Not saving any $

[jullom]

The main reason we put in the little wood burner was because we like the feel and smell of it...we both grew up with wood burners and we are now hooked. However, we have a very efficient geothermal heat source so saving money wasn't the biggest issue - got a used Century Hearth at a good deal so decided to install it. The kicker is that during the first full month of using it, our electric bill was not much different at all - approx 2% less...we leave our thermostat on 63 and around midnight, i assume it kicks on and stays on until around 6 or 7 am when we get up. the rest of the day it is not on at all. I am not running the blower on the stove but am running a box fan blowing air towards the stove room. Any thoughts on why we wouldn't see any change? Of course, we will test it another couple months, but...

and, we are hooked and already thinking about upgrading to a larger stove so we don't have to use our geo at all...

 

[EatenByLimestone]

How much wood are you putting through it? It sounds like you're only burning for a short time. It takes a while for the radiant heat from the stove to move about the house. If you run the blower you'll be happier since all that heat is otherwise trapped behind that heat shield.

Matt

 

[JoeyD]

+ 1

Also check your bill and see if it was an actual meter reading or an estimate. Sometimes they don't like coming out to read meters when the weather is bad.

 

[jullom]

Very good thought on the meter reading - that thought has legs...

We restart at 6am and load before bed around 10-11pm...I ran the blower for the first 2-3 weeks and then found that the fan blowing towards the stove from about 15-20' away generated more heat for a larger part of our house...thx. Any other thoughts?

 

[hardcore]

Is your geothermal via forced air or in-floor?

 

[jullom]

We have always left the fan on with our geo weather its on or off - it is forced air (ducts in crawl space) with returns in the ceiling (all single story) the largest cold air return is 5' away from the stove.

 

[BrotherBart]

We have always left the fan on with our geo weather its on or off - it is forced air (ducts in crawl space) with returns in the ceiling (all single story) the largest cold air return is 5' away from the stove.

Turn that thing off. Just burning electricity and losing the heat in the duct work.

 

[Lumber-Jack]

Obviously someone is going to see the biggest % saving in your heat bill by using wood heat if their back up heating system is very inefficient (eg. baseboard heaters). The more efficient their back up heating system, the less of a percentage difference they will see.
I don't think there is a more efficient way to heat than a geothermal heat source.

I have a air source heat pump system in my home. Unless it gets real cold I don't see much of a savings heating with wood either. I have been leaving my furnace fan on all the time too. Although it has a low fan setting, not just off or on. Running the furnace fan helps moderate the temperature in the house when I'm using the wood stove, cool rooms warmer, and warm rooms cooler. My crawl space is insulated and warming the ducts down there keeps my tile floors warmer, the heat is not wasted.

Any idea what your monthly cost would have been to run that geothermal heat source system?

 

[thinkxingu]

jullom,
We're in a similar situation, so a few things to check:

1. What was the average temperature of the months you are comparing?
2. Were both bills for the same number of days? Given the reading times, sometimes there's up to 4 more days per bill.
3. Do you keep the house warmer with the stove?
4. Are you getting the stove hot enough to actually heat the house? It's possible that your stove is only adding some warmth as opposed to 'heating' the home. If we run our stove at 400* it will merely maintain temp and the heat will still be on around the house. If we run it at 500*, the house is being heated by the stove.

Good luck,

S

 

[begreen]

A good geothermal system is super efficient. I'm not surprised at the moderate difference. You've invested in a good system and the figures seem to bear that out. Even with our air to air system, we are getting pleasingly good efficiency.

 

[Dakotas Dad]

You appear to only be comparing $ amounts on your bill.. What is your KWh usage from this month last year compared to this year? You could be on a billing plan that "averages" your use so you have roughly the same bill monthly. we are, so it will actually take a few months before our savings actually shows up on our bill as far as what we pay monthly. But my meter tells me how we are doing.. last year this month we averaged 111KWh's a day, last month 116KWh's, but since we started burning 24/7, we are averaging just under 58KWh's a day.

 

[gyrfalcon]

The main reason we put in the little wood burner was because we like the feel and smell of it...we both grew up with wood burners and we are now hooked. However, we have a very efficient geothermal heat source so saving money wasn't the biggest issue - got a used Century Hearth at a good deal so decided to install it. The kicker is that during the first full month of using it, our electric bill was not much different at all - approx 2% less...we leave our thermostat on 63 and around midnight, i assume it kicks on and stays on until around 6 or 7 am when we get up. the rest of the day it is not on at all. I am not running the blower on the stove but am running a box fan blowing air towards the stove room. Any thoughts on why we wouldn't see any change? Of course, we will test it another couple months, but...

and, we are hooked and already thinking about upgrading to a larger stove so we don't have to use our geo at all...

How long does it take you to get your stove up to a good temp? I have a tiny soapstone stove, but I leave my thermostat set to maintain 50. I usually bump it up to 55 when I get up and retreat to my small office with my coffee and good little space heater until my brain has cleared enough to cope with shoveling out the ashes and reloading the stove. My electric bill has gone up just slightly, and my oil bill is now minimal.

If you really can't bear 50 when you get up, put in a programmable thermostat and have it set to raise the temperature to whatever is livable for you at the time you generally get up. But there's really zero need to have your thermostat as high as 63 during the hours you're sound asleep.

(My 2nd floor bedroom spends most of the winter in the 40s, so the 50 downstairs actually feels pretty warm when I first come down...)

 

[jullom]

Thanks for the thoughts...we are not on an average pay elec bill, i will review the KWH usage and the days in the cycle. I expec tthe answer to be (and will be disappointed if not) that it is an estmated bill because of the weather we've had, on top of that we live on a dead end county road with 3 houses and the electric co had their subcontractor trimming trees on our road over the last week and those guys were jerks. I talked to them and called their bosses twice. they did not move their truck from the middle of the road for our mail delivery or trash pickup (7 days of no mail and 2 missed trash pickups) and if my wife witha mni van with 5 kids in it pulled up they would walk over to her van and ask her if she needed out!! i bet the elec co could not read meters...
When i wake up i immediately turn the thermo to 60 so geo kicks off and build a fire, the thermo does not go low enough all day to ask for the geo to kick on. again, thanks for the thoughts...

 

[tutu_sue]

Does your heat pump have an auxiliary electric resistance heater built into it? A lot of geothermals do. That auxiliary resistance heat can be kicking on if the difference between the house temp and thermostat is greater so the house heats up faster and doesn't strain the system so much. So maybe leaving the thermostat set lower than you normally do may be working against you????

 

[hyperion]

Does your heat pump have an auxiliary electric resistance heater built into it? A lot of geothermals do. That auxiliary resistance heat can be kicking on if the difference between the house temp and thermostat is greater so the house heats up faster and doesn't strain the system so much. So maybe leaving the thermostat set lower than you normally do may be working against you????

+1 on the backup resistance heat, which is very expensive. Ours kicks in when there's a temperature difference of larger than 2 degrees.

 

[begreen]

BB could be correct if this is an uninsulated and cold crawlspace. Our space is closed off in the winter and it's insulated. In a cold crawlspace, duct loss could be pretty high.

What was the electric bill amount and what is the electric rate /kw hr? What other major loads are on the system (dryer, refrig, hot water. etc?)

 

[jullom]

we are all electric, so everything is electric - there have not been any appliance additions or people additions that would use more electricity since last year, approximatel 1850 sq ft new in 2003. Our emergency backup heat is extrememly expensive and does kick on if i'm asking for 70 degrees when the actual temp is 67 or less (2 degree difference kicks it on). I'm confused as to how having the thermostat set at 60 and the actual house temp is 70 would cause any use of electricity - assuming i'm understanding the earlier post...i'll look at the bills tonight to see if there is anything hidden that i'm not seeing in terms of kwh usage and $/kwh.

 

[jullom]

I don't have any update on the elec bill yet, but i wanted to let you know that turning off the fan/return air has made a huge difference in the temp of our house - especially in bedrooms that are at teh back of the house...I can't beleive the difference. I know it is a bit warmer for us now than last month, but we were clearly losing a few degrees in the main part of the house with the stove and probably 3-5 degrees in the bedrooms. Thanks for the advice on shutting the fan off.

 

[BrotherBart]

I don't have any update on the elec bill yet, but i wanted to let you know that turning off the fan/return air has made a huge difference in the temp of our house - especially in bedrooms that are at teh back of the house...I can't beleive the difference. I know it is a bit warmer for us now than last month, but we were clearly losing a few degrees in the main part of the house with the stove and probably 3-5 degrees in the bedrooms. Thanks for the advice on shutting the fan off.

:cheese:

 

[laynes69]

I don't heat with electric, but we belong to a co-op. Last year I tore out the 100 amp service and put in a 200 amp service. I was worried about an increase in our electric bill. What they told me was the more we use, the less the charge per KWH. Those that used very little electricity could pay 6 to 9 cents more per KWH. Don't know if its the case for you. Also one of the other power companies doubled their rates for those with all electric. They were grandfathered in and they finally took that away.

 

[begreen]

I don't have any update on the elec bill yet, but i wanted to let you know that turning off the fan/return air has made a huge difference in the temp of our house - especially in bedrooms that are at teh back of the house...I can't beleive the difference. I know it is a bit warmer for us now than last month, but we were clearly losing a few degrees in the main part of the house with the stove and probably 3-5 degrees in the bedrooms. Thanks for the advice on shutting the fan off.

:cheese:

Good call. Have to remember everyone doesn't have a nice warm crawl space.