Wood over pellets

[Highbeam]

Thanks for the link. The other problem is that our electricity is 7.7 cents kwh off-peak, 14 cents on-peak BUT by the time you add all the rest of the BS on the bill, the price ends up TWICE that amount. Delivery charge, debt repayment, invoicing charges, taxes. Load of BS. If I lower my hydro usage substantially, it won't even cut my bill in half.

As such, the 9 cents I speak of is TOTAL meaning acutal bill divided by kwh used. We don't have off peak rates though I wish we did. With power so cheap and electric heaters so cheap it is actually a pretty good deal to heat with resistance here in the PNW.

Another fun angle is that you can buy a new pellet stove for 1000$ or a new pellet stove for 4000$. A new woodstove for 600$ or 4000$.

 

[DougA]

Don't wish too much for off-peak rates. In the winter, our off-peak starts at 7 pm and ends at 7 am. So, you can watch TV in the evening a bit cheaper and keep the thermostat higher at night - just what we needed.

The whole wood stove idea works great when you have lots of free wood, lots of spare time and the 'woodsman' mentality. The future does not look very promising. My kids are typical millennium generation and work to them is turning up the thermostat.

 

[OhioBurner©]

I don't know what the actual per kwh electric rates are, its hard to tell with all the charges, but just looking at my usage last month vs the total it works out to $.11 and I'm paying $250/ ton for pellets. By the calculators here on the hearth.com 'info articles' I'm still way cheaper burning pellets. Wood prices vary, and most sellers give you crap, so thats hard to compare. But often $150-200 / cord. And at our current $2.20/gal for propane pellets are still cheaper. In fact I'll probably break even on the entire pellet stove install I just did in the first winter.

Wood and pellets are ultimately burning the same thing. But they have many different characteristics that separate them of course, and some will do better with one while others will the other.

For me I love being in the woods, running chainsaw, getting a good workout. Splitting wood by hand is fun but not everyone feels the same way! Until recent I had access to a couple hundred acres of woods. Now I'm hoping to eventually move to a place that has some woods, but at the land prices around here I don't know if it will ever happen. And to move out of state isnt really going to be an option until my son gets through school (10 years). This year I scrounged about 3-4 cord of ash. Time will tell if I can find some more free wood. But at $200/cord I'd just as soon buy eco bricks when they are on sale.

Pellet stoves are obviously a lot less hassle. They run continuously verses the warm up, cruise, and cool off cycle of the wood stove. *Some* can go for a few days without being touched. But many like mine can be a pain, and need daily cleanings, etc. But its such a nice feeling to sleep in in the morning and not worry about getting up at 4am to keep the stove alive. Laying there in bed knowing the stove is steady at 500F is wonderful. But the main thing is no matter what you have a cost associated with the fuel, and lately that cost is getting higher and higher, and sometimes harder to even find. You have no option of fuel other than buying it from a retailer. But for those that would be paying 200-300/cord for wood anyhow, the cost is less of an issue.

So yeah they both have pros and cons. And this website is full of enthusiasts of each.