Costs you did not consider before heating by wood.

rideau said:

One can always buy most of the gear used at greatly reduced expense...even the stove. I love the fact that I use the sledge that my Dad used to break up the old basement floor....I remember watching him when I was a young child. I use his wheelbarrow that he made, and his saws...they all remind me of him, yet another enjoyable aspect of wood gathering for me. And the wood I gather is mostly fallen trees on the property my great grandfather bought and gave to my grandmother, who gave it to my mother, who gave it to me. Admittedly, the last is lucky, but most of the other things anyone can either find in their basement or shed, or buy used for very little.

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Jags said:

Outside of the stove install - I started with a $20 used chainsaw and a pickup truck that I already owned. Split for quite some time with the old axe that sat in the corner of the shop. You don't have to go overboard to get into this wood burning thing. Going overboard is a choice (and one that I made several years ago. )

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My father, as he has become older, is starting to replace many of his tools(saw, whatnot) with newer better models rather than repair his old stuff he bought when he was my age. I have benefited by being given the old tools which work just fine. Not always the fastest or easiest, but they don't cost. I have chosen no to go overboard with my purchases. I can haul about half a cord on a small trailer behind my car, I burn 3 cord of wood a year, so even if I hadn't found a arborist to drop off wood in my driveway for free it would only be trips per year.

I have NG so heating wasn't a huge expense but it was still $125-$175 a month depending on the temp and how warm the Girlfriend at the time wanted it. I figure I have a total of $1200 invested so far and I am starting my second heating season. I should break even sometime this year, not including the reduced cost of the Gym membership. If I included that I broke even sometime in July this year.

For me this is a hobby that I don't need to go crazy on. Yea I have to put some time in, but I just shifted my time to change the things I spent time on, and the Scrounging, Cutting, Splitting, and Stacking are all better alternatives than the things they replaced.

Bster13 said:

Depends on how you value your time and effort as well as how long you plan to stay in a NG home. If "not for long" the payoff time is not there.

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If U want to look at in the general big picture ,then IDK , In my situation, considering every thing ,NG is a Joke

flhpi said:

One thing I didn't consider was the cost of a pissed off girlfriend because I spend too much time in the woods. I upgraded a couple of years ago and haven't had trouble since.

I figure the cost of burning wood goes up and my utilities go down. Then there is the self reliance factor, power goes out and I am relaxed at the house and many people I know are scrambling. Factor in the gym membership I don't have to buy and I am happy with the cost of burning.

If I had to buy everything at once I would feel it but I am a do it DIY'er and a lot of the gear I have anyway for other chores I need to do.

I guess the payoff time comes quick if storm hits and the family it warm and safe. From just a money stand point it could really deter some people from getting into burning.

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Upgraded your equipment or your girlfriend?

I would rather have it in the 70's in the house with a warm wife, then 60's and with a cold wife.

HDRock said:

Short n sweet but , NG is not cheaper than free wood

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BTU for BTU you're probably correct.

If I had NG I'd have a 200-300 dollar a month heating bill for the few cold months. I would've never looked for an alternative to that. My break even point for wood heat in that situation just wouldn't make it worth if I was looking at it from a purely financial point of view. I have a feeling the majority of people with NG that choose to heat with wood don't do it for a financial reason. They may have grew up with wood heat, had a long power outage during the winter time, want to be independent etc.......

rdust said:

BTU for BTU you're probably correct.

If I had NG I'd have a 200-300 dollar a month heating bill for the few cold months. I would've never looked for an alternative to that. My break even point for wood heat in that situation just wouldn't make it worth if I was looking at it from a purely financial point of view. I have a feeling the majority of people with NG that choose to heat with wood don't do it for a financial reason. They may have grew up with wood heat, had a long power outage during the winter time, want to be independent etc.......

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The thing is ,what would my bill be, if I was comfortable in my house at 75 to 80,running NG, a lot more , I am warmer at a lower cost, Period

rdust said:

BTU for BTU you're probably correct.

If I had NG I'd have a 200-300 dollar a month heating bill for the few cold months. I would've never looked for an alternative to that. My break even point for wood heat in that situation just wouldn't make it worth if I was looking at it from a purely financial point of view. I have a feeling the majority of people with NG that choose to heat with wood don't do it for a financial reason. They may have grew up with wood heat, had a long power outage during the winter time, want to be independent etc.......

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Yes.

We do it for fun. Nothing wrong with that

HDRock said:

The thing is ,what would my bill be, if I was comfortable in my house at 75 to 80,running NG, a lot more , I am warmer at a lower cost, Period

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No one should be comfortable at 80*. When my family room gets that hot I'm on the floor trying to escape the heat! Thankfully that doesn't happen too often with the cat stove.

as most of you I have made back all the cost of heating with wood. paid for my latest stove,chainsaw,splitter.thats about all the cost I have had.so I guess I got by cheap and been doing it for a while.so definitely in the plus category where if needed to replace something there is no charge to the account.
wouldn't have it any other way.

Bster, our ins. co. also adds a $100 charge for stove.
Add that to the list.
I still haven't been able to understand why folks think it's ok to spend time making money to pay for oil, gas, or elec., pay taxes on that income, pay taxes on the fuel, but think their time is too valuable to gather wood in order to save money.

Sounds like you're trying to talk yourself out of this endeavor.
Has anyone mentioned the time it takes to clean up the yard (if that's where you process)?
Add it to the list.
See how helpful I can be?
Oh, and I'm retired.

Bster13 said:

Now Geico is saying it is an "approved surcharge from the the state of CT assessed by the underwriter, not a surcharge passed on by the state of CT." Dipshits. I made them clarify if they make a distinction between a new wood stove and new wood stove insert as an insert would be replacing a fire hazard, the open fireplace itself, and they said "no, they are treated the same way. "

Thanks Geico, you just lost two cars, a home, and an umbrella policy for your white lie and your ignorance (I could see a surcharge for a new stove, but not the safer insert).

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I am also in CT and Allstate didn't raise my rates at all or mention that.

Bster13 said:

Just starting a thread for newbies considering getting into this while this is fresh on my newbie mind.

- Stove Insert
- Install
- Hearth extension/pad
- Humidifier
- Fans to move heat
- Ash pan & shovel or ash vacuum
- Welding gloves or similar to handle hot wood
- Magnetic thermostats for stove pipe
- Sooteater or chimney sweeps
- Firestarters (unless u keep kinding/newspaper)
- tarps or coverings for wood stacks
- Ax, hatchet, sledge & wedge, Maul, etc.
- work gloves for handling wood
- Logsplitter
- ATF fluid for splitter
- chainsaw
- chain sharpener
- eye protection
- helmet
- ear protection
- cutting pants/chaps
- steel toed or sturdy boots
- bar oil
- dedicated gas can for mixed oil/gas
- 2-stroke oil
- rake and paper yard bags for sawdust and shrapnel
- If not delivered for free, there's the expense of the truck needed to go out and get wood. Tires, insurance, fuel
- replacement CATs over time if using CAT stove
- Building Permits
- Insurance Premiums


Did I forget anything? Just trying to make sure folks new to the hobby/means of heating are fully aware of the startup costs to factor into their payoff time.

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When you put it that way makes me want to QUIT.

PapaDave said:

"Eight years worth of time on hearth.com." Not sure how to recoup that.

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With eight years of psycho therapy!

BrotherBart said:

I wouldn't have natural gas in this house on a bet. The only heat in this joint is wood. The heat pump died from lack of use in the nineties.

But when I lived in Texas, where natural gas heat is king, every year at least one house in the area disappeared in the middle of the day. Wood piles don't explode.

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One blew up yesterday, in CT i believe with a propane tank underground. 400 gals of propane took out the house and part if the neighbor's. The owner was in the yard, and miraculously survived.

I have the gas line right in front if my house, and I'm tempted to hook up when the oil burner goes. I definitely would not get a new oil burner. NG is safer than propane. By how much, IDK. I understand you not wanting it in your house, BB. I grew up with it and ignored the risk, I guess.

BrotherBart said:

We had it growing up in every house. Fortunately my mother had a nose that could walk into a house and smell a gas leak nobody ever noticed. Well, not so fortunately she could also instantly smell her kid coming in the door with beer on his breath from the other end of the house.

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That reminds me of the first time I drank ,14 years old , I was drunk but I had to go home ,when I got there my mother was having a home interiors party with a bunch of women there, my mother was not happy, my dad thought it was kinda funny

Some expenses come up you really can't predict. We are having to have our fireplace rebuilt due to the poor mason who built it 40 years ago. In a way it was good as the rebuild will allow us to install a free standing wood stove instead of a insert.

My wife ask if we could just use the propane forced air furnace and skip the wood stove? I answered, are you willing to close the windows when the heat comes on. She quickly agreed to the repairs and new wood stove. Besides the dogs would disown us if we didn't have a wood stove.

We have ceiling fans going and windows open year round in our house as my wife grew up in Hawaii and they didn't have windows, only screens in their house. She dose not like it when the air is still, so wood heat is the only option I believe.

I buy a log load of about 5 cords delivered for $300. I spend 2 to 3 days cutting and 2 days splitting and a day stacking to process. I used 5 to six cords a year with my old Fisher insert and hope to go though only about 2 to 3 cords going forward.

We used 600 to 800 gallons of propane when we used to use the furnace. We have been way ahead for a long time and even with the repairs and new stove our new payback is only 3 years and less if we include a happy wife and happy dogs.

^^^600-800 gallons would be incredibly low by some of our standards. When I got my bill for the second fill of propane(400 gal each) I went right out and bought some class A and the makings for a hearth. I had a free stove already.

The first 400 were used over a 7 week period in the beginning of a mild winter. Couldn't bear to see what the cold months would have cost.