Heating season!

I just read about heating oil users getting hit the most for this winters heat demands. they claim 6% of the nation use oil, about half use natural gas, 38% use electric, 5 % use propane and only 2% use wood! That's something, there's at Least 11 or more people on our road that use wood! I don't think these figures are real accurate!

That's sounds about right to me- you got to remember your part of New York ain't like many places much further away- say Pa, Mass, Maine, oil and wood. Lots of wood, cause lots of trees. Most of the population of the US lives south and west of the Ohio River, and the further west, the fewer trees. And huge hydro dams, local gas, and in some states... not enough trees to think about cutting for heat.

What about all those folks that use "Love" to keep them warm???

That's a good point, i just wonder how they can figure who or how many use wood? I don't see any accurate way to measure that?

Well, they dident give any % for that! Lol

90 % of people live in city's,plenty city's don't allow wood burning anymore.

I like Bruce's idea the best!!! Do they still pay Canadians to make babies? I always liked that government program!
Might be all the bean counters asking oil dealers, gas co customer numbers... stove sales and chimney sweeps... or the nosey gang at your town hall that know what everyone is up to and fill out the reports to state agencies that 'need to know' this stuff... Heck insurance companies have the same info... for sale to the highest bidder

So how much is Alberta paying you to make babies Bison???? What a racket, where do I sign??

If you make little enough in the east they pay you about 85$ a month, and tax you on it. So one big box of diapers and some wipes? As you may have heard our population is not exploding to take advantage of this amazing offer.

Bruce,
It don't make no difference how much you and your son love that 1030. It's still DAMMM COLD spreading the poo in a winters morning without a cab. LOL
Loren, The Acg.

(quoted from post at 18:21:08 10/15/12) I just read about heating oil users getting hit the most for this winters heat demands. they claim 6% of the nation use oil, about half use natural gas, 38% use electric, 5 % use propane and only 2% use wood! That's something, there's at Least 11 or more people on our road that use wood! I don't think these figures are real accurate!

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Considering the number of people who live in town I'd bet that's about right. Check CL for the price of fire wood in you nearest large city.......bet you will be shocked. Ain't cheap. Heck even in Fergus Falls MN I bet that over 1/2 the population isn't burning wood. And FF is about 15,000 people in west Mn. Couple of things stop them, the added price of insurance, most don't have any place to cut wood and are too lazy to do it or just lack the time.

Rick

On a 200 mile trip last year I saw a wood pile in every yard.My wife was driving so I could look around.In a town of 1000 its hard to find a house that dosent use some wood heat.My nephew lives in a large town of 30000.He has burned coal for many years and has just switched to wood.Just bought a stove for my shop from a couple who burned coal for 1 year and wood for 7 years.They run 2 wood stoves,1 in the cellar and 1 in a workshop/garage.Their town has 7000 population.They live right in the center of town.When population goes over 10000 it called a city here.Ive just turned 75 and have spent just 2 winters with out wood heat.Theres no way to count pellet stoves.The price is dropping on pellets.You can buy a ton or a few bags.Many dealers will deliver and stack in your garage.No 100 gallon minimum BS the oil cos pull here.Friend used pellets for 2 years after he could no longer handle wood.He heated his house with 1 bag per day.He passed on this spring.His wife can handle the pellets with ease.Saw 5 pellet stoves marked sold while buying some chain hooks.Firewood is selling for 200.00 a cord here.Firewood can be bought green for 150.00.I have over 100 acres of good cutting.

we are getting ready to replace the old oil boiler I got off ebay and installed with a pellet system by a pro.... Right now, pellets are about 35-40 percent the price of oil (figured on a year's use).... No carrying wood or smelling like diesel... They come with a tank truck and blow them in to a silo thru a pipe running outside....

Jay, you have to remember that NY s doing a pretty good job at outlawing wood burning too. Who wants to mess with DEC and the smoke police? Plus, IIRC you live in the Capital District. Many of those folks couldn't find their butt with both hands, much less feed a wood stove.

well I'd say those numbers are a little misleading -

remember that half the nation doesn't really USE heat.

So they're less likely to have an oil burner just for the occasional cold front. Much more likely to have electric - or gas if they're already cooking/heating water with gas.

I'd like to see these numbers for homes that use heat consistently for 4 or more months a year.

I think you'd see a dramatic rise in the percentage of wood burners then. Electric would certainly go way down.

AND remember too that a LOT of people use wood as a suplement to an existing system.

A house may have oil heat to maintain a minimum temp - but use wood for the bulk of the heating.

If you added a category for that, it'd be muuuuch higher than 2%

I think JR hit the nail on the head.

Bret you crack me up, both hands, cripes I thought you'd give us more credit than that, but even the the 3 hander's around here still have trouble LOL !!!!!

The problem is that there are those who seemingly do not have a clue when it comes to efficient combustion. These people foster smoldering, smokey fires that choke the surrounding people out, and I can say from the experience of having neighbors whom do this in good weather with burn piles etc. its infuriating when you are sitting outside say in May when the apple blossoms are out, and you're choked out by a giant waft of this carcinogenic cloud that just lingers because the air is calm. My father has COPD from asthma or we don't really know, this would trigger something really bad, easily put him in the hospital, thankfully he's 30 or so miles north of here. Its more than rude when folks do this and I have tracked down and spoken to several in my neighborhood about the effects of what they are doing. Personally, I use a burn barrel for papers, cardboard, undesirable wood, brush etc. absolutely no plastic, thick stacks of newspapers or garbage, it all gets sorted, recycled if it can be, some just burn all that and make the surrounding people suffer. My fires are hot, short and burn as clean as you can get, barrel has no bottom and holes above that, its like a blast furnace, roaring to vengeance on quickly incinerating its contents. I take exception to people who don't get it and will act upon it immediately, no one person has the right to cause a situation like this and choke people out with their selfish, cheap and seemingly stupid means to half a$$ attempt to burn and dispose of things that should not be burnt, things that create toxic, intolerable concentrations of smoke that lingers and is highly irritating.

As far as wood burning for heat goes, some don't seem to burn dry wood, most do, but for the most part its not a problem, colder weather, windows being closed etc. However, you get some jerk whom is either ignorant, stupid or careless with a outdoor wood boiler, putting soaked sponge logs into the fire box and smokes out a valley, village or similar populated area, I mean there are other people to consider here and please be cognizant of that instead of being selfish when you heavily contaminate the air with excess smoke. In summary, there's always a bad apple in the barrel and that is what always starts regulation, because masses of others rightfully will not put up with being smoked out by some obstinate, demonstratively unintelligent fool whom thinks they are well within their rights to do so without any acknowledgement of the effects.

We do have DEC and there is a need for it when people cause problems with excess smoke, those whom are so ignorant and stubborn that its either resorting to vigilantism, or DEC. Those who know how to burn properly, are no real problem.

around here you either use nat gas or electric in town.propane or total electric in country. ive NEVER seen a home heated with heating oil here.very few wood stoves except for backup, and most of them are now pellet stoves.

(quoted from post at 12:58:50 10/16/12) AND remember too that a LOT of people use wood as a suplement to an existing system.

A house may have oil heat to maintain a minimum temp - but use wood for the bulk of the heating.

If you added a category for that, it'd be muuuuch higher than 2%

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That's exactly how we operate. Oil for back up heat and for hot water. The wood stove runs pretty much non-stop from November until March, but it's not always enough to keep the house up to temp, so in that case the oil kicks on. And of course for the hot water. Average year we go through about 3-4 cord of wood and about 500 gallons of oil.

wish we could get bulk pellets here. Only by the bag (or ton of 50 bags).

When I was living in northern New Jersey (over 50 years ago) - just about everybody heated with oil. In retrospect I wonder why they didn't use natural gas since there was a pipeline there. I suspect because so many houses originally had coal-fired furnaces and were easily converted to burn oil.

Here in central New York - I suspect half the (petro fuel buyers) have oil and other half propane. Not long ago, oil was the best bargain, but propane burned cleaner and required less maintenance. Now? Really no difference in dollar per BTU.

I heat 100% with wood and the fire has been going now for three weeks. Not easy to keep clean on those days when it almost isn't needed. We had the fire going and the windows open yesterday.