Heating Costs - How do you heat your home?

[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

I'm sharing this not to gloat, but to get the gears turning. We prepare for zombies, plague or economic meltdown...whatever.

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?

[melensdad]

One problem I see with your comparison is that you don't factor in the cost of time. Time to cut, gather, etc. Granted it is good exercise but that is also a very real 'cost' and it is something that must be considered. My gas bill, for a 4000 sq.ft. home is roughly $200 per month. My home has some winter passive solar assist and on sunny days we actually gain heat.

Your points about the costs of energy are excellent. I recall reading an article a while back about a police department that decided to park its cars for most of the day and reduce night patrols too. The cost of gasoline would have bankrupted the department. The chief told people to buy guns and call them if there was a problem.

I also know that the US POSTAL SYSTEM is getting chewed up by high energy costs, expect another stamp increase soon.

[indyjoe]

My new home is all electric. I love to cook on gas, so I have to decide if I want to convert to gas or not. The one thing I keep thinking about is that natural gas and propane will keep going up in price. We import about 75% of NG, if I'm remembering that statistic correctly.

Solar is getting more and more efficient. I think I might be better to stick with electric and spend the conversion money on building up a solar assist to my electric bill. That would still be useful if we got into a crazy situation with utility prices or lost the grid for any reason.

The nice thing is that there is a good fireplace with insert and outside air combustion. This means that it shouldn't rob the house of heat by sucking in combustion air while running and add to the winter heat. Not quite as good as a wood burning stove, but far better than a gas fireplace.

[W9ZEB]

Our home is 100% electric. It's 5 years old, 1601 square feet. Our electric bill floats between $105 and $225 a month depending on the time of year and weather.

[Annie Oakley]

I heat with wood once the temps drop below 40. We have plenty of deadfall that is easy to get to and also barter with neighbors so that they get a load and we get a load. Works out great. The thing I like about wood is that you can cook on the stove top when the power is out. It might be "cowboy coffee" but it still gets you going in the morning.

[Warwagon]

Originally Posted by melensdad

One problem I see with your comparison is that you don't factor in the cost of time. Time to cut, gather, etc. Granted it is good exercise but that is also a very real 'cost' and it is something that must be considered. My gas bill, for a 4000 sq.ft. home is roughly $200 per month. My home has some winter passive solar assist and on sunny days we actually gain heat.

Very good point.

I'm still coming out ahead by a long shot. I only spend 2 weekends worth of time cutting and splitting. (5 cords)

I'm estimating my 'sweat' cost at roughly $50/cord, split and stacked. (includes depreciation on the truck) When I gather wood - there's a truck and a good sized trailer FULL and 4 dull chains. 2-3 cords hauled from the field in one morning. It's not hard at all. I work in Banking... I do nothing with out looking at the numbers... drives my wife nuts. Sounds like you're a man after my own heart. However, if I have a heart attack doing this, you're the wiser of us two.

You must have an exceptional solar system to be heating a 4000 sf home and only have a $200 gas bill this past winter! Wow...that's impressive. Not many can pull that off.

[JcJ]

Originally Posted by indyjoe

My new home is all electric. I love to cook on gas, so I have to decide if I want to convert to gas or not. The one thing I keep thinking about is that natural gas and propane will keep going up in price. We import about 75% of NG, if I'm remembering that statistic correctly.

Solar is getting more and more efficient. I think I might be better to stick with electric and spend the conversion money on building up a solar assist to my electric bill. That would still be useful if we got into a crazy situation with utility prices or lost the grid for any reason.

The nice thing is that there is a good fireplace with insert and outside air combustion. This means that it shouldn't rob the house of heat by sucking in combustion air while running and add to the winter heat. Not quite as good as a wood burning stove, but far better than a gas fireplace.

My house is setup just pretty much like yours.. I am in need of updating my heat pump to modern standards. Ours is 30 some odd year old technology, can't afford geo-thermal right now.. but solar is on our radar. We have gas in our neighborhood, our house might be the only one without it but my wife is bugging me for a gas stove.. and it would be good for a short term shtf. My fireplace insert has an electric fan, powered by my 7500kw genset when needed..

[indyjoe]

Originally Posted by JcJ

My house is setup just pretty much like yours.. I am in need of updating my heat pump to modern standards. Ours is 30 some odd year old technology, can't afford geo-thermal right now.. but solar is on our radar. We have gas in our neighborhood, our house might be the only one without it but my wife is bugging me for a gas stove.. and it would be good for a short term shtf. My fireplace insert has an electric fan, powered by my 7500kw genset when needed..

My choice is a little harder, because they put in a new heat pump a couple years ago. I think if I change to anything it would be geothermal. I have just enough land for straight horizontal piping. If I laid it myself, I would probably not be too expensive. This is a year or two off minimum, assuming our economy doesn't truly tank.

[bwframe]

Originally Posted by Warwagon

I'm still coming out ahead by a long shot. I only spend 2 weekends worth of time cutting and splitting. (5 cords)

Two weekends for 5 cords?

[Warwagon]

Originally Posted by bwframe

Two weekends for 5 cords?

Okay, maybe 4 cords? + ? 24 hours of work time and 3 hours of prep. Ask a firewood company how many man-hours it takes to cut, split and stack a cord. You'd be surprised. Real surprised.


Seems too good to be true, but it's not. You've just got to plan ahead. Most don't when cutting, splitting and stacking, cutting, splitting and stacking etc.... They cut, load, then cut, load on and on. Plan. When felling a tree, plan the fall so the wedge cut is ground down. Stack the trees if felling more than one. You'll out cut your chain, with them stacked there's no thinking or planning on how not to hit dirt. IF you have to hook up and drag the tree with the truck the wedge will act like a ski tip. Drag the trunk over branches and logs you've laid down to raise it up, trim the butt on the ground if you have too before dragging. I have an F250 diesel 4x4, so....

If you're cutting dead fall or logging wood, buy the extra chain and drag it out. 200' of chain is worth the investment. (4) 50' lengths.


I know it seems unbelievable... But it isn't when it's planned out.

My time is way too valuable to waste cutting firewood. I enjoy it, but don't want to spend all summer doing it.