Update: In my constant effort to reduce our dependence on expensive home heating oil, I burned approximately 4 cords of wood this past heating season. We now have 4.6 cords under cover with another 2 cords or so to be split and added to the stack for seasoning.
When everything is split and under cover I estimate I'll have at least 2 more years. I'll be adding more to the mix by the time I'm done with spring clean up so maybe I'll even be pushing 3 yrs.
By then I'll be 78. I don't know how many more years of this I'm going to be able to handle so we'll have to see.
In terms of oil use I've been burning wood since we moved to this house in 1986 at which time there were 6 of us here. My mother, my aunt, Pete, Becky, Sandi and me. Even burning wood I used over 800 gallons of oil for a 2400 sq. ft space. I suspect hot water was a big part of that as it is now.
Over the years people have left the house and we've improved insulation and made hot water production more efficient. There have been only two of us for the past almost 20 yrs. Oil use is now less than 300 gallons. The prices have fluctuated wildly from over $3 per gallon to my last fill up which was $2.40 a gallon. That represents quite a savings over a 30 year period. Especially considering there were very few times when I had to buy wood and when I did buy it, it was unsplit, unseasoned and in bulk so it was relatively cheap.
Here's how it looks today.
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