oil, and propane cost VS wood

[michiganfarmer2]

Has anyone done the pencile work to figure cost difference per gallon when using a fuel source other than wood?

I buy semi loads of pulp wood. I fugure it costs me about $35 per cord, and Im getting about 20 gallons oof syrup per cord.

[Thad Blaisdell]

It costs me roughly 1/2 gallon of oil to make a gallon of syrup.

When figuring the cost of wood, you need to figure in your time to cut it, stack it, and then to move it and load it into the arch.

[maplwrks]

I try to get my oil consumption dow to 1/3rd -1/2 gallon of oil per gallon of syrup. It usually costs me more to truck my sap than it does to boil it
.

[michiganfarmer2]

It costs me roughly 1/2 gallon of oil to make a gallon of syrup.

When figuring the cost of wood, you need to figure in your time to cut it, stack it, and then to move it and load it into the arch.

not even the cost of my time, but the availability of my time to spend in the woods improviing my tubing

[3rdgen.maple]

It costs me roughly 1/2 gallon of oil to make a gallon of syrup.

When figuring the cost of wood, you need to figure in your time to cut it, stack it, and then to move it and load it into the arch.

I dont see my own labor as a cost rather a savings. If I could make money doing something else at the time I was putting up wood thats a different story but if that was the case I wouldnt be putting up wood. So to me Im saving money not spending it.

[JuniperHillSugar]

I'm just doing this as a hobby, but this is how I figure it.

Per BTU, firewood is generally a better value than processed fossil fuels like oil, particularly at the current prices ($3.259/gallon today, cash price).

Wood is a renewable resource, Oil is not. The State of Maine is about 90% wooded, so wood for fuel is available everywhere. Most of our woodlots have plenty of fuel there for harvesting. Maine has zero oil wells.

When my wood pile tips over, I just restack it. If you have an oil spill at the the sugarhouse, it is a big problem. Natural gas or propane avoids this potential, but also has some issues that can cause a bang.

If you have a couple of oil guns roaring in the sugarhouse, I find it to be a bit too loud to carry on a conversation. I like the crackle of the wood fire and the sound of the boiling sap.

Oil does require much less labor to prepare and boil the sap. That means less requirement for local employees, less local families involved in the maple sugar season. Oil requires less family helpers in the sugarhouse to learn the family trade or tradition. Oil profits generally go out of town. Oil simply works against my desire to be self-sufficient and to buy local.

Since many of us do prepare our own firewood, we avoid payroll taxes for that labor cost. We avoid many of the "mark-ups" that oil sees on it's way from Libya or Mexico to your oil tank.

Let's consider the possibility of shipping our sap to China, let them boil it down and then we can buy the syrup back at Wal-Mart. Crazy, of course. Next you'll tell me that we ship logs to China for their sawmills to make lumber. Oh wait, they do that, and have for decades.

In conclusion, when we talk about the "cost of oil" vs. the "cost of wood". We should consider all of the costs. What we have here is a special tradition that fills folks need to know where their food comes from. While some huge producers must use oil, I understand that, most of the small producers, which includes the great majority of us, should stay with wood.

Tell me what you think. My 2 cents.

[len]

1)# 2/ diesel fuel Btu:
1 gallon of middle distillate or diesel fuel oil = 138,690 Btu/2 = 69,345 Btu/ gal maple syrup

2)wood Btu:

1 face cord of wood = 6,000,000 to 8,000,000 Btu/20 = 350,000 +/- Btu/ gal maple syrup

1 standard cord of wood = 18,000,000 to 24,000,000 Btu/20 = 1,050,000 Btu/ gal maple syrup


Weight of wood burned would be more accurate. Is that face cord or full cord? Seems to be quite inefficient either way.

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Conversion Factors
Average Energy Content of Various Fuels
1 kilowatt hour of electricity = 3413 British thermal units (Btu)
1 cubic foot of natural gas = 1,008 to 1,034 Btu
1 therm of natural gas = 100,000 Btu
1 gallon of crude oil = 138,095 Btu
1 barrel of crude oil = 5,800,000 Btu
1 gallon of residual fuel oil = 149,690 Btu
1 gallon of gasoline = 125,000 Btu
1 gallon of ethanol = 84,400 Btu
1 gallon methanol = 62,800 Btu
1 gallon of gasohol
(10% ethanol, 90% gasoline) = 120,900 Btu
1 gallon of E-85
(85% ethanol, 15% gasoline) = 90,500 Btu
1 gallon of kerosene or light distillate oil = 135,000 Btu
1 gallon of middle distillate or diesel fuel oil = 138,690 Btu
1 gallon of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) = 95,475 Btu
1 pound of coal = 8,100 to 13,000 Btu
1 ton coal = 16,200,000 to 26,000,000 Btu
1 ton wood = 9,000,000 to 17,000,000 Btu
1 standard cord of wood = 18,000,000 to 24,000,000 Btu
1 face cord of wood = 6,000,000 to 8,000,000 Btu
1 pound of low pressure steam (recoverable heat) = 1,000 Btu



Measurement Conversions
1 short ton (ton) = 2,000 pounds = 6.65 barrels (crude oil)
1 metric ton (tonn) = 2,200 pounds
1 barrel (bbl) = 42 gallons = 5.615 cubic feet = 159.0 liters
1 therm = 105 Btu = 100,000 Btu
1 thousand Btu (kBtu) = 1,000 Btu
1 million Btu (MMBtu) = 1,000,000 Btu
1 quad = 1 quadrillion Btu = 1015 Btu = 1,000,000,000 MMBtu
1 kilowatt-hour (kWh) = 1,000 watt-hours
1 megawatt-hour (MWh) = 1,000 kWh or 1,000,000 watt-hours
1 gigawatt-hour (GWh) = 1,000 MWh or 1,000,000,000 watt-hours
1 standard cord of wood = 8 feet x 4 feet x 4 feet = 128 cubic feet = approximately 4,000 pounds
1 face cord of wood = 8 feet x 4 feet x 16 inches = 42.7 cubic feet = approximately 1,333 pounds

SOURCE:http://www.uwsp.edu/cnr/wcee/keep/Mod1/Whatis/energyresourcetables.htm

[Dill]

With my operation wood just takes a bit of time. I spend a couple weeks post sugaring, pre haying, doing firewood for the house and sugar house.
There are some cost factors that need to be looked into for wood. Not only the time/labor but equipment costs. Chainsaws, tractors splitter etc. Yes I could do it with a wheelbarrow, bow saw and a maul but I don't have that kind of time.
Down dead pine is readily available around me with the last couple years of wind and ice storms.
What I don't like about oil is not only can I not produce it, but there are serious price swings that come without warning and at any time of the year. I have seen large operations that would have serious issues with wood and I know oil is more constant heat source. But I can't justify the cost, I'm losing enough the way it is now.
I did learn last year the importance of keeping you sugar wood dry, I'm so glad I had a woodshed built in Jan, or this big rain storm would really be causing a problem like it did last year. 2 weeks of sputtering wood is not fun.

[Revi]

I agree with you, JuniperHillSugar. For us small producers there is more than enough wood around to boil syrup with. We don't plan on getting big enough to use oil. I can see why the big producers use it, but it doesn't seem like such a bargain at our scale. I found a lot of wood that is perfect for making syrup. Popple, small birch and basswood are all good for our purposes. We got the wood for the cost of trucking it, so essentially for free. Let's say it costs about five bucks per cord to get it to the shack. We burn about 3 cords of wood and we make about 30 gallons of syrup. That works out to around 50 cents a gallon for the fuel.

[michiganfarmer2]

Tell me what you think. My 2 cents.

Im thinking of the time I cuold be spending in the woods optimising my tubing instead of procesing firewood. ...specially once the kids are grown and gone. If I can increase to making 800 gallons of syrup or more, that is gonna be a lot of wood of proccess. Maybe an RO, and firewood is the way to go. I dunno.

I hear ya about the traditions, renewable fuels, and middle east oil.

[Revi]

We may all be switching to wood if this middle east thing gets worse. The price of oil has gone up a lot around here. The price of home heating oil is at around $3.60 here, some places.

[james ferguson]

i used to burn wood took about 300 plus hrs to get up another35hrs moving it2 to 3 times brunt about45 to50 cords switched to oil 9yrs ago would pay 7.00 a gallon for oil not to do that again to day we would burn about 70 cords buy my oil in summer time 2500 gallon storage about 1/2gallon oil to 1.25 gallons syrup constaint heat no shut down time hit switch and done hit switch and 8 min full boar just my 2 cents

[michiganfarmer2]

i used to burn wood took about 300 plus hrs to get up another35hrs moving it2 to 3 times brunt about45 to50 cords switched to oil 9yrs ago would pay 7.00 a gallon for oil not to do that again to day we would burn about 70 cords buy my oil in summer time 2500 gallon storage about 1/2gallon oil to 1.25 gallons syrup constaint heat no shut down time hit switch and done hit switch and 8 min full boar just my 2 cents

are you boiling concentrate or raw sap?

[skillet]

juniper,
Well said brother;)

[sap retreiver]

If I didn't do wood my wife would kill me the barley pops, sorry boiling sodas would cause a problem and it's always fun to play with fire! I'm fairly new at this but many a tall story has been told watching the bubbles break and with oil I don't think it would be the same. that's my .02