Do you drive a Prius?

 

I installed a Hardy wood furnace last year. My place is all electric other than that and my monthly bill is $45. This thing sits outside, is made from stainless steel, and heats the water to 160 degrees before it enters my water heater. No fire is ever in your home (my insurance agent loves that) and the heat is unreal. I can get 140 degree heat (if I want to) at the registers when it is below zero outside. You mount a coil in your existing ductwork and a second T-stat and thats about it.

COST: about $5000
VALUE: priceless

 

My house is 900 sq ft.

My main heater is a propane burning furnace. I also have a Propane stove. I use about 50 gallons a month in winter @ $2.35 delivered. I can go all summer on 50 gallons.

I have a fireplace in the living room and it eats a cord of wood a month @ $225 a cord.

 

Wow! $225.00 a cord.[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-shocked.gif[/img] I can buy a tri-axle load for $300. A cord of wood cost $100.00 around here. (cut & split) It used to cost $90. but they've raised the prices some.

 

1000 gallon propane tank, 5600sq feet (dont ask i didnt buy it)

 

My 1800sq ft finished area is about 110 in Jan on Natural gas. Average lows are 15 and highs are 36, but it's usually a lot colder. I turn the heat down to 65 at night and during weekdays while at work. I have a programable thermostat also..I work for a wood and vinyl window company so good windows doors and weatherstripping can all make a huge difference on those areas that seem to be like sitting outside. I'm to poor to afford wood windows,. I own a money pit quad LMAO, so I have some nice Low E vinyl windows..

 

Being a volunteer fireman and living in Canada, the subject of home heating is quite interesting. Wood heat is certainly the cheapest way to go, but also the most risky. Of the fires I fight, about 60% are caused by failure to maintain the chimney, especially the cleaning of the flue pipes. Accumulated creosote can cause a really bad fire, especially if you do not have a metal insert in the older masonry chimneys. Wood is very expensive in terms of labour time and the dirt and dust are a nuisance too. If you can afford it, the most efficient way is the heat pump. Fuel oil, which I use costs about 2.70 Canadian dollars per imperial gallon right now, which is 1.90 per US gal in US dollars. I burn about 500 US gallons per year, or about 1100 US dollars worth. It is quite expensive, but all in all, I prefer it to the hassle of wood heat. If I burned wood, supplied as cut, split hardwood, it would take about 7 cords of 148 cu ft per cord. That is about 14 tons of wood and it would cost me about 175 Canadian dollars per cord, delivered as cut and split. About 1300 canadian dollars a year, which is about 1000 US dollars, give or take. Not much of a saving for all the hassle and the work, plus the need for a shed and the other equipment needed. The killer difference in the economy of wood heat is the extra cost for fire insurance, which is about 400 more dollars per year than for oil. And that is a fair extra charge, based on my fire department experience with wood-fired homes. When I was younger, I went and gathered and cut and split my firewood, but that ate about 10 solid days of really hard work every year, plus an overhaul for my chainsaw, and the gas for my truck to haul it. It would cost me about 80 dollars a cord that way, hand split and stacked, but the savings in cash were nothing compared to the labor. I figure that my time was worth about 2 bucks an hour in the savings gained for gathered wood. The hell with it, it is way easier and not much more expensive to burn oil. Electric baseboard heat is so expensive that it is a non-starter, about 140% of the cost of oil heat.

Now if the SUV crowd would all drive more fuel-efficient vehicles, then the price of oil would be lower and we could all use the extra cash for having fun, couldn't we?

 

For a short while I'm afraid. The action of supply and demand would eventually correct itself, with too much production capability and too-cheap fuel, production would mothball and price would go back to profitable levels.

 

This is not referring to house heating, but part of my low cost of electric housing would include my tankless water heater. It has been in for 2 years now and I would never own another tank type water heater. It only works when you need it to, and I bought one with no electronics. It has 4 heat chambers, 4 thermostats, and 4 contactors,that's it. After looking at electric bills it has saved money that I can see.

 

my dad has a heating and cooling business, the best way to heat a house is in floor heating, its gonna be major to do that to a house that already has some diferent heat source in it but in floor uses hot water from the water heater,, and circulates through out tubes layed out under concrete under the floor, lower costs, but installation prices will cut your head off.