I run through fifteen short bed pickup loads every winter. The old HotBlast sure does love to be fed a lot but it saves me thousands on electric every winter. Im lucky and have 500 acres to cut on so I don't have to buy any wood.
I stopped burning it now three seasons ago. It was getting more expensive than my gas heat. We burnt it for over 20 years at this house, I'd gather most of it myself, then I started buying it because it was getting harder to get into the state parks to gather it. Then the cost to buy it became insane, and getting older doesn't help. I''d buy three cords at a time and I don't like looking at that pile in the driveway, so it had to be stacked the same day. LOL
I guess there is a modern version of this same story. I only use firewood when the temp is below 27 F, otherwise my electric heat pump is cheaper. At 27 F the heat pump stops, the propane boiler kicks in, and firewood is competitive with that.
I hear ya, we had a good run with it, too much work for me now and the only way to make it cost effective is to gather the wood. I'd have to gather at least five full cords a year, no thanks! I do miss the fire. Good point about insurance, I could see the EPA at some point putting the end to them here in NY. They were pushing for all electric heat, hot water, and stoves. They were even talking about electric pizza ovens lol. That seems to have quieted down a bit, at least for now.I guess there is a modern version of this same story. I only use firewood when the temp is below 27 F, otherwise my electric heat pump is cheaper. At 27 F the heat pump stops, the propane boiler kicks in, and firewood is competitive with that.
I purchase split fir and feel that is a better deal than me travelling into the woods and gathering up wood, chain sawing, hauling and splitting it. For each his own.
As for cleaning the chimney goes, my chimney is double walled stainless steel. I hired a chimney cleaner and there was absolutely no creosote. My modern air tight stove with a fresh air intake burns at 500 F. There is hardly any visible smoke coming out the top. Meanwhile my neighbours stove smokes up the neighbourhood.
Finally, for small diameter double wide chimneys, not the old style brick chimneys, the chimney cleaner uses a rotary brush and feeds the sections of rotary rods up through the inside of the stove from the ground level. No more climbing on the roof.
It’s going to drop from 32 F to 14 F tonight. I plan to stoke up the fireplace for the first time since last winter. I still like a fire in a wood stove. I imagine the insurance companies will shut that down eventually.
I understand. If we had to buy wood it wouldn't save any money at all. In my area a truck load went from $50 to $175 in just the last few years.
That's a really good thing you are doing for people. Thank you.
pit … 
I often wondered about that as I've seen a bunch of cobbled-together wood burning furnaces and asked myself why there aren't more house fires.
The boilers and air blowers go pretty cheap on the used market. People buy them not knowing it is a lot of work. My neighbor sold his after one year.
Yep, 5 cords is a bit of work! A smaller well insulated house makes it pretty manageable, and we go through 2-3/year and some years I have been lazy and bought a cord or two, but last year it was $375! Ash borer is going through my parents place so they had a couple nice saw log trees, 40'+ to the first branch, and clear ash splits like butter, so the boys and I did 2.5 cords of that in a few evenings.
You have heat pumps up there? I thought mine was ridiculous here in WV.
Yes, the cold weather heat pumps can run down to 0 F. Mine is 13 years old and can only run down to 27 F. A lot of advancements were made in the last 10 years. My neighbours Daiken is a good example. I went over to check and it was running fine at 0 F last winter. Anything below that and the electric heater strips kick in.
Those mini splits are easy on electric. I might install a couple next year and do away with my power hungry electric furnace. Now that the kids are all gone we only use two of three rooms in the whole house.
Ok you are talking about mini split heat pumps. They are great. Thought you were talking about a regular heat pump.
Mine is regular heat pump and so is my neighbours Daiken. The Daikin is truly a cold weather heat pump.
My house is small, but old and not all that energy efficient. I also have an insert not a free standing stove so ~ 2/3 of the heat is in the fireplace lost. A blower pushes the heat into the living room, so efficient it's not. We'd easily burn 5-6 full cords or more a year of wood, with the heating system supplementing a bit. Last price I got for wood was $325 a cord. You have to be careful here on L.I. because we have what they call a face cord which is not 4'x4'x8' it's 2'x2'x8', so you have to ask the guys selling wood for $225 a cord. They typically hang up when you ask if they're selling a full 4'x4'x8' cord. LOL
