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Oil Heat
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May 8, 2022 09:09:49   #
jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY
 
After heating with a wood stove for forty-eight years, I think I'll be going to 100% oil. Wood prices are $350 and rising, with a lot of ash included. I got an offer of "two cords, more or less" for $500. I've found that it's always less. As the price of oil rises, the price of firewood rises with it, unfortunately. Firewood requires a lot of work and makes a mess. With oil heat, I do nothing. I'll have to try to insulate more. I have a lot of wood around the property, so I'll still have the option to start a fire.

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May 8, 2022 09:25:41   #
Bigmike1 Loc: I am from Gaffney, S.C. but live in Utah.
 
If you can get natural gas it will be much more efficient and cheaper than oil. Many moons ago I had oil heat and when the price began rising I couldn't afford to buy it. It was not a happy time.

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May 8, 2022 09:30:24   #
gvarner Loc: Central Oregon Coast
 
I burn wood for the aesthetics, not for cost savings. I also use electric heat/AC with a ductless heat pump.

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May 8, 2022 09:52:15   #
fourlocks Loc: Londonderry, NH
 
I don't know about oil. I've had several friends lament they spent more than $1,000 to purchase a little over 200 gallons of oil at about$ 5.00 per gallon. My sister spends roughly the same to fill her propane tanks and in her case and my friends, that's not for a full winter's worth of fuel. Natural gas is still cheapest but it's never available out here in the rural areas.

As a cost savings strategy and simply because we like it, I burn 4 cords of wood per year (at $240 per cord) to offset my electric baseboard heating costs. While it used to be almost embarrassing to admit you had baseboard electric heat, it's suddenly not looking like such a bad heat source, now a days.

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May 8, 2022 10:00:18   #
EdJ0307 Loc: out west someplace
 
Somebody a few miles up the road from here cleaned the ashes out of his wood burning device (fireplace, stove, whatever), placed them in a paper bag and set them outside his house. The ashes weren't completely out so he burned his house down. Worse part, he burned down about a dozen of his neighbors houses as well. It was a rural area with a lot of trees and dead grasses.

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May 8, 2022 10:09:21   #
fourlocks Loc: Londonderry, NH
 
EdJ0307 wrote:
Somebody a few miles up the road from here cleaned the ashes out of his wood burning device (fireplace, stove, whatever), placed them in a paper bag and set them outside his house. The ashes weren't completely out so he burned his house down. Worse part, he burned down about a dozen of his neighbors houses as well. It was a rural area with a lot of trees and dead grasses.


A potential Darwin Award contender although it's not all that rare a thing. I shovel my ashes into a steel container with a tight fitting lid and I let it sit on the hearth for a day to make sure nothing's still hot. A lot of people dislike the "ash factor" of a wood stove but I sprinkle my ashes on my lawn and gardens. Ashes are a great way to raise the pH of your soil thus eliminating the expense of lime pellets.

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May 8, 2022 11:11:01   #
Schoee Loc: Europe
 
jerryc41 wrote:
After heating with a wood stove for forty-eight years, I think I'll be going to 100% oil. Wood prices are $350 and rising, with a lot of ash included. I got an offer of "two cords, more or less" for $500. I've found that it's always less. As the price of oil rises, the price of firewood rises with it, unfortunately. Firewood requires a lot of work and makes a mess. With oil heat, I do nothing. I'll have to try to insulate more. I have a lot of wood around the property, so I'll still have the option to start a fire.
After heating with a wood stove for forty-eight ye... (show quote)


Heat pump is usually the most efficient way to heat but does not look as good as fire. You can play a 4K fire video on YouTube to get the ambiance if you like

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May 8, 2022 12:06:54   #
fourlocks Loc: Londonderry, NH
 
I agree with Schoee. We installed a Mitsubishi heat pump three years ago more for its air conditioning ability than its heating ability although in heating mode, it's considerably more efficient than any other form of electric heating. Supposedly the Mitsubishi pumps are efficient down to 0 degrees (outdoor temperature) but I notice a drop off of heat output below 20 degrees.

Electric baseboard costs the same "dollars per BTUs" regardless of outdoor temperature since the electric rate is constant. Heat pumps pull more amps per BTU the colder it gets so their operating cost per BTU goes up, as the temperature goes down. I've been trying to find out the temperature where heat pumps become less cost effective than baseboard electric heaters but I haven't been able to do so.

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May 8, 2022 12:15:29   #
therwol Loc: USA
 
Schoee wrote:
Heat pump is usually the most efficient way to heat but does not look as good as fire. You can play a 4K fire video on YouTube to get the ambiance if you like


Perhaps things have gotten better, but I once lived in a house with a heat pump, and it didn't work well when the temperature was below freezing, and the defrost cycle could not keep up with the ice forming on the coils on the unit outside. Like I said, things may have improved with those things.

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May 8, 2022 12:16:55   #
therwol Loc: USA
 
jerryc41 wrote:
After heating with a wood stove for forty-eight years, I think I'll be going to 100% oil. Wood prices are $350 and rising, with a lot of ash included. I got an offer of "two cords, more or less" for $500. I've found that it's always less. As the price of oil rises, the price of firewood rises with it, unfortunately. Firewood requires a lot of work and makes a mess. With oil heat, I do nothing. I'll have to try to insulate more. I have a lot of wood around the property, so I'll still have the option to start a fire.
After heating with a wood stove for forty-eight ye... (show quote)


My house has central propane heat. It works quite well, however the cost of propane is becoming ridiculous.

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May 8, 2022 18:57:32   #
ghbowser Loc: Shenandoah Valley, Virginia
 
One good thing about firewood is that you can get several heatings out of it. One when you cut it. Another when you split and stack it. Another when you carry it to the house. And lastly when you burn it.

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May 8, 2022 21:40:27   #
TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC
 
I’m lucky enough to have natural gas, but the cost per therm is up almost 30% since last year. When it’s time to upgrade/replace my A/C outdoor unit, I’m going to convert to a heat pump, but leave the gas in place so I can choose the heating method that’s most effective, perhaps using both in the same year - heat pump down to maybe 30 degrees and gas below that.

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May 9, 2022 07:29:31   #
photon-collector Loc: Tampa Bay Area, Florida
 
jerryc41 wrote:
After heating with a wood stove for forty-eight years, I think I'll be going to 100% oil. Wood prices are $350 and rising, with a lot of ash included. I got an offer of "two cords, more or less" for $500. I've found that it's always less. As the price of oil rises, the price of firewood rises with it, unfortunately. Firewood requires a lot of work and makes a mess. With oil heat, I do nothing. I'll have to try to insulate more. I have a lot of wood around the property, so I'll still have the option to start a fire.
After heating with a wood stove for forty-eight ye... (show quote)


I have a home in Western NC. I bought a Carrier Dual-Source (heat pump and propane) unit. The heat pump produces both cool and heat. My unit is set to switch over from heat pump to propane at about 30 degrees. I set the upper limit and lower limit (temperature) on the thermostat and it keeps the house within a constant range of temperature. The propane furnace burns at over 95% efficiency...actually produces water and the exhaust pipe is PVC because the outgoing exhaust temp is not hot (thus efficient). Clean and toasty heat.

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May 9, 2022 07:29:32   #
Saycheeze Loc: Ct
 
I used to burn wood…several years ago I purchased a pellet stove. Love it…like everything else though the cost of pellets goes up every year

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May 9, 2022 07:44:09   #
Schoee Loc: Europe
 
photon-collector wrote:
I have a home in Western NC. I bought a Carrier Dual-Source (heat pump and propane) unit. The heat pump produces both cool and heat. My unit is set to switch over from heat pump to propane at about 30 degrees. I set the upper limit and lower limit (temperature) on the thermostat and it keeps the house within a constant range of temperature. The propane furnace burns at over 95% efficiency...actually produces water and the exhaust pipe is PVC because the outgoing exhaust temp is not hot (thus efficient). Clean and toasty heat.
I have a home in Western NC. I bought a Carrier ... (show quote)


Dual source can be the solution when you get very low temps. A heat pump can have better than 100% efficiency in that you are moving heat, not generating it. So 1kW input can give you 3.5kW of heat coming into your house. It just moves heat from outside. A normal electric heater can do 100% at best.
There is a good article on heat pumps here https://www.carrier.com/residential/en/us/products/heat-pumps/heat-pump-efficiency/#:~:text=Minimum%20SEER%20efficiency%3A%20The%20Department%20of%20Energy%20has,are%20rated%20at%20up%20to%2020.5%20SEER.%20

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