If money was of no concern, and fuel was unlimited...

mass_burner said:

Not singling you out, but I hear this often here, that for some reason or another wood heat is if a better quality than other fuels. I'll tell you, the previous owners of our home installed a buderus oil burner in 2008, and the entire house has 12" finned cast iron base-ray registers, circa 1956. It takes about 30-45 minutes to get the house up to 70d from 58 and the heat is even and very comfortable.

Oil is expensive; wood is cheaper once break even is met. I have no illusions.

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I love wood heat. A lot. Because it is free.

If money was of no concern, I'd buy and move to my own tropical island where heating fuel wasn't needed.

Bigg_Redd said:

I love wood heat. A lot. Because it is free.

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LOL. It's not free where I live. $250 a cord. And my stove was $2000. Chimney was $1300. But I still love it.

Andrew

Bigg_Redd said:

I love wood heat. A lot. Because it is free.

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Free-ish . . . or truly free?

Had a wood lot . . . nowadays I scrounge . . . but it still costs me fuel money for the truck and gas/oil money for the saw and splitter.

firefighterjake said:

fuel money for the truck and gas/oil money for the saw and splitter.

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And not to mention a truck (unless you have one), a saw, a splitter, stove, hearth and chimney

If money wasn't an issue eh? I like to cut and burn but, I think Northern Central California would be where I landed. Perfect temperate climate, no bugs. San Gregorio CA 94074.
If I didn't go there, I'd have a Timber King 2400 Sawmill, Cord King Model 60 Processor, and an extra 200 or so acres to harvest....and I would scrap the CB EClassic 2400, just because CB the company is not nice to deal with.
They can take a lot but they can't take our dreams from us...

The Weimar

Some romantic ideas, here. Trouble is, by the time money becomes no object, you usually have roots. Kids, wives, family... all will have their own ideas about your dream move to a tropical island.

Joful said:

Kids, wives, family... all will have their own ideas about your dream move to a tropical island.

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Unless moving is their idea...lol

Joful said:

Some romantic ideas, here. Trouble is, by the time money becomes no object, you usually have roots. Kids, wives, family... all will have their own ideas about your dream move to a tropical island.

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I was thinking something like this too, it's nice to fantasize but not many of us when the chips are down would or could make a move like this.

Ideally, I'd build a superinsulated house in a place where there are real seasons, and where critters outside aren't after you for their dinner. The house would have no cold spots and would be very easy to heat with minimal heat input input in winter, and easy to keep cool and dry in summer. I wouldn't have to care how cold or hot it got outside, 'cause I don't sleep outside. If the power and heat source went out overnight, I'd just fire up the woodstove early, but after a leisurely breakfast, since the house wouldn't have lost much temperature. Yes, I'd have a small woodstove in the lowest level, so I could heat the whole house with it if need be. And I'd use it regularly, just to watch it and feel the heat it throws out. Fire good. Keep cave warm, Warm cave, happy woman. Happy woman, happy man. Hehehehehe!

Hey, wait a minute - I built a house like that, and it's all of what I said! How about that?

firefighterjake said:

Free-ish . . . or truly free?

Had a wood lot . . . nowadays I scrounge . . . but it still costs me fuel money for the truck and gas/oil money for the saw and splitter.

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I'm sure with enough gorilla math we could come up with some cost per cord formula, but the out of pocket cost is so negligible that I open windows to cool my house. All the time.

You need an older house, Redd. T'would save you all the trouble of having to open windows!

Joful said:

You need an older house, Redd. T'would save you all the trouble of having to open windows!

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1500 sq ft built in 1978 with vaulted and not well insulated ceilings. Snow melts quickly from my roof regardless of outside temp.

Snow sticks to your roof?!?

Bigg_Redd said:

I'm sure with enough gorilla math we could come up with some cost per cord formula, but the out of pocket cost is so negligible that I open windows to cool my house. All the time.

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I feel the same way by the way . . . as I point out to my wife . . . even with the price of heating oil dropping this year the cost of the gas and oil for the saw, splitter and truck are still much, much cheaper than burning oil.

Toploader said:

I was thinking something like this too, it's nice to fantasize but not many of us when the chips are down would or could make a move like this.

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True . . . seems like many of us simply get used to living where we are.

That said . . . didn't IronPony move . . . or was in the middle of moving . . . to the the US Virgin Islands?

For me it's not solely about saving money . I like where I live & keeping warm in the winter will always be an issue . I like the warmth from the stove & the independence the wood stove gives . No matter what happens ( energy costs/supplies, etc. ) I can keep the house secure & comfortable whether by choice or necessity . It just feels great .................

If money was no object I'd be more likely to be burn wood because I would have money to buy all the wood handling equipment I could want and the nicest stove (or maybe more than one of them , and also since money is no object I wouldn't have to work so I would have time to indulge a serious wood hobby.

"For me it's not solely about saving money . I like where I live & keeping warm in the winter will always be an issue . I like the warmth from the stove & the independence the wood stove gives . No matter what happens ( energy costs/supplies, etc. ) I can keep the house secure & comfortable whether by choice or necessity . It just feels great "

That's right, Mainelysaws. I grow all the wood I need right on my own property. I am energy independent. Plus I love the feel of the heat that a wood stove gives off.

I'd personally go for a super-insulated (Passivhaus) design, so heat demand would be pretty low. Ideally there would be a large area of solar thermal coupled to a very large buffer tank to do all the summer demand, with a wood stove that sends nearly all of the heat to water to top it up in winter. I love the interaction you have with the fire and watching the living nature of it, so even though it would end up being a lot more expensive than heating with mini-splits it would still be my preference. For perspective, the numbers I've seen for this type of house in Maine are burning about half a cord per year - so if you don't feel like lighting it one evening there should be plenty left in the storage tank.

My current job is liable to get pretty boring after 2017/18, and we're talking about moving to the US, probably New England. We'd both like to build a house (OK, have one built for us - having extensively refurbished our current one my wife doesn't want to do it herself again!), so this is something we do keep talking about. Given how cheap houses are in the US compared to the UK, that gives us quite a lot of options...