Firewood cutting...

Oldpath

Active member
I'm usually not in firewood mode this time of year but darn I got chilly last night 50* and needed to start the woodstove and it's still going now on JULY 4th, good grief Charlie Brown and just 5 days ago it was over 90*......
So thought I would do some day dreaming of just maybe someday I could afford a firewood processor, either that or as I get older I'll have to go oil, heat pump or electric heat from the Gretta Thunberg solar powered generation crowd mandate.........
 

bczoom

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I've been heating with firewood for years. Like you, I avoid firewood activities in the hot months.

A couple months ago, I replaced our heat pump & indoor furnace/air handler with a new 18 SEER unit. This new heat pump is rated to about 0° (as opposed to the old one that was rated to 35° and is significantly more efficient. This coming winter will be the first test but I'm hoping to pretty much stop heating with firewood. With this new heat pump, using an infrared temp gun, I'm getting 46-48° at the farthest register when the A/C is going and over 90° when in heat mode.

In winters past, I'd be running one of the wood stoves for nearly 6 months straight, 24/7. I'm hoping to just use wood now only on extremely cold days.

If this new furnace works as I hope, if I sold my wood harvesting equipment, I could easily pay the electric bill for the furnace for the rest of my life.
 

Oldpath

Active member
In the past few years I've heard nothing but positive things about heat pumps, I yet to hear someone say they are no good. So I got to seriously look into one in a year or two, summer cooling with winter heating out of one set-up sounds nice. Although paying more to the power company is the only turn off I see but thist didn't good either>>>If your heat pump is nearing its average life expectancy of 10 to 15 years, it may be time to replace.........
 

bczoom

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I have a 5-ton heat pump. Pretty sure that's the largest home-use heat pump there is.
The past couple days it's been over 90° so it pretty much runs constantly during the day as I have it set to 70°. I'd say it uses around $1.50 in electricity per day.
 

Oldpath

Active member
I didn't know heat pumps were labeled in tonnage. Lets see $1.50/day X 30=$45.00/month added to what I'm using now + power company just raise the monthly rate $5-$10/month, thats going to put me way over $100.00/month. Then if one figures in all the invaluable exercise one is loosing, and then have to compensate that in $1.50/day by joining a gym, are we really coming out ahead, ummm this needs more rethinking or I could wait a couple years and see what my body says when I turn 67...........
 

bczoom

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Each "ton" measurement is 12,000 BTU's.

I'll be figuring out which is more cost effective as well as comfortable over the course of a year. As for joining a gym, I'll never do that. I still have plenty of things around here to keep me active.

Don't count that $1.50 per day for the entire year. That's price/day during the hot summer days or extremely cold days.

Part of my reasoning of transitioning away from wood heat is that we recently bought a place down in Florida. Mrs. Zoom and I expect to spend at least a couple months down there in the winter. I don't want the kids having to keep one or both wood stoves running 24/7 while we're gone.

I doubt I'll ever get totally away from wood heat. I have 13 acres of hardwoods and quasi-manage another 25 acres. Just taking out the dead trees will keep me with plenty of wood. I just don't want to "have to" make sure I have at least 5+ full cord available for any given winter.
 

Oldpath

Active member
So what do you think cost more per day, heating in cold weather months or cooling in hot weather months? You mention of the biggest problems with wood heat, someone has to around to keep the fire going, that makes it hard to go somewhere during cold weather months.
 

bczoom

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So what do you think cost more per day, heating in cold weather months or cooling in hot weather months?.
Tough call for the heat pump alone (no wood stoves). I'd say it costs more in the winter but depends on the temperature. If it's above freezing and a sunny day, the heat pump wouldn't run much until night. If it's cloudy and 20°, there's a good chance it's going to run on-and-off for the entire 24 hours of the day.

As for keeping the fire going, it hasn't really been an issue for me. I worked from home the better part of the last 20 years. Now retired but when I do leave for Florida in the winter, I don't want it to be a requirement for the kids to keep the wood stoves going.
 

bordercollie

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Although I am going to sell the old homeplace, sadly... I would be interested in hearing the final tally on this. That sounds mighty cheap to run. My electric bill at the homeplace is $35 before I run any air/heat. If the ac runs oh my it gets expensive with the window unit and then the gas heat is crazy expensive to keep the house actually warm so I don't . I had the ice maker line on the back of frig bust this winter because it was in the line and didn't drain when I cut the water off and opened the faucets. Yes, would love to know how this works out. It sounds great though . :)
 

Oldpath

Active member
Although I am going to sell the old homeplace, sadly... I would be interested in hearing the final tally on this. That sounds mighty cheap to run. My electric bill at the homeplace is $35 before I run any air/heat. If the ac runs oh my it gets expensive with the window unit and then the gas heat is crazy expensive to keep the house actually warm so I don't . I had the ice maker line on the back of frig bust this winter because it was in the line and didn't drain when I cut the water off and opened the faucets. Yes, would love to know how this works out. It sounds great though . :)
That's why most dont leave their home in winter months for more then a few days unless they have back-up heat, heat pump would solve that problem providing power stays on. I would've never thought of draining a ice maker line, not sure I know how to do that, I really have bad luck when taking things apart, stuff dont seem to go back together in good working order, plus Murphy always seems to help me......
 

bczoom

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Y'all have significantly smaller electric bills than I do. My bills average about $170 per month over the year. We do have an all electric house so are usage is a lot more than if we had gas.

Here's my actual usage in KWH for the last year. As you can see, in the winter months we have less usage due to the wood stoves running. Will know more/better this winter as I use more heat pump and less wood.

07/05/20211,530
06/03/20211,174
05/04/2021896
04/04/20211,112
03/04/20211,425
02/03/20211,196
01/05/20211,437
12/03/20201,420
11/03/20201,181
10/04/20201,382
09/01/20201,570
08/02/20202,135
07/01/20201,421
 

Oldpath

Active member
Think my wife said ours is around $100/month, we have gas cookstove but sometimes I wonder if an electric range is cheaper then a gas cookstove.......
 

Oldpath

Active member
This weekend I decided to check out my stove grate, only three more months til firewood season. The old one got wedged some how beneath one of the tabs that hold the grate, so after getting it out in pieces I had my son bring his portable mig welder up and add some more weld to the tabs so they wont bend down again.
Since I have hard time getting more then two years out of a stove grate I welded a thick piece of steel across the top to hold it from sagging, down, maybe what I need is a 1" thick stove grate......
If someone needs a small welder for small out of way jobs this is a good option, Titanium 125.
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