Isa Loc: Lake Lure, NC

I also heat with wood. My fireplace insert has a catalytic converter in it that helps to burn the gases that the wood produces. I love the way it smells and the type of heat it gives off. The real downside is it is messy. I pay about 275 for a dump truck of wood. It isn't a cord, but what can you do? I also split and stack it. I use gas as a backup energy source. Next year I will be heating with gas. I don't know the cost to heat that way, but I will find out.

lbrande

We tried to have that done here in CA, but the contractor said that the houses construction would have required that they remove all the walls.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Natural gas is a good way to heat. No delivery trucks and lower cost. I like heating with wood, and I've gotten used to the extra work it requires.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

My house was built in 1963, when heating oil cost $0.16/gal. They didn't "waste" money on insulation back then. After a home energy audit, we had insulation sprayed into the walls. They drill 1" holes here and there and pumped in the insulation. We installed double-pane windows years ago, and they're great. The temperature of the glass is about the same as the wall temperature right next to it.

sippyjug104 Loc: Missouri

Jerry, my background is in mechanical system design and heat energy is a factor that we had to deal with by either adding, removing and always controlling in precise ways.

This is a comparison of the heat content of different items used as fuel in terms of Btu. A Btu is the amount of heat required to raise one pound of water one degree Fahrenheit.

Electricity (Killowatt) = 3,412 Btu
Natural gas: one cubic foot = 1,030 Btu
Propane gas: one cubic foot = 2,500 Btu
No. Two fuel oil (gallon): 138,000 Btu
Coal (pound): 14,000 Btu
Wood-air dried (pound): 2,500 Btu

Now for the sad part; It is estimated that 80% to 90% of the heat produced by a wood-burning fireplace is lost through the chimney. Moreover, an open fireplace pulls in more air—both inside and outside—than is needed for burning, reducing the heating efficiency of your home even more.

Gas and oil furnaces also lose a portion of their heat out of the flue due to the need for air to produce combustion. A fitting question would be,"If air goes out my chimney or flue, where does it come from?" "If it comes from inside the home, how did it get in, and how does it get replaced?" "If the air needed for combustion comes ultimately from the outdoors (of course), does this mean that cold winter air is entering my home?" "Do I have to pay to heat this cold air entering my home that goes up the chimney or flue?" Yes, you do..!

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Nice listing!

My "new" oil burner was installed in 1984, and I'm sure the new ones are more efficient. For $4,000 or more for a new one, I'll wait till this one dies. Every time I have the annual maintenance eprformed, the guy says it's in good shape.

fourlocks Loc: Londonderry, NH

I've burned wood in my various homes since about 1978 with a backup of electric baseboard, forced hot water or forced hot air using oil or propane as a fuel (depending on the house). In 2020, I traded my '70's Fisher wood stove for a top-of-the-line pellet stove and although I loved the ease of pellets, I couldn't stand the noise of several running fans and the lack of radiant heat from the pellet stove. Last fall, I installed a high-efficiency Jotul wood stove and although it's back to the filth and work of wood, we love its radiant heat along with it heating the air. As others noted, there's nothing like standing a foot away from a hot wood stove when you want to warm up fast.

I buy green firewood in April for $240 per cord; cut, split and delivered. By November, it's fully seasoned and ready to burn. While Sipperjugs cost per unit of each fuel is interesting, it would be far more valuable to see a comparison of each fuels cost per, say, 1,000 BTUs so you can see which is the better bargain. A ton of pellets provides the same heat as a cord of wood and both are cheaper than oil, electricity or propane. I'd say natural gas (methane) is the cheapest but that's only available where there are gas lines and although rare, it's a little scary when a natural gas fueled house blows up taking a couple of neighboring houses with it.

EdJ0307 Loc: out west someplace

Oh, great. I can see the topic getting kicked over to The Attic.

DougS Loc: Central Arkansas

I too, love to heat with wood. I also have natural gas central heat, but it very rarely 'kicks on'. Year before last, I managed to get a couple of winters worth of wood from a huge(!) tree that had been struck by lightning. Another came from a wind storm. When opportunity knocks, i try to take advantage of it! If there is a sawmill nearby, the slabs can be a cheap, alternate source.

jaymatt Loc: Alexandria, Indiana

Idle curiosity: why is propane out of the question?

StanMac Loc: Tennessee

I am sure you know the difference between a face cord and a cord of wood. Make sure your supplier knows as well.


Stan

HOHIMER

"Do I have to pay to heat this cold air entering my home that goes up the chimney or flue?" Yes, you do..!”
Do some fireplaces have a source of fresh, cold, outside air direct to the firebox to support the combustion process, thus reducing the need for drawing cold air in through random openings in the structure? In this case the fireplace firebox would be sealed and completely isolated from the room air. A chamber could be placed around the entire firebox and lower chimney to collect radiant heat which could then be recirculated within the room by convection through inlet openings at the bottom, floor level, with outlet openings above the firebox up on the wall.

chikid68 Loc: Tennesse USA

The majority of the people who cut and sell firewood do it as a second income but the main thing is supply and demand.
Around here we have no shortage of wood that mother nature has already taken down so it just needs to be cut to length and split.
A decent used saw costs a couple hundred dollars and a power splitter can be had for about $500.00
So even the startup cost is not substantial.
This is also why a cord of wood costs around $125-150 delivered and stacked.

koratcat

Or thrice if he (or she) splits it too! I used to love splitting wood for the wood stove when I lived in Vermont years ago. Those were, indeed, "the good old days."

stanikon Loc: Deep in the Heart of Texas

How would this invalidate my point? He/she still has to pay for clothes, groceries and utilities whether using a primary income or second income or both. All of those are going up at an accelerating rate, rapidly outpacing the increases, if any, in primary income. He/she is not trading labor and wood for money just for the sport of it.