No different than raising a pig for slaughter, having chickens or even a garden. It has to be something you enjoy enough that you don't consider the value of your time in doing it. Like you, I enjoy the whole heating with wood experience. It's work, but it isn't.
I don't know who your utility is, but I'm in the same state and ours is .22 (up from ~.10). Are you taking the entire bill (including delivery charges and other fees) and dividing by the kWh used to get that figure?
A lot of people pay gym fees to get the exercise you get while putting up firewood. I read once that was even part of Muhammed Ali's training regimen. That may or may not be true, yet it makes a good story...
So that is you... A swing and a miss...lol
You actually do THAT for a hobby?!?!?!? WE'RE not WORTHY!!!!
| Read Date | Usage | Month Bll | Per KWH |
| 11/4/2022 | 475 | $162.65 | $0.34 |
| 10/6/2022 | 417 | $144.35 | $0.35 |
| 9/8/2022 | 503 | $171.27 | $0.34 |
| 8/9/2022 | 582 | $149.56 | $0.26 |
| 7/8/2022 | 451 | $104.92 | $0.23 |
| 6/8/2022 | 449 | $104.51 | $0.23 |
| 5/9/2022 | 524 | $119.20 | $0.23 |
| 4/6/2022 | 487 | $111.59 | $0.23 |
| 3/8/2022 | 539 | $121.44 | $0.23 |
| 2/7/2022 | 679 | $141.62 | $0.21 |
| 1/6/2022 | 669 | $138.52 | $0.21 |
| 12/7/2021 | 642 | $133.69 | $0.21 |
| Total Year | 6417 | $1,603.32 |
I think 5030 is correct about pellets being cheaper than propane. Back before I converted to natural gas, I had a forced air furnace fueled by propane. My heating season is 6 months and it cost about $175/month for propane ($1050/season). I bought a pellet stove to use as primary heat and only used 2.5 tons at $210/ton ($525/season). I only used the pellets at night and used the furnace as backup during the day. I kept the thermostat at 66 degrees and the furnace only came on intermittently because of the house being so warm from the nightly pellet stove heating the house to 74 degrees.
That 30+ year old gas furnace may be working well but probably very inefficient. A few years ago I replaced my 20 year old gas furnace with a new 95% efficiency model. The old furnace was only about 70% efficient at best.
Yep. It is very inefficient. And our house is 100+ years old and poorly insulated. This year might be the tipping point for it being worth replacing to get a payback in a reasonable time period.
IF the house is that poorly insulated, it might be better money spent on fixing that instead of a new heat source
We replaced our old Bryant condensing furnace because the secondary HX was cracked with a new Bryant and it is a 95% unit. One thing we found out is, when burning propane, the burner units need to be replaced every couple years as they get fouled with deposits from the propane and then they don't burn correctly and make carbon and that destroys the HX. We now have it on a maintenance schedule. Burner units replaced every 3 years. For us, it's only a backup as we heat with biomass normally.
I only ran the new Traine furnace for 2 seasons on propane, and only for backup when out of town. Last year I had it converted back to natural gas. When I bought the NG furnace I had to buy a propane conversion kit to be installed. I had them put the NG valves and other things in a box, so it was an easy conversion back to NG. The HVAC guy who did the conversion said everything still looked like new, so I guess the limited propane use didn’t do much harm.
$375 for a cord of hardwood? Come to CT, it is $225 which makes your cost per million BTU $15. Your efficiency is low too. A modern wood stove or insert can be 70-80% efficient. Wood wins on this chart by a mile when you factor this in.
Prices are regional. Use prices in your area and compile your own chart and see what works best in your area.
