How much money have you spent to save on oil???

I am trying to resist going crazy spending on gadgets. Bought some hand tools, not too much $, I scrounge the wood. I enjoy the work at this point, can't see myself buying a splitter at full price at least. Figure if I don't want to do the heavy work anymore I can always buy cords and sit on them.

Bassmantweed said:

No doubt! Don't regret any of it. Especially after my neighbor told me he paid somebody 20 grand to take down about 10 trees and just haul them away.

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20K to take down 10 trees? Yikes

This title should be "How much money do you save when converting from oil to wood"! Only fooling... my investment was paid off in three years. Annual savings are roughly 700 gallons of oil minus $540 for wood and my labor.

Well, there's really nothing quite as warm as wood heat. It is a lot of work granted but after initial costs involved getting started it just can't be beat. The oil guy came last week. 52 gallons. Last time he was here 6 weeks before. They're going to drop me as a customer. I don't care though. Plenty of oil trucks around. Just to heat my hot water.

Aside from the initial stove/chimney investment, which was a lot, but has paid for itself already, I've spent $400 tops (reasonably sized chainsaw, maul, wedges, some gas & oil) to heat my home for the past 3 years. Without a truck or a splitter I've been able to get about 6 years worth of wood stacked and seasoning. We're all wood-burning enthusiasts on here and there are lots of pictures of peoples' tractors or sheds or splitters or trailers or quads or whatever and it's easy to think you need that stuff but often you don't.

I figure I have about 15k into it with the outdoor furnace, accessories, wood stove in the basement, wood shed, the chainsaws and splitter.

I would have a chainsaw anyway to clear tree lines anyway. I already have a truck, tractor and 4 wheeler whether I am cutting wood or not. I use the shed to store stuff in the summer. I figure I have saved about 12k in gas since I got the outdoor furnace 7 years ago. If I had kept the house at 68 and heated the garage on gas I could count the savings closer to 18k. Only a couple more years and I will be ahead. It really feels good when it is -24 for low and -15 for a high one day and below zero for 3 days and not paying for gas this winter. Another cold spell coming next week. This cold weather just pays for the equipment faster.

Echo chainsaw 299
X-37. 50
Wedges. 18
Tarps. 30
Drying racks. 120
Fatwood. 40
Huskee 22. 1100


All wood is free
All pallets free
All my time is exercise

Vs. $4.20 per gal of oil

Definitely worth it for me.....

I have been in the black for the past 14-18 months. It took three years to break even on the stove and install and almost two more for the saws, trailer and splitter. Of coarse it is harder to measure fuel and what not to scrounge the wood I burn but my home is warmer then it ever was before the wood stove and my family is happier when it is warmer. My plan is to go a few more years with the stove I have and save enough to get something big enough that the oil burner never has to come on. Right now I burn a little more then 1/4 of the fuel I used to burn and I still depend on oil to heat my water all year.

We built our house with sole source wood heat in mind. We have no furnace, no duct work, no propane bill. Installing a great stove cost us less than a furnace and duct work would have. We have our own timber. I look at downed trees like 20 dollar bills waiting for me to pick them up.

Some of the stuff I had, like chainsaw, fireplace tool set but I think I spent close to $3,000. Burn about 600 less gallons per year X $3+, close to $2k +/- per year. Revisit after 5 years and it looks a whole lot better. Not to mention the house is between 70-80 depending on the room instead of 67-68, wife warm and happy - priceless

average 2G per year on propane prior. roughly 4G into stove, chimney, etc. 3yrs into the dealio and am ahead and gaining. Yes there are tertiary costs like chains, oil, fuel, files, stuff, etc.. but I would spend on some hobby/obsession so it may as well be one that pays for itself. I have sold a couple of my knives(another obsessive hobby) to offset the costs of tools, propane for the forge, steel, etc.. and I remain way, way behind in that endeavor but I like it and most often just give them away to friends and family. I think my wood heat is helping to offset my other hobbies.

$4,650.....Stove, Log Splitter and Chainsaw....this includes the $500 for a new Log Splitter Motor after I blew up the first one

My startup costs were fairly low. Payback was little more than one full season, in my case. Number 2 fuel oil is just beastly expensive now- and my house still needs a lot of work on the insulation. No way I would- or could- go back to burning oil anyway. I'm soooo enjoying wood heat, and the exercise is a big plus. I need it. Other than the original huge Oak we were forced to have professionally cut down, all my wood has been free since then. I actually enjoy most aspects of wood gathering. Happy camper here.

Same here, I figure I was about even or a little ahead over the last 3 yrs burning with scrounged wood and a free first stove. I figure with the $2900 spent on the new stove it will take me 2+ yrs max to be back in the black. As previously stated I also enjoy the exercise. I got a call from a foreman where I work telling me there were a few ash trees on a job 15 mi from me that I worked on last winter. Scored me a pick-up load yesterday and I'm going back for another on Monday after work. I think I'm pretty close to the magic 3 year ahead number at this point but I just can't stop myself from scrounging! Like Missouri Frontier said, its like $20 bills laying on the ground waiting for me to pick them up. I have oil heat but haven't bought oil in 3+ yrs now. Electric hot water, but I will have to get some for next year. 2 tanks in the basement down close to 1/4

My payoff horizon is probably a ways off because I'm in the city and have a modern NG furnace; burning wood doesn't save me money on the scale that it does for those whose alternative fuel is oil. I started burning the first winter after buying the house, so I don't have a baseline to calculate anything from. My stove, liner and installation materials are virtually all of my investment, though. I don't own a splitter. My woodhauler is my car (older station wagon). I have a bunch of saws but they were almost all bought old, cheap and usually broken, and I've found it fairly easy to fix most of them and sell some at a profit so they're effectively free. I think of it as being worthwhile only so long as its fun, which it still very much is.

This is my first year in the new house (3200 sq ft) and first year heating with wood.
Wood insert/flue/install - $4200
2 Cords of wood - $400 (the original owner left a cord on the property and I've been taking from my father up the street who uses only a 1/4 face each year but has 2+ cords stacked)
Hearth tools/gloves - $50
Husky 555 - $580

I've burned about 90 gallons of oil up to date, and expect to only burn another 100 max. Heating oil cost will be 190 gal x $3.41 = $648 (including hot water).

The previous owner burned about 1400 gallons last season. That cost him $4774.

Going forward, my savings per year burning wood will be $4774 - $648 = $4126 (assuming I fell my own wood, though I may buy some more logs at $70/cord)

I'll be over 3K ahead after my second season. This is priceless

About $6000 on stove, pipe and install. Already had the saw and truck (used for my quadding) my wood splitter cost about $300. But, I had sold it once for $200 and it was given back to me.
So now, all I am paying if fuel for saws (minimal), fuel for the truck to go get the wood.
From September to December I have cut my hydro bill 46% from last year when I was using my pellet stove 24/7. Which equals about $400.
But, I didn't move to the wood stove for the sole purpose of saving money, that is just an added benefit. I switched for the heat. Love the wood heat, and will install a stove into any house we move into. No matter the cost.
Next year, I am hoping on spending more money on a wood shed. If goes to plan, it will be 32' x 8'.

Nowhere near as much as i SAVED, NOT buying oil. Paid for my stove the first year by NOT buying $4000 worth of oil. Savings in the last 11 years are probably in the $25000 range.

With propane being $3+ a gallon out here and oil being the same or more. I talked with the previous owners when moving in. We have a 325 gallon tank that they were filling 4-5 times a winter (older farm house) and during very cold winters they were upwards of 7. We tried heating with propane and keeping the house 60-65 we went through a tank very quickly and bought a pellet stove. Love the pellet stove and then the power went out........ We can spend about 1000K on pellet a year maybe 1200 tops.

doing the math the wood stove payed for itself in the first year compared with propane and with pellet two years. When I look at everything I have bought for wood I am topping out at 5 grand. Meaning that everything is paid for in 1 year of propane heat.

Paulywalnut said:

Well, there's really nothing quite as warm as wood heat. It is a lot of work granted but after initial costs involved getting started it just can't be beat. The oil guy came last week. 52 gallons. Last time he was here 6 weeks before. They're going to drop me as a customer. I don't care though. Plenty of oil trucks around. Just to heat my hot water.

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That's around $30 a week for hot water. At least go electric, I pay less than that for a month.

Payback on heating with wood was a little over a year for ROI. Now that money that was budgeted monthly for heat and hot H2o goes straight to principle on the mortgage. So that's another 5% of compounding savings. Wish I had done this from the beginning, I wasted the 1st 15 yrs burning oil.