"Heating costs for most households are forecast to rise from last winter’s level"

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I'd be curious to know how many people heat exclusively with wood, vs. just supplementing. Those of us who heat exclusively with wood are in even more of a minority!
I go in 5-10 houses a week for my job and I'd say maybe 5% of the homes I go in have wood heat, maybe 15% or so have pellet stoves. I would say 90% of the homes with pellet stoves have only electric heat as their main heating which is why they install pellet stoves. Most people don't want to bother with the work associated with wood and over half the homes I go into have oil heat so the oil companies are doing well here in the northeast.
I find most people that burn wood are in the smaller rural towns in my area.
 
How do you measure wood useage?
I imagine you could get a rough estimate for the cost of heating the average home with wood, then for folks that buy the equipment to process their own wood, add 30%. ;lol
 
I always thought we burned more wood in the NW as wood is so plentiful here. I was sure wrong and I now understand why this site is so East coast dominant.
 
when I lived in maine we went to pellet heat 100% with an outdoor pellet boiler, the house I live in now has a woodstove we plan on almost 100% wood heat unless we run out of wood. (colonial)
My parents in MA heat with pellets 100%, the pellet stove is in the basement with the cold air return for their oil furnace just above the stove. a thermostat on the wall turns the blower on when the room hits 70. the blower runs all winter. The air coming out of their heat ducts doesn't feel warm, but the house stays 70.
All of the houses have oil heat, though the one I live in now has NG they just weren't smart enough to convert the furnace.
you can't finance a house up here without oil, gas or electric heat.
 
Wasn't last year a bit warmer than normal in most places?
Not taking into account any possible increase in the cost of fuel, and presuming this winter may be colder, I'd take a SWAG and say costs will increase this winter over last.
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Most people don't want to bother with the work associated with wood and over half the homes I go into have oil heat so the oil companies are doing well here in the northeast.

I believe it. That or they go buy "seasoned" wood from a dealer, are dissapointed by smouldering fires and give up.
 
It has been on the Southern side of the Mason-Dixon line for quite a while now.
Isn't western Maryland's climate (Oakland county) vastly different from the rest of Maryland?
 
Isn't western Maryland's climate (Oakland county) vastly different from the rest of Maryland?

Sure is - rugged mountains in the 3,000 ft. range. It often has snow when Western PA doesn't. That's always the dicey part of our holiday run up 68 to Pittsburgh.
 
Sure is - rugged mountains in the 3,000 ft. range. It often has snow when Western PA doesn't. That's always the dicey part of our holiday run up 68 to Pittsburgh.

Hey Osage we make that drive too! We usually take the turnpike as I think 68 takes longer but the scenery is pretty awesome.
 
3% colder where I am in the northeast this season. And 9% more expensive!

Sure gives you yet another reason to feel good about burning!

Ive heard from folks that have moved down here that CT. is a very expensive place to live , very high property tax
 
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Sure is - rugged mountains in the 3,000 ft. range. It often has snow when Western PA doesn't. That's always the dicey part of our holiday run up 68 to Pittsburgh.

Used to live in MD. Garret , allegany and Washington Counties got tremendous amounts of snow ! Very big deer out there too OSAGEBOW ! ;)
 
Yeah the Maryland panhandle is a whole nother place.
 
I've lived in the same area in CT my entire life, minus 4yrs in NH for college. I literally only know of one other person other than me who heats primarily with wood. This person was the one who got me into it, and this is only my second year and I've been in my house since '08. I never knew what I was missing. Another buddy supplements with wood occasionally but still relies in electric. Lots of folks build fires in fireplaces but I wouldn't say it's really for 'heat'.

I have a 275gal oil tank. I took a full load almost a year ago to the day and have between an 1/8-1/4 tank left. Used to go thru a little over 3-yanks a year. I didn't start burning till mid-Nov last year so i was using my furnace for a good 3-weeks before I started burning, and ran out if wood by March. My plan this year is to never turn it on. I'll probably schedule a fill here in the next couple weeks. I too have an oil-burner hot water heater so I use a little there. It's only a couple years old so it's very efficient.

My finished basement stayed cold cause my stove is on the main level, so literally today I had a permanent mount Rinnai direct vent LP furnace installed, now I have a toasty basement. I already had a LP tank for our gas cook-top. It will use very little LP as its only heating 450-well insulated-sqft.

Less oil the better. Going to be warm in my house this winter. :)

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Ive heard from folks that have moved down here that CT. is a very expensive place to live , very high property tax

You are correct; it's bad! Property taxes on homes are high and annually on vehicles as well. The state tax, gas tax and on and on. It really is bad. I really love our state, but (without getting too political) many here are committed to policies that keep driving up the cost of living!
 
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You are correct; it's bad! Property taxes on homes are high and annually on vehicles as well. The state tax, gas tax and on and on. It really is bad. I really love our state, but (without getting too political) many here are committed to policies that keep driving up the cost of living!

I love it too, but it's brutal. I travel throughout the US quite a bit and it just boggles the mind. Places with significantly lesser taxes, lower cost of living, etc., have better infrastructure, better zoning, better highways, better roads, better sidewalks, better shopping centers, and on and on.

I just don't understand where the tax dollars go?

Sorry......back on topic. ;)
 
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Dont know how they get $600+ a year for gas. that must be for a small apartment. Most homes with gas heat that i know of here in Pa are about $150.$200 month on a budget so thats $1800-2400 a year.Sure the gas is cheap,its the delivery cost tacked on by the gas company hee in Pa that keeps bills high. As if that pipe laying under the street cost so much to maintain.
 
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Dont know how they get $600+ a year for gas. that must be for a small apartment. Most homes with gas heat that i know of here in Pa are about $150.$200 month on a budget so thats $1800-2400 a year.Sure the gas is cheap,its the delivery cost tacked on by the gas company hee in Pa that keeps bills high. As if that pipe laying under the street cost so much to maintain.
Most people around here with gas, heat an average size home (1600-1800 sf) for about $1,200 per year.
 
How do most wood-only heaters do it? Wood stoves?

We have a wood stove. A Woodstock Fireview to be exact. It takes 3 cord to heat our home to 80 degrees all winter long. It used to take 6 cord or more before the Fireview was installed.
 
Most people around here with gas, heat an average size home (1600-1800 sf) for about $1,200 per year.
Thats still double the average. Im guessing they are including the vast swaths of people across the south who dont have much heat load in winter ,bringing the average cost down. Also most homes around here being 50-100 years old with retrofit insulation does not help either.
 
I love it too, but it's brutal. I travel throughout the US quite a bit and it just boggles the mind. Places with significantly lesser taxes, lower cost of living, etc., have better infrastructure, better zoning, better highways, better roads, better sidewalks, better shopping centers, and on and on.

I just don't understand where the tax dollars go?

Sorry......back on topic. ;)

Another former CT born&raised here, and I was surprised to find when i moved here that "Taxachusetts" actually has lower taxes on a number of things than the drive through state. More woodburners up here as well.

Not to say MA is cheap compared to the south or even Midwest, everything is relative...
 
Dont know how they get $600+ a year for gas. that must be for a small apartment. Most homes with gas heat that i know of here in Pa are about $150.$200 month on a budget so thats $1800-2400 a year.Sure the gas is cheap,its the delivery cost tacked on by the gas company hee in Pa that keeps bills high. As if that pipe laying under the street cost so much to maintain.

2400 a year for gas??? My house was build when George was president... Washington that is! and excluding dhw I've never spent over a grand on gas with a creaky old steam system. With no wood at all, maybe I could see $1500. Modern tight well insulated construction with a high eff furnace should be able to do 2x 3x my square footage for that money
 
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