The cost savings of wood burning

[Dobish]

We put the stove in in November 2015, so we really noticed the difference between the first part of the months. Our house is much warmer, and this year we are actually keeping it warm all day (as opposed to last year when we would only turn the heat on when we were home).

 

[MAD777]

Nice impressive chart!

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

 

[Highbeam]

What happened in January 2016? Did you leave on vacation?

 

[Dobish]

What happened in January 2016? Did you leave on vacation?

we turned down the thermostat by a degree, and put in insulating blinds, but most importantly, got our wood split and stacked, and easily accessible!

 

[Dobish]

this year we used 46 therms in decmeber vs 80 in 2015...

 

[Highbeam]

we turned down the thermostat by a degree, and put in insulating blinds, but most importantly, got our wood split and stacked, and easily accessible!

It looks like a surge in gas usage for January 2016 only. Maybe I'm reading their chart wrong.

 

[Dobish]

It looks like a surge in gas usage for January 2016 only. Maybe I'm reading their chart wrong.

that's 2015...

 

[blades]

26 therms 11-21/12-21/ 2016 dang add on charges cost me more than the NG I use.

 

[St. Coemgen]

Hm....

I see you used less Natural Gas, but no actual data on all combined (direct and indirect) costs (i.e. cutting and stacking wood is an indirect cost) for each source of heating. I am sure you have a heavier wallet now, but that savings is personal and subjective. To help others compare, a full accounting (including amortizations of all hardware for each heating source and a listing of actual direct costs and estimated indirect costs) really would be ideal.

For example, my personal indirect costs for splitting and stacking wood (I get a high hourly rate for consulting) is higher than what it actually costs me to hire someone to do it, which then makes that hiring a direct cost. But if I did cut and or stack it myself, that indirect costs is still a debit, and one that should still be estimated and added to the liability column of wood heating.

 

[Dobish]

Hm....

I see you used less Natural Gas, but no actual data on all combined (direct and indirect) costs (i.e. cutting and stacking wood is an indirect cost) for each source of heating. I am sure you have a heavier wallet now, but that savings is personal and subjective. To help others compare, a full accounting (including amortizations of all hardware for each heating source and a listing of actual direct costs and estimated indirect costs) really would be ideal.

For example, my personal indirect costs for splitting and stacking wood (I get a high hourly rate for consulting) is higher than what it actually costs me to hire someone to do it, which then makes that hiring a direct cost. But if I did cut and or stack it myself, that indirect costs is still a debit, and one that should still be estimated and added to the liability column of wood heating.

I try not to get too deep into it, since a lot of those costs are sunk costs anyway. I have needed to clean up my property of a bunch of boxelders and elms, and a lot of other brush, so either way I had to take them down and get rid of them. I have not paid anything for my wood itself, but I have paid for the splitter, chainsaw blades, a few chainsaw repairs, tree work, etc. If I don't include the cost of the stove and the chainsaw (both of which of course are on a set depreciation schedule) but I do include the tree work, and the splitter (even though that is more for fun, because it is also on a set depreciation schedule), i have paid $88/cord in cash for everything I either have used or have stacked on my property. This does not include my time, but as I mentioned before, something had to be done about these anyway.

 

[Dobish]

if i were to gather up all of the costs, expenses, etc, I would also have to extrapolate the projected price increases of natural gas, build in the projected costs of keeping the house at a higher temp, and also adding in the additional electricity needed to run the furnace, etc with backing out the additional factors that cause an increase in the electricity usage. [This would be very difficult to do as we went from having nobody in the house during the day to having 3 children and a nanny there all day, average temp jumped from 61º to 66º]

by looking at the pre-stove data and the post stove data, averaging 1/3 cord per month (lets say $35 of wood), my average cost savings just from NG alone is still roughly $30/month.

 

[Marshy]

Hm....

I see you used less Natural Gas, but no actual data on all combined (direct and indirect) costs (i.e. cutting and stacking wood is an indirect cost) for each source of heating. I am sure you have a heavier wallet now, but that savings is personal and subjective. To help others compare, a full accounting (including amortizations of all hardware for each heating source and a listing of actual direct costs and estimated indirect costs) really would be ideal.

For example, my personal indirect costs for splitting and stacking wood (I get a high hourly rate for consulting) is higher than what it actually costs me to hire someone to do it, which then makes that hiring a direct cost. But if I did cut and or stack it myself, that indirect costs is still a debit, and one that should still be estimated and added to the liability column of wood heating.

You bring up a good point however, its going to be different for each person. Some people like myself work for free (splitting and stacking) because its an enjoyable past time. If you make a decent living in your normal job and its a factor or two more than what someone would reasonably charge to split and stack firewood then to me its not reasonable use your hourly pay rate to determine the cost of your time to perform such activities since its not a fair market rate.

Also something to consider, if you are skilled enough with your chainsaws you have the ability to create income and pay for the equipment so that will not have to be factored in the cost. Occasionally I get an opportunity to make money with my saws and it only takes two weekends to pay for a new saw.

Variable are endless but I agree that you cannot get a true sense of savings until you put a value to all the variables.

Here's a good example.
I buy log length cord wood at $100/cord. I burn 6 cord per year. If I bought split seasoned wood it would cost me about $200/cord. That savings is $100/cord vice buying it already processed. I hand split my wood so equipment cost is minimal, $50 for a Fiskars X27 but over 50 years, negligible. I don't know how fast I work so I would have to assume, lets say it take 2 hours to cut and split a cord of wood. If I value my time it at the rate I get paid at work then its way cheaper to buy it split like you. But since that wouldn't require the use of a chainsaw its not an option. But for arguments sake, I would say its probably accurate to say someone working for a company processing firewood might get paid $20-$25/hr. If I use $25/hr I'm still 75% the cost of buying it split plus I get to run a chainsaw (WIN). If the saw is paid for then there is no cost for that. Maintenance is negligible. Cost of gas and oil might be $10 per cord. None of that means much unless you are comparing it to your other heat source. For someone like me its #2 diesel, not nat gas. Savings are large enough where I don't need a fancy analysis to tell me Im saving a $1-$300 per month. Besides, even if it was costing me money (which could be argued when you look at the cost of the new appliances to burn the stuff) I would still argue that people pay to do things they like (cars, snowmobiles, skydiving) and its likely less expensive than any of those other things. Don't forget to subtract the cost of a gym membership from your cost, wont need one of those ever again.

 

[Easy Livin’ 3000]

Hm....

I see you used less Natural Gas, but no actual data on all combined (direct and indirect) costs (i.e. cutting and stacking wood is an indirect cost) for each source of heating. I am sure you have a heavier wallet now, but that savings is personal and subjective. To help others compare, a full accounting (including amortizations of all hardware for each heating source and a listing of actual direct costs and estimated indirect costs) really would be ideal.

For example, my personal indirect costs for splitting and stacking wood (I get a high hourly rate for consulting) is higher than what it actually costs me to hire someone to do it, which then makes that hiring a direct cost. But if I did cut and or stack it myself, that indirect costs is still a debit, and one that should still be estimated and added to the liability column of wood heating.

I figure if I charge about 5 cents an hour for my labor, and don't consider my costs for all of my equipment and fuel, I might be saving a tidy sum on my heating over the course of a season.

If I charged the rate I get paid per hour for my day job, I'm in the hole after about three days of woodlot work (probably a lot less).

That said, if I liked my day job even a fraction as much as I like this hobby, I'd just turn up the thermostat and let the natural gas furnace heat the place. After I worked the additional hours at the office that would result in more promotions, larger bonuses, and all of the other trappings of the rat race, then I'd go to the gym, and spend hours there, then come home and pay my gym membership fees, gas bill, and watch TV until bedtime.

I think that anyone who thinks that they are saving money doing this woodburning thing, if they account for the value of their time in the free market, is kidding themselves. I honestly couldn't be doing it any other way, and the work that I do feeding the stove is actually running the odometer backwards.

 

[STIHLY DAN]

Pay per hour would only be if you took time off work to get wood. if time is not making you money, then time splitting or whatever is of no cost other than time, which IS limited.

 

[venator260]

Pay per hour would only be if you took time off work to get wood. if time is not making you money, then time splitting or whatever is of no cost other than time, which IS limited.

And didn't get paid for it.

I'm salaried. It would be impossible for me to get paid more for my additional time. Getting a second job with an education degree in the area I'm in probably isn't worth my gas to get there. No one's going to pay for tutoring, so I'm fresh out of side gigs.

Additionally, I rather enjoy the process of collecting all of that firewood.

 

[jebatty]

If I got paid for the time I spend eating, my grocery bill would turn into a profit center for the household. IMO life rarely should be about money; much better to be about what gives quality to the life we have.

 

[Highbeam]

If I got paid for the time I spend eating, my grocery bill would turn into a profit center for the household.

Excellent!

The 11 YO daughter and I loaded wood from the stacks to the house yesterday. 1/2 cord. That time with her was golden.

 

[Dobish]

i took advantage of nap time yesterday and got roughly 3/4 cord bucked up.....

that was time that I wasn't getting paid for, but couldn't do anything else anyway. I wasn't going to sit around and watch tv, it was nice enough outside that we didn't need the fire going, so it was a positive gain the in the firewood battle.

one of my neighbors did walk by and told me that I was the "firewood king", to which I responded, "I think there is another guy who has more than me , but I'm trying to catch up" and we talked about firewood for a while.

I don't think I will try and figure out the cost of conversation though

 

[mol1jb]

Ive been keeping a close eye on my gas bill since this is the first year of my stove install. I usually use 15-18 therms of gas on a non heating month (gas hot water and dryer) and around 4-5x that on a heating month. Dec and Jan showed both were less than 40 therm per month. Gotta love that result.

 

[TradEddie]

I too cam earn vastly more money in an hour at work than I could ever save by splitting and stacking wood, but if you're going to consider costs and benefits to this level of detail, you also need to factor in the physical and mental heath benefits of the exercise. Pounding pavement or wearing out the dreadmill doesn't save you one penny.

TE

 

[cygnus]

My first year burning was quite difficult. It's gotten better over the past few years and has reasonably dropped gas usage by 75% for the heating season. Those savings add up, and more than pay for the saws, tools accessories, etc. That definitely doesn't pay for my time...but splitting it all by hand does offset the cost of a gym membership.

 

[peakbagger]

Hard to plot my oil usage as I haven't bought any for three years. I hand split and my wood is free so my costs are chains, gas & oil for the saw and gas for the truck. I also run a minisplit for shoulder season heat but power is "free" from my solar. Sure I have sunk costs, but I did all my installations myself to cut labor costs

I consider the labor cutting wood and installing equipment a hobby. I have a fairly desk job so its good exercise. I also have a tight house so at most I burn 4 cords year, this cuts down on the amount of work dealing with wood. To me it a matter of where I spend my time, I am not into sports so no need to sit around for four or five hours watching games. I can cut drop and split a cord in about the same time

 

[eastcoastcanada]

Excellent!

The 11 YO daughter and I loaded wood from the stacks to the house yesterday. 1/2 cord. That time with her was golden.

Very true! I have a teenage son, a 9 year old son and 8 year old daughter helping me stack it and helped me cut a trailer load each. The help is so wonderful, many hands make light work, even little hands. My 9 year old son really surprised me, he works like a mule! I had to tell him to slow down, that we were just having fun with it and could take a break whenever we wanted. I was so proud! Every minute is precious.

 

[eastcoastcanada]

View attachment 191423
We put the stove in in November 2015, so we really noticed the difference between the first part of the months. Our house is much warmer, and this year we are actually keeping it warm all day (as opposed to last year when we would only turn the heat on when we were home).

That's impressive! I'm all electric heat here in Newfoundland and my home is 10 years old but I'm being told I will save $200 per month from mid December through mid April. That's significant so I'm looking forward to the saving. Heck, even $500 saved would be nice.

 

[maple1]

That's impressive! I'm all electric heat here in Newfoundland and my home is 10 years old but I'm being told I will save $200 per month from mid December through mid April. That's significant so I'm looking forward to the saving. Heck, even $500 saved would be nice.

What are your monthly electric bills? They must be up there, with electric heat?

I think it would run me about $25-30/day for just heat if I were to run my electric boiler full time.