Famous Annual "I Really Heat With Wood"

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Famous Annual: "I Really Heat With Wood" Poll


  • Total voters
    340
logbutcher

logbutcher

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Apr 22, 2004
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Maine
The Poll. OK now, let's hear from the unwashed here about your wood heating. BS, obfuscations, AlGore-type braggadoccios, and plain old bald-faced lies not accepted.

1. No backup anything: wood is our heat. Period.

2. Some very minor fossil backup used very rarely. Almost all wood heat.

3. The furnace is "set" @ 55 F. Wood is used from 55 F "up" to room temp.

4. Wood stoves are used only intermittently: romance, weekends, to make
us 'feel' righteously green, those evening warmth fires.

5. We don need no stinkin wood. Give me that round knob to turn up heat.
 
dingeryote

dingeryote

Blueberry Baron
Joined
Nov 21, 2008
Messages
13,603
Location
Michigan
Wood with Propane backup for spring and fall.

Just had the Propane tank refilled for the year.
Water heater, stove/Oven, and furnace on Propane.
$540 for the year.
Electric bill is always between 35-45 bucks per month.

2,200 sq.ft house on top of a full basement.

Internet and Satellite TV bills are higher than energy bills.:D

Just don't ask me how much $$ I put into the saws this year LOL!!!!


Stay safe!
Dingeryote
 
HuskyMike

HuskyMike

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Jan 2, 2009
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N.E.
Ditto to Dinger, Propane back up for heat. Stove/oven, water heater on Propain. I ain't saving $ yet due to the saw purchases and new Jotul. But it sure is fun heating with wood.
 
afblue

afblue

ArboristSite Member
Joined
Sep 15, 2009
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58
Location
Buffalo, NY
I am striving for 100% wood, because I can get enough of it, its just going to come down to heat distribution. If I can move it around the house, I am golden, if its not going to work 100% to plan, the gas furnace will have to come on to apease the wifey, especially especially the bathroom.
 
logbutcher

logbutcher

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Since I started this drill, here's the Truth...swear.:censored:

Two wood stoves in two connected parts of the house. One, Jotul Oslo, heats a 24 ft² cape with no plumbing. The other, VC Encore does a 20' x 30' 2 story with an Empire propane space heater for the odd winter weekends away and to do the plumbing. The no plumbing part is shut off and insulated from the newer plumbing part.

Possible other poll: since we use less than 200 gallons of propane/year for water heating,drying, and cooking, we pay the highest rate. Is this strange ? SWMBO is not pleased. :dizzy:

Both stoves run 24/7 from late Oct thru the end....this year it wasn't until late June.:cry:

All firewood ( ~ 5-6 cords/year) is harvested from our 60a woodlot.
 
woodbooga

woodbooga

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I voted for rarely used fossil - but that's not entirely accurate.

We heat and cook with a 100-year old cookstove. Keeps the place at a comfy 65° and cooks all our meals from the end of Sept. well into May. (This past year, well into June).

The only drawback is the small firebox - no overnight burns for us. Oil furnace kicks in around 2a.m. and runs a few cycles each night before I can rekindle around 5:30 in the morning. Also picks up the slack on those -25° days in deep winter.

We used about 130ish gallons of oil last season (about $300). The jaw of my non-woodburning neighbor dropped when I told him this when he asked if it was worth my wile to hassle with firewood. He has a pair of 250 gal tanks and had them filled multiple times over the corse of last winter.
 
LANNY

LANNY

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Jan 13, 2009
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GREENBACK, TENNESSEE
We have gradually switched over to all wood. This year we have installed a shaver. Last year we used one tank of propane and then had them come pick it up and take the beast away after a non requested fill up. I am excited to be free at last......Lanny
 
Ljute

Ljute

Free Teak
Joined
Nov 4, 2008
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Shenandoah Valley
Rarely fossils

Woodstove in the basement heats the upstairs to a toasty 74°, a bit less if the temp is in the teens. Our basement is an unbearable ~90° during the winter, though. :cry:
 
Curlycherry1

Curlycherry1

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We moved into our house in 1993 and from then until Fall of 1999 we heated with wood, 100% nothing else! Note, I live in MINNESOTA! We got a furnace because we were expecting our first kid and we needed air conditioning.

We live in a thermally efficient envelope house (double walls) and we get a lot of solar gain, but that does not count against the wood heat does it? It only works on sunny days and so November/December are some of my highest wood consuming months. February/March are light by comparison because the sun works to heat the place up during the day. At night the wood stove is needed to fend off the bitter cold.
 
woodbooga

woodbooga

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We have gradually switched over to all wood. This year we have installed a shaver. Last year we used one tank of propane and then had them come pick it up and take the beast away after a non requested fill up. I am excited to be free at last......Lanny

That's the track we're on. Because of our rooflines, an additional hookup will require a good chunk of cash to do an install where an additional unit will do the most good - and not impinge too much on the traffic flows as we move about the house.

When we do get to that point after saving for a few more years, we'll keep the cookstove for cooking and shoulder season heating.
 
crowbuster
Joined
Dec 31, 2007
Messages
763
Location
Indiana
Other than the heatmor we have a craft stove insert for backup and power outage. We have not bought fuel oil in 5 yrs and only have 20 gal in tank, may or may not be any good as it was last used 5 years ago. So I voted all wood, not sure the blower would even work now.

C.B. :greenchainsaw:
 
Ductape

Ductape

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I keep out thermostat at 55ish, but the oil furnace only runs occaisionally in the middle of the night, or mid-day as the fire burns down. I'd estimate the woodstove does 80% of the work, furnace does about 20%.
 
BlueRidgeMark

BlueRidgeMark

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You need another entry. I do use a bit of electric, but zero fossil. Don't even have it available. No furnace at all.

I plan to put in a duct and blower in the attic to move the heat from one end of the house (where the stove is) to the other. Once that's in, I don't expect to need any electric heat, except in my basement office.
 
chainsawaddict

chainsawaddict

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Mar 9, 2008
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NW NE
You need another entry. I do use a bit of electric, but zero fossil. Don't even have it available. No furnace at all.

I plan to put in a duct and blower in the attic to move the heat from one end of the house (where the stove is) to the other. Once that's in, I don't expect to need any electric heat, except in my basement office.

well, is your electric from a coal fired plant:monkey:




I guess the exceptions would be nuclear or hydro.:cheers:
 
Mossy

Mossy

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May 1, 2009
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Northern Michigan
I had the propane tank removed over 5 years ago. Been burning wood ever since. I have an electric wall heater in the bathroom and am going to put electric baseboard in this winter but I don't expect to use it at all.
 

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