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Planning Ahead for Next Winter

2K views 4 replies 5 participants last post by  Moor 
#1 ·
I am glad to read in this forum that folks are planning ahead for next winter's heating needs. Propane and heating oil both come from crude oil so their price goes up together. I expect that oil prices increases will be a reality all year. Natural gas prices are exceptionally high for this time of year and forecast to stay high all year. They are acting like we had a hurricane when we have not had one.

Please be cautious in burning wood as the risk of house fire does go up. The outdoor wood burning furnaces are a good choice because they keep the fire away from the house. Indoor wood burning will raise the cost of your home owners insurance.

On the other hand being able to heat with wood or other fuel when there is a power failure is important in some parts of the country.

In your planning consider electrical heat, at least as a back up plan in case the cost of fuels goes out of sight.

I am surprised how many folks are getting the free report on saving money on heating that is available through this link.
http://energyboomer.typepad.com/energyboomer/free-money-saving-report.html
 
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#2 ·
We went with the choice of a outside wood furnace because we did not want to deal with the hassle of our insuance company.
That and as my hubby says, the furnace will be outside and not in the house.

We are keeping our current propane set up for heat.
Just using heat exchangers on furnace and the current electric hot water heater.

When I was growing up, we had a big old wood furnace in the celler and had one huge register in center of house to heat the whole house with. We lived on a farm so were able to get some of our wood with our own labor. Then we had a small wood cookstove next to the electric one in the kitchen. Mom would use smaller pieces of wood to heat that room. More than once, we kids were handed big plastic buckets and sent out to scavange for small bits of wood, twigs, bark, etc for a fire starter.
 
#3 ·
I've moved most of the woodpile that we had out front. (We have a neighbor who likes to "acquire" things: plants, rocks, top soil...). One wood racks feel down in the torrential rain we had last week, so that needs to be re-erected. The remaining task is to move the small pile that wouldn't fit on the rack to the back and the wood that needs it split or sized for the wood stove.

We heated with wood (live in NH) for 2 winters, it takes 3 cords of wood for us to do this. Three cords is a LOT of wood. For kindling, I learned to gather twigs, etc. year round, and I have those too with the wood pile.

Finally, I'd say the most important thing we have to do yet is to get the local fire department in to clean the woodstove before heating season. If you live in an area where wood heating is popular, check with your local FD to see if they do this. Our FD is significantly cheaper than any other chimney sweep we've found!
 
#4 ·
We heat with natural gas, and just locked in a price of 1.43ccf for 12 months, after reading that the prices will likley be at least htat high for July, and who knows where they will go from there.

We also have a fireplace, but we just bought this house in APril and have never used one before. The tip about having it cleaned is a good one, and we need to have a screen installed on the top of the chimney.

How much wood would we need to use the fireplace throughout the winter? And what is a good price for it?
 
#5 ·
we don't have a fireplace, but would love to have one. dh and i are looking for our next home. we have decided that there are some things that we will require that it have. one is a fireplace.
when i was little we spent a lot of time in kentucky. all of the family there, only used woodburning cookstoves. one in the living room and one in the kitchen, to heat the whole house. but of course the house's were a lot smaller than a normal house. no bathrooms, only two bedrooms, living room, and kitchen.
but since dh and i are wanting to go more natural and smaller, then we think we might build something like this, if we can buy some land.
 
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