How cold is too cold?

[ross]

Warmed up to -8 here in SW Ont . Lots a snow coming down . Will have to fire up the blower tomorrow.

[Shnookie]

There's hardly any snow here right now. If we don't get more there will be another drought this year.

[Flat Rock Farm]

Oh my gosh Ross! The sky is clear and the sun is shining here right now. Please don't send it this way!! LOL

[Ontario Chick]

We don't pay any extra on house insurance for having a wood furnace, at least it doesn't show as extra charge.
We were lucky to get in on a government grant in the 1982-3? when any change from oil heat to any other source was subsidized to the tune of 50% and we have our own wood source, although we did buy a tandem truck load in the nineties.
since the ice storm we have a steady supply that will last longer then we will.
I don't think it would be feasible if you had to buy firewood.

[Shnookie]

Too bad the farmers keep pulling out trees. I do have a few dead green ash in my shelter belt. I won't use a chain saw so would have to get someone to cut them for me. I'm going to look into it more. I'm also planning to move (before they put in the wind farm), and hope to find a better insulated house that has more shelter from the wind. That would even help.

[Shnookie]

I have a friend who put a pellet stove in his house. The extra fee was charged on his insurance. After a few years they took out the stove. He told the insurance it had been removed, but he said they never took the extra fee off his bill. His wife works in an insurance office. I wonder why she didn't make sure it was removed. I'll have to ask him some time.

[Killerbunny]

Apparently the problem is hot ashes when they are cleaned out, many? people drop them on the floor and start fires.

[Happy]

We installed a wood burning insert in the fireplace last year. The bill went up an additional $22 a month. Also whatever you do don't tell an insurance company that you intend to use wood as your primary source of heat. That was a big no-no with mine.

[Jaye]

Apparently the problem is hot ashes when they are cleaned out, many? people drop them on the floor and start fires.

Hot ashes dropped on floors and starting fires can be a problem with wood stoves, but not so much with pellet stoves: our pellet stove ashes are collected in a contained metal ash pan underneath the burn pot and stove liner. The stove needs to be cooled off before every cleanout, and we empty the ash pan as part of the cleanout. I think one common denominator woodstoves and pellet stoves have that may influence insurance rates is the potential for chimney fires if they aren't properly maintained.

[ross]

Stainless steel liners in chimneys should be installed & serviced yearly if burning wood & well dry wood as well . We have a oil /wood combo furnace here but stopped using wood when prices for good wood ended up more than oil per btu's .