I burn for heat not so much to save $$$$

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fespo

fespo

Minister of Fire
Hearth Supporter
Dec 14, 2005
730
South West burbs of Chicago
I know why I burn. With the glass broken on the stove for the last 4 days and it being down,It FEELS COLD in the house. The T-stat is at 70* and Im freezing, wool socks, sweat pants, sitting up in the living room instead of down in the family room, wife under the blankets watching Tv. It should be 78-80* down in the family room not 68*, I should be in shorts with no socks on. I don't think I could ever be without a stove in the winter. I now know I burn to feel and stay warm not so much to try to save money. The saving money part is a whole another thing.

Frank
 
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Same here. It's mostly about COMFORT. Saving money is just an added perk.

Having a back-up heat source is another great reason.
 
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Same here, burn for pleasure and comfort. Love watching and tending the fire. I do think I would have to use 1200 g of oil instead of the 650 g I use to have the same temps but watching the fire and feeling the heat is where it's at for me.

Half the pellet guys are talking about running their oil fired furnaces because with pellets it seems to be more about simple economics. Hasn't even crossed my mind to stop burning wood.
 
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Why not have a pellet stove for this type of emergency? It is wood, just smaller chunks!
 
The way I see it:

I like to feel that I save tons $$ on NG by burning wood.
My wood is free as I process it from my lot out in the country. All I have to do is css and bring it back to the city. I love all four of these functions. Plus, I feel I get lots of excercise doing it.

All the money I feel I save....my wife just turns around and spends it on HERSELF!!!!!

Win win......
 
fespo said:
I now know I burn to feel and stay warm not so much to try to save money. The saving money part is a whole another thing.
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I hear yu! The saving money thing is a bonus but like you described its really on an entirely different level when you start talking about comfort and how the heat "feels" compared to other forms of heat. Hope youre back up and running soon!
 
Yup! Ran the NG furnace for a couple days and it just doesn't compare! Got bored not tending to the fire and 68 from a furnace is down right cold when your used to 72-74, with the stove area around 80. I'm just renting the house I'm burning in now but you better believe I will now have a stove until I can't cut wood anymore. Grew up with wood heat but fadded away for some years. Now I'm back and loving it! Hope you get back to it soon!
 
Radiant heat is a beautiful thing. Once someone conjures up a system that warms my floors and walls evenly (for gentle radiant heat surrounding me) with the efficiency of a ground source heat pump that doesn't suck then I might consider relegating the stove for "backup" purposes only.

Makes me wonder how the Romans felt with their in-floor hypocausts with arrays of small flues going up their walls...
 
I have a perfectly fine working natural gas fired furnace in the basement with a gas line running to it, backed by the full faith and credit of SEMCO energy gas company.
BUT I just had my chimney swept today, sitting here watching Frontline on PBS, and the most beautiful secondary combustion I have ever seen in my old smoke dragon stove. I love providing my own heat for my family, with my sweat, and my labor, scrounging for free a renewable resource. Thank you very much. I prefer the gas company keep their gas. It's not about the money, it's about the heat. I probably spend about the same on my wood cutting activities as I would if I just relied on the gas company and my thermostat.
 
Guess I'm in the minority . . .

I pretty much burn wood because I save money . . .

In truth, I find that with three zones of hot water baseboard the whole house on the whole feels more comfortable with that system running . . . of course the heat in the living room with the woodstove running cannot compare . . . but on the whole I feel as though the zoned baseboard heat is more comfortable and just as warm.
 
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firefighterjake said:
Guess I'm in the minority . . .

I pretty much burn wood because I save money . . .

In truth, I find that with three zones of hot water baseboard the whole house on the whole feels more comfortable with that system running . . . of course the heat in the living room with the woodstove running cannot compare . . . but on the whole I feel as though the zoned baseboard heat is more comfortable and just as warm.
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I think you are only a minority in this thread Jake :). There's always a thread or two discussing things from a savings point of view.
 
firefighterjake said:
Guess I'm in the minority . . .

I pretty much burn wood because I save money . . .

In truth, I find that with three zones of hot water baseboard the whole house on the whole feels more comfortable with that system running . . . of course the heat in the living room with the woodstove running cannot compare . . . but on the whole I feel as though the zoned baseboard heat is more comfortable and just as warm.
Click to expand...
When I hear how much people spend on heating oil and other expensive fuels I cringe. For many of us in BC we are on forced air natural gas which in my house located in the Rockies would be a cost of about $300 per month instead of the $50 I pay now (includes hot water) so I save money but not at rate that some here claim. Is your hot water gas? We have some properties in town that have base board hot water and they claim to like it quite a bit.
 
I've run the numbers. If I heated exclusively with wood, and that wood was free, I'd save about $800 a year, give or take, in electricity (heat pump with electric aux heat, electric hot water, only gas is propane for the stove top). Maybe $1000, maybe $600. Only way, near term, I'll be able to justify a wood stove though is if the leak in the flashing where a propane fireplace flue exits the roof has caused enough damage to warrent an insurance claim. Then I might be able to swing the delta between the cost of fixing what's there and putting in a wood stove. Only other possibility is a chance at a relocation.
 
We had a warm morning yesterday so I planned to let the fire die, get the ash out of the firebox and wipe down the glass on the stove. Once finished, I started laying a new fire when I realized that I really didn't need the stove burning because of the mild outside temperature and the house already being up to temp from running the HWBB, so I stopped. The second time the boiler kicked on I was out of my chair to get the stove fired up; I just couldn't stand burning that LP!
 
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It wouldn't be the same for me without the stove. I love going downstairs after supper, and just lie on the sofa near the stove and feel the heat just radiate to my old bones. I watch tv, either hockey or the news, and just nod off a bit. Can't beat that kind of life... Oh, and the savings are $1,000 per year. That's a nice bonus. The savings would be higher if I could just get around to insulating the attic and a few walls in the bedrooms.
 
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firefighterjake said:
Guess I'm in the minority . . .

I pretty much burn wood because I save money . . .

In truth, I find that with three zones of hot water baseboard the whole house on the whole feels more comfortable with that system running . . . of course the heat in the living room with the woodstove running cannot compare . . . but on the whole I feel as though the zoned baseboard heat is more comfortable and just as warm.
Click to expand...

I'm with you man. On those cold days when the furnace runs often it just makes me cringe.
 
I started out wanting to and saving money and it partially still is about that for us . About $2500 per winter if I'm figuring right(atleast). But I gotta say I'm really trying to outdo my last fire and thinking about the next. The heat is unmatched IMHO and I love coming in after a long cold days work and relaxing by the fire. It's just worth doing and probably the best investment I've made as far as comfort and heat goes anyway
 
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I have been running stove full time on weekends and at night. I am new to burning and still learning our stove. We did run the T-Stat at 66 before, and that is where we keep now when we are not home now. I am hooked!! Can't wait to get home from work and get her running (The Stove not the Wife). So I would say the comfort the Family feels from the warmth of the wood is priceless.
 
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Long term... From 1995-2015
$1500.00-$2000.00per year oil saved x 20 years = $30,000-$40,000
Cost of wood $400-$600per year x 20 years =$8,000-$12,000
Cost of Stove $1300.00

$30,000 (low est.) saved
$13,300 (high est) spent
conservative estimate of $17,000 saved

simple math and not considering the comfort factor others have mentioned.
 
Don2222 said:
Why not have a pellet stove for this type of emergency? It is wood, just smaller chunks!
Click to expand...
What type of emergency are you asking about?
 
I was raised with wood stoves. Every one of my relatives had wood stoves and my granddad has a coal fired gravity furnace that is still operational. I am used to temps in the 80s. Anything below 75 and i'm stoking the fire. All my wood is free except for the time to cut and split. The day is going to come when the free wood is going to run out and I know i'll end up buying it. When that time comes I know I really won't be saving a lot of money but at least i'll be warm. I would rather pay to be warm than to pay for the amount of electricity the heat pump would use with the thermostat set at 80 and still be freezing
 
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I burn to save.

I don't dislike all the work and wood stove heat but if It was costing me then burning even free wood would be a getting lucky tonight event.
 
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I like that I have the heat at 76 with the stove, which I would not do on propane and that I am saving money.
I scrounge all my wood for free so the savings is substantial. Plus I love watching the flames while relaxing and watching the TV.
 
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