Heating Costs - How do you heat your home? - Page 2

Electronrider · 07-01-2008

We heat with propane. As of last week, Amerigas was charging 2.56 a unit for the stuff!!! Watching the Lafayette news a week ago, they are already talking about how propane is going up, and to get on a budget plan. A few days later, a friend of a friend was complaining about how much work his woodstove was, and wanted to get rid of it. Long story short, I walked away with a 1200 dollar woodstove for about 200 bucks. The wife and I were ecstatic over that find.

Cutting wood is what we call sweat equity. We have a few friends who heat with wood, so we all get together and do a lot at a time, so the work is divided by many many hands, which makes the work both easier, and more enjoyable.

We are going to see HUGE amounts of people getting into serious problems over heating bills this winter. If you can find a way to go wood, do it now.

Warwagon · 07-01-2008

disregard....

NEOCON · 07-01-2008

We heat the house and shop with nothing but wood for nearly 15 years. Living here in the woods 18 acres of it we have trees that get blown down, die or just need to be cut due to maturity. I was a timber cutter for several years after getting out of the Army and still have logger friends. I usually sell the marketable logs to them and then cut the rest up for firewood. I use to sell over 30 cords of wood a year but I don't have time for that any longer.
As far as time worth something, out here it is a job that has to be done. If we don't do it we have to pay someone to do it, and I'm not going to do that. It is just one of the jobs that are on the list just like , gardening, haying, mending fence, cleaning the wood lot just fits right in. I figure it is just our way of life. I often wonder what it would be like to live in town and have nothing to do but care for a yard. I believe I would be bored very fast.

4sarge · 07-01-2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by Warwagon

How many of you folks heat with wood? When we were moving to the area here we found a perfect house except.......it had a gas log fireplace. I convinced the wifey to put in a wood burning stove.

Why?

Last winter our highest gas bill was $34. That was in February when LNG was selling for 7.34 MMBtu. My neighbors were paying around $250-$300 + or - .

Friday it closed at $12.753. Natural Gas Weekly Update

How are you going to heat your house? Guns, rice and beans do a poor job.

We hear So much in the media about high gas prices. What's going to happen when people can't heat their homes? When municipalities go broke with their heating assistance programs.... We've seen the economic pain from gasoline prices already, what happens when it doubles?

When I moved to the country and discovered the wonderful world of propane pricing, I freaked. Did a little research and bought a high efficient bio mass stove. Corn burning was my preference but since corn has gone from 1.25 bu to 8.00 bu in just 3 short years thanks to ethanol and speculators (I heard 12bu was predicted). I bought enough post season wood pellets on close out to get me thru the upcoming heating season but have given thought to utilizing my wood supply. My propane budget is 25 dollars monthly and coupled with the corn/wood pellet costs my heatings costs (less cost of stove & electricity) has been less than 600 dollars for the year. Things have changed and will be playing it close this year on an alternate fuel choice.

bwframe · 07-01-2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by 4sarge

When I moved to the country and discovered the wonderful world of propane pricing, I freaked. Did a little research and bought a high efficient bio mass stove. Corn burning was my preference but since corn has gone from 1.25 bu to 8.00 bu in just 3 short years thanks to ethanol and speculators (I heard 12bu was predicted). I bought enough post season wood pellets on close out to get me thru the upcoming heating season but have given thought to utilizing my wood supply. My propane budget is 25 dollars monthly and coupled with the corn/wood pellet costs my heatings costs (less cost of stove & electricity) has been less than 600 dollars for the year. Things have changed and will be playing it close this year on an alternate fuel choice.

I heated my shop with a multi-grain pellet stove for the past three years. As 4sarge said the price of corn went through the roof. Last year I moved my shop and went to electric heat. Anyone interested in purchasing a used grain/ pellet stove?

4sarge · 07-01-2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by bwframe

I heated my shop with a multi-grain pellet stove for the past three years. As 4sarge said the price of corn went through the roof. Last year I moved my shop and went to electric heat. Anyone interested in purchasing a used grain/ pellet stove?

I'm hoping (dreaming) that I still can find a reliable source for corn at a reasonable price :rolleyesedit:

bwframe · 07-01-2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by 4sarge

I'm hoping (dreaming) that I still can find a reliable source for corn at a reasonable price :rolleyesedit:

Without a doubt, corn burns way hotter than wood pellets.

indyjoe · 07-01-2008

Are you burning the cob, or the whole corn grain?

bwframe · 07-01-2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by indyjoe

Are you burning the cob, or the whole corn grain?

Just the grain.

indyjoe · 07-02-2008

I've looked at the outdoor wood furnaces from Central Boiler. It is a multi-day burning "shed" that gets heat to your central air and water heater via insulated pipes. This seems like the easiest retrofit for wood burning in a house not designed for it. I wonder if it would be hard to use the same loop for going through the solar water heater to do hot water only in the summer, without wood burning, and assist with pre-heating the return in the winter. The price is a little steep, at about $5k to start.

07-01-2008	#12 (permalink)
Warwagon Plinker Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: NW Indiana Posts: 44	disregard.... Last edited by Warwagon; 07-01-2008 at 17:30.

07-01-2008	#18 (permalink)
indyjoe Not your average Joe Join Date: May 2008 Location: Indy Posts: 1,546	Are you burning the cob, or the whole corn grain? __________________ Appleseed Rifleman - 228 - I know what I am about.

07-02-2008	#20 (permalink)
indyjoe Not your average Joe Join Date: May 2008 Location: Indy Posts: 1,546	I've looked at the outdoor wood furnaces from Central Boiler. It is a multi-day burning "shed" that gets heat to your central air and water heater via insulated pipes. This seems like the easiest retrofit for wood burning in a house not designed for it. I wonder if it would be hard to use the same loop for going through the solar water heater to do hot water only in the summer, without wood burning, and assist with pre-heating the return in the winter. The price is a little steep, at about $5k to start. __________________ Appleseed Rifleman - 228 - I know what I am about.

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07-01-2008	#11 (permalink)
Electronrider Plinker Join Date: Apr 2008 Posts: 40	We heat with propane. As of last week, Amerigas was charging 2.56 a unit for the stuff!!! Watching the Lafayette news a week ago, they are already talking about how propane is going up, and to get on a budget plan. A few days later, a friend of a friend was complaining about how much work his woodstove was, and wanted to get rid of it. Long story short, I walked away with a 1200 dollar woodstove for about 200 bucks. The wife and I were ecstatic over that find. Cutting wood is what we call sweat equity. We have a few friends who heat with wood, so we all get together and do a lot at a time, so the work is divided by many many hands, which makes the work both easier, and more enjoyable. We are going to see HUGE amounts of people getting into serious problems over heating bills this winter. If you can find a way to go wood, do it now.

07-01-2008	#13 (permalink)
NEOCON Rifleman Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Warrick county Posts: 254	We heat the house and shop with nothing but wood for nearly 15 years. Living here in the woods 18 acres of it we have trees that get blown down, die or just need to be cut due to maturity. I was a timber cutter for several years after getting out of the Army and still have logger friends. I usually sell the marketable logs to them and then cut the rest up for firewood. I use to sell over 30 cords of wood a year but I don't have time for that any longer. As far as time worth something, out here it is a job that has to be done. If we don't do it we have to pay someone to do it, and I'm not going to do that. It is just one of the jobs that are on the list just like , gardening, haying, mending fence, cleaning the wood lot just fits right in. I figure it is just our way of life. I often wonder what it would be like to live in town and have nothing to do but care for a yard. I believe I would be bored very fast.