Existing_Earth9786
Existing_Earth9786 t1_j5nusre wrote
Reply to Alternatives to oil heat? by infinite_zero
https://www.maine.gov/energy/heating-fuel-prices
All other things aside, it all comes down to cost per BTU, and cordwood is consistently the cheapest, often by far. It will likely remain so especially with electric rates going up. It’s a little work (handling, etc) but a wood stove is the cheapest heat in Maine. I live in a fairly small house (1300 sq ft) in Aroostook and burn about 3 cord a year at ~130 a cord (I buy tree length and process it myself, I consider it to be a gym membership that pays me). It’s dirt cheap, dries the house out and nice to look at. I have oil heat mostly for shoulder seasons or to keep the house from freezing if I’m away. Less than half a tank of oil most winters.
Existing_Earth9786 t1_j5nv0qx wrote
Reply to Alternatives to oil heat? by infinite_zero
Another thing, if you don’t have zone heating, you can manually block off parts of your house if you don’t use them. Before we had kids, my wife and I used to sleep down in the living room all winter by the wood stove and blocked off the upstairs (nothing but three bedrooms up there) with an insulated panel. Slashed our heating by over half.