Are wood fires really more economic?

Oh I am not venting.


Okay I was.

But, I'm also serious.. I'd like to know what people are paying per quarter for their "warmth" ..

So we can work out the best solution, (seeing as we ditched that old fridge) ..

Power prices have been going up something dramatic in the past couple of years in this State and are still further to rise! I'm a little surprised at your bill for $1200.00 though, seems extraordinary high.

I believe gas is still by far the cheapest commodity in a house. We have an all gas house, cooking, space heater, instaneous gas hot water system with the quarterly bills varying with the seasons.

I've just added up the total gas bills for a 5 year period (I keep all the figures and can go 25 years back ) and the total was $3680.00 or $736.00 per year. I think you must agree that isn't to bad.

Power bills over the same period were $5320.00 or $1064 per year.

Our house is a double brick home with roof insulation.

I think your quarterly power bill of $1200.00 is out of all proportion and you have good reason to complain.

Dutchy's point about insulation is very important, for heating or cooling. Fireplaces are terribly inefficient for heating. Most of the heat is wasted--you get a lot of heat near the fireplace, and precious little elsewhere in the house. When i lived in North Carolina, we heated with wood fires, but, then we had one of these:



Here, the blowers are on the top, ours were at the side. Fifteen dollars a night for wood ? ! ? ! ? Good lord--does the man have a gun with him? I feel much better about being robbed if there's a gun involved. We used to pay about $40 or $45 for a half cord (a heaping load in the back of a large pick-up truck). That was a supply for a month, at least. I was amazed that you pay for kindling. We just went off to the woods and picked some up. Once you've got your fire going, unless everyone leaves the house, you keep it going all the time--you bank the fire at night. The cost on the electic bill to pay for the blowers was negligible. They make franklin stoves like that as inserts for a fireplace, maybe you should check that out.

we heat with gas now. We have a PELLET wood stove in the studio. The studio is new and hasnt yet been broken in (heat-wise). Weve insulated really well and we ahll see.

MAny Amish around us use WOOD BOILERS. These are furnaces that are actually outside the nhouse and have a hot water or hot air circulator that rus through lies under ground to the house. Every one who has one of these units is not too concerned about how neat their yards look, because they are stockpiling the junkiest trash wood in huge piles so they can feed the furnace. These things burn pallettes, telephone poles or anything else wooden.

We have several fireplaces in our ancient house (6), two have had "Franklin stove " inserts which are of te style set showed. These are great, and are heat effecient (They are NOT m, birn efficient cause they doo generate lots of creosote which needs to be religiously cleaned out every year )

We keed one huge fireplace as a cetral house fire and we keep it burning most of the winter. LAst winter we burned 3 cords of wood in this one and I cut one and bought 2 . The cost was about 300$ for the entire season so I think your wood costs are more reflective of some attention you need to pay to your insulation.

Wood heat is kinda sloppy though, youre always tracking junk into the house. SO a vacuum cleaner is a needed piece of assocaite equipment.

Geez Dutchy, 25 years? I couldn't put my hands on my accounts past 1 year, bad at filing:) But, $1800 a year for ETSA and Gas, tells me we were definately ripped off.. We've changed suppliers as well, here's hoping. Our new house is half the size so we aren't expecting to ever see $1200 again..

Unfortunately, this house is 'all' electrical, no gas but obviously we have to look at changing that at some point, when we win the lottery I love gas cooking too Dutchy.. Miss that.

I'm not sure Set, if we have insulation.. The bedroom both in summer and winter is warm, it's weird.. The rest of the house cold, I'm better that we probably don't and should check into that. Thanks Dutchy for that.

Wow, I never thought of the stoves. We've often seen them and admired them, probably why we fell in love with having a fire-place. David was thinking of swapping the air-conditioner (cold only) to reverse cycle, I think this is a brilliant idea and makes sense and safer.. Last night a couple of spats happened and I missed one that reached the carpet.. Scary. Appreciate the advice.

Lol's... sometimes we just don't think Set, or perhaps a bit lazy? David did say he is going to get some delivered. He grabs it from the service station, go figure they bag them and make you pay for the plastic I am sure its a heck of a lot cheaper.. Well, now I am convinced it is.

Yesterday, I would have gathered, seriously, probably around $45 worth of "kindling" by walking around the wet lands a few times. I aint buying it again, I'll be walking those 'wetlands' and stocking up..





Hi Farmerman, can you elaberate on creosote? Not heard of that..

And, yes, I think the key is what Set said, buy in bulk.. I was just amazed when I added that up and thought geez here we are again, $1200.. Sometimes the obvious doesn't hit you unless you hit people with it, then they hit it back And, you go shirt, der.............

We just bought a heavy duty vacuum.. mainly for "pet hair" David is allergic to a degree so we needed something stronger. Won't have a problem there.

Thank you all.. I have direction now and a new plan...

Creosote is a byproduct of the incomplete combustion of the wood. It builds up in the flue and the chimney. It not only makes them less efficient (you need the flue and chimney to draw well to burn the wood efficiently--use less wood that way), but there is a fire risk from an overheated flue or chimney (not a big risk, though, it comes from not having kept them clean in the past). So you need a chimneysweep in once a year (more often if you're burning a great deal of wood.

A couple of more hints. Keep the kindling and the firewood covered or under cover--damp wood won't burn well, it increase the creosote build-up and it makes the fire smoke. Keep the kindling and wood outside--bugs and other tiny critters like to inhabit a wood pile. If you bring more wood in than you need for you immediate needs, the bugs will come out to look around as soon as they warm up. Best way to warm up the bugs is by throwing the wood on the fire.

It's too early in the morning to laugh like that .....SPAT my coffee out

Ah chimney sweeping I understand.. Like tar from cigarettes ewee!!!

We understand the cover bit, much like a thread I read recently? But, I aint looking for the bugs, I'll get upset if there is one on the wood and I burn it's butt. No I would ..

Thanks Set.

In some places, no links, I've seen wood burning outlawed, re the atmospheric outcome.

Cheers. Nothing you can do about or for the bugs. Keep a small pile, enough for a day or two, by the back door. Keep the rest under cover farther from the house.

This kind of wood shed is common in the American South, were wood is a very good solution because it can get warm enough in the daytime that you'll open the doors to let the house cool off. It can freeze overnight, though. So many people rely on wood stoves rather than paying the gas or the electric company. They'd rather buy it from Bubba who lives down there by the river, ya know, just past Pop's store, right by the prison camp?

Maybe I should use the rabbits house.. It looks simular. And let the rabbit live with the ducks across the road or send him to Bubba to keep him warm? His lap at least, maybe.

I honestly hadn't thought about the bugs.. I'm still trying not to re-read that line..........

We have a shed where David stores the wood (next to it) under a pine tree covered and then he does leave a pile by the back door and enough for a night inside..

Is this more common for City living, or semi-city living? I would imagine Country would be fine.

I imagine cars, factories do far worse damage. But, that's another story...

Similar in my last home area, very northern California.

What's the climate like? In January, '73, in southern Virginia, we got 6" of snow (paralyzed the place). Three days later, the daytime temps were in the 70s (between 20 and 25 for the temperature challenged).

I'd have to check.

I've had fireplaces everywhere I've lived since forever, but I'm a fireplace scaredy cat - I'm clumsy, have faint or no sense of smell. I used the one in the last place once, one of the times brother in law (building inspector) and my niece visited together when it was cold.

There was fireplace damage in my first california bungalow during earthquake (and my then husband wasn't all that keen on getting it going, before or after that - it was Los Angeles, not the coldest place on earth) and I was then never sure of the one in the second place further north. But more, I wasn't sure of me.

I've never used the one here in Albuquerque. Call it untested. There's a brazilian wood cabinet with an overlay of photography books in front of it.

There are very efficient heaters now, but I'm no expert on what is going on re that. I'd listen to earlier posters and also do some exploring re heating units.

I was in Eureka and surroundings. We had a client with a woodshed of just about the same design, very cool. I'll see if I can dig up a photo.

Eureka's high in summer is/was 63 although I suppose there were semispikes, and in winter, 53. Quite a steady place.
Rainstorms could get hairy, but I was out of town for the bad one in my years there, something like 6" in a day.
People seemed quite interested in the Hawaiian Islands, shunning generally the awful southern cal.

Lows: I remember as rarely being below 28, maybe a day or two, more somewhere in the thirties.

This was coastal, temps varied inland.

Wood burning stoves and fireplace inserts are the most cost effective source of energy.