How much do you spend on wood heat?

[Isaac Carlson]

People have been asking me how much it costs me to heat my house for the winter. Before gas prices went sky high, it was under $100.
Now it might be $150-200. That includes bar oil, chains, etc... People seem shocked at that number, but I am just as shocked at their cost. A friend told me it was over $1000 a month for heat. That's crazy. I helped him install a wood stove and now his heat bill is a small fraction of what it used to be. He even buys wood from me when I have some to spare. We scrounge wood as locally as we can to save time and fuel and reduce bug/disease transmission.

How much do the rest of you spend on wood heat, all expenses considered?

 

[EbS-P]

Not counting the stoves practically nothing. Good equipment upfront, stoves axe chainsaw (I need a woodshed). It would have been cheaper to just keep what I had and keep the thermostat at 65 and skip the wood. But I’m warmer now. Wood is greener than my grid electricity. And I get more exercise, and I can put off an expensive hvac upgrade.

To answer your question probably 5 dollars per cord in expendables (gas, chain, oil, files).

 

[Vg3200p]

I'm trying to get a side business of dropping trees and removing dead wood. So hopefully in a year or 2 I will be making money to heat with wood. Right now not counting stove and equiptment I would guess 200 or 300 a year. Counting stove and equipment I'm probably at 4k a year(only my second year after install). So this number will go down the longer I have it

 

[stoveliker]

Chainsaw and splitting tools maybe $350. I have about $2000 in storage (built it at peak COVID lumber prices...).
The stove was new, wrapped on a pallet but bought from an individual at about $3000.

The only expendable I have is bar oil and a bit of gas for blowing the driveway after cutting. And the propane in the torch that I don't know how long it'll last.

 

[DonTee]

I spend somewhere between 100-200$ per year. That even includes the annual oil change for the tractor. lol. Since I use the tractor primarily for firewood, I count that.

While there is a huge difference between burning firewood for heat or burning kero/propane, it’s not that big of a difference between buying your firewood or cutting your own. At least where I live.

I have a friend who heats primarily with wood. She burns 10 face cords a year. She gets it delivered for 55$ per face cord. So 550$ per year. That’s not bad at all. But I live in the woods, and wood is cheap here.

 

[Dan Freeman]

This is only my third year (2nd full year) of heating with wood. I figure on 3 cords a season. My 2 woodsheds hold a total of 3.5 cords, and I paid about $3000 to build them. I also bought a 5-ton electric wood splitter for $300 because I like to split my wood smaller. My stove with installation and tile work ran me just a bit over $10,000.

So far, I have been buying my wood at $290 a cord. This year I started cutting/splitting some of my own for use starting next year from the dead/dying ash trees on my property. I have probably 5+ cords worth cut down at the edge of the wood line that still has to be cut into rounds, split and stacked. I had just started working on this a month or so ago when I broke 3 ribs, so it is all on hold now.

What is my ROI and when will I break even? Don't know; don't care. I had/have the money to do it, so I did it. I love the wood heat. Wish I had done this year's earlier. I also have a peace of mind now. Don't have to worry about my furnace breaking down in the middle of a cold spell and fuel oil pricing/availability, or propane pricing/availability for my propane stove, as the world becomes a crazier place.

 

[peakbagger]

Definitely a question that would need a lot of assumptions. I use my Unimog to move wood from my woodlot to my house, so do I include the cost for the Unimog?. The woodlot is overstocked and in need of major pruning of diseased beech so if I do not burn the wood, its going to get girdled and left in place (probably 30 or 40 acres will get girdled). It really comes down to consumables, fuel for the truck to move it, fuel an oil for the saw, fuel for the splitter and a chain every few cords. My sag is probably in the $25 a cord range.

 

[Bocephous]

After the initial upfront cost of chainsaws and splitter, not much. We had our property logged earlier in the year and the logging company (Gutchess Lumber) left us probably 3 or 4 triaxles worth of log length wood stacked neatly at the landing at the end of our field.

 

[Gearhead660]

We could go down a rabbit hole of what can be considered a cost associated with heating with wood...
Truck to haul the wood? Is my beater used for many other things.
Tractor used to help process wood? Is used for many other task.
Purchase price of saws, axe, splitter, etc? One year of not purchasing propane paid for those.
Cost of stove? Wouldn't this be null as you would need to purchase another heating appliance? (boiler, FA furnace, etc)

Just what I spend on fuel to process the wood needed for a season? I would say $100-200/year at most. Cant put a price on my time, as I enjoy the work and getting outside and in the woods. Also enjoy spending the money I saved on new toys, er tools to assist with processing firewood.

 

[Isaac Carlson]

I am only asking about cost per year. Startup cost will be different for everyone.

 

[stoveliker]

okay. Per year, I have 1 chain and half a gallon of gasoline for my blower. Sweeping I do myself, so no cost.

Log lengths get delivered for free, electric chain saw, hand splitting. I could add a "thank you" dollar amount to the driver - but that is more personality driven than actual cost, as tree companies here are advertising frequently on craigslist to please take wood. I.e. they *want* to deliver free wood.

 

[clux]

Even if you are not considering startup cost, all of the wood you burn has a cash value whether you are buying it or cutting it yourself, because if you didn't burn it you could presumably sell it. You need to consider that in calculating the cash cost of burning wood.

 

[johneh]

I have never figured out what the cost of our firewood is
I know it is cheaper than anything else around here
Just some of the costs
Land Tax (220 acres) 590$
Hoarse feed and Care unknown never kept track ( use 2 horses to
skid logs to the landing)
Fule 60-70 $
chains, oils and sundries 100$
Other out of pocket costs 200$
That's for 30 cord
10 for me and 10 for each of my sons
It's not the cost it's the love of being in the forest

 

[ericm979]

My wood is all from my land so it costs $0 in cash outlay. My running costs are a couple hundred in gas and oil and the occasional chain. Too little to bother counting.

At the price of the propane I'm saving it'll take a decade or so to pay off the cost of the stove and the remodel to install it, and the share of the tractor, saws and implements that are used for firewood. That's ok. Everyone in the house both two and four legged likes the stove.

 

[VintageGal]

2 cords per year. $350 cord. Seasoned Oak.

 

[Woodsplitter67]

The machinery is free because I have it for work. I have 2 splitters and I have 3 saws.. All already paid for because I dont heat with big oil anymore. I probably spend maybe 100 bucks in gas diesel and oil. My neighbor spent like 6k heating and switched to wood heat.. What ever were spending is a lot less then what the non wood burners will be spending the next couple years

Id say if I was using big oil to heat my home Id probably be spending 3k or more.. so the 100 bucks I'm spending isn't killing me.. Im way ahead, plus the heat is so much better

 

[Jsd245]

I burn 4 cords. A year. Most wood comes from my 16 acres which is all wooded. Oak beach, black birch all good high btu species. once in a while I get wood from friends who cut down trees and want the wood gone. Consumables I guess I probably spend about $150 -200 a year to cut and split 4 cords, fuel /oil for my tractor, and saws. I did buy a pretty spendy 3 point splitter a couple years ago which was about $4k. I also bought a new husky 572xp saw this year after cutting for 12-13 years with my 346xp. The bigger saw speeds up my bucking a lot. The longer bar is also way easier on the back. I‘m cutting some fairly big oaks this year. Even with those big purchases I’m way ahead. With oil prices the way they are I would spend about $5k this year to keep the house at 66-68. Instead I’ll spend $0 on oil and have a much warmer house.

 

[xman23]

I have never purchased wood. So yearly operating cost, gas and oil for saws and ATV.
But maintenance items
Stove gaskets, stove gasket RTV
Glass cleaner
But the real cost is the stove, chimney, installation. saws, chains and splitter as well as all the labor and time to feed the stove.
It does take years to break even, but then your saving some money.

 

[patrickk222]

because i dont have enough land i usually pay my wood guy 180 for blocks this yr and last yr was either 160 or 70 per load and id get usually about 1 and 3rd of a cord up to 1 and 3 quarters or more i dont really stack neatly after i bust it by hand and 2 i usually get bout 6 to 7 loads from him a year and he usually brings really good wood here recently brought up nothin but black birch and chestnut oak and i tell u guys what i love hand splittin chestnut oak cause 9.9 times outta splits like a dream

 

[bigealta]

I use maybe 1-2 gallons per year of gas for the saw. More gas when i use my vehicle to transport. Some years I get a good amount from neighbors who, in suburbia, just want trees gone from their properties. Burning 3 or so cords a year. All hand split.

So maybe $25 a year to $150 a year depending on where i can find it.
The real cost is Time. I wouldn't do it if i didn't love cutting and splitting and the unbeatable heat from the stove.

 

[Hilljack with chainsaw]

I burn about six cords per year all sourced from my own or family property within 5 minutes of home. Maybe 150 in gas/oil for saws and splitter per year, 60 every few years in chains/bar maintenance / replacement. I sharpen my own chains. The big expenditure is time (how many hours , 40 ?? I dont know) doing work that can wear you out. The benefits: I have not paid for conventional heat for 29 years and estimate savings easily over 1500 per year. Intangibles are priceless: the feeling of accomplishment combined with exhaustion you get after a fall day cutting in the woods, the feel of the cool air against your head when you strip off your hat after cutting half a day, the sight of perpetually falling leaves all around you in the fall, the smell of fresh split wild cherry/dead elm/shagbark stacked under roof, the campfire aroma you get every day when you step outside in winter, the realization when the power goes out in a January blizzard that all your neighbors have a serious issue while your house is warm as ever. It goes on and on. I love it, am so happy my parents brought me up like this and am so happy my kids/wife are able to experience it. The money outlay for me is minor to live and share this lifestyle.

 

[Isaac Carlson]

Well said!

 

[DonTee]

Hell yeah brother!

 

[shortys7777]

If I had to guess, maybe $60-100? I did build a woodshed for $250ish this year. I enjoy the entire process and my kids are starting to help me move some splits. It's fun to be out there with them.

 

[Garbanzo62]

First year burning so the Jury is still out. Still trying to figure out the Insert operation for the best heat output and how to get heat to other parts of the house. Right now I'm just hoping I don't run low on wood and I can reduce the amount of oil I use.