Why??? Thanks for the heads up, Jim! what kind of prices are they getting for wood pellets and corn out by you?
I'm all electric w. a heat pump. I really wanted to go geothermal, but if I remember correctly it was about $15000 more to do so, and it would have just blown our budget out the window when we built our house. Generally, being all electric doesn't hurt me, but when we have these long extremely cold snaps, it bites me in the butt. Last months electric bill was $470 and the month before was $360. It's nice and convenient though. I have pretty well decided that I'm going to put in an outdoor wood burning stove. From my research they are extremely efficient and really only burn when your thermostat gets below where you have it set. I personally, cannot stand burning wood in the house. It's messy and I'm slightly allergic to wood smoke, so I'm always uncomfortable. The nice thing about the outdoor wood burning stove is there's no smoke or wood in the house. Everything is outside and the heat is brought in to the house in the form of boiling water and distributed through the house through the already existing HVAC ducts. I'm hoping to add mine before next winter.
If I didn't already have a built it stove, this is what I'd have too. Went to the farm last Thursday after work and loaded up another load of heat(WOOD).
If you heated your house with wood or corn and you needed to add to it daily to heat your home in the winter, what do you do if you travel? My daughter is on a traveling team and there are many weekends we are gone and we go on vacations too, it seems like if you traveled a lot it would be a pain in the ***? Maybe I am wrong?
Back in Ill-annoy, we had a kerosene heater to help keep the propane bill down. We kept the exterior rooms at about 45 degrees and tried to only heat the living room and keep the kitchen just warm enough that the pipes didn't freeze. I can only imagine how expensive it would be to heat that house now on just propane. As soon as we take possession of this house in UT. We're putting a wood stove in it. There aren't trees out here like back east. Pretty much just junipers, scrub oak, some pine and aspen. On the upside, you can get a permit to cut up to four cords for $25.
I would also have a propane furnace installed at the farm. If we get a corn burner I believe you can get a large hopper so you don't have to load it daily.
For a wood stove, I agree. I probably never will consider an outdoor wood furnace the more I think about it because it's just too much work. But definitely a corn burner.
The only thing that is short right now is cheap propane, with all of the shale drilling going on production is at all time highs.
The one real down fall of burning corn is storing enough of it. Inside and dry yet accessible, and unless you have a vault you will have rats larger than beagles, there're fun to shoot but the women folk seem to have aversions to them around the house.
I received a call last night at 12:30 AM from my natural gas provider Xcel Energy regarding this: MINNEAPOLIS – In the wake of a pipeline rupture in Canada early Saturday morning, Xcel Energy asked natural gas customers in North Dakota, Wisconsin and Minnesota to conserve. “Our natural gas supplies currently are adequate, but the situation in the wake of the rupture in a pipeline just south of Winnipeg is still being evaluated,” said Kent Larson, Xcel Energy’s senior vice president for operations. Supplies most at risk are those to Fargo and Grand Forks in North Dakota; East Grand Forks, Moorhead and Brainerd in Minnesota; and the Eau Claire, Chippewa Falls and Menomonie areas in west-central Wisconsin. Xcel Energy is asking residential customers in those areas who use natural gas to heat their homes to turn their thermostats down to 60 and avoid using natural gas appliances. Businesses that use natural gas also are asked to conserve. Xcel Energy is contacting local officials to ensure they are prepared should conditions change. “Customers should consider using electric space heaters if possible; however, caution should be taken to avoid overloading circuits,” Larson said. “Also, please check on elderly or sick relatives or neighbors to ensure they are safe.” There is a very remote possibility that supplies for Xcel Energy’s customers in the east Twin Cities metro area, including St. Paul, and other parts of Minnesota also could be affected, Larson said, although southern Minnesota also gets natural gas supplies from pipelines to the south. “As a precaution and to maintain system stability, we are asking all natural gas customers to turn their thermostats down as far as possible -- unless doing so would pose a danger to their health or safety -- and to avoid running natural gas appliances. We expect to know more by mid-day Sunday.”
I have a fireplace in my home, but I quit using it because I bought this wood stove! . . Back in 09 I paid $1100. United States Stove Hot Blast Warm Air Furnace, 2,500 sq. ft. - Tractor Supply Co. I have it connected to the duct-work on my home, and I can heat my 2 car garage with it too if I want to! . . I installed the stove in 2009 and it has been great! . . I have to cut a lot of wood in the spring but its worth it! I bought a new Lennox heat pump last July, and after the fire goes out in the wood stove, then the heat pump comes on until I go back outside in the morning and build a fire! . . My wife likes this wood stove because its outside and doesn't make a mess in the house! The wood stove isn't made to have a thermostat on it, but I did a mod to it and have it wired to a thermostat just for it. If the power goes out, I run the wood stove with a generator.
One of the three pipelines is back in service. Excel and We energies are still asking people to keep the thermostats at 60 and not use appliances that use NG.
SO I'm out of the loop... Just filled up my tank today... 2.89 gal. Is this a localized thing or just not got down this way yet?
I believe the supply issues are in the Midwest. I've heard of trucks driving to Missouri just to get propane up here.
I got 200 gallons today for 2.59, so I can't complain. It was over $4 a gallon last week, so at least it dropped some.
Just got the fork lift tanks at work replaced today. Last year we were under a contract and they were $15 a tank. Early this year after the contract ran out they were $37, today they were $63. WOW
