2022/23 VC Owner thread

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JohnDaileyNH said:
I used about 5 cords of wood bought for roughly 1600 and would have used less if it didn't take me a few months of learning in the beginning of the season. Half a tank of oil. Last season I used a tank every 5 weeks. I saved 50% on my heating costs this winter using the wood stove as my primary heat source

This purchase was an absolute no brainer for saving money. Stove will pay for itself in about 3 years, maybe slightly less
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Id have to agree with the roughly 3 years.. For me this would include the splitter. I look at a lot of things over a 10 year span.. In oil id spend probably 25/30k in heating oil.. stove, pipe, install and splitter all add up to 6k.. so way ahead..I haven't purchased oil in years. We had a cold snap and I turned it on for night time.. it may have kicked on a couple times.. I may have burned a gallon..

I have found that the longer you do this the less dependent you become on big oil. This is a good thing.. why promote the purchase of foreign oil anyway..

Over the years Iv increased my storage capacity, also being able to store log lenth ready to be processed and having a Dedicated processing area and making the whole thing as efficient as possible.. if its not easy or super time consuming the luster wears off quick
 
Woodsplitter67 said:
Id have to agree with the roughly 3 years.. For me this would include the splitter. I look at a lot of things over a 10 year span.. In oil id spend probably 25/30k in heating oil.. stove, pipe, install and splitter all add up to 6k.. so way ahead..I haven't purchased oil in years. We had a cold snap and I turned it on for night time.. it may have kicked on a couple times.. I may have burned a gallon..

I have found that the longer you do this the less dependent you become on big oil. This is a good thing.. why promote the purchase of foreign oil anyway..

Over the years Iv increased my storage capacity, also being able to store log lenth ready to be processed and having a Dedicated processing area and making the whole thing as efficient as possible.. if its not easy or super time consuming the luster wears off quick
Click to expand...
This is the goal. Will be starting to get wood set up here in the next few weeks. Will have to buy again for next season but have plenty to split for the following year. That will start the process of being ahead on my wood supply and save even more money.

Lot of things I learned this year to make wood burning more efficient in the future. I moved the same stack of wood way too many times last winter. That won't happen again
 
I went through my usual 4 cord this year. But because I have so much wood piled up I would burn if there was even a hint of chill.... Many times this winter I had the door from the house to the garage open just to dump some heat somewhere usefull..

Unfortunately I still need my oil furnace for hot water, so we use about 200 gal a year for that. Thinking about getting a heat pump hot water heater so I can shut the darn furnace off. Electric bill will go up but standby losses will be less.

Moving wood sucks, I enjoy cutting it, splitting it and stacking it once.... Stacking a second time bites.... you figure out how to minimize moves pretty quick.
 
Well my porch rack is empty and the stove is going, nothing like the back and forth weather of spring. Predicting 30's for a few nights so I'll be bringing some wood up from my pile to the porch.
Stove has been running nicely and predictable overall. Did get the VC back puff yesterday just to keep me from having a big head about burning. Cat will still tickle 1600 but seems to stop and retreat from there as it cruises. It's was highs in the upper 40's so it's been burning continuously, letting it burn down to a small coal bed and it wakes right up with a light reload.
 
arnermd said:
I went through my usual 4 cord this year. But because I have so much wood piled up I would burn if there was even a hint of chill.... Many times this winter I had the door from the house to the garage open just to dump some heat somewhere usefull..

Unfortunately I still need my oil furnace for hot water, so we use about 200 gal a year for that. Thinking about getting a heat pump hot water heater so I can shut the darn furnace off. Electric bill will go up but standby losses will be less.

Moving wood sucks, I enjoy cutting it, splitting it and stacking it once.... Stacking a second time bites.... you figure out how to minimize moves pretty quick.
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my oil furnace makes my hot water too, however i leave mine off until hot water is needed then flick it on and have hot water in 5mins. I burned about 80 gallons this winter, and thats with keeping my house at 45 when im not there. You would be ahead if you even piped in a normal electric water heater into the loop. Letting the oil burner run 24/7 365 to keep the hot water warm is rough on the wallet.
 
njk4o5 said:
my oil furnace makes my hot water too, however i leave mine off until hot water is needed then flick it on and have hot water in 5mins. I burned about 80 gallons this winter, and thats with keeping my house at 45 when im not there. You would be ahead if you even piped in a normal electric water heater into the loop. Letting the oil burner run 24/7 365 to keep the hot water warm is rough on the wallet.
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Yeah I thought about both those options:
  • Turning the boiler on and off everyday is not an option for a couple reasons. It shortens the life of the seals with all the thermal cycles and my wife is not going to put up with waiting for hot water every time she wants hot water.....
  • I ran the numbers and doing an electric only hot water heater was not cheaper than burning oil. I suspect the answer may be different in other parts of the country, we have extremely high electric rates in CT. My inputs were:
    • Electric cost: $0.3617/ kw-hr
    • Oil cost: $5 / gal (we are lower than that now)
    • Oil usage for hotwater + standby = 0.7 gal / day
    • Cost per month for oil: $105
    • Cost per month for electric: $175
  • Conclusion:
    • Oil is cheaper than all electric.
    • A heat pump electric heater with a COP > 3 will eventually pay back if price of oil stays high, but requires higher initial investment.
    • Wood fired boiler seems like overkill for hot water.....hahaha
P.S. Spring in NE today hit 70F, Summer arrives Thursday, 85F..... time to install the wood fired AC unit..... :)
 
The other night it dropped into the 30's, had the stove burning nicely and turned the air down to about 10% if that. Walked through just before bed and it had gone to 1700. Cut the air, it dropped in to 1500's and I went to bed. Been warm since then so I'll watch the weather for a while. We might get a cool night and I'll burn what I have in the indoor rack, easier than carrying it back out.
I'm behind on working up some of my wood so I guess I'll be getting a tan while splitting as it's in an area I want to clean up.
 
arnermd said:
Yeah I thought about both those options:
  • Turning the boiler on and off everyday is not an option for a couple reasons. It shortens the life of the seals with all the thermal cycles and my wife is not going to put up with waiting for hot water every time she wants hot water.....
  • I ran the numbers and doing an electric only hot water heater was not cheaper than burning oil. I suspect the answer may be different in other parts of the country, we have extremely high electric rates in CT. My inputs were:
    • Electric cost: $0.3617/ kw-hr
    • Oil cost: $5 / gal (we are lower than that now)
    • Oil usage for hotwater + standby = 0.7 gal / day
    • Cost per month for oil: $105
    • Cost per month for electric: $175
  • Conclusion:
    • Oil is cheaper than all electric.
    • A heat pump electric heater with a COP > 3 will eventually pay back if price of oil stays high, but requires higher initial investment.
    • Wood fired boiler seems like overkill for hot water.....hahaha
P.S. Spring in NE today hit 70F, Summer arrives Thursday, 85F..... time to install the wood fired AC unit..... :)
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.36/kw-hr is insane. can you change the supplier? I locked in .13/kw-hr in NH for the next 18 months
 
JohnDaileyNH said:
.36/kw-hr is insane. can you change the supplier? I locked in .13/kw-hr in NH for the next 18 months
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That cost includes the generation and delivery charge..... I am guessing your .13/kw-hr is just the generation rate right?

Just 12 months ago when I looked into this it was .24/kW-hr.....

I have looked into switching suppliers but it only impacts the generation rate and was only a few cents cheaper at best.... My conclusion was it was not worth picking up the phone to switch. And could end up costing more after teaser rates expired. But I have not looked in a few years.
 
So here it is... probably the ladt fire of the season.. gotta wait until October now..

20230426_184501.jpg
 
Not here. Looks like more burning of some junk wood. Lots of rain and cool low 50s here. I do not mind at all😉
 
Had mine Monday night, got home too late to get one started last night could have used it. Might get another in as the weather is still flipping back and forth.
 
We may have burned our last but I am not calling it yet.
 
Hey guys I've been processing some Hemlock deadfall from a storm a few months ago. I have an Encore 2040-Cat-C and was wondering what your thoughts were on maximum diameter for burning unsplit rounds? Trying to avoid splitting it as much as possible, it is a real pain. Thanks!
 
Lorde said:
Hey guys I've been processing some Hemlock deadfall from a storm a few months ago. I have an Encore 2040-Cat-C and was wondering what your thoughts were on maximum diameter for burning unsplit rounds? Trying to avoid splitting it as much as possible, it is a real pain. Thanks!
Click to expand...

You can burn as large of a split as you can fit in, just be aware that large splits can take a very long time (5+ years) to be dry enough to burn.
 
Lorde said:
Hey guys I've been processing some Hemlock deadfall from a storm a few months ago. I have an Encore 2040-Cat-C and was wondering what your thoughts were on maximum diameter for burning unsplit rounds? Trying to avoid splitting it as much as possible, it is a real pain. Thanks!
Click to expand...

So just as a heads up the larger rounds that you leave may not be seasoned by the time that you need them. The larger diameter round the Longer it will take 2 season. That being said this is more of a preference for you. Me personally for Lynnwood I split anything larger than 5" round. 5" round and 18 or 19" long is a pretty large log for a 2.3 ft³ Box
 
Woodsplitter67 said:
So just as a heads up the larger rounds that you leave may not be seasoned by the time that you need them. The larger diameter round the Longer it will take 2 season. That being said this is more of a preference for you. Me personally for Lynnwood I split anything larger than 5" round. 5" round and 18 or 19" long is a pretty large log for a 2.3 ft³ Box
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Hey woodspliter, you mentioned (lynwood) in your previous post. Are you referring to sierra flame lynwood w-76 wood stove?
 
Just had a new boiler installed these past couple days, so the last burn of the season was yesterday. Temp was in the 40s, and the Dauntless ran surprisingly well. It hadn't drafted too well in the past at those temps, but didn't seem to have much issue for some reason yesterday. It did take a couple hours to get the room from 62 to 67, even with STT above 500 during that time.
 
Where are you guys getting cats at again? It's almost time to start getting prepped for the season and I want to get a cat before I can't find one.
 
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