Paying for firewood

[mga]

bottom line is burning wood feeds the inner pyromaniac in all of us, therefore, it makes it all worthwhile.

 

[Henry G.]

You can't really count your hours as value unless you're actually handling wood instead of working for money. For me, I'm handling wood instead of posting here or watching TV.

Ian

Agreed. If it comes to working OT at work for $67 an hour or delivering firewood, well, your delivery isnt coming today! :biggrinbounce2:
Good point HH.

 

[branchbuzzer]

Somebody posted a link to a nice energy cost spreadsheet earlier in this thread. I suspect that the price of wood is largely dictated by the regional price and availability of fuel.

Not entirely, it can also be affected by the amount of unemployment.

The nice thing about the spreadsheet I posted ( not really mine, it came from da gub-mint ) is that you can compare any two fuels. For example, a family near me has a choice between using their Monitor ( kerosene ) or using electric space heaters, and I was able to easily tell them that electricity was actually 10% cheaper than kerosene currently for our area.

Electricity costs more than double wood in my area ( $130-150 cord for high grade hardwoods ) even at TVA prices ( 9.1 cents/ KWh )

 

[pook]

cant beat a radiating woodstove for absorbing the heat, preferably naked!

 

[woodhounder]

Agreed. If it comes to working OT at work for $67 an hour or delivering firewood, well, your delivery isnt coming today! :biggrinbounce2:
Good point HH.

I agree too, if I have work to do, I am not cutting firewood. I do firewood on nights and weekends instead of instead of watching tv, or going out on the town. I can't make much money on firewood, my time doesn't add up. I know that there are those on here that make money on firewood, but it's probably that it takes me too long.

 

[1harlowr]

When propane prices were up a few years ago I paid over $4500 that year to keep the house at 70F.
The next year I kept the house at 68F in day and evenings, 62F at night.
Next year installed an OWB for $7000. Keep house 72F day eveings and 68F night. I cut my own wood but can buy all I want from a friend that sells 400+ cord a year for $100/cord. If I bought 10 cord a year, I'd be way better off than using propane.
Most importanly I don't loose sleep when low on propane, a snow storm coming, and my hilly 900' driveway is iced over.

 

[Motodeficient]

I bought a house this spring, its a 2004 double wide. From what I can figure I will definitely come out better heating with wood than with heating oil. I have talked to people in my area that heated similar houses with heating oil and it runs them $200-$250 per month for heating oil. If I figure for the shoulder seasons I would estimate it costs them $1200 or more per year to heat their home. I bought 5 cord of tree length this spring at $90/cord. I plan to heat 99% with wood. So far on a few nights that it has been in the 20s, I have gotten a fire going around 5 or 6PM, stopped putting wood in around 10 PM, and it has still been 72f when I woke up at 6 AM. I honestly believe that from what I have seen so far this fall with efficiency of my house that this wood may last two winters. Time will tell. If so, I will have heated my house for $225 for the entire burning season, and thats in a cold place like Maine. Yes I did take a lot of time this summer to cut, split (by hand) and stack this wood this summer, but like others said I probably would have been sitting on the couch watching TV during that time instead. I did have to pay $3000 up front to get the woodstove and have it installed, but I think in 3-5 years it will have paid for itself. Not to mention other benefits of wood heat such as when the power goes out (which it does often here) we will still be warm. Wood heat is also so much more cozy and its a consistant warmth. With a furance you are always chilly and waiting for the hot air to kick back on.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[BlueRidgeMark]

Then there are those of us who con't have a furnace or heater of any kind, other than the wood stove and a few stand-alone electrics.

It's hard to compare the economics of freezing to death with burning wood, purchased OR free!

 

[branchbuzzer]

Then there are those of us who con't have a furnace or heater of any kind, other than the wood stove and a few stand-alone electrics.

It's hard to compare the economics of freezing to death with burning wood, purchased OR free!

Yep, the furnace is a rare item in Appa-latcha