Ive been watching a lot of U tube vids about peak oil, and the soon coming economic depression ( and hyperinflation of energy costs).
I decided to do dome crude calculations on what my total cost has been for the past 3 years to heat my home entirely with coal and wood. What
Past 3 yrs: (my house is huge and I can burn 4-5 cords per yr + 1 ton of coal per year
My stoves are
Hitzer30-95 coal stove paid $750
Englander 30NC paid $500
Magic Heat: paid $180
3TONS bulkcoal: paid: $450
2 tons bagged coal: paid: $520
stove accesories: paid $300 stackpipe, cleanouts, thermometers, fire starters, etc etc
firewood: about 10 cd. paid:$1500 + 5 to 10 cords of free & scrounge
gasoline(transport) paid:~ $400 hauling coal and wood scrounge
chainsaws: paid: $500
-----------------------------------------
= sbout $5K
If I had just paid the gas company:
$350/month/ave *12months ave = $4200x 3 yrs = $12,600
against the $50/month I pay now * 36 = $1800
I figure Ive saved around $5000 in three years but that does not account for all the cutting chopping and stacking and lugging wood and coal up 2 flights of steps and tending fires every day of the burn season. However, the longer I do this the better the deal gets because I find more sources of scrounge and my equipment costs amortize. Besides this I love depriving the gas co.of that extra $350 per month.
Lastly - nothing beats sitting in front of a hot fire watching 2ndaries while the gas co. gets chump change.
Anybody else do a cost benefit analysis on their wood burning ?
I decided to do dome crude calculations on what my total cost has been for the past 3 years to heat my home entirely with coal and wood. What
Past 3 yrs: (my house is huge and I can burn 4-5 cords per yr + 1 ton of coal per year
My stoves are
Hitzer30-95 coal stove paid $750
Englander 30NC paid $500
Magic Heat: paid $180
3TONS bulkcoal: paid: $450
2 tons bagged coal: paid: $520
stove accesories: paid $300 stackpipe, cleanouts, thermometers, fire starters, etc etc
firewood: about 10 cd. paid:$1500 + 5 to 10 cords of free & scrounge
gasoline(transport) paid:~ $400 hauling coal and wood scrounge
chainsaws: paid: $500
-----------------------------------------
= sbout $5K
If I had just paid the gas company:
$350/month/ave *12months ave = $4200x 3 yrs = $12,600
against the $50/month I pay now * 36 = $1800
I figure Ive saved around $5000 in three years but that does not account for all the cutting chopping and stacking and lugging wood and coal up 2 flights of steps and tending fires every day of the burn season. However, the longer I do this the better the deal gets because I find more sources of scrounge and my equipment costs amortize. Besides this I love depriving the gas co.of that extra $350 per month.
Lastly - nothing beats sitting in front of a hot fire watching 2ndaries while the gas co. gets chump change.
Anybody else do a cost benefit analysis on their wood burning ?