"Heating costs for most households are forecast to rise from last winter’s level"
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BillLion
Minister of Fire
3% colder where I am in the northeast this season. And 9% more expensive!
Sure gives you yet another reason to feel good about burning!
Sure gives you yet another reason to feel good about burning!
curber
Feeling the Heat
I didn't realize that us wood burners where such a minority in the heating world. Don't get me wrong tho, I'm proud to be a part of this group!! Pat
What amazed me was the consistency no matter where you are located. Wood burners are roughly the same percent from east coast to west, north to south.
rowerwet
Minister of Fire
Craig S.
Burning Hunk
Lucky you.
Oil company topped just me off last week
(I use oil to heat hot water as well) after not having a delivery all summer. Goal is to try and make it the last delivery till spring.
Augie
Feeling the Heat
Random theory: you can tell the overall size of a group vs. the overall population by how fanatical the forums pertaining to said activity are....
Corvair.... (yea I won one) forum guys, and girls are nuts
Saab 92x....(again I own one) A rebodied Subaru WRX only made for 2 years....fing nuts about their cars
Ultra Runners.....same
Hearth.com.....really? need I point out how we believe everyone else is nuts and they think we are a little off as well...
Did their weather extremity Winter forecast come from the same agency that issued the dire "extremely active " forecast for the current hurricane season ?
MrWhoopee
Minister of Fire
I find the forecasts to be pretty much useless, however the historical data is informative and would be otherwise unavailable.
"About 20% of New England homes (1.1 million) used wood for space heating, water heating, or cooking in 2009 (EIA, Residential Energy Consumption Survey, 2009), which is nearly twice the national rate. Almost half of all rural households in New England used wood compared with only 12% of the area's urban households that used the fuel."
As a suburban New Englander that feels about right to me. I supplement my heat with 3+ cords of wood every winter. Two other nearby neighbors supplement their heat with wood similarly. But our "primary" household heats are natural gas (me), electric (next door), and oil (four houses down the road).
With home heating by #2 so common in New England ( and not very common in the rest of the states) I wouldn't be surprised to find that 20% number has grown since 2009.
Mix in pellet stoves and home heating oil homes in New England.
Sure seems we are at the same level of wood stove use here in NE that we were during the 73/4 and 79 petroleum crisis.
Mix in pellet stoves and home heating oil homes in New England.
Sure seems we are at the same level of wood stove use here in NE that we were during the 73/4 and 79 petroleum crisis.
Craig S.
Burning Hunk
People filling 275s with #2 here on Long Island are closing in on a grand to fill up their tanks. Even still I'd expect the wood/pellet number to much less than 20%. Just not as prevalent here ... more wood for me.
rowerwet
Minister of Fire
for ease of use, easy purchase price, easy install, ease of moving the fuel, I would think pellet heat would be growing steadily as oil, propain and electric rates continue to climb.
Especialy considering the NorthEast has states that are getting older population wise. the jump into pellet burning isn't nearly as much effort as wood heat.
Were pellets figured under wood on the charts, or just ignored?
Especialy considering the NorthEast has states that are getting older population wise. the jump into pellet burning isn't nearly as much effort as wood heat.
Were pellets figured under wood on the charts, or just ignored?
rowerwet
Minister of Fire
don't worry though, they know the poles will melt and the coasts will be flooded, trust them...
Backwoods Savage
Minister of Fire
I would have to disagree with the whole thing. Oil was much higher, about $4 a gal 4 yrs ago. I bet about 40% of houses that I drive by have a wood stack near the house. Pellets cant be seen from the road but it seems like most people have them. I would bet the NE has 60% of some sort of wood heat appliance, even if its for power failure only.
Yeah this one has them all scratching their heads.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/...ricanes-tropical-storms-bermuda-high-weather/
red oak
Minister of Fire
I'd be curious to know how many people heat exclusively with wood, vs. just supplementing. Those of us who heat exclusively with wood are in even more of a minority!
BillLion
Minister of Fire
I burn about 3 cords per season which offsets our heating with oil.
Our fireplace insert kills 2 out of 4 zones heated by oil (1 of the other 2 is the basement so that's minimal). So wood does a lot but doesn't quite throw sufficient heat through our ranch layout. Maybe if we had a colonial.
How do most wood-only heaters do it? Wood stoves?
red oak
Minister of Fire
Yes I only heat with a wood stove. Full disclosure, I have a gas furnace but try not to turn it on. I do turn it on very low if we will be away from the house for several days in the winter. I have a ranch, and there are definitely warm and cool spots in the house, but the main living areas are nice and warm, and the house has fairly good air circulation. I've been in some houses where to get one room to 70 degrees the living room has to be 90.
Craig S.
Burning Hunk
Available as low as $3.39 in places in Pennsylvania. The same price as gasoline here today. There is some pressure on heating oil due to the shutdown of so many East Coast refineries that I warned folks about two years ago. But with oil supply conditions they shouldn't make any crazy jumps this year.
Of course there has never been any excuse for distillate, heating oil, to cost as much as gasoline other than the limited market for it. The East Coast.
Of course there has never been any excuse for distillate, heating oil, to cost as much as gasoline other than the limited market for it. The East Coast.
The survey stated it had no accurate method of measuring wood expenses or consumption. Being off grid.
Pellet heating I imagine is under the wood heating. A more measurable industry. How do you measure wood useage?
Pellet heating I imagine is under the wood heating. A more measurable industry. How do you measure wood useage?
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