The Economy of Wood Heat

[No Regerts]

It takes me up to a good six hours including sometimes a 15-40 mile round trip when I go out for the purpose of cutting and bringing home and stacking enough processed wood to heat my house and shop for one week. That can get into two chains, expense of driving, half gallon of mix, you know depreciation on the stuff, etc. Broken maul handles so-on. I like driving my truck so that's just a trip to the woods. The OWB is paid for twice in saved heat over 13 years. I get all my wood from tops I leave behind logging so access is free and it makes farmers happy.

What's the cost/benefit though if you value your time and expense monetarily vs. purchasing wood, oil, coal or gas whatever is in your area?

 

[square1]

If I did it for the money, I wouldn't do it. Can't put a $ figure on the physical & mental benefit gained from a day collecting firewood vs. a day in front of the TV or at my desk in front of the computer.

Three years ago I burned $800 worth of wood to save $300 in natural gas over the winter after factoring in my Home Owners Insurance premium for a wood burner. Now I just sell the wood

 

[Ironworker]

I have access to free wood, my wife's uncle has 70 acres all hardwoods but it's about a half hour away, I much prefer to just get a log truck delivered and cut at my leisure.

 

[jrider]

The wood I burn in my owb is pine/junk wood that I can't sell so for me it's about as free as it comes since I'm already processing firewood. The only time involved is hauling it the 9 miles home from my moms farm.

 

[7hpjim]

The solid fuel is all around me. from my yard and all over the neighbors property (75ac+ 2/3 wooded) so vs fuel oil it believe i am ahead but the savings can be mute if you spend it all on chainsaws, but I am fixing that

 

[AIM]

If you think your time is worth something, burning wood probably doesnt pay off. I charge $35 per hour for myself while I am working so the 2-3 hours per load of wood that lasts me about 1 week would translate into about $350 a month in labor. Plus I hae come up with an approximation of about $9 per truckload in costs. (gas, saws, chains, etc) Add it all up and I am looking at about $386 a month to burn wood IF I COUNT MY TIME....
I can heat my house with propane for quite a bit less than that. I myself though do not count my time on a saturday or sunday. What else am I doing. Drinking beer? Might as well cut some wood. If I was taking time from work to cut then I'd just buy propane.

 

[No Regerts]

Some body has to do it. lol Solid fuel is a better heat. I came up with similar #'s as AIM based on saw/operator at least a $30/hour rate for that. I think the truckload per expense all told for equipment and fuel is closer to $20 per load. Get into depreciating the appliance and power splitter well.........

 

[olyman]

If I did it for the money, I wouldn't do it. Can't put a $ figure on the physical & mental benefit gained from a day collecting firewood vs. a day in front of the TV or at my desk in front of the computer.

Three years ago I burned $800 worth of wood to save $300 in natural gas over the winter after factoring in my Home Owners Insurance premium for a wood burner. Now I just sell the wood

woooo, somethings wrong with that scenario.....

 

[zogger]

Cutting firewood is farm work to me, plus sport. Keep pasture edges clean of deadwood. Get all or most onsite, so, it's not that expensive in terms of dollars to get it. I make a pittance, so there's no way any other fuel (propane) is cheaper with my labor.

If I made like real middle class money, I would still do it, don't play golf, etc., it's really a sport to me. Plus, it's stored solar power, pretty green, and I can stockpile at my leisure, helps to remain independent, same as gardening, etc. Anything that helps me be independent is what is preferable to being tied to the man and system. To me, that is more real insurance than some piece of paper.

I saw what happened around here just last winter..no propane! You couldn't get it! It was unobtanium for any money for a few weeks. All the trucks got hustled up north to provide propane up there when people where running out due to the polar vortex blast. Thing is, people around here got the same blast and ran out. See, the companies don't give a crap, they go where they can squeeze the most dineros out, they'd let folks freeze around here, they don't care.

*Most* people even with propane and big budgets are not three years or better stockpiled in advance, whereas with wood, this is relatively easy to do.

 

[No Regerts]

Cutting firewood is farm work to me, plus sport. Keep pasture edges clean of deadwood. Get all or most onsite, so, it's not that expensive in terms of dollars to get it. I make a pittance, so there's no way any other fuel (propane) is cheaper with my labor.

If I made like real middle class money, I would still do it, don't play golf, etc., it's really a sport to me. Plus, it's stored solar power, pretty green, and I can stockpile at my leisure, helps to remain independent, same as gardening, etc. Anything that helps me be independent is what is preferable to being tied to the man and system. To me, that is more real insurance than some piece of paper.

I saw what happened around here just last winter..no propane! You couldn't get it! It was unobtanium for any money for a few weeks. All the trucks got hustled up north to provide propane up there when people where running out due to the polar vortex blast. Thing is, people around here got the same blast and ran out. See, the companies don't give a crap, they go where they can squeeze the most dineros out, they'd let folks freeze around here, they don't care.

*Most* people even with propane and big budgets are not three years or better stockpiled in advance, whereas with wood, this is relatively easy to do.

Good points man. There's no doubt we'd all do it anyway. It's a way of life to me.
Chicks dig it,too.

 

[swed1162]

Plus remember if you use oil to heat your house a lot of the profit goes to people that really don't like us. I love the thought of using wood exclusively to heat my house, its a renewable source and my buddy owns a logging company so my wood is relatively free for my wood.(Barder system, i'm a machinist and he has equipment that breaks) So really my only expense is my time and fuel. using same saw MS-390 for years and have same truck 01 Dodge Cummins for 13 years so everything is paid for except dump trailer I bought this year to make life easier.

 

[swed1162]

Sorry MS-290 saw not MS-390. sorry..

 

[laynes69]

I don't know what LP would cost, I've always burned wood since we bought our home. If I had to drive far away, or wood wasn't easily accessible, I would buy. Last year we fell into a deal of split hardwood at 100.00 per 1.25 cord delivered. At that price it was a no brainer. Now this year my neighbor had many acres logged. I can get to everything and its 2 minutes away on tractor, so I won't buy. I went out yesterday, cut a weeks plus worth of wood on one tank of gas in the saw. Came home split and stacked. If it's going to take alot of time to collect, I'll consider my time and look into buying.

 

[JeffHK454]

Search...the "why I burn wood" thread has shown up every six months for the ten+ years I've been here.

If you try to put it in black-n-white..or..dollars-n-cents burning wood doesn't always pay off, you do it because you like the hut, the work and the independence from utility companies. It's a hobby for me that was passed down from my dad and he got it from his dad.

I'll never buy wood , when the time comes I can't scrounge I'll be done.

 

[svk]

I've got enough wood on my property to accommodate several years of burning. Additionally I'm only harvesting dying/dead/trees threatening buildings that would need to be cut anyhow.

My scrounge trips are always completed in conjunction with another task ie checking on the hunting cabin so I don't consider the 80 mile round trip from home as part of the cost.

Adding in the cost of your time changes the equation to a break even at best. But as others said if you consider it a hobby or in my case need to cut the trees anyhow then it's a huge money saver.

If I had to shell out cash to get logs delivered I'd probably skip it.

 

[No Regerts]

How long does it take you and what's your time running a saw and processing wood worth? I know it pays back, I've never had gas. Well.....

 

[sunfish]

I'd make more money working in the shop and buying propane or electric for heat. But I don't
want to work in the shop 7 days a week, would rather spend some time in the woods...

 

[Chris-PA]

Once you add transportation to the equation the Energy Return On Energy Invested (EROEI) goes down dramatically. Since we still have access to cheap fossil fuel energy (for a while), this distortion can still work. As the cost of fossil fuel goes up, and access to it and ability to pay go down, it will stop making sense.

Of course, if you believe we're going to be the biggest oil & gas producer then don't worry about it.

 

[No Regerts]

Subtract the cost of the gym.

Plus remember if you use oil to heat your house a lot of the profit goes to people that really don't like us.

I like this guy's thinking. That's worth a few hours tearing up old clothes and scaring birds.

 

[greenskeeper]

previous job we did tree work in the winter, so the rounds were already cut and loaded into my truck to take home everyday.

current job the tree/landscape guys we have on contract drop the rounds off at my house, sometimes even split stuff ready to stack.

The old saying goes, every time you touch it (wood) it costs you money.