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Saturday, October 1, 2022

Easy woodstove fuel



Here in New England oil heat is common. I won’t say it’s popular -not at the current price of heating oil. The prices are insane. It doesn’t make sense that heating oil is about fifty cents a gallon more expensive than off-road diesel. It’s the same stuff. 


My furnace has been serviced but I’m not too sure how much I’m going to use it. I just might buy off-road diesel 5 or 10 gallons at time. That will give me enough fuel for backup in case we leave the house for a few days. 


We’ve had some chill night where it’s gotten down below freezing. To take the chill out of the house I’ve been using a couple of electric heaters. Even though grid power has gone up by 47% my electric bill hasn’t been too bad. Sunny days gave my solar power a good boost. Of course, I’m not going to use electric heat when it gets really cold.


For that we have the woodstove. While I have some firewood I’m also using fiber blocks make out of compressed sawdust. They burn clean and hot. The price only went up by $10/ton over last year. Compared to heating oil it’s a bargain. The local lumber yard delivers it for free if you buy a pallet at a time. 


I’ve friends who have no choice but to heat with oil. To make matters worse, their hot water is provided by the oil furnace. My hot water comes from an electric tank, but there’s a water coil on the woodstove that greatly reduces the electrical usage. 


Personally, for some strange reason, I’m actually looking forward to snow this year. No doubt that feeling won’t last if we get back to back blizzards.


-Sixbears

8 comments:

  1. Chuckling, the romance of a crackling wood stove and the reality of back to back Nor'easters.

    Does put a chill down the neck doesn't it?

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    1. I don't mind being hunkered down next to the woodstove with a hot coffee and a good book. It's when you have to go out and do things during a storm that sucks. In my firefighter days it really sucked at times.

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  2. I'm not looking forward to this winter. It's going to be interesting.

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    Replies
    1. I think we are better off than Europe, but that's not saying much.

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  3. To quote once President Obummer "Never underestimate Joes ability to *uck things up".

    Our sociopaths in CONgress and such are exactly why Ben Franklin said when asked after the signing of the constitution if we had a Monarchy or Democracy he replied, "A Republic IF you can keep it"

    A quote oft said of Ben or Thomas Jefferson was

    “No man's life, liberty, or property are safe while the legislature is in session.”

    ― Gideon J. Tucker

    Expect the worst and be happy is better occurs.

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    Replies
    1. For all Joe's flaws, at least he's not an authoritarian Fascist. Let's not debate politics on a post about firewood. Actually, I'm not really debating politics with hardly anybody anymore. Let's see what the midterm voting does.

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  4. Heating is far more important than politics. So is food and fuel availability and costs.

    What did Stalin say about who counts the votes?

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  5. BTW did you miss his Reichstag Blood Red speech (rant?) Marines and all declaration of Maga folks being semi-fascists?

    I've met Joe Biden, a nasty old racist who still is a member of the KKK.

    ReplyDelete