Re: tall chimney blues

Neon John <no@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On Mon, 14 Jan 2008 15:37:45 -0500, Jim Elbrecht <elbrecht@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
-snip-
then you should look into gas. Vented or unvented- LP or natural. The
cost per BTU is comparable if buying firewood, and the efficiency is
better with the gas stoves.

In what alternative universe? Certainly not this one. I paid $100/cord* for my two
cords of hickory ($20 extra per cord because I'm at the end of a 20 mile mountain
road) that will comfortably (and exclusively) heat my cabin for the winter with some
left over. I use a fireplace wood stove insert by Buck.

I'm guessing you are referring to a face cord- or you live in a very
special place. Around here [near Albany, NY] you'd pay 150-250 for
"hardwood"- and extra for delivery. Hickory would be a rarity-
maple, beech, oak are more likely.

So lets say, for the sake of argument, you're getting 26million BTUs
for a full cord of wood at $250, delivered. [which is a fair bargain-
but if you try hard you might match it here]

I use propane, so if I wanted to match that I'd need to buy about
10million BTUs of propane. I lose nothing up the chimney- my room
is never too hot- and I can turn it off in an instant, so I never warm
an empty room.
91.6Kbtu's in a gallon of propane= 109gallons of propane.
109x [last weeks price & the most I've ever paid] $3.30= $360
[when I switched to gas LP was $1.80 and I was still paying $200 a
full cord, delivered]

I don't have Natural Gas, but if I'm doing the math right- it would
cost about $80 for 100 therms- plus delivery charges from National
Grid. I think it would be cheaper than local firewood.

But, for me, this winter, for $110, I don't ever have to worry about
carting heavy wood loaded with dirt, bugs and ice into my house. My
space is warm when I want it to be- and I can shut it off in an
instant and not worry about a fire.

My house is cleaner; I don't have a chimney sucking a draft through
the house ; a pair of gloves lasts me the whole winter; I don't have
to maintain all the cutting and splitting tools and equipment.

The hours I used to spend splitting, stacking and moving wood are now
spent at leisure- but if I was really intent on saving that last $100
I could get a job at McD's for a week to make up the difference.

So for me, gas has been and still is a bargain. YMMV

I have a 500 gallon propane tank sitting out back which is empty this year. The
reason is that at $2.50 per gallon, I didn't feel like taking out a second mortgage
to fill the thing. The summer pre-season buy-in was $2.00 a gallon. Still way too
much.

I've been watching the 'buy-ins' on LP & oil in this area. So far,
for the last 3 years I've done better by not falling for them.


I would normally use half to 3/4 of that tank over a winter, firing a floor-standing
vented furnace. That would be from $625 to $938 to heat with propane vs less than
$200 with wood.

There is a world of difference between a furnace and a space heater.
The comparison to a stove should be a stove.

*mixed hardwood, cut, split, delivered and stacked in place goes for around $60/cord
in this area. Pure hickory usually $20 more.

You aren't talking about a real cord, are you? [4x4x8?] If you are-
where are you?


Oh, and as to hardware costs, don't be silly. Buying an expensive truck, splitter
and chain saw is one route, of course. Another is my way. I have a $49 electric
chain saw that I've had for 4 years now. I run it on either the 1500 watt inverter
$79 from Sam's) permanently installed in my full sized car or my $99 1kw Northern
Tool generator. I've hauled many a cord of wood in the trunk of my Caprice.

I'm with you on your method wood cutting/splitting-- but 90% of the
folks I know who burn wood spend more on the toys 'necessary' than
they'd spend on #2 fuel oil every year.


I figured that the saw would be a 1 or 2 year throw-away but amazingly, it's still
running as well as it did new. I'm MUCH less exhausted at the end of a day of
handling this under-5 lb saw than I am using my big gas saw.

That one of those little Remingtons? I had an electric 20 yrs ago
that was junk- but I picked up a Remington electric on a whim one day
to do some indoors work and haven't gassed up the Poulan in years.


Jim
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: tall chimney blues
    ... If I'd meant a "face cord" (or rick or any of the other fictious wood measures) then ... What you don't know about modern wood heat. ... case I get sick and can't stoke the stove but normally, give me a fire any day. ...
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  • Re: tall chimney blues
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