How many people do YOU know heat with wood ?

Over on my end of NH I would say maybe 20-25% - most of which use really old, nasty stoves.

I'm going to say less than 5% around here. I think most people are too busy or too lazy to mess with it. To be honest I haven't seen any of the outdoor wood boilers around here. I'm the only addict I know of but I'll laugh when the power goes out and it's 0 outside.

I've known many through the years who have burned wood. Some stay with it and some don't. It is also very easy to pick out the lazy ones and there are plenty of them. Those are also usually the ones who cut their wood only when they absolutely have to and the funny part is, most of those have the OWB. Every one of them seems to brag that you can burn green wood in them. It is as if they think it gives them a license to do it. When I suggest they would not use as much wood if they dried it first, they scoff. No need with these things.....

I know one man who has burned wood as long as I have and he still cuts his wood in fall and winter and burns it then. He makes maple syrup and uses wood for the boiler. Yes, green wood every year.

Then we also know of several who wanted to burn wood but the female of the house just did not like the mess. Some seem to hate seeing wood piles. (But some I can understand as they do look pretty bad. They do not have to look bad though.)

As for percentages of the folks in this are who burn, I don't know but it is not high. I am amazed though at the number of OWB and pellet burners.

I'm the only one in my neighborhood that burns 24/7 but there are a few part time burners. Nat gas is still pretty cheap around here.

Oak and hickory can be bought for $100/cord according to the little flyers at the food store. I am not sure how much you really get for your cord. Never bought any wood. We have natural gas in the city. We are surrounded by the great oak and hickory forests of the Ozarks. My estimate is less than 5% heat with wood.

I am sure fewer people heat with wood today than twenty years ago. That is based upon my personal knowledge. I think a great number of us remember the crappy stoves of our youth and have no idea how things have changed with regard to technology. I am one. The preacher, the barber, the superintendent of utilities, and the guy that does yards heat with wood. A few others that I don't know personally also heat with wood. But we have about 1800 housing units in our town and about 3600 in our school district. The ordinary fireplace around here has a gas log. Every one of my friends that heated with wood furnaces twenty years ago has stopped. Our per capita income is low compared to the rest of Missouri. Seems we would have every incentive to heat with wood.

The county Presiding Commissioner and I had a good conversation about wood heat for the hot water at the county jail. He wants to keep the money at home and pay locals to cut and deliver wood for hot water. Also give the prisoners something to do with regard to handling the wood, tending the boilers etc. I think the exercise yard should become the wood pile. We have a nice new jail, and people don't want to go "back" in technology. He has an uphill battle. I gave him this website URL. He might read this. Just for the record, he is a hell of a guy. :cheese:

There is almost a snob attitude about wood heat. The "hoity toity" don't use dirty old wood heat. That is kind of funny if you knew the kind of salt of the earth people that live in our neck of the woods. We normally don't have too many airs about how people live. I am going to do my part to bring wood in out of the cold here in the Ozarks. Not because I want to lower electric or natural gas sales or hurt the propane company, but because it seems to me to be a good thing to do for our town, for our family, and for me personally.

Here in Northern California, about 1/3 of the people I know heat with wood. Gas stoves are very popular here, and then pellet stoves.

I don't have any family that heats with wood. They all think I'm crazy but they also have cheap NG not propane like me.

Out of my 5 closest neighbors 3 out of the 5 heat with wood. I think I'm the only one burning Sept-May though, they usually start when it gets Nov/Dec cold. In the area around me I'd say we're split 50/50 by looking at chimney's and wood piles during the winter time. I'm not sure how many try to burn 24/7 though.

These folks, in a PowerPoint presentation, claim that 10% of homes in the US are heated with wood, and that there are 13 million wood heaters in use in this country.

http://www.forgreenheat.org/

I joined this site because i refuse to befriend those who dont burn wood...kidding of course.

No id have to say between wood and pellets, lots. Around here owb are sprinkled around. Lots of stainless chimneys and chimney caps denoting wood burners. Lots of wood stacks too. Id venture 25% but could be higher. most of the people im close too burn. Makes it easy to talk about and get local help. I notice a difference between those who burn and those who twist a dial. Id like to think we carry ourselves differently.

Can only think of maybe 3 others in my area. Wood is not that easy to come by. We live on the prairie and the only good wood source is along the rivers. Tough sometimes when you are a scrounger. Back in the 70's and 80's there were a bunch but they have all given it up.

i honestly dont know many , maybe 5 and 4 are family. not common in the area i live in. if i venture away from here in any direction towards the country areas its definately in the 10% range. then theres this site.

94ranger55 said:

So the other day I found my self wondering how many people that I know directly heat there home homes with at least 50 % wood heat ...I came up with about 10% thats it ! Maybe in this region it has'nt caught fire yet haha

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Which is pretty good since I don't know many people.

Let's see, there is me and there is Bob. I see several houses around, but I don't know any of them. If my circle is any indicator, and we'll assume it's not, that makes something like half a percent.

I think just about half the houses on the road I'm on look like burners.

About a third of the people I work with heat with wood.

Most of my friends heat with wood.

Lotsa lotsa people around here are burners of one ilk or another.

I live on an island with 14,000 people, 8300 homes 4000 of which were my stove and chimney customers for 26 years.

Only one person that lives near me burns. I think he is an occasional burner. A few people that I work with are 100% burners. I am trying to convince my brother to start. He has up and down stairs fireplaces that are just asking for an insert or a stove.

lots of wood burners up near the Pocono Mts. The ambiance of the fireplace burning is common in vacation/resort homes, not too serious about using it for actual long term heating purposes. Plenty of hardwoods up here.

If you count pellets then I'd say quite a few. Cord wood is less common, and 24/7 even less so. Always seems like a lot as you drive around checking out stacks, but when you start to notice they haven't moved/changed in a few years then its obvious no one is really burning in that house. It really depends on the price of heating oil, and pellets for that matter. People get in the habit of not buying ahead and then refuse come December when "seasoned" wood is $350/cord and pellets are North of $300+.

Well I don't know them personally but it's about 16 to 18 miles to town and probably 75% of the houses burn wood, we have lots of hardwoods and power outages.

And I want to add that most of them start c/s/s their wood for the season in Sept so 2 or 3 months dry time (oak) , except for what they have leftover from previos year.

Most I have talked to or know absolutly will not burn pine, and are firm believers that you need to mix dry with wet (green) wood for longer burns.


Good Day :zip:

I think most wood burning around here (southern MN) is farmers/rural folk with OWB's. I know of no one in my neighborhood that burns wood for heat besides me, and only one relative. I do see plenty of class A chimneys installed but seldom in use. NG is just so cheap and even the fireplace folk like the remote control on the gas fireplace. On the plus side it makes wood scrounging pretty easy. Fire pit use is much more common, 4 or 5 on my block alone.

Hey there one leg......I just wonder if the firm believers ever clean their own chimneys, or can attain a smoke free burn with the "silly" practice of putting wet wood in the box. As a industry professional I can help you win some bets....most hardwoods are rated between 6500 and 8000 btu/lb Then you account for water content which must "boil off" before the wood can burn, this in turn lowers the useable btu release and lowers your overall efficiency usually creating smoke. Why is everything about longer when a load of wood cured to 20% or less (usually a year in our territory) in a well ventilated stack, will burn longer than your bladder can wait to go potty........unless you pee your bed. It's a silly debate. Keep it dry, keep it clean, keep it safe and no one dies in a home fire........NO GREEN WOOD!