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mycophdstudent t1_issvxdd wrote

I paid $275 a cord this year and I usually go through +7 cords plus pay about $300 for help stacking totaling $2,225. Vermont's a 7 month heating season so that averages to project $320 a month for me in 2022/23.

Firewood types provide various BTU values but home heating oil BTU is , so I bet a model of Dollars/BTU comparison between oil and various firewood types would be the best approach for answering this.

I found this home heating fuel calculator online which might help. You can adjust variables such as price per unit, BTUs per Unit and Efficiency.

https://coalpail.com/fuel-comparison-calculator-home-heating

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[deleted] t1_issyi7h wrote

[deleted]

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mycophdstudent t1_istbyez wrote

With maple firewood at $275 per cord providing 24,000,000 BTUs/cord burning at 70% efficiency, I'm paying $0.0000164 per captured BTU.

With #2 heating oil at $4 per gallon providing 138,690 BTUs/gal at 80% efficiency, I'm paying $0.0000361 per captured BTU.

80% efficient #2 heating oil priced at $0.0000361 per captured BTU costs 120% more than 70% efficient maple firewood priced at 0.0000164 per captured BTU.

Trade offs are fine with me.

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Rita22222 t1_isvfdva wrote

Four bucks a gallon? That’s a bargain! I just paid $5.35!

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mycophdstudent t1_isvpo0d wrote

Dang. $5.35 a gallon of #2 heating oil burning at 80% efficiency, well that's $0.0000482 per captured BTU.

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mycophdstudent t1_istd62s wrote

Maybe I'll install a steam turbine atop my outdoor wood boiler's chimney to reclaim some of that lost energy converted to steam.

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whatsupbudbud t1_isuri39 wrote

That's crazy we have a NG furnace and a supplemental gas stove. We pay maybe $90-100 for gas a month to run gear at most in the worst of the cold season. 1700sf raised ranch while heating the finished basement.

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