The Virtues of Wood

Hi Everyone,

Before I get into today's blog, I have to again give my opinion regarding the upcoming fiscal cliff that this country is fast approaching. It appears that the GOP is again holding this country hostage over the one issue of increasing taxes to the wealthy 2%. Will history repeat itself? Romney and his plans/policy lost the election and President Obama and his plans/policy won. Did you know that 65% of recently polled people approved increasing the tax rate of the wealthy. What's not to get? Now is the time to compromise on both sides and that includes tax rate increases for the wealthy and cuts to government programs. It will be the GOP's fault if the fiscal cliff becomes a reality and this country goes into another recession. A small minority of GOPers, tea party members, are themselves holding their own GOP hostage. Something has to give soon, or else!!! Time for the GOP to do the people's will and stop being selfish worrying about their re-election and the wrath of Grover Norquist.

And now for today's blog... Those of us old enough will remember when it was affordable to heat one's home. Those days seem to be a far distant memory, especially when heating bills just keep going up and up. Isn't there a solution to heating your home without breaking your bank account? If you think about it, the three main stream ways to heat your home are: oil, propane or natural gas. There are accessories that you can add to your heating system to make it more efficient, i.e.: hot water solar panels, geothermic wells and upgraded burner units etc. All three are pricey and the payback will take years.

My common sense solution is an obvious one.......... a wood stove. Now I fully understand that wood stove use is not a viable option for all applications. But for those who are able to use a wood stove, the benefits are immense. When a gallon of oil went to $4.25, that's when my wife and I decided to buy one. That was four years ago and we have never looked back for many reasons. The first reason is that at $4.25/gal, times the number of gallons of oil we didn't have to buy, for that first winter, the wood stove actually paid for itself within one year. Unheard of. We also use the wood from our property and have only had to buy two cords of wood during the second and third year of use. The second reason is that the cost of a full cord of wood, 4'/4'/8', is about 80% less then what it costs to fill our 275 gallon oil tank and they both last the exact same amount of time, 2 months. One cord of wood costs $200.00 or $100 per month and filling up a 275 gallon oil tank costs approximately $1,000 or $500 per month. The third reason is that instead of lowering the thermostat to save money and then having to wear sweaters to stay warm, using our wood stove, the temperature is a balmy 75-80 degrees. If it gets to hot, you open a window or as many as you like. The fourth reason is that we no longer have winter time static electricity. There is a kettle on top on the wood stove and that gives the house a very comfortable 45-50% humidity level, instead of around the 30% humidity level when we used our boiler. The fifth reason is that wood is a renewable fuel source, enough said. And finally the last reason is that new wood stoves now come with a catalytic converter which makes them burn wood cleaner and more efficiently.

FYI, there are even wood stoves that can be connected to your hot water baseboard heating system. There are also whole house wood burning furnace systems that are located outside your home, in its own little building. Some counties have laws restricting the use of those outside wood burning furnaces though. Besides the regular looking wood stoves, there are wood stoves that are highly artistic and futuristic looking and others that are unique in style and colors. There are wood stove inserts that fit directly into your existing fireplace. They aren't as efficient since the majority of the stove sits directly under the fireplace's flue opening.

Using a pellet stove is more expensive then a wood stove due to the fact the the cost of pellets is about $300-$400 per month vs. $100 per month for the wood.

If you would like to pay considerably less to heat your home and if you like to have a warmer than normal home and if you have the ability to have a wood stove, why not consider one? It just makes sense and can save you cents.

Til next week,

Peter