How much did you invest in order to burn wood, and save money? Where is your break even?

  • Active since 1995, Hearth.com is THE place on the internet for free information and advice about wood stoves, pellet stoves and other energy saving equipment.

    We strive to provide opinions, articles, discussions and history related to Hearth Products and in a more general sense, energy issues.

    We promote the EFFICIENT, RESPONSIBLE, CLEAN and SAFE use of all fuels, whether renewable or fossil.
Status
Not open for further replies.

mywaynow

Minister of Fire
Dec 13, 2010
1,369
Northeast
We all have needs and wants to assist us in the processing and burning of wood. Below is my list of goodies:

VC stove and parts to update- 475
Replacement NC30 stove- 800
Stove pipe- 850
Husky 359 w/bars- 585
Stihl MS211- 210
Husky 28 ton splitter- 1500

Total investment 4420

Have not had heating oil delivered since Nov 2010. Given normal conditions, would have deliveries in Jan, May and then Nov, Jan and May again. Typical deliveries were 800-1000 dollars. To date I have avoided 4 deliveries totaling 3200 minimum savings. Staked my oil tank last month and had 260 gallons left. I should be good for next winter as well with oil. Break even is just around the corner. Right now I could sell the equipment and have no wood issues for 6-7 years easy.
 
Chimney: $1500
Homelite saw: $250
Electric splitter: $300
Vigilant stove: $200 (Which has been replaced with a free Nashua)
This is my 4th year burning. My house is total gas. Went from 184c.f. of gas down to 18c.f. in January the first year.

I think I'm past the break even point. On top of that, for some reason, 72 degrees using the woodstove feels much,much better than 72 using the furnace.
 
I replaced my woodstove in 2009 - $1800

I replaced my saw last summer - $1000

That's $2800 in 3 years spent solely to heat with wood

I figure I'd be out an extra $150 per month 6 months out of the year if I heated with my baseboard heater (this is just a guess as I have never heated my house with electric heat), so. . .

$150 x 6 = $900 per year

I figure I'll have broke even early next winter.
 
Closed on my house in August. Spent $2300 for insert and install in September. $400 for new saw in October. I don't care about the dollars and cents of it. I like wood heat.
There's only been a few times my electric heat was running when I got home this winter.
 
Took the plunge into wood heat 3 years ago. Wood boiler, SS chimney liner, system install, 22 ton splitter, axe, safety gear, wood shed, pickaroon ,cant hook and finally interest on loan taken out to purchase system probably have me at around $15k. Excluding fuel and normal maint. on my friend's saw I think this year is break even for us. I have about 150 gallons of oil in the tank and expect to use only about 25 gallons or less per year.

Expect to spend a few bucks more this year on a smoke hood for the boiler and maybe my own 70cc+ saw. May even look at heat storage tank in the next few years but there are so many other things we plan to spend $$ on that this will be low on the list....unless we win the lottery.

The folks on this forum along with the fun and exercise I get from all this.....priceless :)
 
Hmmmmm, not sure if I want to add it up...this counts as a hobby as well, right? :)

Quad 4100i with SS liner installed: $3500
Stihl 361 and bars: $680
Ariens 27 ton splitter: $1500
I'm not including the truck as its used for other stuff, but wood was the main reason for purchase
I'm also not including the few bucks in oil and gas used each year.

Grand total: around $5500-6000 invested...however, the ability to keep the house warmer with no gas is PRICELESS IMO.

I'm saving around $900-1200 per year using the insert. Figure I need around 5+ good years to get to my break even point...I'm on year 3 already.
 
sure would not want to add anything up as it would likely prove my neighbors right, hard to show a savings. Of course one is or will be there, but as I have never ever in 25 years of marriage ran the natural gas furnace to 77 degrees, impossible to compare really. With wood, anytime someone wants to it can be 77 in here (and is regularly). All without any arguing over what the tstat is set on!! Wearing shorts year round; priceless, sitting here now with no shirt on; priceless, its 22 degrees out and every gas vent of every house in my neighborhood is puffing out fossil emissions; priceless. While our furnace has not been on all week and then some. Neighbors get together and we all talk most are paying 3-400. to keep they're house chilly while they sit around bundled up to keep warm. Neighbor kids come in here to play with our kids and comment it is so warm in here. So after 4 years of heating with wood, we count ourselves way ahead of the game.
 
kenny chaos said:
Is nobody's time worth anything?
I know, you enjoy the exercise.
Kenny

There are few ways to better use your time. Being outside, keeping the woods clean, making yourself as independent as possible from oil and making use of what nature is offerring; priceless.
 
I look at it as Gas heat still isn't all that warm - Electric is really expensive to run and not that warm - Wood is really warm and cozy looks good and I get exercise doing it so wood it is.

That said we spent 2300 the first year in our house the second we installed a used us stove wonder wood and chimney for 1300 and cut the gas bill in half so it didn't save anything the first year.
the second year we installed a new Vogelzang Durango because we did not have a lot of money it was 600. We saved well over half on the gas bill with that stove over the next few years until it had a major meltdown ( China stove = Junk ) so we bought a Harman last December which had terrible customer support and tech support that got sold! Now we have had a Jotul F-50 for a few days and it is going to be here for the long haul. Not really sure if we have saved much but it sure is warmer in the house now!

Pete
 
2 pretty cast iron stoves that were woefully incapable of getting the job done - don't want to talk about it chalk it up to learning
8" Class A - $1600
BK - $2100
Used dump trailer - $1000 (used for many things other than firewood as well)
LR E tires after LR Cs failed - $300
Revived/Repowered some old splitters that hadn't been used in decades- ~$300
Saws, new little one, revived the middle one that sat for a long time and bought big one used - $1000
30 yo 4wd 30hp Ford with a loader - $6500 (used for many things other than firewood as well)

Previous owner of our house we bought in 2005 was going through 4000 gallons of propane a year and not keeping the house warm. We haven't burned any propane for heat in 6 heating seasons. Paid for itself year one even with all the learning experiences. Savings since have paid for all the improvements to the house to reduce energy needs.
 
Spent $3,600 on the insert and re-line, got $1,000 back on taxes.

Cheap 18" saw, an 8 pound maul, and an axe less than $200

Had an old pick-up that was re-purposed for wood scrounging so the wood is basically free (except for the labor of manual splitting).

Should I add in the savings by cancelling the health club membership?

Before the insert I used about 800 gallons of oil/year to keep the house 68Ëš in the morning, 65Ëš during the day, 68Ëš for dinner, and 58Ëš overnight.
With the insert I use about 200 gallons a year for DHW (3 kids & a wife that like long hot showers) and keep the house in the low to mid 70s all day.

Refurbished an old coal stove and I spend about $250 a season on coal for the really cold days, so that is another $625 spent over the first two and a half seasons.

This year alone, with oil at $4.00/gallon I saved $2,400. Last year with oil at $3.30 I saved about $2,000. The first season the stove went in in January so I only saved about 300 gallons of oil at $3.00, $900. Total outlay $2,800 plus $625 for coal. Savings so far are $5,300 for oil. I am ahead $1,875 in two and a half seasons for a much warmer house.

KaptJaq
 
Chimney was about a grand. Spliiter was about a grand. Saw was 300. Stove came with the house.

Prev owners of the house were burning 1500 gallons of propane a year, so i broke even on the first year. I could recoup most of the saw and splitter money if i sold out.
 
I tell people all the time. I don't burn wood to save money. I do it it because cutting wood, using chainsaws and tractors is my hobby. If I looked at the cost I would be in the hole. The grapple tractor was 20K by itself.
 
All my saws but one were free, the newest one was 200.00 with a store credit. We replaced our old woodfurnace that came with the house 3 years ago, which the new one was around 1200.00 total after credits. So 1200 for the furnace, 200 for the saw and 400 for the chimney liner. Prior to us buying the house, they used around 2 1/2 tanks of propane without wood. So within a season everything paid for itself, easy investment.
 
my costs was 2300 for stove and ss pipe in 1993 +- .
We always scrounged wood and hauled it in my work truck( Pickup )
I split by hand with a 20lb maul 20 bucks until 02 and then popped for a 27tn yard machine 900
I removed the oil tanks and furnace the same year .
3 years ago i bought a equinox from hearthstone 3000 bucks .
I bought a Supper split the same year for 2200 .
All my saws trucks and trailers are used in business so no cost to burning .
I started burning because we payed to dump the logs all the time .
Now we get paid to remove trees and either give away the wood or stock pile it in the yard or sell it .
I'm in the game for 9000 bucks @ about 500 per year but my equipment is all new and good for 15 + years .
The last time we bought oil it was .69 gallon .
I think it would cost me 3/4000 a year now for heat.
 
kenny chaos said:
Is nobody's time worth anything?
I know, you enjoy the exercise.
Kenny

I have a lot of spare time in the off season at work so all though I don't make/save as much per houre as if I was working
It still saves me about $3,000/year.
 
Used stove $75.
Used class A pipe free.
New class A tee and one section of pipe, $240
used chainsaw, Jonsered 455 $80 16 " Sthil, free.
Tune ups (both saws) $59 each.
New chains about 2 a year at $16 each.
files about 2 a year at $5.
Fiskars splitting axes; $150 for 3
half dozen wedges, $1.00 each
Used splitter, $100 plus ongoing costs, likely the same as a new one in the end, but more efficient and cost effective.
Used truck, already need one.

Savings in oil? Thousands every year, so much so that burning wood saved me enough money to insulate the place. Payback was by the time I didn't have to fill the oil tank the very first time.
I had scrougned up at least five cords of wood by the time I installed the stove.
Haven't run the oil burner since '08.
 
I've spent a little under $6000 so far. At the end of this season I figure I would have saved at least $7000 in fuel. So as long as I can keep myself from buying another saw or some other necessity ;-) I will be in the black.
 
Stove w/ options and tax $4300
Chimney $1400
22 ton Huskee Splitter - $1100
Stihl 390 (used) - $200

Plus misc gas, chains, bars, axes, etc...
I absolutely love the exercise, fresh air, and the pride of heating my house all by my own doing...
Plus it's much nicer to be in a 72-74 degee house instead of 66-68... and not cringing every time I hear the propane stove light up!
My new stove is where my old propane stove was, so it's quite impossible for it to turn on now ;)

Total ~$7000

I was spending about $1800 in propane per year... Now I'm estimating $200-250 per year since I'm only using it for cooking, dhw, and dryer.
So saving about $1500/yr, 4-5 year payback... Probably about the same time I'll be buying a new house (Having kids in a 1br house might prove to be difficult!)
I'll probably take the stove with me when I move... and drop a cheap $200 stove in it's place ;)
A new homeowner won't appreciate the difference between a $4k stove and a $200 stove I think.
 
Great deal on a used stove $250
About $800 for chimney.
A few hundred for saws, all were used, some were free, some were very cheap, some were non runners I rebuilt.

So far I have been able to scrounge plenty of free wood, never needed to pay for any wood.
It probably would cost around $1000/ year to heat my house using just oil.
I haven't purchased any oil for about 3 years.
I think that the furnace may have run maybe one time this year( only for a short time).
So I figure I am ahead after a bit more than the first year . :)
 
Quite honestly, I don't know. We already had the saw and truck to haul scrounges with. We needed a heat source no matter what, so it was the stove or a new boiler/radiators. We've also never heated the Cottage with propane, so I don't know how much it would cost to heat with propane. We picked up another saw for @ $120. We had to buy wood and ecobricks this year, but have several cords css'd for next season. All things considered, as a guess, I'd say we're even this year and will be ahead starting next season.
 
Took me a year and a half to break even no more than 2yrs.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.