Have you turned on your heat yet?
#81
(10-07-2018, 02:08 PM)tvguy Wrote:
(10-07-2018, 09:00 AM)GCG Wrote: We've had our furnace running twice this season. But just for a couple of hours in morning. We have enough firewood to last until Spring but I think it's more cost effective to run the heater than burn wood at this time of year.

  Yeah depending on what you pay plus I'm sure your furnace probably heats the house up WAY quicker.

I bet you get a deal on firewood? Or do you cut your own?

I buy my firewood from a logger that I know. I've been offered it for free but, because I bid the trucking on those jobs, it's better for me to avoid that sort of thing. I guess it could be argued that I might give a better trucking rate in return for free wood. It's not worth it. It seems trivial but I don't want my boss or our customers thinking that I operate that way.

Usually what I buy is green madrone that is in the way of the fir that they want to log. I buy it in the spring and it's ready to burn by the following winter.
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#82
(10-07-2018, 02:51 PM)GCG Wrote:
(10-07-2018, 02:08 PM)tvguy Wrote:
(10-07-2018, 09:00 AM)GCG Wrote: We've had our furnace running twice this season. But just for a couple of hours in morning. We have enough firewood to last until Spring but I think it's more cost effective to run the heater than burn wood at this time of year.

  Yeah depending on what you pay plus I'm sure your furnace probably heats the house up WAY quicker.

I bet you get a deal on firewood? Or do you cut your own?

I buy my firewood from a logger that I know. I've been offered it for free but, because I bid the trucking on those jobs, it's better for me to avoid that sort of thing. I guess it could be argued that I might give a better trucking rate in return for free wood. It's not worth it. It seems trivial but I don't want my boss or our customers thinking that I operate that way.

Usually what I buy is green madrone that is in the way of the fir that they want to log. I buy it in the spring and it's ready to burn by the following winter.
Nice. I figured you weren't paying 250 to 300 bucks for dry madrone.

I can't quite understand why anyone would. You can buy a hell of a lot of electric heat for that much cashola.

I always wondered, at that price, what is one piece of firewood worth? a dollar? Laughing

Hmm lets see $250 for 128 cubic feet.  If my math is right that's about 2 bucks for one 12x12x12 piece of wood. Blink
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#83
The short answer yes, our heat was turned on....for one night. And I'm not happy about it Wink  We have not started a fire yet though.

Of course I like to wait as long as possible before turning on the heat, like it's a winter competition of sorts Razz  and we were not even close to needing to turn it on yet, however, Grandma was over to watch the kids and considering she would be cold on the surface of the sun, the heat had to be turned on. Damn. The T-stat was back to off the next day, and the competition has resumed Big Grin
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#84
(10-08-2018, 07:17 AM)GPnative Wrote: The short answer yes, our heat was turned on....for one night. And I'm not happy about it Wink  We have not started a fire yet though.

Of course I like to wait as long as possible before turning on the heat, like it's a winter competition of sorts Razz  and we were not even close to needing to turn it on yet, however, Grandma was over to watch the kids and considering she would be cold on the surface of the sun, the heat had to be turned on. Damn. The T-stat was back to off the next day, and the competition has resumed Big Grin

OK I think you should get a mulligan on this one.
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#85
Nope, not yet. Have had 3 fires thus far, but have not turned on the heat yet.
Our first fire last year was Oct. 23, (yes, I inconspicuously wrote it down on a brick next to the wood stove) so we were well ahead of that this year.
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#86
(10-15-2019, 02:44 PM)GPnative Wrote: Nope, not yet. Have had 3 fires thus far, but have not turned on the heat yet.
Our first fire last year was Oct. 23, (yes, I inconspicuously wrote it down on a brick next to the wood stove) so we were well ahead of that this year.

Well having a fire IS turning on the heat Razz So you are out of the competition Laughing

So far we haven't woken up when the temp in the house was any colder that 67 or 68. And we don't need no stinking heat at that temp. I have two window AC units that I need to shrink wrap.
I couldn't have turned the heat on anyway because I'm completely out of pellets.
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#87
(10-16-2019, 11:24 AM)tvguy Wrote:
(10-15-2019, 02:44 PM)GPnative Wrote: Nope, not yet. Have had 3 fires thus far, but have not turned on the heat yet.
Our first fire last year was Oct. 23, (yes, I inconspicuously wrote it down on a brick next to the wood stove) so we were well ahead of that this year.

Well having a fire IS turning on the heat Razz So you are out of the competition Laughing

So far we haven't woken up when the temp in the house was any colder that 67 or 68. And we don't need no stinking heat at that temp. I have two window AC units that I need to shrink wrap.
I couldn't have turned the heat on anyway because I'm completely out of pellets.

You got me there....but my personal benchmark is when I use grid power and turn the switch for the T'stat ON Razz
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#88
(10-16-2019, 11:35 AM)GPnative Wrote:
(10-16-2019, 11:24 AM)tvguy Wrote:
(10-15-2019, 02:44 PM)GPnative Wrote: Nope, not yet. Have had 3 fires thus far, but have not turned on the heat yet.
Our first fire last year was Oct. 23, (yes, I inconspicuously wrote it down on a brick next to the wood stove) so we were well ahead of that this year.

Well having a fire IS turning on the heat Razz So you are out of the competition Laughing

So far we haven't woken up when the temp in the house was any colder that 67 or 68. And we don't need no stinking heat at that temp. I have two window AC units that I need to shrink wrap.
I couldn't have turned the heat on anyway because I'm completely out of pellets.

You got me there....but my personal benchmark is when I use grid power and turn the switch for the T'stat ON Razz

Do you know exactly at what point burning wood is cheaper than using your furnace? I guess it depends on how much one pays for wood.
And how much wood you burn in one month. If people pay $300 for a cord and use half in one month I would guess they could have heated their hose with electricity for $150.
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#89
(10-16-2019, 12:21 PM)tvguy Wrote:
(10-16-2019, 11:35 AM)GPnative Wrote:
(10-16-2019, 11:24 AM)tvguy Wrote:
(10-15-2019, 02:44 PM)GPnative Wrote: Nope, not yet. Have had 3 fires thus far, but have not turned on the heat yet.
Our first fire last year was Oct. 23, (yes, I inconspicuously wrote it down on a brick next to the wood stove) so we were well ahead of that this year.

Well having a fire IS turning on the heat Razz So you are out of the competition Laughing

So far we haven't woken up when the temp in the house was any colder that 67 or 68. And we don't need no stinking heat at that temp. I have two window AC units that I need to shrink wrap.
I couldn't have turned the heat on anyway because I'm completely out of pellets.

You got me there....but my personal benchmark is when I use grid power and turn the switch for the T'stat ON Razz

Do you know exactly at what point burning wood is cheaper than using your furnace? I guess it depends on how much one pays for wood.
And how much wood you burn in one month. If people pay $300 for a cord and use half in one month I would guess they could have heated their hose with electricity for $150.

Considering I never pay going rate for wood, I'd imagine I hit that point very quickly. I start looking for wood EARLY in the year (found what I needed for this winter in March) I always manage to luck out and find someone who is clearing up their property, or had a tree taken down, etc where they do a cheap you haul it price, just an average property owner who has no use for the wood and is not trying to make a living selling it. This years wood I paid a total of $175 from 2 sellers, Got about a cord and half of fir and over a 1/2 cord of madrone. Hauled them both home myself.
We do not keep a fire going 24/7, I start one in the evening once we are all home. I think at the most, if a really long cold winter, I may go through 2 cords, but I've never ran out and always have wood left over come spring. On average about 1.5 cords for the winter.
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#90
(10-16-2019, 12:40 PM)GPnative Wrote:
(10-16-2019, 12:21 PM)tvguy Wrote:
(10-16-2019, 11:35 AM)GPnative Wrote:
(10-16-2019, 11:24 AM)tvguy Wrote:
(10-15-2019, 02:44 PM)GPnative Wrote: Nope, not yet. Have had 3 fires thus far, but have not turned on the heat yet.
Our first fire last year was Oct. 23, (yes, I inconspicuously wrote it down on a brick next to the wood stove) so we were well ahead of that this year.

Well having a fire IS turning on the heat Razz So you are out of the competition Laughing

So far we haven't woken up when the temp in the house was any colder that 67 or 68. And we don't need no stinking heat at that temp. I have two window AC units that I need to shrink wrap.
I couldn't have turned the heat on anyway because I'm completely out of pellets.

You got me there....but my personal benchmark is when I use grid power and turn the switch for the T'stat ON Razz

Do you know exactly at what point burning wood is cheaper than using your furnace? I guess it depends on how much one pays for wood.
And how much wood you burn in one month. If people pay $300 for a cord and use half in one month I would guess they could have heated their hose with electricity for $150.

Considering I never pay going rate for wood, I'd imagine I hit that point very quickly. I start looking for wood EARLY in the year (found what I needed for this winter in March) I always manage to luck out and find someone who is clearing up their property, or had a tree taken down, etc where they do a cheap you haul it price, just an average property owner who has no use for the wood and is not trying to make a living selling it. This years wood I paid a total of $175 from 2 sellers, Got about a cord and half of fir and over a 1/2 cord of madrone. Hauled them both home myself.
We do not keep a fire going 24/7, I start one in the evening once we are all home. I think at the most, if a really long cold winter, I may go through 2 cords, but I've never ran out and always have wood left over come spring. On average about 1.5 cords for the winter.

I never run out of down, dead or dying trees at my place, and spend a good share of my spring time stocking the wood shed.  I have very little need for PP&L when it comes to heat.
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#91
Curious... has anyone here upgraded their thermostat? We've got the cheapo that was installed when our house was built in 2003 that is either/or heat/cool... I've heard it actually saves money to upgrade to the type that you set a temp for specific times of day/night and it will heat or cool as needed. Wondering if this is actually true... and how difficult it is to install? Anybody?
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#92
(10-16-2019, 12:40 PM)GPnative Wrote:
(10-16-2019, 12:21 PM)tvguy Wrote:
(10-16-2019, 11:35 AM)GPnative Wrote:
(10-16-2019, 11:24 AM)tvguy Wrote:
(10-15-2019, 02:44 PM)GPnative Wrote: Nope, not yet. Have had 3 fires thus far, but have not turned on the heat yet.
Our first fire last year was Oct. 23, (yes, I inconspicuously wrote it down on a brick next to the wood stove) so we were well ahead of that this year.

Well having a fire IS turning on the heat Razz So you are out of the competition Laughing

So far we haven't woken up when the temp in the house was any colder that 67 or 68. And we don't need no stinking heat at that temp. I have two window AC units that I need to shrink wrap.
I couldn't have turned the heat on anyway because I'm completely out of pellets.

You got me there....but my personal benchmark is when I use grid power and turn the switch for the T'stat ON Razz

Do you know exactly at what point burning wood is cheaper than using your furnace? I guess it depends on how much one pays for wood.
And how much wood you burn in one month. If people pay $300 for a cord and use half in one month I would guess they could have heated their hose with electricity for $150.

Considering I never pay going rate for wood, I'd imagine I hit that point very quickly. I start looking for wood EARLY in the year (found what I needed for this winter in March) I always manage to luck out and find someone who is clearing up their property, or had a tree taken down, etc where they do a cheap you haul it price, just an average property owner who has no use for the wood and is not trying to make a living selling it. This years wood I paid a total of $175 from 2 sellers, Got about a cord and half of fir and over a 1/2 cord of madrone. Hauled them both home myself.
We do not keep a fire going 24/7, I start one in the evening once we are all home. I think at the most, if a really long cold winter, I may go through 2 cords, but I've never ran out and always have wood left over come spring. On average about 1.5 cords for the winter.
That's pretty much exactly how I roll for wood for my shop. There is free or cheap wood if you get it most people aren't thinking about their wood supply.
I've also done very well by simply driving up in to the woods and loading whatever wood I could find that I could get in to my truck while not using a saw. But last year I pretty much burned only cheap pine beehive scrap wood that I buy in white city.
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#93
(10-16-2019, 12:58 PM)Scrapper Wrote: Curious... has anyone here upgraded their thermostat? We've got the cheapo that was installed when our house was built in 2003 that is either/or heat/cool... I've heard it actually saves money to upgrade to the type that you set a temp for specific times of day/night and it will heat or cool as needed. Wondering if this is actually true... and how difficult it is to install? Anybody?
It can absolutely can save you money. Any way you can control your heat or AC more efficiently will help to some degree.
With a programmable t-stat settings will be automatic instead of manual operation. Like if you turn the heat down at night you can't forget if it's automatic. Or if you aren't at home.
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#94
(10-16-2019, 12:47 PM)Someones Dad Wrote:
(10-16-2019, 12:40 PM)GPnative Wrote:
(10-16-2019, 12:21 PM)tvguy Wrote:
(10-16-2019, 11:35 AM)GPnative Wrote:
(10-16-2019, 11:24 AM)tvguy Wrote: Well having a fire IS turning on the heat Razz So you are out of the competition Laughing

So far we haven't woken up when the temp in the house was any colder that 67 or 68. And we don't need no stinking heat at that temp. I have two window AC units that I need to shrink wrap.
I couldn't have turned the heat on anyway because I'm completely out of pellets.

You got me there....but my personal benchmark is when I use grid power and turn the switch for the T'stat ON Razz

Do you know exactly at what point burning wood is cheaper than using your furnace? I guess it depends on how much one pays for wood.
And how much wood you burn in one month. If people pay $300 for a cord and use half in one month I would guess they could have heated their hose with electricity for $150.

Considering I never pay going rate for wood, I'd imagine I hit that point very quickly. I start looking for wood EARLY in the year (found what I needed for this winter in March) I always manage to luck out and find someone who is clearing up their property, or had a tree taken down, etc where they do a cheap you haul it price, just an average property owner who has no use for the wood and is not trying to make a living selling it. This years wood I paid a total of $175 from 2 sellers, Got about a cord and half of fir and over a 1/2 cord of madrone. Hauled them both home myself.
We do not keep a fire going 24/7, I start one in the evening once we are all home. I think at the most, if a really long cold winter, I may go through 2 cords, but I've never ran out and always have wood left over come spring. On average about 1.5 cords for the winter.

I never run out of down, dead or dying trees at my place, and spend a good share of my spring time stocking the wood shed.  I have very little need for PP&L when it comes to heat.

How many acres do you have of woods? It must be a nice feeling to know you always have a heat source no matter what.
I used to live on 200 acres. But the house was so big and poorly insulated I burned so much wood to keep it warm I found out I could sell the wood any buy propane for a furnace I installed in our living room. And come out ahead of the game. Once during the holidays I burned a 1/4 cord of wood in 8 days.
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#95
(10-16-2019, 12:58 PM)Scrapper Wrote: Curious... has anyone here upgraded their thermostat? We've got the cheapo that was installed when our house was built in 2003 that is either/or heat/cool... I've heard it actually saves money to upgrade to the type that you set a temp for specific times of day/night and it will heat or cool as needed. Wondering if this is actually true... and how difficult it is to install? Anybody?

I upgraded about 4 years ago, and think it works a lot better than the old one, specifically if you use the functions for when no one is home.  I say do it.
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#96
(10-16-2019, 01:43 PM)tvguy Wrote:
(10-16-2019, 12:47 PM)Someones Dad Wrote:
(10-16-2019, 12:40 PM)GPnative Wrote:
(10-16-2019, 12:21 PM)tvguy Wrote:
(10-16-2019, 11:35 AM)GPnative Wrote: You got me there....but my personal benchmark is when I use grid power and turn the switch for the T'stat ON Razz

Do you know exactly at what point burning wood is cheaper than using your furnace? I guess it depends on how much one pays for wood.
And how much wood you burn in one month. If people pay $300 for a cord and use half in one month I would guess they could have heated their hose with electricity for $150.

Considering I never pay going rate for wood, I'd imagine I hit that point very quickly. I start looking for wood EARLY in the year (found what I needed for this winter in March) I always manage to luck out and find someone who is clearing up their property, or had a tree taken down, etc where they do a cheap you haul it price, just an average property owner who has no use for the wood and is not trying to make a living selling it. This years wood I paid a total of $175 from 2 sellers, Got about a cord and half of fir and over a 1/2 cord of madrone. Hauled them both home myself.
We do not keep a fire going 24/7, I start one in the evening once we are all home. I think at the most, if a really long cold winter, I may go through 2 cords, but I've never ran out and always have wood left over come spring. On average about 1.5 cords for the winter.

I never run out of down, dead or dying trees at my place, and spend a good share of my spring time stocking the wood shed.  I have very little need for PP&L when it comes to heat.

How many acres do you have of woods? It must be a nice feeling to know you always have a heat source no matter what.
I used to live on 200 acres. But the house was so big and poorly insulated I burned so much wood to keep it warm I found out I could sell the wood any buy propane for a furnace I installed in our living room. And come out ahead of the game. Once during the holidays I burned a 1/4 cord of wood in 8 days.

I have under 10 acres, but only about one acre isn't forest.  With the beetle kill in the last many years, it seems I always have half a dozen to a dozen trees (Pine, Fir, Cedar mix) dying every year.  Some take a bit to get to the house, but I don't have to buy wood.  I have about a two year supply of madrone as well. My current wood stove is only about 3 years old and my house is 6" wall construction with up to date windows and VERY efficient, which helps.  Like GPnative, if I go through 2 cords, it was a COLD winter.
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#97
(10-16-2019, 02:10 PM)Someones Dad Wrote:
(10-16-2019, 01:43 PM)tvguy Wrote:
(10-16-2019, 12:47 PM)Someones Dad Wrote:
(10-16-2019, 12:40 PM)GPnative Wrote:
(10-16-2019, 12:21 PM)tvguy Wrote: Do you know exactly at what point burning wood is cheaper than using your furnace? I guess it depends on how much one pays for wood.
And how much wood you burn in one month. If people pay $300 for a cord and use half in one month I would guess they could have heated their hose with electricity for $150.

Considering I never pay going rate for wood, I'd imagine I hit that point very quickly. I start looking for wood EARLY in the year (found what I needed for this winter in March) I always manage to luck out and find someone who is clearing up their property, or had a tree taken down, etc where they do a cheap you haul it price, just an average property owner who has no use for the wood and is not trying to make a living selling it. This years wood I paid a total of $175 from 2 sellers, Got about a cord and half of fir and over a 1/2 cord of madrone. Hauled them both home myself.
We do not keep a fire going 24/7, I start one in the evening once we are all home. I think at the most, if a really long cold winter, I may go through 2 cords, but I've never ran out and always have wood left over come spring. On average about 1.5 cords for the winter.

I never run out of down, dead or dying trees at my place, and spend a good share of my spring time stocking the wood shed.  I have very little need for PP&L when it comes to heat.

How many acres do you have of woods? It must be a nice feeling to know you always have a heat source no matter what.
I used to live on 200 acres. But the house was so big and poorly insulated I burned so much wood to keep it warm I found out I could sell the wood any buy propane for a furnace I installed in our living room. And come out ahead of the game. Once during the holidays I burned a 1/4 cord of wood in 8 days.

I have under 10 acres, but only about one acre isn't forest.  With the beetle kill in the last many years, it seems I always have half a dozen to a dozen trees (Pine, Fir, Cedar mix) dying every year.  Some take a bit to get to the house, but I don't have to buy wood.  I have about a two year supply of madrone as well. My current wood stove is only about 3 years old and my house is 6" wall construction with up to date windows and VERY efficient, which helps.  Like GPnative, if I go through 2 cords, it was a COLD winter.
You have it made in the shade Big Grin
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