Buzzy internet food speak. If anything "Vermont Style" would be a mediocre pie that you order because of a lack of better options.

You think the dispatcher at VSP knows the answer to this question?

Definitely use the oil filled radiator ones!! Because they don't use a fan or any type of motor, they are FAR more efficient! I've used one for years and it doesn't add much to the electric bill but makes a HUGE difference in the temperature of our apartment.

Vermont may not use fossil fuels for electricity, but ISO New England does generate around 40% of its electricity from gas, tiny amount from coal, plus imports from NYISO and New Brunswick. That said, your heating related emissions are still probably 10x lower with the heat pump than from gas/oil. Can’t wait to join the heat pump gang.

Downtown Chester has a bunch

When I was a kid, I thought filling it 5 gallons at a time on my dad's payday was the way all people did it.

We heated mostly with wood, so 5-10 gallons got us through the week (usually) in the winter.

On the semi plus side we just got an order of oil and it was $200 less than our first order in November.

Here's a sneak peek of /r/woodstoving using the top posts of the year!

#1: Something a bit different - our Rayburn wood cooker. This little beast is our oven, as well as heating the hot water and running the radiators in our off -grid house. | 49 comments
#2: Not as impressive as so many I see here but as a Plan B to combat winter gas shortages in Europe, I'm happy with my little project. | 48 comments
#3: Stack p🪵rn | 48 comments

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I meant what I said without exaggerating - my wood stove changed my life. Before my T6, I had a VC Vigilant from the 80s, and it was a lot worse. I went through 4 cords in the winter, and I still relied heavily on the backup hydronic system. With a fresh load, the T6 puts out enough BTU to heat the entire house for at least 6 hours on all but the coldest days, and there are still coals 24+ hours after loading it. It's currently 11:20, and there are still flames from when I loaded it this morning around 7; the upstairs room farthest from the stove, which is downstairs in the living room, is a comfortable 67 degrees.

If you have questions, check out /r/woodstoving. One of the mods there, /u/deepwoodsdanger, is a Vermonter, and it's worth subbing just to see the gorgeous stoves they restore.

It took me a few years to get comfortable with it, so I understand. I didn't grow up with a wood stove, but we burn about 2 cords a winter these days and it keeps going whenever it's below 32.

So the best thing I ever did was learn that putting a channel in the coals was the best thing for getting the next log started. I just move the coles out of a 3 inche channel, from directly in front of where the air enters your firebox to the back of the stove.

Then lay the biggest, chuncky-est pieces, usually two, on top of that and let it go for 25-30 minutes, then turn the air vent all the way down and let it go. I can usually get a good eight hours if I have some chuncky pieces of wood. 4 small pieces DO NOT equal one large one.

When I'm splitting wood, I leave it as chuncky as possible. Then when I need small pieces, I keep the maul at the end of the garage and split one up. I found that I need need small pieces of wood much less often than I need large ones.

I used to fret that it would go out and try and play with the air vent to get it perfect, now, if it goes out, it goes out. But mostly it doesn't, you can revive some pretty dead coals with small pieces of wood, just move the coals around so the ash fall beneath it, create the channel, put on some small pieces of wood, then blow long and slow until they have a tiny bit of flame. Close the door and you should be good.

I hope this helps. Also, when I started burning wood 20 years ago the biggest mistake I made was not having dry wood wood on hand always. Stack or buy two years ahead of what you need.

Thats fair. I didn't consider the route 100 side. When I do the national forest im usually camping along the LT and I access it from the west side. There really isnt anywhere near a town to boondok near a town except for some parcels near Ripton and breadloaf. But honestly I get really bad vibes from those places. Weird shit goes down there. And other than national forests everything in vt is slowly getting regulated due to popularity. Almost no dispursed camping. Only primitive with a 3 night limit on state land.

Omg

So, despite being born here, I've unfortunately never spent any time in one. Is it still feasible to have one built, and are they energy efficient or prone to mold here? I've always loved them.

I guess ONE point is it was tried and the majority of people didn’t like it… for more points you’ll have to do some reading of my other comments, assuming you actually want to understand WHY some don’t like it.

Final note, IF the voters actually wanted him to be mayor, they wouldn’t have tossed IRV directly after the election and there wouldn’t have been a push for a recall (which weren’t and still aren’t a thing in Vt). But those things did happen and it’s pretty clear IRV led to a Mayor the people didn’t want.

Just want to point out I broke the glass window on our woodstove last month (like an absolute idiot) and we set up portable space heaters for four days waiting for the replacement part.

Four days of using space heaters (sparingly!) tripled our electric bill. I do not recommend.

Actually I hadn't considered that! My stove is from the 80s and burns out in 4-5 hours if I don't tend to it, for example if I'm at work. If I want it to heat the house up well I have to fill it every hour it seems. Great comment, I'll look into this.

When I moved into my house the primary heating method was a really great wood stove in the living room. There was an oil furnace, but it didn't really work. We eventually updated the furnace with a new model and then oil prices started to rise. We had an apartment added over our garage this past year which included propane and split units so we had a split installed in our house as well to heat the back rooms.

We've probably spent about 11K updating the heating in our house, which is just under 2k sqft. I spend about $300 a month on wood (6 cords @ $275 - a pretty big increase this year), about $100 a month on oil (it doesn't run much) and I've estimated about $150 a month for the electricity to run the splits. We have a couple on plug in register heaters that get used a little here and there as well. The apartment belongs to my in laws and stays cold when they're not here, so the propane bill sits around 80 bucks a month, which they pay.

So all told, we're in for maybe $550 a month to heat the place. My wife and I both work from home and keep the place toasty. Paying half the bill in June, for the wood, helps take some of the weight off the monthly bills, but even still it feels like a lot.

Have you considered upgrading to a modern wood stove? I have an Alderlea T6, and it is an absolute beast of a heater and the single most important item for my quality of life. My house is a 3000 sqft 200 year old farmhouse. I refill the stove 2-3 times a day unless it's very, very cold. There's never any smoke, and even though I do 90+% of my heating with wood, I only go through 4 cord in a winter. Modern wood stoves are incredibly efficient!

Hi, thanks for your comment! I have a hot air furnace. I do not have propane - I have an electric stove and electric hot water heating. My electric bills have never been much of a concern to me (about 150 max/month). I wash on cold and take short showers so that's probably why.

I'll look into propane, one of my neighbors has a propane furnace. Maybe they can clue me in on costs, if they don't consider that too nosy. Thanks!

https://oldstonehouses.com/2015/10/15/old-stone-homes-for-sale-vermont/

hope this is of some use.

Not looking forward to the bill after this next freeze. We've been keeping the heat between 58-62. Wishing I had locked in a rate this summer!

Oh totally! Mine is safe to leave. However it always seems to burn out if I don't tend to it within 4-5 hours - sure, it'll give out residual heat for longer, but not much. Any tips there actually? All I do now it get it going again in the morning but it's always stone cold when I get home from work.

Thanks, I’ll see what populates from this thread and try to get a list rolling

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> I’ll also note, it wasn’t just me that didn’t like the guy, almost no one did

they liked him more than the opponents apparently ! IRV didn't get this guy elected, the people did. you're still not actually making any point