Have you been thinking about getting a wood stove to save money on heating costs? Heating your home with electricity can be expensive when you live in an area that drops below 50 degrees Fahrenheit in the winter.
If a wood stove has been on your mind, here’s why now is the best time to get one installed in your home.
- An efficient wood stove will heat your home well
Although inefficient wood stoves still heat well, you’ll definitely want one that’s efficient. The difference is staggering. An efficient wood stove uses less wood, burns longer, and produces more heat.
Whether you already have a wood stove or you’re a first-time buyer, an efficient unit will be everything you need to heat your home.
- Regulations are changing
Regulations are changing all across the United States regarding wood burning stoves. While they’re not being banned outright in most areas, regulations are strict and wood stoves must meet specific efficiency guidelines.
In some areas, a non-EPA-approved wood stove is only legal to operate when it’s your only source of heat. If you have central heat and an unapproved wood stove, you can’t use anything but your central heat (legally).
It’s also illegal to give away or sell non-EPA-approved wood stoves in most states. If you have an old stove and don’t get an EPA-compliant stove soon, you might not be able to sell your old one.
- It’s easy to heat multiple rooms with one wood stove
While many people install a wood stove in every large room, you don’t necessarily need to do that. Some stoves make it easy to create ductwork that will transfer heat from one room to another, or you can use heat-powered fans that use peltier technology to blow the hot air around.
When your walls and roof are well insulated, you don’t have to worry about heat loss, which means your warm air will go pretty far and stick around for a while.
- Electric heat doesn’t compare to firewood
There’s no denying the difference between heat produced by fire and heat produced by convection. The fire from a fireplace is warmer, and penetrates the skin deeper. Convection heat essentially only warms up the air, which makes it harder to stay warm.
You’ll enjoy the heat from firewood more than any electric heater you’ve ever had. The infrared heat will stick to your clothes and penetrate your skin, keeping you warmer for a longer period of time.
- Wood is cheaper than electricity
The cost of heating your home with electricity can be enormous in the winter. If you’re running a central heating system, you’re probably running several space heaters, too.
Heating your home with a wood stove is usually cheaper for everyone, as long as the stove is efficient and the house is insulated. For example, the average heating bill for electric heat in the U.S. is $197/month.
If you buy raw logs and split them yourself, you’ll pay half or less the cost of a split cord.
A cord of split wood can cost between $175-$300, depending on your location, whether it’s green, dry, hard, soft, seasoned, split, delivered, or stacked. There’s nothing simple about firewood, but once you learn the details, it’s easy to figure it out.
In simple terms, green split firewood is often $200 or less per cord, but you have to let it season for about a year before it will be ready to burn. Fir is a cheap staple, and costs about $220 if you pick it up or $250-$300 delivered.
If you consistently buy green split firewood, you can amass quite a collection on your property and rotate it so that you use the seasoned wood first. However, to get by with one cord per month, you’ll need to have a well-insulated home.
- Burn bans don’t typically apply to homes with only a wood stove
You might be worried about burn bans affecting your ability to heat your home with a wood stove. The good news is that most burn bans don’t apply to homes whose only source of heat is a wood stove. If you’re not sure about your area, check with your local authorities.
A wood stove will prove beneficial quickly
If you’ve been thinking about getting a wood stove, now is the best time to get one installed in your home. It won’t take long to realize the benefits of heating your home with wood.