Bigs Thanks to Hearth.com Members, Propane Use Comparison for First Season Burning!

rdust · Apr 4, 2010

Below are the propane numbers from 08/09 season without the stove and the 09/10 season with the stove. Our furnace and hot water(tankless) are the only items that use propane. This winter was a little warmer then last and we didn't get the stove install completed until the end of October. October 30th or 31st we had our first break in fire, if we had the stove finished up earlier in the season our Nov. fill this season would've been a lot less. The season isn't over yet so I know I'll be burning some still but this is a pretty good look at the saving.

08/09

11/21/08: 275 Gallons
12/26/08: 270 Gallons
01/30/09: 322 Gallons
03/06/09: 262 Gallons
05/15/09: 303 Gallons
Total: 1432 Gallons

09/10

11/06/09: 283 Gallons
12/24/09: 106 Gallons
03/26/10: 124 Gallons
05/??/10: Currently Unkown
Total: 513 Gallons so far

As you can see we put a pretty good dent in our use in the first year. 08/09 season propane was 2.50ish a gallon, this year it's around the 2 dollar mark a gallon. A huge savings and the house was never cold, last season and the season before the furnace was set on 66* during the day and 62* at night. This season I don't think the house was ever cooler then 70* and was typically much warmer.

I want to say thank you to all that post on this board and help us newbies out, without the good advice from all of you I wouldn't have had such a great first season! I ran into a little stumbling block(ran out of seasoned wood) a while back and Dennis(Backwoods Savage) hooked me up with enough great wood to finish out the season!(thanks again Dennis!) So far I've burned a little over 4 cords of wood, we should finish up without burning too much more. I'm working on finishing my 2012/2013 wood right now so I hope to never have an issue with seasoned wood again.

For all the new members who will be burning for the first time this fall remember the most important things are seasoned wood(can't stress this one enough) a properly sized class A or lined chimney. You get these two things right with these new EPA stoves and you'll be tickled by how well they work. This falls wood should already be done and if not look for white ash or black locust since they season pretty darn quick.

Thanks again everyone!

'bert · Apr 4, 2010

Wow I am suprised that Dennis was able to spare some of his wood, last I heard he only had about 246,000 cords or so. :lol: Ahh he probably gave you the stuff that has only seasoned for 6 years. Some damn fine people here on hearth.com! I feel lucky to have found this place.

raybonz · Apr 4, 2010

’bert said:
Wow I am suprised that Dennis was able to spare some of his wood, last I heard he only had about 246,000 cords or so. :lol: Ahh he probably gave you the stuff that has only seasoned for 6 years. Some damn fine people here on hearth.com! I feel lucky to have found this place.

I thought Dennis had 250,000 cords so I am surprised he was able to let that wood go

As for the people here I agree they are a great bunch of down to earth and for the most part common sense people.. Best forum on the net in my opinion!!

Ray

Backwoods Savage · Apr 4, 2010

Geeze guys, give me a break! lol

rdust, if you think the numbers look good now, I think you might find them even better next year! Your wood will be even better next year and you are no longer a novice so know how to best run that stove. It is good to hear you keep that house warm because you have a tiny person there and it is good to keep them warm along with the wife. As for you, it is doubly great after all the work gathering the wood and when you sit down evenings or weekends you will gain even more satisfaction from that heat than someone who hasn't put in the work.

djamwolfe · Apr 5, 2010

Thats an awesome savings rdust, We used approx 1/3 less NG this year compared to last due to our full time burning.
Hopefully ill get my blaze king installed and get even better numbers next year, the stove im running right now isn't big enough to heat the whole house well

Dennis -- With all that wood you have stockpiled ill have to figure out how close you are to me, ill be more than happy to keep that wood from rotting

Devon

KB007 · Apr 5, 2010

We are using virtually zero propane for heat this year since we put in the Nap downstairs and now the Regency upstairs.

We got a delivery in January which covered Oct thru Dec (while we had the old smoke dragon downstairs only) which was 450 litres. Just got latest delivery of 140 litres for 3 fully months (Jan-March) which bascially covers our hot water heater and cookstove. Same thing here too re: temp in the house. With propane it was set at 67 day 63 night and always felt a little cold. With wood now it's usually well into the high 70's day and high 60s at night - way more comfortable.

Backwoods Savage · Apr 5, 2010

djamwolfe said:
Thats an awesome savings rdust, We used approx 1/3 less NG this year compared to last due to our full time burning.
Hopefully ill get my blaze king installed and get even better numbers next year, the stove im running right now isn't big enough to heat the whole house well

Dennis -- With all that wood you have stockpiled ill have to figure out how close you are to me, ill be more than happy to keep that wood from rotting
Devon

Devon, I fear we are a long ways apart. We're 50 miles from Flint. If you have a map, find Marion Spring or Brant. We are 5 from Marion Springs and 7 from Brant. Also 10 from Chesaning. We're on the north side of M-57

Flatbedford · Apr 5, 2010

A few weeks ago I was at about 250 gallons or About $1000 savings over last year. The total savings will be greater since it has warmed up and I want get another delivery until September or so. We upgraded to a Woodstock Fireview from a Franklin smoke dragon.

rdust · Apr 6, 2010

Flatbedford said:
A few weeks ago I was at about 250 gallons or About $1000 savings over last year. The total savings will be greater since it has warmed up and I want get another delivery until September or so. We upgraded to a Woodstock Fireview from a Franklin smoke dragon.

Great saving for a stove swap!

mike1234 · Apr 6, 2010

I spent over 3000 on propane 2 years ago - so bought and installed the wood furnace for about 5000. 1 year ago, spent 1000, on propane, and this last winter put in 400.00 (only because that was the least they would bring).
Savings: Yearly (at 2007 prices) I was spending about 3200, now have averaged 711 last 2 years, so 6400-1424=4976 in propane savings in 2 years.
The advice and help here keeps the savings going up!!

monthly
No wood
1/12/2007 $675.45
2/7/2007 $380.82
2/27/2007 $512.21
3/1/2007 $453.56
4/28//2007 $330.00
8/2/2007 $225.84
11/29/2007 $663.32
1/3/2008 $724.16
1/24/2008 $673.73
Installed furnace 8/28 - 1st year with wood heat
8/1/2008 $1000.00
2nd year with wood heat
12/1/2009 $423.00 $423.00 (still have 50% tank left, will need to put in 250 gal in November)

vdog · Apr 7, 2010

I also have to say thanks to the Hearth People. Installed our little Lopi 1250 republic in September and what a difference it made. Last year we burned just under 1200 gallons of propane. this year we burned 500 gallons exactly. And the great thing was the house was always warm. IN the past the living room when we had a NW wind would be get your coat on cold, and the furnace would be running non stop. This year their was times we had to crack the window. Now hoping that I can learn to burn more efficiently I know I probably used more wood than I needed. I only had one problem, I reserved way to much propane last year I topped off our tank and still had some left luckly my Dad took the remainder. So I already have a full tank to start off the year which has never happened. Thanks again for the info.
Scott

raybonz · Apr 7, 2010

vdog said:
I also have to say thanks to the Hearth People. Installed our little Lopi 1250 republic in September and what a difference it made. Last year we burned just under 1200 gallons of propane. this year we burned 500 gallons exactly. And the great thing was the house was always warm. IN the past the living room when we had a NW wind would be get your coat on cold, and the furnace would be running non stop. This year their was times we had to crack the window. Now hoping that I can learn to burn more efficiently I know I probably used more wood than I needed. I only had one problem, I reserved way to much propane last year I topped off our tank and still had some left luckly my Dad took the remainder. So I already have a full tank to start off the year which has never happened. Thanks again for the info.
Scott

That's awesome Scott! We heat 24/7 here in SE Mass with about 2.5 cords and save a bundle too..When the weather breaks I also use the clothesline as much as possible.. We do use our furnace for hot water and we used a tank from early Oct. to March so we will never be oil free but we take advantage of what we can so we can afford a cruise every couple years! Early Nov. we will doing a western caribbean 7 night cruise so it is well worth it!!

Unfortunately the heat will have to run during the cruise period... :-S

Ray

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Bigs Thanks to Hearth.com Members, Propane Use Comparison for First Season Burning!

rdust

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'bert

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raybonz

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Backwoods Savage

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djamwolfe

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KB007

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Backwoods Savage

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Flatbedford

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rdust

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mike1234

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vdog

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raybonz

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