Swedishchef said:
I will never give up my wood. There's nothing like cutting wood on a nice fall day. And for those who live in Quebec and lived through the Freezing Rain storm of 1998 (see
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_ice_storm_of_1998) a wood stove is essential in life along with food and water.
Andrew
You ain't just a kiddin'! I was without grid electricity for 20 days, and before I was loaned an Air Force generator during the aftermath of that storm, I was using my 12K generator that couldn't run the milk pump and the bulk tank compressor at the same time, let alone keep the house on, too. And with an oil furnace I needed the electric in the house to run the furnace. That storm alone made me determined to start using wood again, at least to have for back up heat when it got down to 48ºF in the house. It took me ten years before I got it in, but I went immediately to full time heating with wood, and the oil furnace is only started up once a month to keep the burner nozzle from getting any corrosion on it. I love, love, love my wood heat. I love the independence of it, and I love cooking on it, and I love looking at it, and I love having to go out in the cold to bring in wood even when I don't feel like it because I know I need the exercise! And my dogs love going out the door to get wood, too, because that's an extra outing for them! LOL!
I have relatively cheap electric at night and during the shoulder seasons of the year, due to having been a dairy farmer and using quite a lot of electricity yearly when the power companies started going to "time of use" pricing. But even at that, I want my wood heat.
Poult