Propane/firewood

[lmholmes11]

I have a wood boiler and currently buying my wood until i get woods of my own. Im curious as to who has a 'formula' or a way to figure out at what point the price of propane has to be, in which it would be even with what I'm paying for Firewood...needless to say I'm not good with math! A good family friend of ours is a big oil/gas guy and said in our area propane prices are going to continue to drop. Thanks guys!

 

[mike van]

Not sure if this will help, but for me it's not about the money. To be a woodburner, you have to like it. It oil went back to .25/gal, I'd still be burning wood. If I have to give it up someday because of age or health, it will hurt me something awful.

 

[easternbob]

Check out this calculator, should give you the info. you are looking for. http://nepacrossroads.com/fuel-comparison-calculator.php

 

[Chris Hoskin]

(broken link removed to http://woodboilers.com/fuel-cost-calculator)

 

[JRHAWK9]

Check out this calculator, should give you the info. you are looking for. http://nepacrossroads.com/fuel-comparison-calculator.php

Looks like I was pretty much dead on with my calc I posted -HERE- stating:

From a strictly monetary standpoint if you have to purchase wood. At $1 a gallon of LP, $210 per cord of Red Oak, 92% LP furnace efficiency and 80% wood furnace efficiency....it would theoretically cost the same to heat with wood vs LP.

So, in my case where LP is currently $1 a gallon and I don't have to purchase wood, I could heat with LP and come out making ~$140 every cord net after paying the LP bill if I sold it for $350/cord.

Now if your are paying $2 per gallon for LP, then you'd have to get $420 per cord to break even.

This question all depends on where you live and the price of heating fuel in your area.

So, OP, if you have a 92% efficient LP furnace, 80% efficient boiler and propane costs you $1 a gallon, you must pay less then $210 a cord of seasoned Red Oak in order to come ahead.

 

[maple1]

Figures can get way skewed depending on individual units & situations you're comparing.

e.g., wood in an OWB with questionable underground piping vs. a condensing gas boiler in the basement.

 

[smokydaddy]

I have good news for all of us ... and your oil/gas guys absolutely right http://seekingalpha.com/article/3686156-natural-gas-new-record-highs-not-in-price

 

[JRHAWK9]

Figures can get way skewed depending on individual units & situations you're comparing.

e.g., wood in an OWB with questionable underground piping vs. a condensing gas boiler in the basement.

yeah, this is where efficiency comes into play. If you don't know the general ballpark efficiency of what you are comparing it's just a crap shoot.

 

[maple1]

I am also thinking that very few even indoor wood boilers are anything close to 80% efficient, unless it's a gassifier. I can certainly see the difference with mine - I keep our house warm now burning 6 hours a day, with my old one I was a round the clock slave to it. New one is at least twice as efficient, and I don't know what it is rated at efficiency-wise but guessing somewhere around 80.

 

[lmholmes11]

I agree. Thanks guys. I have a natural draft OWB. I'd guess efficiency is about 60% give or take. Around here we pay around $800 per 10 cord. Ash/oak. I usually burn around 12 a year

 

[lmholmes11]

Propane here is $1.12

 

[hondaracer2oo4]

Coventinial owb is likely in the 35-45 percent range for efficiency. I went from a hardy h4 to a heatmaster g200 and have cut my wood usage in half. The heatmaster was rated between 72-79% efficient from the epa tests depending on the btu load. If I am going through 50% less wood and the g200 is around 75% efficient that mEans the h4 was around 25% efficient.

 

[BoilerMan]

Real comparisons follow the above post. Gasser is around 80% efficient average and conventional OWB 40%.... 55% likely for really good conventional indoor wood boiler.

I will say I had a conventional IWB and I use 30% less wood now and am heating DHW I didn't before I changed boilers.

TS