Has anyone calculated the alternatives

[CARS]

1800 kWh seems like a LOT -- do you maybe have electric heat?
Pat

Nope. Scary isn't it. In the winter we do have 2 of those electric, fluid filled radiator in the kid's bedrooms but other than that it is either corn/pellets or LP.

I think that we are dumping current somewhere along the line. It isn't like we leave ever single light on and all the radios and t.v.s we can plug in.
CFL's didn't even seem to make a difference when we swapped out the incandescents.

 

[FarmerChick]

CARS

call your company and have them come out and do an energy audit. very simple and yup, you could be having trouble you don't know about.

I dropped elec. dramatically also.

I switched to CFLs and most important stopped the dryer. That dryer uses tons of power. Hanging on the line is the way to go to help cut that bill!!

I was like $140 a month, now I am about $80 per month.

I bouught a propane fireplace for super cold nights, keeps that elec. heat from running too hard with the heat strip kicking on. The propane heat is warmer also.

I am the electric police also...LOL...it works if you truly cut everything back. It is hard to do but eventually it was worth it to be to be deligient and take control cause I want my money, I don't want to give it to anyone..LOL

hang in there and keep up the good work of cutting that bill!!

 

[greyhorsewoman]

I've always thought what a cool idea it would be if all workout gyms were hooked so that they generated electricity from all the people on the bikes & walkers. Probably could take a whole shopping strip off the grid!

As to cost, it's unfortunate it is still so far out of so many budgets. However, I don't agree it has to be CHEAPER, just obtainable. Being off the grid is important for the long haul, regardless of cost, since it uses renewable resources. Just like raising your own chickens, hogs or beef ... even if it costs more, you get better results.

 

[Mackay]

We have made a considerable dent when we installed an outdoor wood burning furnace. It heats all the hot wateer (we NEVER run out - not even when we had 8 people here) and heats the house (NO smokey smell-think radiant heat) and they now have an attachment that you can hook up you dryer and it will dry you clothes with no smoke smell- you only use the electricity to turn the drum. (I believe this attachment is only a couple hundred)

It was a big initial investment approximately 9500.00, but it will finish paying for itself by the end of this year.

Hope this helps some.

This is really interesting. We will be building a house soon that will use wood as its primary heat source. Can you give name and or links to this product?

 

[sylvie]

Sylvie,

I'm sorry I can't find it, even after doing a search. I didn't think about book marking it since I didn't think I was efficient enough. For me,all that effort for just a couple of batteries didn't seem worth it.(This was when I first started down this road to SS a couple years ago and was timidly looking around)

I do remember that it entailed having a stationary bike (or converting to one by simply putting it on rollers or something similiar), replacing the front wheel with a fly wheel,and if I'm not mistaken hooking that up to a converter and then to a battery ( or vise versa - I can't remember). It also used a belt, not a chain.

That's a big help I know, sorry. But that's all I remember.

Thanks for looking. I just downloaded the schematic I have to the thread already started on bicycle generators.

 

[gettinaclue]

Centralboiler.com

Firechiefwoodfurnace.com

These are not our model, but should get you headed in the right direction in your search. This will be our third year with this wood heater and we are in love with it.

We NEVER pay for wood. Our lot is wooded and we harvest here. We also go on craigslist and people there are trying to unload wood left and right FREE. We just need to go pick it up. Sometimes we have to cut it up. We always have to split it.

Our extra effort saves us a ton of money! Paying for 4 or 5 cords of wood a year would negate the savings we are getting. (At least around here)

Hard woods burn longer (like oak) and give a more consistant heat. Soft woods (like pine) burn fast and HOT (ever burn a Christmas tree?).
We did get a wood splitter last year. Really saves the back.

Sometimes we take kids with us and everyone helps load the truck (they are 3 and 10) and it makes me giggle every time people comment on my kids doing work! They are always blown away!

We all pitch in here. We all stay warm when the temps get down in the single digits.

My most important advice to you is not to be a wood snob and build a wood shed.

Everyone wants all the hard wood, they never want anything else. We pick up so much pine for free when they charged John Doe for the hard wood but he wouldn't take the soft.

After storms are the best times to go out and help your neighbor and take the wood home. Works out all the way 'round.

Happy house building!

 

[miss_thenorth]

Gettin--do you find you have alot of smoke? when we lived up north, alot of people had these outdoor wood furnaces, and we looked into one. We found them to be inefficient--and they would smoke out any neighbours if you had some close enough. Mind you this was 10 years ago--perhaps they have become more efficient?

 

[gettinaclue]

Problems with smoke?

When we didn't have a wood shed and the tarp blew off and the wood got wet - it was an issue (obviously).

Otherwise, I haven't had any problems with smoke. We put out less smoke than an average fireplace (especially if the wood is good and dry and is a hard wood).Avoid green wood if you can since this will smoke more. Please keep in mind that the chimney is closer to the ground, so if you have close neighbors, you may want to give the furnace more thought.

We do have neighbors, but they aren't close and have never said anything about the smoke.

Also, I understand some insurance companies have a problem with these types of furnaces and will cancel or refuse coverage.

I think the main thing I don't like about this system is that it takes electricity to run it. My preferance would be to have something that would work without it when the icestorms and tropical storms roll through. I am thinking of putting in a wood stove sometime in the future for just such an event.

I do want to caution you that burning a lot of pine or similiar woods that have a lot of resin lead to a quicker build up soot in the chimney.
We normally just let it burn off since where we have it there isn't much of a chance of a fire spreading.

When it's warm like this, I only have to put wood in once in a 24 to 36 hour period. When it's really cold, at least once every 12 hours.

We also found that if we called our local electric company and let them know we wouldn't be using the water heater - they will come out and but a band on it, and give us a discount on our electric bill.

We started looking into it when my MIL told us DH's uncle got one installed and the electric company came out to check his meter to see if it was broken. That's how well these things work!

Our electric bills our first winter here averaged 400 a month (electric heat). I thought we were gonna have to sell the place. Last month we paid 158.00.

The smoke can be an annoyance if the wind shifts while I'm hanging out clothes. I've never noticed a clinging smell though - and I do smell my clothes when I take them off the line- they smell so fresh!

The smoke can also be spooky on those still nights where there's no wind and the smoke settles to the ground, but that only happens once or twice a year.

 

[CARS]

Also, I understand some insurance companies have a problem with these types of furnaces and will cancel or refuse coverage.

A lot of cities in my area have put a ban on using these large wood fired boilers. The wording is quite creative. They say it has to be XX feet away from other structures. Kinda hard to do in a small yard.

It would be really nasty if every city block had a few of these heating their house... then there would be smoke problems.

 

[gettinaclue]

CARS,

I would have to agree with you there. I visualize smokey towns back when everyone had a fire place for cooking and heating.