All for $3000 to $6000 after-tax income per year depending on the price of oil. Sometimes hardly seems worth it to risk loss of life and limb cutting wood, but I sure do enjoy being as warm as I have ambition to be, and it sure is delightful to participate in legally nontaxable economic activity for my own direct benefit.
I would be at the higher end of that cost range here in Canada. I think it is going to be much higher than that within a few years. Believe me, some days I wonder whether it is worth the effort and risk, but I have a belief that oil prices will rise.
I have numerous things planned to reduce the load and improve the efficiency. I hope to get the load down a bit each year.
Mushroom man, 24 cords is an awfull lot of wood for 5500 sq. ft. I asume the garage will be set at 55* or so. I don’t think your house and garage are very well insulated.
It is not 24 it is 10-12 now. Bad enough! You were reading too fast.
I believe these changes can help to improve the heating situation:
1.
thermal drapes or blinds. There are presently no window coverings. We sit atop a windy hill, with a nice view and we did not want to impair the view. Privacy isn't an issue because the neighbors are far enough away. Thermal window coverings can save from 15 to 25% of heat loss where careful installation is applied, according to my initial research.
2. a south facing
sun-room. The passive solar heat can dramatically lower daytime loads by exchanging the higher temperature air in the sun-room with the cooler air in the house. At night the steel door will be closed to trap the heat. I got this idea from hearth.com. According to some contributors, on a sunny day, the furnace may not come on at all in the daytime. Wouldn't that be nice.
3. finish connecting the
storage. This will help in 3 ways: a) reduce idling. This can be 50% of the time when temperatures are not extreme. b) allow greater control of temperatures in the daytime. With the boiler located in the garage over the family room, we have a situation where the family room is 6 degrees hotter than the rest of the house, even in the daytime when nobody is in it. It gets too hot sometimes up there in the evening and we strip down to be comfortable. With the 1500 gallon storage in the basement, heat will be "leaked" to the cooler part of the house and the thermostat can be turned down. We'll wear sweaters like last year but still keep it around 68-70
c) "leakage from the basement storage tank will heat the basement and I'll close vents to the basement.
4. I made a
design mistake in the barn when I connected the pumps so I am getting less than ideal flows. That change in the spring and the addition of a thermostat will help in that loop.
5. One of the MushRooms was insulated too fast. There are
air holes in the insulation around the headers that need filling on the windward side of the barn. I am losing a lot of heat there.
6. Use
dry wood. Our wood this season is lightly seasoned. It is split just before we use it. It is scrounged standing dead wood, so it is not green, but it could be improved upon over a summer.
7. 3 outside doors need
weather stripping and there are some places where spray foam could seal some air leaks. Almost any house could use more insulation and I see a need for it around the
headers in the basement. It is a 13 year old house and the insulation situation is not bad.
I believe I can get this down to a manageable level, say 6.5-8 cords but it is all with a cost. There is no free heating for me.
I presently scrounge around my own property for wood. There is 40 acres of woodlot on the farm. I plan to continue that scrounging as it is good exercise. If I can't in the future, for any reason; at the level of 6.5-8 cords, I could buy log length and process it myself or with a helper.