Despite Soaring Price—

Firewood: Still A

Sweet Deal For Heating

By Nancy K. Crevier

If you bought a cord of hardwood split and delivered in Newtown in 1955, you paid as little as $15. By 1980, when high oil prices created a stir of concern over heating costs, that price had soared to between $80 and $100. So it should not be much of a surprise if in 2005, on the heels of two devastating storms in the oil refinery-dotted Gulf Coast and as unrest continues in overseas countries that supply oil to the United States that the cost of firewood is creeping up along with supply and demand.

Prices advertised in Newtown this fall range between $150 and $180 for a cord of seasoned hardwood. In 2003 and 2004 prices for firewood in the area were about $20 to $25 less, meaning that if you heated your 2,000-square-foot house last winter with six cords of wood, it could cost you about $300 more to do so this year.

For some, the savings with this alternative heating option outweigh any inconveniences. A 2,000-square-foot home heated with fuel oil uses between a half- and three-quarters-gallon of oil per square foot to keep the house at 68 degrees. With oil at $2 per gallon or more this year, that means a cost of approximately $3,000 from October to May.

Dr Nancy and Marcus Schulz of Newtown have circumvented traditional heating methods for 30 years. Their soapstone wood stove is an energy efficient unit that they feed with wood culled from their own property, cleared lots, and the occasional friend or relative who rids themselves of a tree or two. Supplemented with purchased firewood, depending on the severity and length of the winter, they are able to keep their 1,600-square-foot home snug.

“The heat is consistent. It’s so cozy,” says Dr Schulz. The Schulzes have watched the cost of firewood go up every year, but still believe there is a huge advantage to heating with wood. The price increase neither surprises nor bothers them. Says Dr Schulz, “These guys who sell it [firewood] have a hard job. They have to cut it, split it, load it deliver it. It’s hard.”

The Schulz household goes through a bit less wood than average, due to solar heating in part of the house. When they have a year that requires them to purchase wood, it is only two or three cords, so higher firewood costs will not make a big difference to them.

Dr Schulz is hard-pressed to think of any disadvantages to heating with wood. “It’s not cold in my house,” she says, “and it’s not more drying than conventional heating. It helps with recycling. We can use cardboard or whatever to start the fire. It’s really good exercise; I guess it’s a disadvantage if you don’t like lugging things.”

She continues, “I don’t like being cold, and you know, they say that heating with wood heats you three times: splitting the wood, stacking the wood, and bringing it in the house. Then you get to enjoy it.”

Roy Low of Precision Landscaping in Newtown says that this year his customers will pay about $10 more for a cord of mixed hardwood than they did in 2004. “That’s to cover the gas cost for chain saws and splitters that run on gas,” he explains, “and for fuel for deliveries.” Although it is early in the heating season, Mr Low has already sensed a stepped-up demand for firewood. “It seems like a lot more people are going to be using a lot more wood,” he says. “At least, that’s what people are telling me.”

At The Black Swan Hearth and Gift Shop on South Main Street, employee Matt Bower has definitely seen an increase in interest in wood burning stoves and inserts this month. “When fuel prices jumped the end of August, it scared a lot of people,” he says. “A lot more people are coming in for wood burning stoves,” he says.

The Black Swan also sells propane, natural gas, and pellet burning stoves, says Mr Bower. Customers lately are showing more interest in these, particularly the pellet burning stoves. The pellets, composed of compressed sawdust and adhesives, are fed continually into the stove as the motor runs. “You just pour in a bag [of pellets] and set the thermostat on the pellet stove and it automatically turns on when it needs to,” Mr Bower explains. It saves people the mess and nuisance of storing wood and refueling a wood burning stove every eight hours.

A pellet burning stove burns on average three tons of the pellets during the heating season, at a cost of $240 per ton. The fifty 40-pound bags of pellets can be stacked outdoors like firewood and carried into the house — sans woodchips and debris — as needed. Unlike firewood, the pellets do not need to be brought to room temperature before use.

Both wood burning and pellet burning inserts for fireplaces have piqued the curiosity of customers this fall, as well, at The Black Swan. The inserts concentrate heat in the firebox and blow the heat back out into the room, a far superior solution than a fireplace that sucks the heat from a fire up and out the chimney.

However, even looking at increased wood prices, “If you’re looking to save money,” Mr Bower suggests, “wood burning stoves are the way to go.”