Do you heat with firewood?

[90Xjay]

Just wondering if anybody else out there in Jeepz country heated with firewood even on a suplimental basis like I do.

I have a wood buring stove that we use but not all the time.
I just use it so save money on natural gas, which is on the rise also.
I cut my own wood so the cost is minimal. I figue I save a few hundred each year.

 

[mingez]

I voted supplimental, cause I might fire it up for ambience reasons. Not really for the heat. Maybe about 6-7 times a winter.

 

[White]

Cost of heating your home is SCARY !

 

[TwistedCU]

RE: coverting fastback to a family style rollcage

I voted yes, because I will be. The house in PA has a fireplace that has an enclosure. There is a fan driven system that draws heat from ducts in the brick. It'll roast ya!

Right now we have oil heat. It is a very efficient system (brand new) and is supposed to be more efficient than gas. That may be the case, but filling that big ol' tank costs me a small fortune @$2 a gallon

 

[White]

RE: ROCKER GUARDS neeeeded! *yj*

I like how you put " Supposed to be " in there.
The oil company are re-marketing oil as the "Clean heat". When really nothing has changed in the last 20 years.
They say firewood is great because it heats you twice. Once when your cutting it, again when you burn it.

Too much work for me.

 

[Inspector-Gadget]

Yes, but only for supplemental heating and ambiance.

We have a traditional fireplace, but I build a fire in it only on special occasions: Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, New Years Eve. Some Sunday evenings, when we can manage to gather all of the Gadgets and Gadgettes for a family dinner.

Prometheus Gadget

 

[mingez]

Prometheus Gadget

You are too much. :lol: :lol:

Subtle and obscure Greek mythology reference received and appreciated. :lol:

 

[MudderChuck]

We have a natural gas heated, heat exchanger, that pumps water to hot water radiators in every room. All of the radiators have seperate thermostates.
We heat mostly with wood, the radiators only kick in when the wood burning stove isn´t throwing heat.
The stove is rated at 5000 W, centraly located so the exhaust heats the brickwork all the way up through the second floor.
Works well, gas bill is down to about half. Only use gas to heat hot water and heat the two bathrooms and occasionally the kitchen.
Burn mostly beech (burns longer than pine), sometimes walnut or apple. Keep a supply of coal bricks, to add a littel heat, during sleeping hours, but the warm brickwork in the house will radiate heat for hours, even after the stove has gone out.
The cast Iron stove, works much better than a fire place.
Most of our problem with cutting wood, is finding the storage for this years cut to dry for a year, before use. I have about ten cubic yards of wood for this winter and another ten cubic yards drying for next winter.
I live in snow country, so we heat all winter.
Cutting wood is a good excuse to go wheeling.

 

[mud4feet]

A big yes, yes, yes!!! When I married the mudwoman and moved up here, we were getting $330+ electric bills in the winter (we live in an "all-electric double wide.........and we're with a co-op!?!?!?). Well, can't have THAT!! We bought a woodstove last winter, put it in late in the season, but saved many bucks (and we both love wood heat, wood smell). Put it in too late last year, so we had to buy wood occasionally (kinda defeats the purpose), but this year, thanks to Francis and Ivan, I've got more wood available than time (I'll be busy this winter). Basking in wood heat as I type, as a matter of fact. Plus, keeps this old geezer in shape, chain-sawin', totin', splittin', totin', feedin' the fire, cleanin' up, totin' (did I mention totin'???????). Good cariovascular exercise!! And renewable!!!!

Nice poll, 90xjay!! I was actually thinking about that myself.

Your smokey, sweating, saving money friend,

mud

 

[graewulf]

I used to, but got rid of the wood stove when I put in gas heat - I was electric/wood. I am saving hundreds a year since I went gas. No savings on burning wood here. I only spent like $100 the worst month on gas - and I heat the basement too. I also have a 92% efficient furnace.

 

[jps4jeep]

Up here in the north east, I spend about $800 a month in the winter to geat my house if I don't burn wood, if I do use the fire stove... that cost is more around $500

 

[LadyJeepFreak]

HOLY CHIT. I thought my cost was bad to heat, you all are blowing me away! I'd have to live in a cardboard box on the street if my heating bills went over $250 a month! Course I only have one wage to work with but still! Good Grief.

Personally, I love wood. I don't own my house and don't have wood heat. My father kept a fire going all winter when I was young. We didn't have central air or heating so we made do with portable heaters (kero) which I hated due to the smell and the fireplace which I hated because the work but now that I'm grown I can appreciate it.

Someday, I'll have a fireplace but like Mingez it would probably be more for the ambience of it not the usefulness.

LJF

 

[judge09]

RE: coverting fastback to a family style rollcage

We are all gas heating in my place, esspecially after chili night, but I love wood fireplaces.

 

[southtj]

We have a gas fireplace that I'm considering switching over to wood burning with a gas starter. I love the smell and sound and looks of a real fire burning in a fireplace. (Recovering Pyro I think) Maybe I'll go to the fireplace store today.

Gas prices are outragous here. Last winter our utility bill was over 300 each month. That's for gas, electric and water. Mostly gas though. I don't think burning a fire would help much on that bill.

A neighbor about 2 doors down must heat with wood because he has a fire burning all the time. I love the smell sometimes but at night it seems to get so thick it makes the wife wheeze. It gets to me sometimes as well.

 

[90Xjay]

RE: Re: RE: Do you heat with firewood?

Great respones everyone. :lol:
That is just plain interesting to me.

I don't mind cutting, spiting and hauling wood, like Mud, it is good for ya.
I inherited a wood buring stove from the guy we bought this house from 8 years ago, it is kind of ineffeciant compared to the newer stoves that can burn a good size log for 6-8 hours, but a new stove would cost about $400 so I just keep shovin it in.

One note my kids Doc brought up about wood heat. It is important to keep some kind of humidifier going to keep moisture in the air.

When the air is dry in your house, your nose and throat can dry up the membranes. (I didn't want to say mucas, but that is what it is)

Good moisture there can actually defend against airborn germs.


It is also important to check your flu for Africanized honey bees before lighting your first fire of the season. :lol: :lol:

It happened to a guy last month here.....bad......real bad......

 

[graewulf]

One note my kids Doc brought up about wood heat. It is important to keep some kind of humidifier going to keep moisture in the air...

Do what I did with mine.. keep a tea kettle on the top of the stove and top it off daily. Works wonders for that problem.

 

[graewulf]

Up here in the north east, I spend about $800 a month in the winter to geat my house if I don't burn wood, if I do use the fire stove... that cost is more around $500

OK, I know you're in Boston but damn! that's expensive... are you all electric? I know It cost me over 300 a month to heat my place with electric (200 if i burned wood) compared to 100 a month with gas.

 

[kcash]

I live in Austin Texas and yes it even gets cold here down by the equator, but we have a fireplace and not a wood stove like we had back in Ohio, so its only good for supplemental heat.

 

[Saurian]

Depends where I am at... The house I live in here with all my friends, all we have is a natural gas furnace. My parents house, fan-driven woodstove in the family room, ceiling fan in kitchen drives heat all over house, cuts furnace run time in half or better over the winter months. Cabin, all we have is a woodstove, there's electricity, but no gas, so if you don't have fire, you don't have heat.

Optimally, when I become rich and shameless and live up north someday, I will have one of those self-tending outdoor boilers like the guy down the way from the cabin has... Fill it with wood, light it, and leave it be, just refill with wood every day... It fans itself when it is cooling off, it dampers down when it's hot enough, and it dumps it's ashes in a little bucket for ya. Meanwhile, it is heating glycol and circulating it through hoses buried in the backyard to a coil in the furnace, very much like the principle of how central air works... No need for the gas burner in the furnace to come on, but you have forced air heat, with no mess in the house.

 

[Tug-n-pull]

Grew up busten wood no more not even for the looks and smells just pop in a video of a fire and call er done! I like the natural gas heated air blowing up through the floor! tug