I switched from wood to propane NF

[captpierre]

Here in York Region you can buy seasoned hardwood  firewood at Lowe’s, CT, Home Hardware etc. I often count the split pieces and it usually costs between  50 cents and a dollar a piece!  And that doesn’t include delivery. I guess it’s mainly people who use it for looks than heating that buy this stuff. I’m sure it’s cheaper to heat with propane unless you can source your wood for considerably less. 

[Old Ironmaker]

The only accurate way to pre determine if a gas fireplace will do the job of heating your place entirely is to do an accurate heat loss calculation. If you know how to use a tape measure and know all the construction hat will give you the BTU's required. Heat loss calculators are free on the net. The 50,000 unit could not keep up so we had to supplement with electric in the rooms at the back, 1 bedroom and bathroom. When the wind was blowing off lake and it was -10C or so we slept upstairs in the loft, it was hot up there.

After those 2 terrible winters 3 and 4 years ago we finally bit the bullet and installed a direct vent hi efficiency NG furnace and ran duct work through the floor of the upper loft. Now all the rooms are crispy warm and zero electric heaters to supplement. I bought the 80,000 BTU or so  unit wholesale and all the ductwork wholesale as well. I didn't tear out drywall we ran the registers in the ceilings. My brother installed it for the family price, not free though, and it was less than another gas fireplace. In my opinion a forced air furnace is far better then any single gas fireplace as primary heat. A wood stove trumps a NG fireplace for primary heat. A fireplace cranked can not give you anymore BTU than it is rated for. Log burning  is giving off 900F, a gas unit will never reach that.

The bonus of forced air is cleaner air and humidified air,  plus I can add central A/C.

( when I insert typing the new text is eating the text that was there like Pac Man, I can't remember what keys to hit to stop this, please help)

Edited December 10, 2017 by Old Ironmaker

[irishfield]

1 hour ago, captpierre said:

Here in York Region you can buy seasoned hardwood  firewood at Lowe’s, CT, Home Hardware etc. I often count the split pieces and it usually costs between  50 cents and a dollar a piece!  And that doesn’t include delivery. I guess it’s mainly people who use it for looks than heating that buy this stuff. I’m sure it’s cheaper to heat with propane unless you can source your wood for considerably less. 

Red Oak and Maple costs me about $5 per bush cord in gas/oil... and 8 hours of hard labour! Somewhat less when the better half is helping..

[Old Ironmaker]

Do you have enough wood Wayne? But then again you don't live south of Buffalo NY as we do so I guess it depends how cold it gets up there and it gets cold. There is a guy that has a place in Turkey Point and he brought up 3 huge Palm trees in his 53' trailer 15 years ago. He sticks them in the ground ever year then I guess stores them someone warm over the winter. I convinced my B-I-L from Halifax they grew here, he passed on that info to his beys down home.

[SirCranksalot]

1 hour ago, irishfield said:

Red Oak and Maple costs me about $5 per bush cord in gas/oil... and 8 hours of hard labour! Somewhat less when the better half is helping..

 

 

No splitter??

[Terry]

yeah,...... Wayne

[irishfield]

LOL Terry.. I have two, one that hooks up to the tractor and one that runs with it's own gas engine. I can't stand going that slow! Just wish my left arm would come back to full, but at least she's back at about 40%.

 

OI, the dried limb shed pile (40' long x 6.5' high) and the 5' high x 8' long 6 rows behind a single sea can are gone.. that was last years burn! About 5.3 bush cords.

Edited December 11, 2017 by irishfield

[SirCranksalot]

A bit much for a sledge and a wedge!!

 

[irishfield]

Nothing but a 8lb maul axe. Been doing it for 25 years. Great way to keep a 55 year old in shape!.. or die trying!

Edited December 13, 2017 by irishfield

[irishfield]

Lew, looking good over there!!! I thought that was why you invited the daughter over on weekends for supper, to carry the wood in for you! LOL

I hear yah on the mess though, if I didn't have almost 90 acres of hardwood forest to keep cleaned up I'd switch quicker than poop through a goose!

[SirCranksalot]

How the heck do you split the bigger ones---say 16"----w/o a wedge?

[irishfield]

Lop the sides off first, then split the center into two night logs. Now get into some narly limbed oak or maple then the odd one needs to visit the splitter, but rarely. The birch in the picture I had to use the hydraulic for the bottom 4 x 16" lengths only, the rest of the tree was done with the axe.

[Old Ironmaker]

3 hours ago, irishfield said:

 

OI, the dried limb shed pile (40' long x 6.5' high) and the 5' high x 8' long 6 rows behind a single sea can are gone.. that was last years burn! About 5.3 bush cords.

All by hand! No need to join no stinkin' gym for Wayne. By hand!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Everyone of you Ford and Ram guys did you notice what truck Wayne has to haul all that lumber? A real truck, no fake plastic wood grain interior,  12" TV screen in the dash or coolers under the floor in the rear required. A work truck that works. Good choice Wayne.

[irishfield]

LOL OI.. it's my Father in laws farm truck, only one I had in the yard with an 8' box to fit a full cord and I didn't care how bad I hurt it or if it made it to the pile!! 

[Old Ironmaker]

14 minutes ago, irishfield said:

LOL OI.. it's my Father in laws farm truck, only one I had in the yard with an 8' box to fit a full cord and I didn't care how bad I hurt it or if it made it to the pile!! 

For me it was the other way around Wayne. I had just finished doing the body, paint, chrome DeeZee accessories, real deal Cragger chrome wire rims and dear old Dad asked to borrow, no told me was borrowing my 78' Dodge  (yes I said it Dodge Ram). I thought to move get some new clean furniture or something because no one in his right mind would pile old bricks from a backyard brick BBQ in the freshly painted bed, would they?

As far as buying a Ram, please read my tag at the bottom of this page.

Sorry about the hi-jacking.

Edited December 11, 2017 by Old Ironmaker

[Sinker]

9 hours ago, Old Ironmaker said:

All by hand! No need to join no stinkin' gym for Wayne. By hand!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Everyone of you Ford and Ram guys did you notice what truck Wayne has to haul all that lumber? A real truck, no fake plastic wood grain interior,  12" TV screen in the dash or coolers under the floor in the rear required. A work truck that works. Good choice Wayne.

Ha.....thats only because Wayne's FORD could never handle a load like that!! My RAM would laugh at it! LOL

 

S. 

[fish_fishburn]

Yep there comes a time when we  all get to old to haul wood and carry by the armload into the house. I have been doing it since I was old enough to carry wood My stove is in my living room so its easy for me no basement stairs. I am 56 yrs old and will probably do it for another ten years or so. That's as long as the cost doesn't get much higher. This year I paid 300.oo for a full chord of red oak split and dried for a year and a half. I use three chords on average per winter.

[ch312]

We have a quality wood insert (Pacific Energy) in the house we bought two years ago and we are loving it as it's super easy to control and is very efficient. Three wheel barrow loads of split wood last about 10-14 days so it's not too time consuming loading up the basement with wood every couple weeks or so and with it's large firebox I am using larger than normal pieces of wood for longer burn times. I do not bother with kindling and just load the stove with some newspaper in the right spots and the fire is burning in no time. I use a Fiskars 8lb maul so splitting is effortless and the wood carrying bag practically eliminates the mess inside. I could see someone older wanting to switch to propane, but being younger and having such a great insert I can't see myself getting rid of it any time soon. 

I'm not a fan of propane prices fluctuating so much between the seasons (nearly $.20/l between summer and winter) so my goal is to use as little propane as possible. I think our 2 year old high efficiency propane furnace has been on 3 times int he last year? 

 

 

 

[jimmer]

I sure wish I could talk my wife into switching from wood to propane.  I can't stand the mess of the wood and the dust it creates in the house, never mind the affects it has on our lungs.

[SirCranksalot]

22 minutes ago, jimmer said:

 never mind the affects it has on our lungs.

If you have a wood stove you shouldn't be smelling(or breathing in) smoke, or do you mean when you go outside?

[Sinker]

1 hour ago, fish_fishburn said:

Yep there comes a time when we  all get to old to haul wood and carry by the armload into the house. I have been doing it since I was old enough to carry wood My stove is in my living room so its easy for me no basement stairs. I am 56 yrs old and will probably do it for another ten years or so. That's as long as the cost doesn't get much higher. This year I paid 300.oo for a full chord of red oak split and dried for a year and a half. I use three chords on average per winter.

I got a load of logs for $860 delivered. 90% red oak. Almost 7 cords. The mess in the yard sucks, but thats my wifes job lol.  The neatly stacked firewood is a thing of beauty. I also scored about 3 cords of maple for $300. I had to go pick it up, but still a great deal. 

I have a chute in my garage that goes to a wood room in my basement, so filling the wood room is pretty easy. Once its inside there isn't a lot of mess. 

 

S. 

[jimmer]

54 minutes ago, SirCranksalot said:

f you have a wood stove you shouldn't be smelling(or breathing in) smoke, or do you mean when you go outside?

I mean the dust that comes from it when cleaning out the ashes or loading it up.

[jimmer]

53 minutes ago, Sinker said:

I got a load of logs for $860 delivered. 90% red oak. Almost 7 cords. The mess in the yard sucks, but thats my wifes job lol.  The neatly stacked firewood is a thing of beauty. I also scored about 3 cords of maple for $300. I had to go pick it up, but still a great deal. 

I have a chute in my garage that goes to a wood room in my basement, so filling the wood room is pretty easy. Once its inside there isn't a lot of mess. 

 

S. 

It is a challenge to find good wood at a reasonable price. I just can't handle doing log lengths anymore.

[pics]

I have a tree company that supplies me for wood.. They text me the address and I go pick it up. I bought a splitter from Canadian tire for a grand and so far my buddy and I have split 20 face cords.. I have a high efficiency wood insert but they don't seem to heat like a wood stove can.. Either way the gas fireplace upstairs and the insert downstairs has the house warm enough that the furnace is still turned off.. 

[SirCranksalot]

33 minutes ago, jimmer said:

I mean the dust that comes from it when cleaning out the ashes or loading it up.

Here's a trick I use when cleaning out: I lite up some paper or cardboard in 1 corner. It creates enough draft up the chimney to take most all the dust with it. I don't get much dust at all when loading.