How many wood burning homes near you?

[jeff_t]

I know exactly one (1) other person who has an EPA stove and uses it correctly. I see a few stacks here and there, but not many. Most people I know keep their houses at 65, and whine about how much it costs to be chilly.

Lots of folks burned wood when I was a kid. It wasn't pretty, with lots of smoke and smelly houses and chimney fires. I think many of my generation remember that, and want nothing to do with burning wood. That's what I remember, too, but things are a little different today.

There's quite a few OWBs around, chugging away. I know a couple of people who have them, and think they're the greatest thing.

 

[firefighterjake]

Just about everyone in Maine......

Very true . . . at least where I live.

Just did some mental calculations . . . of the 17 closest neighbors only 6 don't burn wood or wood pellets (one is a retired school teacher, one lives in a RV travel trailer and three are rental apartments/homes.) It would be hard for me to figure out who is a 24/7 burner and who isn't . . . I would guess the majority use wood as their primary heat source or at least 50% of their heat. What I definitely know is most are using smoke dragons -- along with one smoke belching OWB.

 

[firefighterjake]

I know exactly one (1) other person who has an EPA stove and uses it correctly. I see a few stacks here and there, but not many. Most people I know keep their houses at 65, and whine about how much it costs to be chilly.

Lots of folks burned wood when I was a kid. It wasn't pretty, with lots of smoke and smelly houses and chimney fires. I think many of my generation remember that, and want nothing to do with burning wood. That's what I remember, too, but things are a little different today.

There's quite a few OWBs around, chugging away. I know a couple of people who have them, and think they're the greatest thing.

Same here . . . some folks think these are the best things since the automatic thermostat for oil furnaces came out . . . and in fact I thought long and hard about buying one of these before plunking down money on my woodstove. The appeal of loading less often, having the mess outside and relying on a thermostat to heat the house at a set level was appealing -- but in the end what swayed my mind was the extra expense of the initial purchase (and tying it into the system), concerns over what I would do in a power outage (one of my primary reasons for purchasing an alternative heat source), the amount of smoke I saw coming off these systems (my Dad's neighbor was always calling to complain since he lived downhill from them and their OWB) and finally -- perhaps most importantly to me -- the sheer amount of wood that my father and others went through in keeping their home heated.

 

[jeff_t]

Another factor, I think, is there just isn't a decent stove shop around here. The only places people see stoves are Lowe's and TSC.

 

[Flatbedford]

Of the 15 houses in my immediate, suburban neighborhood, two others seem to burn wood for primary heat, or at least what appears to be 24/7. Both are pretty smokey chimneys. In fact it is sometimes hard to find the road when driving by one of them. I know that the very smokey one cut, split, stacked, and burned some Black Locust within about three months last winter. I am not friends with either so I am not sure of the burning appliance or practices. One other has a wood pile and burns a stove from time to time.

 

[TimJ]

I think most people that have a thought to burn with wood think that the room where the stove would be placed would be 85 degrees and all the other rooms would be 50 degrees.
My wife thinks this when I said we could place a small stove in our family room. Even I think that.

 

[PapaDave]

"Just did some mental calculations"
You can DO THAT?
I'd pass out.

 

[AJS56]

I'm in a rural area, mostly farms, but seeing the outdoor boiler setups and watching the places with larger wood stacks I would guess that maybe 10% are somewhat actively burning for heat, and another 10% have small woodstacks more for ambience fires. Man, those outdoor boilers sure stink the place up periodically when they cycle. Glad I'm not downwind from any of those!

 

[StihlHead]

100%... this is a rural area. Maybe 110% with some barns/shops burning.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

There are 3 homes on our road and 2 of us burn wood. Going down the road after our corner for a mile in 2 directions we find, 7 homes in the mile going north and only 2 of them burn wood. Going in the other direction there are 8 homes and exactly half of those burn.

 

[bigoakhunter]

We have 6 houses on the road we live on.... 3 burn wood full time for heat... 1 has a fireplace they use sometimes.... two do not burn wood. So 50%. In the few miles around here I would say about 25% burn wood for heat. This is in central Michigan.

 

[blacktail]

I have 5 immediate neighbors and two of them burn as their primary heat source. Two others have an occasional fire in their fireplace. I've seen half way decent wood stacks at the other so I think they at least burn as a supplemental source. Go a little further down the road and I'd guess the number is still around 50%. I'm sure that number drops as you get closer to town, but a lot of people still burn in town too.
My parents live in town on a culdesac with a dozen houses on it. 3 or maybe 4 use wood as their primary heat and a few more use it to supplement their heating.

 

[cptoneleg]

80% or more

 

[Lewiston]

I would estimate 50%+

 

[brokenknee]

Not real sure, guessing somewhere between 50 to 75 % a couple of the neighbors have owb, but I do not have any problem with them they are both about a mile a way. Only have about eight houses within a couple of miles.

 

[stephiedoll]

There is 1 neighbor that burns in an EPA stove with one house between us. He gets most of his wood from me now. Another behind me has a fire once in a while. I've offered wood (they only have to ask) but they have never taken me up on it and just buy when they need some. I am Queen though. 2-3 years worth here plus another 2-3 years out at my partner's place (he burns plus sells it). I am in midtown Omaha so about 12 houses on the block.

It's great to be the Queen

 

[billb3]

"Just did some mental calculations"
You can DO THAT?
I'd pass out.

For some of us that;s the fancy schmancy way of saying Wild Ass Guess



WAG: about half have wood stove or fireplace chimney, but given that two of the houses are empty that used to burn, the new owners across the street probably will not use either stove, there will probably only be 3 of us of the immediate 12 houses.

 

[rdust]

In my immediate area there are 6 of us and 4 of us burn. I'm the only full timer out of the bunch, two of the others burn when it gets "cold" and the other one has an outdoor boiler to heat his workshop/barn that he works out of. If you travel down my road I'd say it's close to a 50/50 mix but how many are full timers I don't know. They all think I'm crazy with all the wood I have and they can only see half of it when the come up my drive.

 

[Blue Vomit]

In this area, I would say about 25% burn seriously. 50% burn occasionally and for kicks. 25% just turn up the thermostat.

 

[woodchip]

I think there are only 2 other people down our street (90 houses) that burns.
The bonus is there is not much competition for wood...........

 

[Shadow&Flame]

I would say around 50%...it seems funny that most every home that is being built around me has no form of secondary heat source. I have a new subdivision going in just one field over from mine. There are at least 100 new homes in it and not one has wood heat...all electric. When the ice storms
hit they will be kinda cool over there.

 

[JrCRXHF]

Just me for main heat but i am in the city. Just about all the houses have a fire place or 2 in them but i would say maybe 10% use them at all over the winter.

 

[clemsonfor]

maybe 25% burn a stove in my town. there are something like 50 houses in the town area. I say im one of maybe 2 that gets most of my heat from a stove. there are about 8 of us in town that burn wood. MOst are part time burners. Some have a fire each night in the winter, but there are 3 of us who burn 24/7. My neighbor burns 24/7 when needed but his house is so drafty that is probly only about half his heat needs. I have a larger house but a bit more modern, in this mild last winter i used wood as my ONLY heat, the season before i installed in Feb and got maybe 90% of the heat from wood. The others in town including our friends are set up to heat with wood in the smoke dragon except they dont as he is not as into it as her last husband. Another guy i never see the smoke go out so i think he has a dragon too, his "woodpile" just flows out of the shed. Another burns in the evening and has 2 piles that will amout to several cords a pice but just pilled.

 

[SouthernBreeze]

Since we typically don't have very cold winters here, it is pretty hard to justify the expense of an EPA stove. Of the people I know that do burn, they only do it on weekends or the occasional cold snap and even then you can hear the giant sucking sound of heat being drawn up and out the fireplace chimney. I'm the only one anywhere around me that I know of that has an EPA stove. Economically, I can't justify what I spent on it but it sure looks nice. Besides that, I just wanted it. Sometimes, you just got to enjoy life and a roaring fire on a cold night with a gentleman jack and a good football game on the HDTV is enjoying life to me.

 

[clemsonfor]

I have an EPA stove here in SC. Any it did make economical sense, of course it was used when i got it so the payback will be way faster than new. But even in our mild winter last year i saved almost $100 over the previous years bills per month.