The last hurrah
- Thread starter Huskybill
- Start date
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I think the standard rate is $1.24 or 1.25. I purchase in conjunction with my neighbor's business so I get a bit better rates.
If you want to pit the 4 main gas suppliers against each other you can definitely save money but that usually involves swapping tanks out and new contracts. The place I use normally takes care of me and I get the aforementioned discount so it works.
Most of the people I know of gave up on coal, truth be told I dont know anyone that burns it anymore. My cousin and uncle live about 2 miles away, till they ran and got a couple loads, they figured the gas (propane) was a better option. And no mess in the basement any more. If we lived closer to reading anthracite it may be a different story.
Jhenderson
Addicted to ArboristSite
Propane in southern New England is $3-5+ Per gallon. Pellet stoves require electricity. Think about that 3 days into a January power outage.
My dad lives in mass. He switched from pellets to propane a few years ago. The heat it puts out is downright impressive but it’s EXPENSIVE. If I go over to visit during the winter I gotta go outside to warm up.
I have a pellet stove in my garage. The misses wanted it for when she is doing her projects or having a glorified garage sale. Can't say I mind it either when I am piddling out there. I store a half of a ton of pellets under a work bench and it lasts all winter. If I had to heat my house with it, I don't think I could afford it!
ChoppyChoppy
Tree Freak
ChoppyChoppy
Tree Freak
It's popular in the area my folks are at in Maine.
My folks are happy with it. They say it's cleaner in the house compared to wood and much less work.
My Dad just puts in a few scoops in the hopper every day or two and empties the ash out.
Right now though, fuel oil and wood pellets work out to about the same cost as coal.
ChoppyChoppy
Tree Freak
Factoring fuel energy and typical burner efficiency...
Ton of pellets at $250 is about the same cost heat wise to $2.00/gal fuel oil, $275/cd hardwood firewood, $340/ton coal, $1.30/gal propane.
The Misses happy- Priceless!
nathan4104
ArboristSite Operative
Probably not a problem in most areas but.... propane stops flowing at around -42/-44. So now one must have an electric blankie on the tank to help keep it above that magic temp to keep it flowing! What about electricity? We have an electric furnace. I hate it but it was cheap to install. In fact the payback on the install cost vs a fuel furnace/tanks more than makes up for the higher (albeit not a whole lot more here...) operating cost. This way only one bill comes in the mail, and it was coming anyways.
Keep the wood as a back up/ burn for fun.
As well, we recently put an electric hot water boiler for the radiant in floor heat in the basement slab. (Had been running off my homemade system from the wood stove). Hydro bill only went up $30-50 a month maybe a bit more in Jan/feb but I didn’t think m that was too bad.
We have some of the highest hydro rates in NA here in Ontario.....(northern Ontario)
Keep the wood as a back up/ burn for fun.
As well, we recently put an electric hot water boiler for the radiant in floor heat in the basement slab. (Had been running off my homemade system from the wood stove). Hydro bill only went up $30-50 a month maybe a bit more in Jan/feb but I didn’t think m that was too bad.
We have some of the highest hydro rates in NA here in Ontario.....(northern Ontario)
nathan4104
ArboristSite Operative
Here’s a neat calculator.
https://coalpail.com/fuel-comparison-calculator-home-heating
https://coalpail.com/fuel-comparison-calculator-home-heating
I've used coal pellets gas and oil over the years . They all have up and down sides. Wood is what I like best because I get it for free other than my time and equipment. Oil is easy as is gas but here in NY its pricey. Oil is about 2 + dollars a gallon propane is stupid expensive like 2.75 a gallon. If I were to stop burning wood I would go back to coal
They do make pelet stoves that use no electricity . US pellet stove
They do make pelet stoves that use no electricity . US pellet stove
Good to have options and back ups.
Philbert
Philbert
I installed my wood stove 3 years ago as our heat pump wouldn’t keep up. I considered pellet but didn’t like that if you lose power you lose your heat. Good pellets here are in the $250-$300 a ton range, I’m glad I went wood. I wouldn’t buy my stove again though, It’s a Vermont castings encore. It’s a freestanding unit so I don’t know about an insert but I would shop your options.
Jhenderson
Addicted to ArboristSite
Not exactly what I’d want in my living room . And since it’s the only one that’s UL listed that leaves me out.
Out door wood/boiler . No mess in the house and some burn anything. Feed it once or twice a day depending on size .
Jhenderson
Addicted to ArboristSite
Great if you have baseboard heat and a generator.
And want to hike outdoors to reload!
Jhenderson
Addicted to ArboristSite
Everything has its place. I love my customers with outdoor boilers.
