I think it's a disease....

[Adam_MA]

Today it's August 7th. This past week, summer has finally arrived here in the in the NE. Though we've had some nice days sprinkled in here and there, it finally is starting to feel like summer.

Though it's just now starting to feel like summer, I'm already getting anxious to fire up the stove. I don't know if it's the allure of heating with wood, or the view of the fire, or the down to your bones warmth that it gives, but I've been thinking about it a lot. Maybe it's the wood!

I installed my stove last winter. The install was complete and the stove was fired up just before the new year. Being my first year, I didn't have any wood so I had to buy it. I thought I asked all the right questions, and settled on a guy that had "High quality, all hardwood, well seasoned" wood. I didn't know any better, but I started to learn VERY quickly. First off, the splits were way too big, and were still very much wet. As such, I spent the winter carrying my wood from outside, to the basement where I would have to re-split it. Then I would have to bring the wood upstairs, and stack it all around and on top of the stove to get it dry enough to burn. I still had to battle with the stove to get it to burn right. But when I did get the stove full of mostly dry wood WOW that sucker would throw some heat!

Shortly after the battle started, I vowed I would NEVER put up with that crap again. Besides paying $300 for a slightly light cord (that was going rate in late Dec.) I ended up with crap. I bought a new saw as my little Husky wouldn't be quite enough to do what I was going to ask of it. I then bought a 27ton splitter, and got to work.

To date, I have just about 5 cords of wood, cut, split, stacked and even with all the rain we've had drying surprisingly well. Last year from the end of Dec, until the end of March I went through just under a cord of wood, burning pretty much 24/7. A couple of weekends ago, I saw the price from burning crap wood when I cleaned my chimney, and stove pipe. That will NOT happen this year.

I still can't put my finger on one single thing that is getting me excited for the heating season. It seems that it's a combination of everything together, and my personal mission to have a nice, warm house, that costs me $0 to heat...

Bring on the cold

 

[Dexter]

Yes. It's Gratifying, isn't it?

Regards,

Dexter

 

[Stevebass4]

my personal mission to have a nice, warm house, that costs me $0 to heat...

Bring on the cold

let's see

decent saw = $500.00
chain grinder $100.00
misc chains and bars =$150.00
PPE = 125.00
splitter = $1,500.00
log legnth = $400.00 for seven cord
truck to move the wood $2k to 50k
Time = i enjoy it so my time is free BUT LOTS of time

unless you have a wood fairy who drops off CSD wood it will never be $0.00


Just kidding - this is my third year and i can wait to fire up the stove

 

[ControlFreak]

Hey Adam_MA,

Welcome to the addiction. Heating with wood is just simply loving life as it was intended to be lived. A little hard work, a little planning, a little problem solving, a big savings in money, a lot warmer, and a beautiful fire in the living room.

Keep cutting, splitting and stacking. This year you'll have to get caught up and have two years worth of wood. Then finally next year you'll have properly seasoned wood and you'll only have to cut and split one years worth of wood. And when the work is done, you'll wish that you could just keep cutting and splitting.

It's really not an addiction, just a discovery of what life should be.

Dan

 

[wendell]

my personal mission to have a nice, warm house, that costs me $0 to heat...

Bring on the cold

let's see

decent saw = $500.00
chain grinder $100.00
misc chains and bars =$150.00
PPE = 125.00
splitter = $1,500.00
log legnth = $400.00 for seven cord
truck to move the wood $2k to 50k
Time = i enjoy it so my time is free BUT LOTS of time

unless you have a wood fairy who drops off CSD wood it will never be $0.00


Just kidding - this is my third year and i can wait to fire up the stove

You forgot the cost of the stove and the installation! I love to tell my neighbors about the money I'm saving when they ask about all the wood I have. I always seem to forget to tell them about how much it cost me to save that money.

 

[Adam_MA]

The way I figure out the $ is If I had to spend $300/cord like I did last year, just by scrounging this 5 cords of wood this year alone I've already payed for my splitter. By the time I start burning next year, I will have totally recouped the cost of the stove/install, saws, PPE, splitter and then it will all be gravy.

 

[Gark]

Way I see it, this goes deeper than we can rationalize or logically explain. Since fire has been harnessed, didn't ancient
caveman huddle around the flames for light, protection (oh, and warmth)? It's in our DNA and no matter how the petroleum
industry tries to sell their product, for some the ACTG patterns of our genes causes us an undeniably compelling
urge to go out, slay a mastadon for meat and MAKE A FIRE. Since the mastadons are all gone, all we're left with are
these woodstoves, firewood stacks and the need for radiant heat on our faces.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Adam, cutting and splitting your own wood is the way to go if at all possible. Now you'll know what you have and how long it has seasoned and you'll be a happy camper. There is just something about doing all this yourself; providing for your family....

Another thing you no doubt will find is when you burn good dry wood, you will not only get more heat but you will use less wood to get that heat. Big benefit, especially paying $300 per cord. You can pay for that saw and splitter fast!


As for cost, here's mine:

Saw: $300
Sharpener $25
Atv to haul wood: $0 (already had)
Wagon to haul wood $0 (already had)
Splitter $950
Stove $2000

The saw is 7 years old.
The atv we'd have anyway.
The splitter is already 18 years old.
The stove will last our lifetime.

So how much per year? It is difficult to determine but is a whole lot less than would be if burning oil or propane.

To heat our home we figured some time ago that it would cost anywhere from $1500 - $2500. So, considering the cost of the above, it is better to ask how much we've saved rather than how much it cost. Let me see: Heating with wood for 50 years x $1000 per year = $50,000 It probably has cost us $6,000 - $7,000. Savings of $43,000. Our first home (furnished) we bought before we were married: $7,500. Hummmmmm......

 

[maplewood]

I'm an addict, too. Addict's don't count costs. They sacrifice willingly elsewhere (food, kid's clothes, etc.) to feed the addiction, feeling perfectly justified in their mind.
I like LLigetfa's tag line: "I don't suffer from insanity. I enjoy every minute of it!"
But I'm ahead of the home heating cost: my buddy heats with oil, and even counting saw and installation costs, I'm saving money. He thinks I should add in my time to cut, split, stack, haul, etc., but that's my free time. He pays for a gym membership and goes for runs. I keep a wood fired boiler happy.
Happy burning!

 

[BrotherBart]

People ask me if I have any hobbies and I tell them "Yeah. Heating my house.".

 

[ControlFreak]

Since getting a splitter a few years ago, I found that it's really nice getting the wood split just like I want it. I often take some of the really straight grain pieces and split them up into kindling and toss that in with my pile. I find that in the beginning and at the end of the year I'm going through a lot of kindling with the intermittent burning, so I stack the kindling in at the ends of the stack. Also, I split a variety of sizes so I can pack the stove more effectively. The learning just continues the longer I burn.

Anybody who frequents a forum discussing wood stoves in the summer has it bad. It's not a disease, it's a blessing. Just think of the poor slaves that live in a densely populated city. I feel sorry for them. No place to stack their wood. Just think of the grumpy neighbors they must have to deal with.

 

[BrotherBart]

I often take some of the really straight grain pieces and split them up into kindling and toss that in with my pile.

I used to salt that stuff throughout my stacks. They can be a very pleasant surprise on a cold February night when you are out of kindling and just need a piece or two to give that overnight load a kick.

 

[Dix]

People ask me if I have any hobbies and I tell them "Yeah. Heating my house.".

BB, you need to "resaddle up". Good for what ails ya ;-)

 

[BrotherBart]

People ask me if I have any hobbies and I tell them "Yeah. Heating my house.".

BB, you need to "resaddle up". Good for what ails ya ;-)

Worked on the third largest ranch in the world. Fed'em. Let somebody else ride'em. Where a boat is a hole in the water that you throw money into, horses are a horizontal hole on four legs that you throw money into. I understand horse lovers. I just don't understand horse owners.

On the ranch we hearded cattle with Jeeps. Jeeps make for a lousy rodeo though. ;-P

Edit: Actually it was the largest ranch in the world under a single fence line. Never had the urge to ride fences either. :ahhh:

 

[Dix]

I understand horse lovers. I just don’t understand horse owners.

The therapy is wayyyyyy more expensive.

 

[BrotherBart]

I understand horse lovers. I just don’t understand horse owners.

The therapy is wayyyyyy more expensive.

I know. As you know I have barrel racers in the family. And up until a few years ago when the little brown haired girl got sick we flew to Las Vegas to meet a bunch of people every year for the National Finals Rodeo. They went to see the stock. I went to do battle with the Golden Nugget. And to see the distressed look on the faces of folks from New Jersey walking into a casino filled with hats and boots. :ahhh:

And to watch Tye Murray and Tuff Hedeman ride bulls. That I did enjoy. After a few drinks later to soften the pain.

I can "cowboy up", just not own a horse. :lol: Feeding the cat and the stove is enough for me anymore. Smaller vet and feed store bills.

 

[mikepinto65]

I too am having the "withdrawals" , not only from everything AdamMa mentioned....but from the smell of wood burning in the morning when I go outside to walk my dog, or the smell the house gets after you load her up to the gills and a little smoke fills the air. Man I cant wait, there is just somthing very rewarding about keeping the thermostat at 50 and still having the house be in the 70's.

 

[cg711]

You burned less than a cord in the coldest 2 months of the winter of 24/7 burning ?


Maybe that wood was a good deal after all..

 

[firefighterjake]

I'm so ashamed and embarassed . . . I was up early this morning so I decided to check on my 2010-2011 wood that I've been cutting . . . and then I wandered out back to check on this year's wood. I stood there for awhile taking in the nicely checked and graying color of the wood and then I reached out and started to guage how big most of the splits were as I was thinking back to the thread on size of splits and then out of nowhere I heard my wife say, "What in hell are you doing? Are you stroking your wood pile?"

Turns out she woke up early and had watched me check out the wood in front of the house and then was sitting on the back porch unnoticed when I began to check out this year's pile. I was both ashamed and embarassed . . . felt as though my wife had just caught me in bed with another woman . . . well that and she now knows without a doubt that I have gone over to Blue Paper Territory.

 

[FrankMA]

I was thinking the same thing - only 1 cord the entire winter??? I burned about 80% of the time from late November - March and went through about 3 cords. I was burning good, seasoned hardwood (mainly oak) and kept the house (1st floor) in the 65* degree range (we like it cooler than hotter).

Just curious - how big is your house Adam_MA? I'm in a 2,000 sq. ft. colonial and was able to keep both floors in the 62* - 65* range through even the coldest days & nights but a cost of about 3 cords. I actually thought that was pretty good for the whole winter but I'm not sure after reading about your winter wood consumption.

 

[MountainStoveGuy]

I am excited as well for the heating season. I lost my passion for burning wood a few seasons ago, but the heating season means the busy season at work. I am pretty excited to burn my new stove. Thermostatic heat in this ice box of a house will be a welcome change. I think it will be mid september before i have my new stove installed.

 

[BucksCoBernie]

My cost so far is:

Regency I3100 insert- $600 barely used on craigslist
Insulated liner- $750ish, will be self installed, thanks hearth.com!
Saw- $150 on craigslist (455 Rancher that works great!)
Maul- $20
Wedge- $5
Splitter rental- $85/weekend
Woodshed- free wood, $10 in screws.
trailer- borrowed, thanks pop!

$1610 total so far....last winter I think we spent about $1300-$1500 on oil to keep the house at a chilly 65 degrees.

I scrounged all my wood....about 7-8 cords worth so far.

 

[begreen]

I am pretty excited to burn my new stove. Thermostatic heat in this ice box of a house will be a welcome change. I think it will be mid september before i have my new stove installed.

What is the Mansfield getting replaced by MSG? A BKK?

 

[Slow1]

Temps last night were in the 50's. Had AC on yesterday since it was in the upper 80's but turned it off and opened windows last night. Kids and wife were saying it was cold when they got up this morning (was 68 in the kitchen). I was more than happy to light a fire, but alas, my wife wasn't THAT cold yet. Rats. Almost got to do my first burn in the new stove. Of course she knows as well as I do that when it happens nothing else is going to happen for a couple hours as I watch every bit of flame in the stove. (Time to call in sick, right? Ha!)

I think I'll build the fire and have it all ready to light up so that next time opportunity hits it will only take about 3 seconds to get it burning

 

[Adam_MA]

I was thinking the same thing - only 1 cord the entire winter??? I burned about 80% of the time from late November - March and went through about 3 cords. I was burning good, seasoned hardwood (mainly oak) and kept the house (1st floor) in the 65* degree range (we like it cooler than hotter).

Just curious - how big is your house Adam_MA? I'm in a 2,000 sq. ft. colonial and was able to keep both floors in the 62* - 65* range through even the coldest days & nights but a cost of about 3 cords. I actually thought that was pretty good for the whole winter but I'm not sure after reading about your winter wood consumption.

Woodsy,
My house is just under 1000 sq. ft. and is well insulated and pretty weather tight.