I have a natural gas furnace and got tired of paying $250 a month to heat my home in the winter so I bought a Vermont Castings wood stove, catalytic.
For November my gas bill was only $118 and December was $75!
I am so glad I installed the wood stove!
I am plenty warm and sometimes too warm I have to crack a window.
I don't have to wear sweaters or use an electric blanket like last winter ...I was always cold trying to keep the thermostat at 68 degrees or 65 at night.
The bill would be lower but I installed a gas stove downstairs as a wood one would have been cost prohibitive but it just warms the downstairs and is on a remote thermostat so if the electricity goes out the stove still comes on once the temp drops below what I set it at so no frozen pipes and if I am gone and the temp upstairs drops then the furnace will kick on as a default!
Plus the stove once it reaches 600 degrees ....the catalyst kicks in and burns the smoke so it is good for the environment.
It is messier though as bringing in the wood up the stairs leaves pieces of bark scattered and I have to vacuum more often but I keep remembering that extra money goes in my pocket and not Colorado Natural Gases' pocket!
ThePetParent wrote: I have a natural gas furnace and got tired of paying $250 a month to heat my home in the winter so I bought a Vermont Castings wood stove, catalytic.
For November my gas bill was only $118 and December was $75!
I am so glad I installed the wood stove!
I am plenty warm and sometimes too warm I have to crack a window.
I don't have to wear sweaters or use an electric blanket like last winter ...I was always cold trying to keep the thermostat at 68 degrees or 65 at night.
Plus the stove once it reaches 600 degrees the catalyst kicks in and burns the smoke so it is good for the environment.
It is messier though as bringing in the wood up the stairs leaves pieces of bark scattered and I have to vacuum more often but I keep remembering that extra money goes in my pocket and not Colorado Natural Gases' pocket!
Hey PP. I do not know your floor plan so this is just an FYI. I was at someones house who had a simple boom and pulley system to raise wood from the ground to hes upstairs deck. It is seriously cool.
ThePetParent wrote: I have a natural gas furnace and got tired of paying $250 a month to heat my home in the winter so I bought a Vermont Castings wood stove, catalytic.
For November my gas bill was only $118 and December was $75!
I am so glad I installed the wood stove!
I am plenty warm and sometimes too warm I have to crack a window.
I don't have to wear sweaters or use an electric blanket like last winter ...I was always cold trying to keep the thermostat at 68 degrees or 65 at night.
Plus the stove once it reaches 600 degrees the catalyst kicks in and burns the smoke so it is good for the environment.
It is messier though as bringing in the wood up the stairs leaves pieces of bark scattered and I have to vacuum more often but I keep remembering that extra money goes in my pocket and not Colorado Natural Gases' pocket!
Hey PP. I do not know your floor plan so this is just an FYI. I was at someones house who had a simple boom and pulley system to raise wood from the ground to hes upstairs deck. It is seriously cool.
I need on of those!
I have a raised ranch.
I also bought a hydraulic log splitter and a Stihl Chainsaw, a horse trailer for double duty to haul wood...after seeing that XCEL Energy raised their rate by 75 % I thought it not too long before other companies followed suit.
Just planning for the future...
It seemed pretty simple although I am sure I could not built it to save my life. I believe it was in DCVR. Might be a fun barn raiser. There are a few engineers around here. (hint, hint)
