Calculated My Savings

[F4jock]

With the price of heating oil in my area down to $1.60 a gallon I thought I'd run some numbers. I was really surprised.

I paid $255 a ton for Lignetics this year, delivered and stacked. As some of you may know we've been heating half the house with pellets and half (Bedrooms) with oil for the past seven seasons with this being the eighth.

Projected savings using all oil will be about $350 for this season, but amazingly enough this will NOT come totally from the use of oil. So far, compared to the same period last year, we are saving between $20 and $30 a month in electricity costs! All I can attribute this to is the use of the Beckett gun vs the distribution blower! Of course it's getting colder but so were the last two winters which is what I based pellet and oil consumption on, with projected oil consumption for the pellet half of the house calculated by the BTU per pound of the past two year's pellet use.

 

[kappel15]

I have supplemented my furnace and corn stove with each other as well. Natural gas has been cheap last 3 years. So far this year, it is cheaper, but not as cheap. Doing a fuel cost comp. chart, corn is the cheaper heat this year. But still will use the furnace to help warm up house in am., if real cold. kap

 

[bags]

Corn is by far the way to go for the cheap heat IF you can buy in bulk and have the means and space to deal with it. I was looking into buying some but Captain Lazy and Sgt. Slacker pulled some rank and said, "Ahh, you have way more than enough pellets for the season."

I dropped the ball and never followed thru on scoring some local corn. I actually never even had the ball. That said, I will definitely have some corn next fall if pellet prices climb and / or if they stay the same and corn is so much less expensive. I just want a good thought out set up to store it etc; on the cheap and temporary. Thinking of building a temporary bin in the rear corner of my pole barn opposite of where I back in and dump firewood. Something i can close and seal pretty well Then open and shovel into buckets or the like. I have the space and the barn is actually on a 6 ft concrete foundation wall with poured and slicked out floors like in a garage or basement.

I was not motivated enough and too busy to deal with another project so needless to say didn't mess with the corn. I'd probably run a 50 / 50 mix even in the PC45. That would cut my pellet costs in half. Corn is cheap here too and I could get it just 3 - 4 miles away.

I like my fire here but I am also in this heating cheap business to win the game as well. For me wood is "free" and abundant right outside my door. Literally. If I want to stare at an occasional fire that would be the ticket for me vs. over priced pellets. It is all just a silly game. Look at how high corn was not long ago.

The monkeys in the back room need to have their hands bound so they can not flick the game board spinners and determine what they want to jack up next fall. Much of these price fluctuations in cheap alternative heating fuels are almost comical. Of course until they get over on ya and tick you all the way off.

As stated I'd be all over the opportunity of cheap oil, NG, or whatever but not an option here. Electric central HVAC. Yuck! Anyone not capitalizing on a cheaper way to heat their homes is simply foolish IMO. I don't care how much they like fires and how severe their perverted pyro sickness is they suffer from. LOL! It is only reasonable and sensible to capitalize on a good cheaper thing.

 

[kappel15]

Ya, when corn prices went thru the roof, I figured they would never come down, so I sold my gravity wagon. But I do have a utility trailer that is 5x10 with 1 ft. tall steel sides, and 2x6 floor. I built a tailgate for it as it has a ramp, but also the metal channel iron for a 2x4 tailgate. It holds 40 bushel, and that is about what I can store at a time. So a couple trips in the winter and I'm set. I quit burning a mix when it got cold as corn is cheap, and pellets are not. The pellets I have stored in my shop are from 3 or 4 years ago, which makes them cheap, but not to replace at todays prices. So the only pellets I use are the ones I throw in the pot to help start a fire. I have been home since back surgery on the 25th of Nov. so have a fire going all day, where when I was working, no fire. So I am glad corn is cheap to burn. I planned and got most things ready that I could before surgery. I started out being able to carry 10lbs of corn in a bucket. That figured out to 3 scoops with my plastic scoop. After my 3 week visit, I can carry 20 lbs now. Also gives me the only exercise I can do, walk. Can't bend or twist yet. 5 weeks of this till next office visit on the 21st. kap

 

[bags]

Hey Kap!
Hope you have a speedy recovery and don't push it and then wind up with a delay. It's good you are able to take advantage of the corn. I am sort of kicking myself some but just didn't put out the extra effort or make the time. If corn stays cheap I'll be on it for sure next season. It is still not too late this year if I get it in gear. Although I do have more pressing things to prioritize.

 

[bogieb]

So you have FHA then? Yes, I'm an idiot, I have no idea what a becket gun is.

I know my two stoves add about $20 to the electric bill versus the FHW pump (or whatever it is called). I can tell how much the stoves run by the electric bill - last bill was lower than November's by about $10 and I had to think back as to why. Finally remembered that's when I finally got the wall in the basement reinstalled so it's not leaking near the cold air from the garage as it had been.

 

[F4jock]

Beckett burner is the motor, pump and electrode combo that fires an oil burner Bo.

Bags as you know I have all the free wood I can burn but the labor as well as the creosote AND the lack of auto-ignition and bank down. . . . . Nope! I run the pellet stove in Room / Auto that most imitates the automatic function of an oil burner. Sue me. I'm lazy.

As for corn Kap, wouldn't have the faintest idea where to get it and it sounds like work. I balance the effort with the cost and if it ain't bagged at this point I don't want to mess with it. Pellets or oil or move to Florida.

 

[kappel15]

No more work then pellets my friend, as I clean both before I burn em. Best place to get corn is from a local farmer. kap

 

[Bioburner]

Went by the elevator on the way to the big town today and the elevator was closed but bumped into its manager at Wally world. Looks like I will be getting corn for about $120/ton when I pull the wagon to town next week.

 

[FirepotPete]

Ya, when corn prices went thru the roof, I figured they would never come down, so I sold my gravity wagon. But I do have a utility trailer that is 5x10 with 1 ft. tall steel sides, and 2x6 floor. I built a tailgate for it as it has a ramp, but also the metal channel iron for a 2x4 tailgate. It holds 40 bushel, and that is about what I can store at a time. So a couple trips in the winter and I'm set. I quit burning a mix when it got cold as corn is cheap, and pellets are not. The pellets I have stored in my shop are from 3 or 4 years ago, which makes them cheap, but not to replace at todays prices. So the only pellets I use are the ones I throw in the pot to help start a fire. I have been home since back surgery on the 25th of Nov. so have a fire going all day, where when I was working, no fire. So I am glad corn is cheap to burn. I planned and got most things ready that I could before surgery. I started out being able to carry 10lbs of corn in a bucket. That figured out to 3 scoops with my plastic scoop. After my 3 week visit, I can carry 20 lbs now. Also gives me the only exercise I can do, walk. Can't bend or twist yet. 5 weeks of this till next office visit on the 21st. kap

Wishing you well with your back kap!

 

[Bioburner]

No more work then pellets my friend, as I clean both before I burn em. Best place to get corn is from a local farmer. kap

I pay about 25 cents more per bu over the buy price. 2 1/4 miles to the elevator. Can get pretty much anytime.
I best get my butt in and get some as we are supposed to get a real cold shot end of the week.

 

[bags]

Florida sounds good every winter.............

 

[Bioburner]

If it wasn't 1800 miles away I probably would go.
Would like to try bow hunt some boar, maybe do some fishing without staring down a hole in the ice.

 

[kappel15]

I pay about 25 cents more per bu over the buy price. 2 1/4 miles to the elevator. Can get pretty much anytime.
I best get my butt in and get some as we are supposed to get a real cold shot end of the week.

Same here as I bought from elevator first round this year. Got it out of the elevator tho. Dirtiest corn I've ever seen. They dumped it into bucket of an end loader, and then dumped it into my trailer. Was like the Oklahoma dust bowl when they dumped it! Couldn't see my rig! Last year they scooped it out of a building, and it was nice and clean. I am hoping they are in the building again for my next load. Plus from the farmer, you don't get a "blend" of corns, where some is wetter then others. kap

 

[Bioburner]

I screen all my corn because the Bixby does not like fines. My spring job is burning habitat for Pheasants Forever so the fines go to feeding the local birds. I made a stove top drier that cooks 5 gallons at a time on the wood stove in the shop, can do about 50 gallons a day, so all my corn is in the single digits, crackable by squeezing with fingers. It makes a big difference that the stove does not have to try and boil off all the water first. No bugs either as they all get cooked.
Yes its a bit of a pain, but have almost no stove burn issues and more btus.

 

[Deezl Smoke]

If you are going to store bulk corn, try to store it in a way that you can cool the corn to as low of temp as you can get it. Insects love warm corn. Rodents smell warm corn and will be attracted to it.
The elevator is the last place I'd buy corn. It will cost you more and usually be of lower quality than direct from the grower. At harvest, the low quality goes to the elevator first as the longer term storage corn will need to be of higher quality to store better. Each time the corn is elevated, it gains fines and the kernels crack from the mechanical conveying. Also each time the corn is sold to the next buyer, a profit margin is attached.

I have more downed oak and fir trees each year than I could ever deal with. But no matter that the wood is free, the cutting, splitting and storing to cure is expensive. Every one of us on this site can put a different cost of processing the wood on it. But in the end, for any real comparison of costs, you have to compare your options from the same angle. You cant compare the cost of buying pellets to processing free wood with any truth unless you pay yourself a wage to do the processing, including the stacking and cure time, and the investment into the processing equipment with maintenance.
If you have the free wood and that is the driving factor of your choice to burn it, just say you want to burn wood. But it is in no way free. It's just that you have an abundance of it right close to you and your mindset is such that it would be a waste to not burn it, and then purchase pellets.

 

[FirepotPete]

Same here as I bought from elevator first round this year. Got it out of the elevator tho. Dirtiest corn I've ever seen. They dumped it into bucket of an end loader, and then dumped it into my trailer. Was like the Oklahoma dust bowl when they dumped it! Couldn't see my rig! Last year they scooped it out of a building, and it was nice and clean. I am hoping they are in the building again for my next load. Plus from the farmer, you don't get a "blend" of corns, where some is wetter then others. kap

I'm damn lucky with my farmer. The first year I was burning corn I was getting it from the co-op. I was getting about 1 5gallon bucket of fines for every two buckets of corn! I have to move the corn from my pickup so I use the cornvac and with 2 tons I got maybe 15 gallons of fines! Probably closer to 10 gallons. As clean as the corn is I would still clean it even if it wasn't getting cleaned moving out of the truck, being my stove is in the living room and just a little extra dust drives Mother Superior crazy and I don't need that! Like you I also used to clean the pellets because of that.

 

[kappel15]

I'm damn lucky with my farmer. The first year I was burning corn I was getting it from the co-op. I was getting about 1 5gallon bucket of fines for every two buckets of corn! I have to move the corn from my pickup so I use the cornvac and with 2 tons I got maybe 15 gallons of fines! Probably closer to 10 gallons. As clean as the corn is I would still clean it even if it wasn't getting cleaned moving out of the truck, being my stove is in the living room and just a little extra dust drives Mother Superior crazy and I don't need that! Like you I also used to clean the pellets because of that.

Why it pays to have a vac hose right there at the hopper when dumping fuel in. lol kap

 

[kappel15]

If you are going to store bulk corn, try to store it in a way that you can cool the corn to as low of temp as you can get it. Insects love warm corn. Rodents smell warm corn and will be attracted to it.
The elevator is the last place I'd buy corn. It will cost you more and usually be of lower quality than direct from the grower. At harvest, the low quality goes to the elevator first as the longer term storage corn will need to be of higher quality to store better. Each time the corn is elevated, it gains fines and the kernels crack from the mechanical conveying. Also each time the corn is sold to the next buyer, a profit margin is attached.

I have more downed oak and fir trees each year than I could ever deal with. But no matter that the wood is free, the cutting, splitting and storing to cure is expensive. Every one of us on this site can put a different cost of processing the wood on it. But in the end, for any real comparison of costs, you have to compare your options from the same angle. You cant compare the cost of buying pellets to processing free wood with any truth unless you pay yourself a wage to do the processing, including the stacking and cure time, and the investment into the processing equipment with maintenance.
If you have the free wood and that is the driving factor of your choice to burn it, just say you want to burn wood. But it is in no way free. It's just that you have an abundance of it right close to you and your mindset is such that it would be a waste to not burn it, and then purchase pellets.

My choice is farmer, but sometimes you don't have a choice and have to buy at elevator. Both burn. Both are cheaper then the natural gas this year as of yet.

 

[Bioburner]

I am usually in line with my neighbors who are dropping corn. Got corn from couple of them in past but more hassle with scaling and time in travel. Should be another good corn year with very high yields this year. 183 bu/acre average in county. Perfect fall for harvest so no extra handling through driers which is when more fines seem to come.

 

[Deezl Smoke]

My choice is farmer, but sometimes you don't have a choice and have to buy at elevator. Both burn. Both are cheaper then the natural gas this year as of yet.

True enough. When you visit the elevator, you should be able to ask for a sample of the very grain you are going to buy. If it is dusty, be very careful even viewing the sample. Some times corn dust can contain toxic mold spores. Each year several farmers and employees of elevators are taken to the hospital for treatment after inhaling corn dust laden with mold, when they unload their storage bins. So when it was mentioned above, that there was so much dust the vehicle disappeared when loading, it made me cringe that the elevator management may be trying to cut shrink by selling the rejected lot to unsuspecting buyers.

 

[Bioburner]

I had a bad batch many years ago and returned it a week later and they exchanged it no problem. Was a bit to high RM

 

[bags]

Corn, pellets, wood, etc; It is all alternative heating fuel. There is going to be cons and extra things to do no matter. If it was piped into everyone's homes then everyone would be doing it. That is not the case and people have weighed everything out for the most part to see if it is worth it. For many it is.

My wood is free. It's on my land and has already been paid for. So the wood here is free. It's my time and incidentals to process and deal with the wood that is not. I have always said there is no such thing as "free" wood.

I think where most attached the "free" or cheap label is that they do not figure in their time spent nor the smaller costs and hassles involved. In their mind and in mine at times it is as close to cheap or "free" as it gets therefore let's just say good as free........ Still not free.

I went round and round with the wood burning guys last fall about "free" wood. No such thing except that the wood can very well be free. The fuel to cut, transport, chainsaws, bar oil, on and on.

Bottom line is we are all looking for better and less expensive ways to stay warm. Except of course the people so in love with their fires they will spend silly money to see a flame just because they love it so much. As for me if I could get very cheap or "free" heat out of a big rock I'd drag on of those into the house and figure out a way to tastefully incorporate it.

Corn is a good deal and if bought right way cheaper than pellets like in half as much per ton. Or close. Spending the little bit of time and hassle there I feel is a sensible investment. Much less time invested than wood processing. Some like the independence of doing wood so their time doesn't really get nor need to be factored into the cost equation either. Here it's a love hate relationship. And the arrow is still pointing towards the hate part. I have eased up and like my wood heat too but was beyond burned out. Pellets have given me a well needed break at a cost of course.

Next year I am thinking about a lot more corn and a new wood stove. We shall see but I am buying a new wood stove regardless how much it is used. Mainly for a good electrical outage backup and also a very cheap supplement to my pellet stoves even if they are running a bit of corn. If pellets stay cheap enough then that may still remain my go to but they will have little yellowish buddies riding the Auger Delight cork screw ride. Should have capitalized on it this year as i was sort of planning. Ya snooze ya loose.

 

[kappel15]

I had a bad batch many years ago and returned it a week later and they exchanged it no problem. Was a bit to high RM

When I call on pricing, I will be asking where it will come from this time and what I am going to use it for. kap

 

[kappel15]

True enough. When you visit the elevator, you should be able to ask for a sample of the very grain you are going to buy. If it is dusty, be very careful even viewing the sample. Some times corn dust can contain toxic mold spores. Each year several farmers and employees of elevators are taken to the hospital for treatment after inhaling corn dust laden with mold, when they unload their storage bins. So when it was mentioned above, that there was so much dust the vehicle disappeared when loading, it made me cringe that the elevator management may be trying to cut shrink by selling the rejected lot to unsuspecting buyers.

When I clean the corn, I wear a mask, same with pellets. I can't take much dust any more after years of it. Don't take much to get sinus infection. kap