[R7]

for home heating oil this winter I used the oil heat in my house maybe 3 or 4 times all last winter...and that's 3 or 4 to many times IMO. 1 gallon of gas for the chainsaw and maybe 2 or 3 gallons in the quad to haul the stuff out of the woods and 0 for a splitter because I'm doing it by hand

Today I cut, split and hauled out 8 trailer loads of firewood from the woods. I'm guessing I have about 2 cord so far and have at least another 2 cord to go to get me through the winter. I'm amazed at just how much wood I can get on this little trailer. All I'm cutting at this point is dead standing and blow downs...and there's probably 2-3 years worth of dead wood scattered around my 13.3 acre forest





This is the pile at the end of the day. Once I add another 2-3 cord to the pile, I'm gonna just let it sit in the pile to dry out...then figuring maybe in September I'll stack it all under the lean-2 on the side of my shed.

[Nikon]

I go through about 6 or so cord....get to choppin

I don't have woods at my house but I am calling on a grapple-load this coming week then I'll be cuttin and splittin all summer too. YAY WOOD

[snowborder]

just think of those poor ass souls who built these 2x4 constructed McMansions in the area of 3,000+ sq ft... My brother being one of them..... 1500 gallons last year... not far from you in Webster, MA

We have exclusively used and continue to use on average of 600 to 650 gallons of #2 for heat and hot water a year in a 2300 sq ft Colonial in NH with 2x6 construction and R76 in the attic.

Having said that, So unless it goes to $6.00 a gallon...... there is no amount of wood that is worth my hassle.

Personally thinking pellet.

[RandyO]

Originally Posted by R7

All I'm cutting at this point is dead standing and blow downs...and there's probably 2-3 years worth of dead wood scattered around my 13.3 acre forest

on 13 acres, you'll never run out of dead wood, every year more wood will grow and die than you can burn, even a poor forest can sustain a cord or more per acre

I burn about 100 gallons or so of oil each year for the convienence of not getting up early to stoke the fire, I get a fire going when I get home from work, then let it die after I go to bed

[spydah]

Originally Posted by snowborder

Having said that, So unless it goes to $6.00 a gallon...... there is no amount of wood that is worth my hassle.

Personally thinking pellet.

Thats what people said about $4 a gallon when it was $2. Now that its $4 they pushed it out to $6. Face it, we are all petrollium junkies.

[mzdagrl]

I've never been happier to have electric heat. Granted I'm in a condo, but still....

[MissTwisties]

Originally Posted by snowborder

Personally thinking pellet.

We have a very nice Harman pellet stove, we love it. Nice, CLEAN burning. But they say with the prices of oil going up, we should not be surprised to see the price of pellets go up also.

[Kurlon]

There is one company in Maine getting geared up to import and install German pellet furnaces. Big hopper in the basement, automated feed to the burner, replaces your oil setup. Just have to empty ashes a couple times a year, they deliver the pelets via hose just like oil into the hopper so you don't have to futz with the bags.

[Honclfibr]

Originally Posted by mzdagrl

I've never been happier to have electric heat. Granted I'm in a condo, but still....

PSNH is charging right around 15 cents a kwh for electricity right now.
One KWH = 3413 BTU.
One gallon of heating oil = 140,000 BTU

140,000 / 3413 * .15 = $6.15

We're paying the equivalent of $6.15 a gallon for our electric heat.

[Kurlon]

Per BTU pellets are supposedly equivilent to half the cost of oil right now. ($33 for 1mil BTU from oil, $12 from pellet was the cited example)

[TheIglu]

I was given a wood burning boiler and we're looking at a wood stove next week.

I already got my splittin sea-legs back, been stacking some split downed trees on pallets for easy movin.

$4/gallon? No thanks.....

[R7]

Trust me, if I had to buy wood or even pellets, I'd just assume pay for the oil. If I'm figuring my time rite, it's taking me about 6-8 hours per cord to cut it down, split it, haul it out of the woods and make a pile. In the winter, it takes me an hour to bring enough wood in the basement to last me 2 weeks. If I were to burn 800 gallons per winter, that's a $3,200 savings I basically earned in one weeks time..I'll take it

I filled my oil take up at the end of September last year, hot water and heat from the same boiler and I still have over 3/4 of a tank left so i'm guessing I've used 50-60 gallons for heat and hot water in just over 7 months. I probably burnt just under 4 cord of wood.

snowboarder, you mentioned 2x4 vs 2x6 construction when I was building my house. With 30 sqft or more of glass per room, you've just lost all advantages of a 2x6 walls R-value

on 13 acres, you'll never run out of dead wood, every year more wood will grow and die than you can burn, even a poor forest can sustain a cord or more per acre

That's what i'm hoping for. The front 2 or 3 acres is a 50/50 mix of pine and hardwood, the rear 10 or so acres is 95% white/red oaks. It seems like a very healthy and fast growing forest as well.

[mikeb]

well the house i just bought has a wood stove that i'll be running all winter. question is how good is dead wood for burning? i've got at least 4 dead trees in my yard i need to cut down and want to burn but i heard it will burn fast with little heat. that true? also how can i figure out how much i will need? sq ft of the home, size of the stove etc..?

[Billy]

I got Natural Gas in my condo. In the dead of winter the highest I paid was around $100 a month which included the following.

1) Heating which was 53 away/60 home/55 Sleep (programmable thermostat)
2) Cooking on stove. Averaging around 44 meals per month.
3) Gas Dryer 4 times a month for 40 mins each (I do laundry once a week).
4) Hot Water Heater

I think that's pretty good considering what I'm powering for a whole month. Electic Bill has been around $30 per month. I think living by myself is a huge reason why my bills are not out of control.

[KillBill]

Originally Posted by mzdagrl

I've never been happier to have electric heat. Granted I'm in a condo, but still....

You must either have a very efficient unit or are above and below people.

We are on the third floor with no one above us. We have Gas heat and our bill for a full month was $60

[Bhavesh]

[/quote]

how long will this last you?

[R7]

Originally Posted by mikeb

well the house i just bought has a wood stove that i'll be running all winter. question is how good is dead wood for burning? i've got at least 4 dead trees in my yard i need to cut down and want to burn but i heard it will burn fast with little heat. that true? also how can i figure out how much i will need? sq ft of the home, size of the stove etc..?

It depends what type of dead tree and how long it has been dead for. I went in the woods in March and cut some dead standing (probably been dead for 5 years) and burnt it right away...I was getting more heat and a longer burn time from it
As for how much you need, it's hard to say and depends on the stove. I have a old Vermont casting that was made in 1975 and while the stove is air tight, half the time the dampers are wide open to get the heat from it. If I burn it at 450-500 degrees on a 0 degree night, it'll maintain 70 in my house, and if you include the basement, it heats close to 2,000sqft. When I burn it that hot, I get about a 6 hour burn if I completely fill the stove with wood. On a normal day, I can burn it around 350 and get a 8-10 hour burn.

Originally Posted by BadBoyBilly

I got Natural Gas in my condo. In the dead of winter the highest I paid was around $100 a month which included the following.

1) Heating which was 53 away/60 home/55 Sleep (programmable thermostat)
2) Cooking on stove. Averaging around 44 meals per month.
3) Gas Dryer 4 times a month for 40 mins each (I do laundry once a week).
4) Hot Water Heater

I think that's pretty good considering what I'm powering for a whole month. Electic Bill has been around $30 per month. I think living by myself is a huge reason why my bills are not out of control.

53, 60, 55? Does the heat ever even come on? I couldn't live being that cold
Living alone definatly keeps the bills in check. My electric bill has averaged about $35 per month sence i lived here!! It costs me more for cable tv/phone/internet than it does for heat/hot water/electricity

Originally Posted by Bhavesh

how long will this last you?

Using 100% wood and no oil, that pile will last about 2 months in the coldests winter months. I figure about a cord per month in the heart of winter, usually december, jan and feb.

And that pile has grown quite a bit...I added at least another cord to it today. One more evening after work and I'm done

[Stoneman]

We use about 6 cord per winter. We use about 100 gallons of propane for our hot water and our back-up furnace for the winter. Ironically, we use more propane in the end of April - beginning of May than we do all winter. Mostly because the semi-mild temps really don't warrant keeping the house as warm as we do when we heat...

Our stove indicates it's prime burning if wood is in the 30% moisture range if I remember correctly - not that we use any device to measure that. But usually wood that's been 'drying' for 6 mos. to a year gives US our best results. If we burn anything that's been sitting around for a coupla years, it burns WAY too quick. We'll get decent heat output, just won't last long...

There may be some pics around here somewhere of our wood piles early on to give you an idea...

[Kham]

Originally Posted by Honclfibr

PSNH is charging right around 15 cents a kwh for electricity right now.
One KWH = 3413 BTU.
One gallon of heating oil = 140,000 BTU

140,000 / 3413 * .15 = $6.15

We're paying the equivalent of $6.15 a gallon for our electric heat.

now can you do woods and gas?

[R7]

And I certainly aint paying no 5 bux a gallon.....
I stacked it all and still fell a bit short of filling up my storage area, I figure I need to haul another 1/2-3/4 cord out of the woods to get me through the winter

[Nikon]

how much you got? I just ordered 7cord and already have another 1+ and will haul at least another 2-3 out of the national forest

[R7]

By the math numbers, I can fit a little more than 4 cord under the roof. I'm guessing I have just over 3 cord stacked now. 4 cord "should" heat my house for the winter.

So you're planning on burning about 10 cord? That's a lot of fucken wood

[nt650hawk]

I'll burn about 3 chords of wood.

I completely disassembled my 1978 Vermont Casting Resolute and re-sealed it. It was at the point that I would shut all the dampers and it would burn at 800-900 degrees. Ouch. Now I can control it to a nice 500-600 for 4-5 hours.

I am in a wood deficit. I'm heading to the cabin in NH this weekend to haul out some dead wood. Anyone need a downed tree or anything removed. Preferably close to Boston and points south. I NEED WOOD.

[TheIglu]

I stacked about a cord and a half behind the house on Sunday. Still have at least 5 more cords of dead standing hardwood on the property. Not bad for 3 acres.

Picking up my Vermont Castings Resolute Acclaim tomorrow night.

Wood boiler is coming home next week some time, going to wait until next year to put it in service.

[jnm988]

I'm totally screwed. I have no choice but to buy oil. Its going to cost me $1300 to start