How much money have you spent to save on oil???

[red oak]

Well the stove came with the house so no money there. Biggest cost I guess would be gas for the truck and chainsaw. Chainsaw cost around $300 and lasted 12 years, and every now and then I'll spend $20 and get the chains sharpened. I split the wood with a maul that cost around $25 and I scrounge the wood instead of buying it. A lot of time and labor means lower costs. I'm betting the cost per year to heat the house is around $200.

 

[b33p3r]

$7000.00 on Stove
$700.00 Chain Saws
$250.00 splitter(was free ..Repairs only))
$1700 logs puchased
couple hundred misc. Let's say $9850.00 total compared to 3 seasons of 900 gallons/yr of oil at 3.70= $9990.00 I'm already ahead and the house is 4 degrees warmer through the winter.

 

[bsruther]

The stove was already here 7 years ago when we bought the house, so no expense there. I've always owned a chainsaw, so I don't consider that a wood burning expense.
The only thing I can remember purchasing, is the 8 ton splitter. It cost me about $400, iirc. So far, I've never had to drive more than a half mile to get wood, although that may change at some point. I feel like I've been cheating the oil man the whole time.

I'll be buying a new stove in a month or two, so that will add some expense. I'm glad I decided it was time to buy one, the old Buck has a nice 6" crack on the front of it that I filled with stove caulk and should hold out until it's replaced.

I had the oil tank filled once this year and I think it was around $770. With how cold this winter is and will continue to be, I think I'd use at least 3 tanks, if I only heated with oil.
This fall, I plan on topping the tank off and not filling it again, hopefully for a few years. So the new stove should pay for itself pretty quickly.

 

[JP11]

I'm probably 18 to 19k in.

Boiler
Storage
Saws
Splitter
Winch for tractor

Second winter.. I'm about half way thru payback.

Best part… My trees don't go up or down in value if someone farts in the Middle East.

JP

 

[adrpga498]

Stove & equipment about 4500.00
My time processing, not sure , how to measure my time enjoying the tasks.
My time watching the fire , Priceless.
My knowledge learned on this forum, priceless.
Heating oil old days 900 averaged gallons a year.
Heating oil last 15 years avg. 135 gallons a year.
Great post by the way. OP

 

[Paulywalnut]

That's around $30 a week for hot water. At least go electric, I pay less than that for a month.

You're right but some of that is for heat. I don't burn 24/7.

 

[chazcarr]

Paid off in one year. Spent about $5k for stove, saw, install, fiskars, and woodshed parts. I spend over $6k on oil a year with about $5k of that just for heating. It seems the cost has only gone up while wood costs are fairly stable. This year the oil company fired me for not buying enough.

On the other hand, if you want to know the amount I paid for new windows and reinsulating my house... I am probably still a year or two away from gaining back that investment.

 

[Flatbedford]

I am probably about $3500 into it with the stove upgrade, 2 used saws, some hand tools, and accessories. I have saved at least $1500 per year on propane since 2009. Paid for and saving for a few years now.

 

[ArsenalDon]

Well propane was $600 per month to heat and now our propane bill is $800 per year.
Stove and install about $5300.
Wood all free.
Husky Saw under $500.
Gas for saw $50 maybe per year.
Misc files and splitting tools such maybe $150
So basically so far in 2 years of burning I have saved about $2,000

 

[paul bunion]

$6,500

As far as oil goes, $0. Who remembers 'Gas Heats Best' ads? As far as what I have put into wood burning to offset NG usage, about $6,500 over the past 20 years. 2 saws, splitter, numerous other tools, and two stoves in two houses. Get complimentary loads from tree guys so there is no need have a truck or trailer that I would have no other need for. When comparing my monthly energy bills with friends I think I'm a few dollars up.

 

[wenger7446]

Another thing to consider is the lack of wear and tear on one's "traditional" heating system. Heating with wood usually means you will spend less on repairs, maintenance, and the system will last longer.

 

[Doug MacIVER]

I've spent just about $1000.00 on 2 cords and 2300# of fire brick. this will save our home about 600-700 gals. of oil( got to heat a 1500 sq.ft. apartment in the basement),we will still probably have some inventory left, half to three qtr cord. pretty much paid the $2000.00 stove, liner, install cost back in a year but that was 2005. we use on ave. 100-110 gals/month which includes dhw in the dead of winter, this winter?

 

[BEConklin]

Ouch...how much have I paid to save money on oil? Close to $10K - on an LG mini split ductless AC/Heat Pump system we got in November. I'll get AC from it as well come summertime so I guess the total cost is less for the heat part...
It DOES save quite a bit of money for heating when compared to oil, but the next step is to get a wood burning insert for the fireplace - I'm already cutting, splitting and stockpiling firewood - figure it's about 1-2 years out, which is about how long it will take for me to be able to convince the wife that we need to shell out more $$$$ for a wood burning insert...then, probably another year to get a hydraulic splitter. Meanwhile it's chainsaw, axe and maul.
...and I suppose I should mention the 11 acres of woods we bought in 2011.......since I told my wife I it would supply us with all the firewood we're likely to need..

 

[Applesister]

Too much math for me but I did keep track of what one 5 gallon container of gas and one 5 gallon container of diesel fuel was able to produce. Not counting bar oil or chainsaw mix.
I was able to process 3 cords of wood from back woodlot with a gas splitter and 2 chainsaws and a small diesel tractor for hauling the wood and splitter back and forth from the woods.
It was pretty exact.
So if anyone wants to plug those numbers in....
10 gallons of fuel at say- $3.50 = 35.00
Or 1/2 of that for just splitter and chainsawing.
5 gallons = 3 cords. @ $17.50

So 6 cords of wood cut and split (for 1 winter) to process for me is <$70.00

 

[bryankloos]

Now that money that was budgeted monthly for heat and hot H2o goes straight to principle on the mortgage

Amazing... I just calculated that if I put the $340/month oil bill I now save over the next 20 years into my mortgage, I would decrease the loan from 30 to 20 years and save an additional 60K in mortgage interest. The grand total for savings would be a combined 141K over the decreased life of my mortgage if just from burning wood.... That is absolutely amazing...

 

[Gboutdoors]

Heated the new house with only propane the first year $1600.00 Finished the walkout and put my dad's old Fisher in and cut that down to $800.00 burning part time.

Bought a new stove last fall started burning 75% of the time and dropped the gas bill to $500.00. So we are now saving $1100.00+ per season.

New saw $400.00, splitter $1100.00
New stove$2400.00, chimney $1200.00

All our wood for the next 30 years is in the back yard just waiting to be cut and burned. So we will be to the good in just a few years.

 

[STIHLY DAN]

Amazing... I just calculated that if I put the $340/month oil bill I now save over the next 20 years into my mortgage, I would decrease the loan from 30 to 20 years and save an additional 60K in mortgage interest. The grand total for savings would be a combined 141K over the decreased life of my mortgage if just from burning wood.... That is absolutely amazing...

Are you counting the compounding interest? If not, you may cut that number even more. For every extra dollar that goes to principle changes how much interest gets paid monthly.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

It's been so long since we burned any oil I simply do not remember. I think I recall paying something like $400 for stove and pipe. We had a chainsaw and axe. A sledge hammer and wedges. That was about it.

Since that time though we've bought a couple other stoves. An atv, but that would have been purchased even if we did not haul any wood. We also have bought another chain saw or two over the years and a hydraulic splitter. These indeed are costs but spread over a long period of time are very insignificant. If spread out over 2 or 3 years, it is then indeed large.

On the other hand, how much did it cost you to get into wood burning vs what you spent getting into oil burning? Yes, most homes come with a furnace but that furnace is a part of the cost of a home. If you burn oil then that also means you spent something on a place to store the oil. As for maintenance, there is maintenance no matter what you have around your home. For example, what did it cost for your nice lawn? How much do you spend to maintain it?

 

[Free BTUs]

Spent $3600 for insert and liner installed, $1100 for splitter, maybe $300 on misc. stuff (building wood racks, soot eater chimney sweep, etc). Already had the chainsaw. So about $5000 into it. I cut all my own wood free and already have 7 cords split and stacked for the next few winters.

This is my fitst full winter burning wood. Due to my schedule I can't burn 24/7 but I am still on track to save about 400 gallons of oil this winter. At $3.70 a gallon, that is almost $1500. So it will take just over 3 years to break even. But the real kicker is with oil heat I used to keep my house 58 degrees (no joke). My house is now in the 70's and nice and toasty. In satisfaction terms, I have already broken even. Kicking myself for being cold in my house for the last 10+ years.

 

[rideau]

Wood replaced electric baseboard.

Since 2004 I have bought two Woodstock stoves, installed one Excel stove pipe/chimney. Total oop for those: $6600. Bought some extra soapstone along the way, but that was not a wood heating cost: use the stones as bedwarmers.

Have probably spent another $1000 that I would not have spent were I not burning wood.

So: $7600, Dec 2004 - Jan 2014. By 2004 standards have saved about $3000 / year used to cost to heat this home with electric, to a very comfortable temp. BUT....Hydro has gone up about fourfold since 2004. So, I have saved a lot. And I love using the downed trees on my woodlot. There are still plenty there for my extraordinary woodlot.

I have a rare type of limestone based woodlot, with grass growing throughout the woodlot, hundreds of varieties of mushrooms, and blankets of many types of wildflowers, changing with the seasons. I am very careful about when and where I encroach on the woodlot for pleasure or wood gathering.

 

[billb3]

I bought a splitter
I'd have to own the saw for storm/hurricane work anyway.

 

[Bad Wolf]

I'm into the wood conversion for about $16k. Back out the $2k I would have paid for a new furnace and add in the $2k I probably spent on wood the first two years and I'm back up to $16k. Of course I'm in my 6th year and used to spend about $4000/yr on oil (1100 gallons x $3.60)) so I figure I'm about $8k ahead. Oh and for the last 4 years I've heated the hot tub with wood so that's probably another $500/yr.
So all told I'm $10k to the good!
Yeah I spend some on a splitter and chain saws but that was maybe another $1500 and they still have value.
Each year I save another $4500. I know I spend time and gas on gathering, splitting, stacking, hauling and burning but its spread out over time and I like the bragging rights to say I've only burned a hundred gallons in the last 6 years.

 

[3fordasho]

Woodstock Fireview & PH stoves + install $6,000
10 assorted chainsaws $5,000
hydraulic splitter 1,200
SS electric splitter 2,600
backup chains - other misc firewood tools 1,000
F450 with dump bed 8,500
Bobcat S185 skid loader 16,500
Skid loader trailer 1,600
F150 repair/upgrade costs 1,500
Excess firewood sales -3,000

I'm not going to add that up because I'm thinking the paypack is beyond my lifetime...

I'd do it all over again - it's a great hobby and if I wasn't doing this I'd have the money tied up
in car toys that have historically just sat around and lost value...

 

[Lumber-Jack]

I paid about $2,800 for my wood stove and chimney, which I installed myself when we bought and renovated the house we are currently in. Paid another $200 to get it WETT inspected so I could insure the house with wood heating. The truck I had, the husky chainsaw I've had for 30 years, paid another $300 maybe for mauls, moisture meter, etc... And spent about $2500 on my fence/woodshed. I needed the fence anyway, so maybe half that ($1,250) could actually count as woodshed expense, which brings it to a grand total of $4,550. Been in this house for 5 years now, so 4,550 divided by 5 years = $910 per year. The wood cost me about $150 per year in gas and oil to get, so tack that on to the $910 and I get $1,060 per year it has cost me so far to heat my house with wood.
That $1,060 still seems like a lot of money and maybe a bit hard to justify, especially considering it doesn't include my family's labor and the fact that the wood we get is free. However, when I run the numbers similarly on my $12,000 heat pump system I also had installed in the house 5 years ago, but rarely use (we do use the aircon in the summer), the numbers look far worse.

 

[firefighterjake]

Not sure . . . too many numbers.

Had the ATV, ATV trailer, chainsaw and trailer . . . bought a truck but that was mostly to haul around the ATV and sleds . . . bought a splitter . . . also had my cousin fab up a better ATV trailer than what I had . . . obviously bought the stove, hearth materials, chimney, chimney brush, chains, gas/oil for the saw, splitter, etc.

Without doing the math though . . . I think I've still come out ahead . . . doesn't take long up here . . . especially when oil was close to or over $4 a gallon for a while.