Wood stoves and oil savings/random babble

[saskwoodburner]

Seems to be pretty quiet around here, so thought I'd just make a thread for the sake of making one. I got into wood burning last year, quite clueless, but I made it past the curve and think I've got a clue now.

Anyways, I've been keeping an eye on the furnace oil, as I don't always have a fire overnight (and the Englander 17 isn't the champion of fire and forget about it), and there will always be some usage.

So, for our 720 square foot mobile home I affectionately call the shack, here's some numbers.

102 liters give or take burnt in 48 days, averaging out to 2.125 liters a day. The last week was 1.7 liters per day.Not too shabby I say. The weather has been incredible though, not a typical year at all. Todays temps would be normal at the start of November. Guess not much more to add, but I sure do like that little stove!

How's your wood burner treating you this year?

 

[fire_man]

Same here in Northern MA - Extremely unusual warmth for weeks and weeks. We had colder days and nights in October than November or December.If it were not for some good killing frosts much earlier in the fall, the mosquitoes would still be out. I've only gone thru about 1/2 cord total so far - almost all nightly burns. I say BRING ON WINTER!

 

[2broke2ride]

Right there with ya fire_man.......... Where abouts are you in mass? Townsend here[emoji106]

 

[fire_man]

I'm in the Haverhill/North Andover area.
I gotta say burning in these mild temps is a draft killer and sometimes harder to heat the house than in nice cold weather. I figured out how to light small fires just to keep everybody happy, but it takes longer fiddling with it than just running 24x7.

 

[DougA]

I've gone through about a half cord in southern Ont. and it's warm here still but my thermostat is as low as it will go. My goal is near zero use of hydro for heating this winter. I doubled the size of my stove a year ago and it was expensive but really worth it. Tonight at supper my daughter was complaining about how hot our house was , 74. She keeps her thermostat at her house mid 60's and I keep a sweater on when I visit her. My old bones like it WARM.

 

[saskwoodburner]

She keeps her thermostat at her house mid 60's and I keep a sweater on when I visit her. My old bones like it WARM.

That has got to be one of the biggest differences I forgot to mention in my original post. The comfort level of having constantly higher temps with wood over the oil furnace. We used to keep the furnace set low so it wouldn't keep on running. Now I'm a slacker if the temp is below 70 F.

 

[brad wilton]

Your not gooing to believe this but i just killed a mosquitoe yesterday when i was out having a smoke

 

[Simonkenton]

It is warm in the North Carolina mountains. It is 6 am and the temp is 61 degrees. Never saw such a warm December.

 

[Beer Belly]

We're low on wood this year (again), and have been burning Oil more than I'd like, but the temps are warmer than usual so the furnace basically kicks on around 5am to bring the bedroom up to 68*F, the main level is set at 64*F, and the very lower level at 50*F, so we are going thru some Oil, and when the Wife is home, she fires up the stove till she turns in for the night, so we're also going thru wood. I don't mind the Oil as much being the prices are low, but I know a cold snap is gonna happen sooner or later, and it's gonna hit my stacks hard

 

[blades]

Slappin skeeters in the middle of Dec. is not the norm even in the southern end of WI.

 

[quotejso]

Slappin skeeters in the middle of Dec. is not the norm even in the southern end of WI.

Propane tank still topped off

 

[Jags]

Slappin skeeters in the middle of Dec. is not the norm even in the southern end of WI.

Smacked one in front of my face on Sat. while torching up the burn hole. A couple of little gnat things too. We do need another cold snap to make sure the bugs are kept in check but I ain't in no hurry. Enjoying this mild stuff, but winter ain't over folks.

 

[saskwoodburner]

Your not gooing to believe this but i just killed a mosquitoe yesterday when i was out having a smoke

And that there is why Sask. is better than Quebec.....no mosquitos in December.

 

[fire_man]

Your not gooing to believe this but i just killed a mosquitoe yesterday when i was out having a smoke

It must have flown North for the Winter because it's to dang warm down South!

 

[Poindexter]

If I did my math right I can mulitply the gallon price of #2 heating oil by 144 to come up with BTU to BTU value of a 20MBTU cord of seasoned wood.

My last oil fill was $2.35/ gallon. So 2.35*144= a seasoned cord of wood replaces $338.40 worth of oil.

I think I came up with *132 for a 18MBTU cord of spruce...

 

[Nick Mystic]

It's been very warm here in western NC, as well. I haven't built a fire in the past few days and the house has been getting up to 70 F during the daytime and only dropping down to around 66 overnight. It's rainy today, but still in the 60s outside. The house is still just 66, so if it stays overcast all day I'll probably light the stove later tonight to take the chill off. On Saturday it got up into the 70s here so my wife and I took my convertible out for a drive with the top down! We only wore flannel shirts and were very comfortable.

 

[begreen]

38F this morning. Fire is going, sun is shining. Life is good.

 

[HighTon]

It's been much colder than last year in my neck of the woods. Coming up on one cord burnt so far. LP furnace has not been on yet. I have only emptied the ashes twice.

 

[spirilis]

Haven't lit the stove in over a week. Too dang warm & humid... heat pump kicks on if it has to. These are ideal temps for a heat pump anyway.

 

[Triple]

I have not used a drop of oil in the past 3 years (this will be the 4th)! I am very fortunate to work close to my home so I can go by and pack the stove when needed. I do however use two infrared heaters so my electric bill in the dead of winter is most likely higher than yours. But the savings from not using any oil is substantial and more than covers the extra electric costs.