Are you tired of looking at your heating bill month after month and seeing how extremely high it is? Have you ever wondered if there is a way that you could lower that monthly bill? Well don’t get discouraged, there is a way to lower your heating bill. You may want to begin by looking into an outdoor wood burning furnace.
Outdoor Wood Burning Furnace
There are many different companies that build outdoor wood burning furnaces. The most important thing for you to do is to make sure that you are taking the time and researching to find the best one for your money. There are many different furnaces out there and they are built for different size houses and buildings. Each company will be able to tell you how many square feet their furnaces will heat.
So you will need to know or figure out the square footage of the house or building you would like to heat. Another thing to keep in mind when deciding which furnace to purchase is whether or not the company has a warranty on their product (which most companies do) and what is the length of the warranty. Some have a 20 year full warranty, some have a limited lifetime warranty, and so on.
Wood Burning Furnace
Ed Larson, who sells outdoor wood-burning boilers in a rural community near Washington, Pa., has seen local sales rising fast. In the last two years, his business, Larson’s Wood Heat, has sold approximately 50 boilers, which typically cost $9000 each. “In this area right now, [sales are] growing at about an average of 30 percent per year,” he says.
Larson lives on a 155-acre farm and claims he has saved 90 percent of his electricity costs since switching to an outdoor wood-fired boiler for heating. He only uses gas for cooking.
The cost of the outdoor wood burning furnace will depend on the size of the unit and also the company that you chose to purchase it from. There are many companies that actually request that you contact them in order for them to give you pricing for their furnaces, but there were a few that I found that told you the price upfront.
In the research on the price of furnaces that I have done, I have found that for the most part, a furnace that will heat 2,500 square feet ranges from $2,500 – $3,000 and a furnace that will heat 3,500 square feet ranges from $3,500 – $4,500. Some companies charge additional for extended warranties also, so be aware of that possibility of additional cost.
The last thing to consider in determining whether or not an outdoor wood burning furnace is for you is the cost of running it. The cost of running it is determined by the wood and what is your source to get the wood. If you live in the country and have a large woods where there is an abundance of fallen trees, you will not have to spend money on buying the wood, but you will need to spend the time preparing the wood. Now if you do not have a woods full of fallen trees at your fingertips, the cost is going to be based on how much a cord of wood will cost you and how many cords of wood it will take for you to heat your house or shed for the year.
A standard cord of wood is a well stacked pile of wood that is 4 feet tall by 4 feet wide by 8 feet in length. The cost of a cord of wood can differ depending on where you are able to purchase it from. I have found that a cord of wood ranges from $100 to $150. The next step is to determine how many cords of wood would be needed throughout the year. This will again depend on the size of the house or shed you are looking to heat along with how cold it gets and for how long.
In an effort to cut down on the cost of heating your house, looking into an outdoor wood burning furnace is something to consider. Being inside in the winter enjoying the warmth of your home knowing that your next bill will be much lower than before the addition of the furnace.
Wood Burning Furnace
How Much is a Cord of Wood?