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a lot of us have wood boilers and 10-12 cord is pretty average for that type of unit, BUT- we get our hot water off it, we use it year round because its cheaper than electricity, gas or oil for hot water and it heats the whole house just like a furnace, so we arent just heating a room. also, for those of us that i know with wood boilers, we buy our wood full length by the truck load, my husband and i buy 2 truckloads at a time every february, which is enough for about a year and a half. we cut it to length and split it ourselves whenever the weather is fit- usually takes three hours or so a day for about a week or two to get it all cut and then we rent a splitter for a half day. we do it then because its cooler and no black flies- a 20 to 30 degree day is optimal for working outdoors. its seasoned and ready to use by the end of the summer. not sure what a truckload goes for now, all depends on weight and type of wood. but it costs significantly less to heat the house even at 10-12 cords.
Thanks mommax3plus2! I was starting to worry that it was way too much. The boiler does heat our water as well. Do you own a splitter or rent one? We have 2 seasoned cords now. Do you suggest we just try to buy split and seasoned wood now to get us through winter?
Thanks mommax3plus2! I was starting to worry that it was way too much. The boiler does heat our water as well. Do you own a splitter or rent one? We have 2 seasoned cords now. Do you suggest we just try to buy split and seasoned wood now to get us through winter?
12 cords, that is a BIG pile of wood, we have a new 1400sq.ft. bungalow with a full basement and we used 2 1/2 cords last year, ordered 2 cords this year, and we are 200 miles north of Maine (Canadaland) and I'm sure it's colder here than Maine. Is the house old, and/or insulated? windows eat up most of the fuel bill too. We pay $140 per cord of hardwood, cut, split, delivered and it's aged about a year.
we rent a splitter because we get some pretty big wood every time we think about buying one, the size we need just is too expensive.
we paid about $24 per thousand for hard wood, works out around $900 a load- somewhere between 6 and 7 cord of wood- so we figure 16-1800 a year for heat and hot water is pretty good- last time we were getting ready to write out a prepay check for oil (several years ago when price spiked) they were looking for $5k for about 600 gallons of oil and 400 of propane- we used that money to buy the wood boiler.
our house is not yet 20 years old- 24x36 cape with 18x22 addition, we heat the basement too.
a lot of us have wood boilers and 10-12 cord is pretty average for that type of unit, .
If you are burning 10-12 cords of wood to do anything, you are paying WAY to much. As I said, I heated 2100 sq. feet with 3-4 cord. There is no way that heating my water costs more than two cord, so you are paying DOUBLE what I was. And, if you are running that wood-boiler all year round you are producing tons of pollution and wasting tons of BTU's.
The sales pitch for wood furnaces is the day-to-day convenience of thermostat operation. Set what temp you want the house to be, and the furnace will handle the rest. It is a convenience issue.
Also that by having it outside it is seen as cleaner. Not clean in the context of air pollution, but clean in terms of wood particles and ash in your house. You can keep your carpet clean longer since nobody is hauling firewood into your house. The convenience of less house cleaning is a big selling point.
Nobody said they were fuel efficient.
Nobody said they do not smolder.
Picking on how much wood they use, or how much smoke they put out are not topics printed on sales brochures.
The sales pitch for wood furnaces is the day-to-day convenience of thermostat operation. Set what temp you want the house to be, and the furnace will handle the rest. It is a convenience issue.
The best I ever had was a 2,000 square foot solar home I owned in Caribou. I heated it with a pellet stove for under $500. That was sweet.
My sister has one of those outdoor boilers, but she heats her water with electricity when she doesn't need heat. She likes it, and she lives far from her neighbors.
This is a great thread, lots of things for me to think of as I am looking for my new home in the spring.
Not sure if I should start a new thread for this, but it fits in with the burning topic, if you were going to use a wood stove to heat with, would you get a regular one to burn cut and split wood in, or one that burns pellets? which is better, and cheaper to heat with?
This is a great thread, lots of things for me to think of as I am looking for my new home in the spring.
Not sure if I should start a new thread for this, but it fits in with the burning topic, if you were going to use a wood stove to heat with, would you get a regular one to burn cut and split wood in, or one that burns pellets? which is better, and cheaper to heat with?
Pellets are easy and convenient, but the regular wood stove still works when the power is out.
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