High Heating Costs Help Homeowners Warm Up To Wood

By Nancy K. Crevier

According to early 20th Century poet James Whitcomb Riley, the time to prepare for winter in a variety of ways is, “When the frost is on the punkin, and the fodders in the shock…” For those who choose to heat their homes with wood or wood-based pellets, it is time to make sure that plenty of seasoned wood is stacked up high and that the bags of pellets, so precious last year, are available.

As oil prices climbed over the past several months, more people began to consider alternative heating sources such as wood heat or wood pellet burning stoves for the upcoming winter. For the newcomer to the world of wood, some burning questions linger once it is time to light the fire.

What is seasoned wood? Does it matter if the wood is from a softwood variety, or must only hardwood be burned? How can seasoned wood be discerned from unseasoned wood? After all, unlike a pot of soup, wood cannot be tasted for the correct seasoning.

The legal definition of seasoned wood according to Connecticut laws is “any fuel wood which is cut and air dried for at least six months.” However, Mastersweep.com and other web sources suggest a slightly more discerning standard for the “unseasoned” wood burner.

A properly seasoned wood has been split and stacked in a sunny, airy place for at least one year. A softwood from pine or fir can be used after it has seasoned one year, but hardwoods, such as oak or ash, are best burned after two to three years of seasoning. Seasoned wood appears dark on the exterior, very white all across the inside and will probably have plenty of cracks running through each piece. Pieces of bark will fall away easily.

Wood that is not seasoned properly is hard to light, and fails to burn efficiently. It creates more smoke than fire and can lead to a frustrating experience. Be suspicious of a load of wood that is lighter near the edges than the center, or on which the bark is still firmly attached to the piece of wood. The center of unseasoned wood may appear wet from the sap and water that have not had time to dry out.

It is a personal preference as to whether softwoods or hardwoods are burned. Firs are sometimes preferred for the pleasant aroma put out, or because a fire started with softwood is easier to light. If wood burning is more for ambiance than primary heating, softwood is not a bad choice. But because hardwood burns longer, dollar for dollar it is a better bargain than softwood.

Even though the price creep of wood is small compared to the gigantic leaps in the oil market, regular wood burners will notice an increase in the cost of split and delivered wood this year. Area prices this fall range from $175 to $220 a cord, up from an average of $150 per cord one year ago. That means an increase of $150 to $300 over the heating season to heat a 2,000-square-foot home. Even so, the average homeowner heating with wood will go through only six cords of wood, still saving a considerable sum over those at the mercy of oil prices.

Not everyone who opts for a wood stove is excited about hauling logs into the house that shed bark and decayed material all about. For those who prefer a tidier method of beating the cold, wood pellet burning stoves continue to increase in popularity, said Tom Swan of The Black Swan in Newtown.

Wood pellet stoves burn a fuel of tiny, compressed wood tablets purchased in neat, stackable bags. Unfortunately for many pellet stove owners last season, manufacturers were not able to keep up with production of the fuel, leaving pellet stove owners out in the cold.

“Last year, with the hurricanes in the Gulf and oil increases, there were lots of new pellet stove owners,” said Mr Swan. “Production was not prepared for that and it was impossible to get pellets from anywhere. By early October of last year, we were sold out and didn’t know if or when we would get another shipment, and had to limit it to just our customers.” Makers of the pellet stoves themselves fell behind in orders last year, too, with some customers not receiving delivery until March or April, he said. This year, The Black Swan has taken steps to avoid pellet problems.

“We have tripled our stock this year,” said Mr Swan. “We have secured enough pellets to cover this heating season and expect trucks every week to three weeks.” Customers will pay around $275 a ton this year, up slightly from last year’s price of $240 per ton. Pellets are presently in stock and plentiful at The Black Swan, and he does not expect to place limits on any orders this year, said Mr Swan.

“Manufacturers of the stoves have stepped up this year’s production, also,” Mr Swan said. “As a matter of fact, there has been nearly a 500 percent increase the past year in the pellet industry, overall.”

The Black Swan stocks several brands of pellet burning stoves and has been assured priority shipment from Hearth and Home Technologies, said Mr Swan. He is doubtful any order this season will take longer than one week to arrive. In order to accommodate the increased interest in the pellet stoves and wood burning stoves, The Black Swan has increased the number of installation crews they employ, as well.

 Other area distributors of pellets do not foresee such a rosy season. Bruce Benedict of Benedict’s Home and Garden in Monroe continues to see a problem with pellet manufacturers’ abilities to produce enough product to satisfy the increased demand this fall. “If demand had been the same as 2005, [the manufacturers] would have been okay. But the demand has continued to increase.” The problem, said Mr Benedict, is that manufacturers cannot source enough raw materials from the logging and construction industries to produce the quantity of pellets needed this year.

Of the 25 loads of pellets Benedict’s ordered for this fall, they have been allocated only eight or nine of the 22-ton loads from their suppliers. Currently, said Mr Benedict, they do have pellets for their customers and expect three more orders this month. Whether that will be enough to satisfy pellet stove customers will have to be seen.

At Agway of Bethel, assistant manager Keitha Saleme said that the garden center store has already sold three trailers full of wood stove pellets and is waiting on a new order. “There still seem to be manufacturing problems this year,” she said. “We were promised five loads in May plus supplementals, but have not seen them all yet.” Ms Saleme suspects there are many reasons behind the pellet manufacturers inability to keep pace with demand. Because pellets are a byproduct of the building industry, she wondered if the downswing in new housing affected source availability. “The crisis last year put some manufacturers out of business, too,” she pointed out.

Danbury’s Home Depot also is finding pellet shipments to be dicey this fall. Sales associate Steve Senger said the week of October 1 that a 22-ton shipment expected had been postponed until November. The company has already sold two shipments to early bird customers. “We can’t tell what the projections are, though,” said Mr Senger. “We just don’t know how much will be shipped to us after November.”

The local pellet suppliers all said that when they do have pellets in stock, they will not be limiting purchasers, nor taking preorders. Suppliers also noted that sales on pellet burning stoves continue to increase and that despite what appears to be a rocky start to the pellet burning season, they hope to be able to provide their customers with ample quantities of the fuel.

The frost will soon be on all of the “punkins” in New England. Whether the fodder for the fire is a log or a pellet, it is not too late to make the final winter preparations.