One of the things that was SUPER high on our list of “must haves” when we were looking for a home in New England, was a wood stove. Or at least a good chimney to have a wood stove installed. Word on the street is New England winters can be brutal some years and the thought of huge heating bills {oil} was something we wanted to try and minimize as much as possible.
In previous years, heating our home with natural gas during the winter months here in the Pacific Northwest, our peak heating bills came in at around $300 – $325 a month. Which of course seemed high to us. I think one year during a long cold snap we had a bill around $360 and I was freaking out.
So naturally one of our questions when we were looking at the potential house on the East Coast was…. What are the heating bills going to be like? How much does it cost to heat this home during the winter months? Because HELLO… the Northeast is much, much colder than the PNW. Is the size of this home and the cost to heat it going to be a deal breaker for us? And how often do the current owners use their wood stove to heat the home?
After going over the fuel and electricity receipts for the home for the previous 12 months, we learned the current owners spent about $2750 to heat the home {with oil}. Here in the PNW we paid about $1,400 for natural gas during the same 12 month period. And honestly, I didn’t think an increase of $1,350 a year for heating costs was all that bad considering how long the winters are on the East Coast.
Plus, when my friend Heather from Massachusetts and I were there for the home inspection, we noticed the wood stove in the home looked like it was barely used {as did all of the fireplaces}. Which gave me hope. I LOVE wood heat. And the thought of using it to heat my home during the winter months is one of the things I am most looking forward to.
So, obviously I have a few questions for all you wood stove experts out there:
- Is it really practical to heat an entire home with wood heat?
- I’m assuming we’ll need some sort of steamer/humidifier to place on top of the wood stove. Can you recommend one?
- Do I need some sort of fan to circulate the heat?
- How about a tea kettle? I have visions of heating my water for my afternoon cuppa on the wood stove. Do you do this? Do I need a special kettle? Do you have any tips I should know about?
- How many cords of wood do you think someone in the NE would need during a typical winter?
- We plan on buying our first winter’s worth of wood, but hoping to harvest our own in later years. What kind of wood should we be buying/looking for?
- What is a fair price for a cord of seasoned, cut firewood these days?
I am BEYOND excited for this next chapter in our lives, and I know that moving to the other side of the country will be a bit of a culture shock {but one I’m ready for} and I just want to make our transition as smooth as possible. So thank you in advance for all your help. You rock!
~Mavis
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