in the morning, and not re-lighting it until after work. I haven't done any monitoring to be sure, but I suspect the oil furnace is not running during day, as I keep the T-stats at 62*F. Between the thermal mass of the house and solar heating, it's likely the house is just finally getting down to that 62*F set point when we arrive home from work and re-light the stove. In our case, it doesn't seem to make sense to keep the stove going all day long to heat an empty house, unless it means saving some amount of oil.

Always interested to hear on experience from others with similarly emtpy houses during the day.

MTMike · May 14, 2012

Joful said:
I haven't done any monitoring to be sure, but I suspect the oil furnace is not running during day, as I keep the T-stats at 62*F. Between the thermal mass of the house and solar heating, it's likely the house is just finally getting down to that 62*F set point when we arrive home from work and re-light the stove.

I think you're pretty close to "right on" there. In my spotty monitoring of the propane tank levels, we burned about 25% of a 500 gallon tank (full at 80%, 400 gallons) all winter. We burned the first 18-20% before the install of the stove, and the remaining 5-7% during the rest of the winter.

Ashful · May 14, 2012

Noting your avatar, MTMike:

Do you have a hanging scheduled in your back yard, or does that timber bent in the background serve some other purpose?

MTMike · May 14, 2012

Joful said:
Noting your avatar, MTMike:

View attachment 67014

Do you have a hanging scheduled in your back yard, or does that timber bent in the background serve some other purpose?

HA! It's just a wooden "archway" leading to the north pasture & garden. Was here when I bought the place and it's holding up a fence and a gate.

First heating season with new stove.... results!

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