Did not use the furnace this year!

[njtomatoguy]

Yep,
title says it all.
I heated with wood alone for the 09/10 season.
Furnace has never been on.
I have some wood left for the chilly nights in the next few weeks,
but this is the first year without backup.

Can I call myself a woodburner now?

 

[deck2]

First year with out using the furnace too!! Started the pilot on X-mas eve because we were not gonna be home x-mas day but it was like 45 degrees so it never had to come on. Boy did the power company have trouble trying to estimate my usage every other month!!

PS: NJTomatoman must be tough to get all that wood home using a HHR

 

[BrotherBart]

28th year not using the furnace. Now I want one!

 

[njtomatoguy]

PS: NJTomatoman must be tough to get all that wood home using a HHR

Solved that problem!

 

[Bobbin]

I am mightily impressed, my friend. I am not ready to embrace the 100% mantra, but sure like having a stove to keep it roasty-toasty and keep the oil bill to a minimum.

Nice work, dude!

 

[PapaDave]

Welcome to the club. There are several of us here that do that.
Feels good, doesn't it?!
There WILL come a day that the furnace will come on more and more.

 

[BrowningBAR]

Yep,
title says it all.
I heated with wood alone for the 09/10 season.
Furnace has never been on.
I have some wood left for the chilly nights in the next few weeks,
but this is the first year without backup.

Can I call myself a woodburner now?

With the third stove next season will be 100% wood heat. We went from 1500 gallons of oil a year without a stove to 650 gallons with one stove down to 350 gallons with two stoves. I'll always have the furnace as a backup, though.

 

[Shari]

Does it count if our furnace has not run since 2/12/10?

Shari

 

[laynes69]

Ours ran non stop since winter. Oh wait, it takes wood. We ended up using 40 gallons of LP, which everything in the house is LP except for the water heater. We burnt probably 1 1/2 to 2 cords less than last year, and used much less LP compared to the old wood furnace. In the past the house would consume 1200+ gallons of LP in a winter without wood. I wish I could say I didn't use the LP furnace but its been there when I would sleep in on the cold mornings. I'll pay a couple dollars for the convenience. Our furnace is 20 years old, its 90% efficient and its still like new because is doesn't get used much. Another benefit to wood.

 

[BrotherBart]

In the past the house would consume 1200+ gallons of LP in a winter without wood.

What does 1,200 gallons of propane cost?

 

[laynes69]

It depends when you buy it. We filled in the summer of last year and it was 1.89 a gallon. If we owned the tank it would have been 1.39 a gallon. Now wait till winter, you may pay 3.00 or more a gallon. I want natural gas, but they won't run it here. What makes me mad is the main transmission line that goes through ohio is about 1 mile away from the house.

 

[ChillyGator]

In the past the house would consume 1200+ gallons of LP in a winter without wood.

What does 1,200 gallons of propane cost?

$3,120 - $4,320*

*depending on attitude of lady taking the order, moon phase and relative humidity during delivery (I think :coolsmirk: )

 

[BrotherBart]

In the past the house would consume 1200+ gallons of LP in a winter without wood.

What does 1,200 gallons of propane cost?

$3,120 - $4,320*

*depending on attitude of lady taking the order, moon phase and relative humidity during delivery (I think :coolsmirk: )

:ahhh:

 

[laynes69]

Yeah, thats when dad owned the house. We have yet to see what it would cost to heat with LP only. Hopefully we never find out.

 

[BrotherBart]

When I saw that cost range I went out back and kissed a tree.

 

[BrowningBAR]

When I saw that cost range I went out back and kissed a tree.

The first two years living here we paid $3,000-4,500 a winter to keep the home at 60 mostly.

 

[BrotherBart]

When I saw that cost range I went out back and kissed a tree.

The first two years living here we paid $3,000-4,500 a winter to keep the home at 60 mostly.

After this thread I told my wife that we haven't been living in the real world for a long time.

 

[Boom]

Furnace went out a year or two ago. Used up most of my 'bark beetle' wood that we had to cut. San Bernardino mountains lost millions (not a typo) trees to that pest. Fireplace really didn't heat the house well when there was snow on the ground but it was good enough for a spell. I ran the flue of a Harman Advance pellet stove up my chimney and it heats the upstairs nicely. Eventually I'll put the Harman downstairs and install a non catalytic soapstone wood stove (maybe Hearthstone) upstairs.

Someday I'll get around to replacing the forced air furnace after I insulate better,
Jay

 

[heatwise]

thats a great achievement. pete

 

[BrowningBAR]

When I saw that cost range I went out back and kissed a tree.

The first two years living here we paid $3,000-4,500 a winter to keep the home at 60 mostly.

After this thread I told my wife that we haven't been living in the real world for a long time.

That's why neither of use mind one bit when a stove makes part of the house too warm. I'd rather be stuck with parts of the house touching 85 degrees and not costing us much than being cold and knowing I'm paying a lot of money for being cold.

 

[ohio woodburner]

This year i was determined to use my furnace as little as possible. Last month i was working second shift so i was home when the gas company came to read the meter. The meter is on the front of the house so they never go out back to see my wood, to know i burn. Well i dumped a load of wood i scrounged in the drive and was working on it when he pulled up. He says oh your burning wood huh, i said ya, he then says they put a message on his meter log this month to inspect my meter as i haven't used nearly any gas and they wanted to know why. Man did i ever smile all day

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Last fall I once again determined to heat 100% with wood. So this past winter makes 34 in a row without running a furnace.

 

[firefighterjake]

Well I can't say as though the oil boiler never came on . . . it did occasionally if we were away for an extended time . . . or on those wicked cold mornings (I refuse to get up to reload a stove in middle of the night and will simply get the fire going by throwing on some splits or kindling on the hot coals in the morning) . . . so I can't say I'm 100% oil free . . . and honestly I don't think I'll ever be totally free . . . but it sure is nice seeing the oil in the tank stay at the same level month after month after month. . . .

 

[begreen]

In the past the house would consume 1200+ gallons of LP in a winter without wood.

What does 1,200 gallons of propane cost?

$3,120 - $4,320*

*depending on attitude of lady taking the order, moon phase and relative humidity during delivery (I think :coolsmirk: )

:ahhh:

Now ya know why I dropped the propane heating system. We went from ~$3K (combined fuels of propane, pellet and wood) to less than $700 since switching to a high-efficiency heat pump and a big stove. This includes buying 2 cords of wood @$450. The $3k was for the 2005-6 heating season, so tack on another ~30% for current pro-pain if we had done nothing.

 

[par0thead151]

might want to turn it on once a month for a few minutes to make sure it still works...