Dont Get Burned When Purchasing Firewood: Fill & Download for Free

Well most cost efficient is actually firewood heating via a high efficiency wood stove if your area and neighborhood allows. High efficiency stoves with a catalyst reburner heat remarkably well, and with quality wood they produce little to no visible smoke and less emissions than diesels of a few decades ago. My particular unit is up to 75% efficient and cost $1800 total for the stove and parts and $600 to install.I normally get my firewood for free by going and cutting it myself but if I purchased firewood by the cord at $300 per cord from a commercial firewood retailer (a cord being 128 cubic feet or 3 racks of 4ft high by 8 ft long) its still cheaper depending on average outside temps than a heat pump. Here in Louisiana our winters are very mild with only between 10–24 below freezing lows per year. We only get measurable snow once every 2–7 years on average, sleet about once every other year, and the high temperature never exceeding freezing only happens once a decade. Electricity prices are typically around $0.034 per kwh which is the 2nd lowest in the US as of the time writing this. When I was still using the heat pump for heat it cost between $40–200 per month heating cost alone. I know my average non hvac usage by my electric companies monitoring system which details usage by day and by averaging the days when no hvac was needed (now that I use no electric heating at all I found that this average was pretty accurate). Now since the reversing valve has failed on heat pump with no replacement part available (stuck in a/c mode, im not complaining), I have only heat elements/aux heat via hvac that costs about 1.5x more for heating than using heat pump. I typically use about 1/2 to a whole cord of firewood per season, so valued at about $150–300 per season as compared to $200–500+ per season with heat pump (depended vastly on how much total time was spent below freezing). Electric heat strip only is no comparison at nearly 1.5x that for costs. Natural gas costs seasonally are nearly exactly between electric strip/aux heating and heat pump so I have seen, I am too rural for internet that isnt via satellite let alone natural gas lines so cant compare exactly. Natural gas is much cheaper than electric below freezing however as northern states can tell you.In low outside temperatures the heat pump is not as efficient, whereas once the wood stove is up to temperature it actually benefits it having colder outside temperatures as the draft is stronger allowing for a hotter fire. But it is more cost effective to run a heat pump than burning wood in temperatures more than several degrees above freezing at that low electricity price. So if you live in a colder environment wood heat gets better and better as far as cost is concerned. Weirdly, over 75% of our electricity generation comes from natural gas and again we have the 2nd lowest electricity rates in the US, yet here consumer natural gas is slightly more expensive than average for the US. That makes natural gas in all but the more severe cold snaps much more expensive to run than heat pumps. Intrestingly the better insulation of some homes is making natural gas a still considerable option, since they only really need heating when it gets near freezing. Heat pumps are only installed in housing construction tracts if a very high end, high efficiency unit is installed, for cheaper housing they seem to use natural gas furnace instead since these homes are still so well insulated for the promise of low summer cooling costs they dont need effective mild cold heating.This part of southern Louisiana is in dense forests that are often made up of up to 30% oak wood. I cut my own wood from naturally fallen trees or trees removed/felled due to various reasons, wood is so plentiful here I have been paid a few times to TAKE wood for myself. In rural forest areas if you dont mind the extra work, it takes about 4–6 Saturdays total of cutting, transporting, splitting and stacking per cord that I gather. That time comes out to saving several hundred $ or more, worth it in my opinion since I am quite used to labor such as that. I use about 2/3 cord per winter on average, my F150 bed fits about 1/3 of a cord. So my heating costs are negligible and I often resell some wood for extra profit.