Dropped $350 on a used wood stove last fall and it paid for itself by January

Picked up an old Vermont Castings stove off Facebook Marketplace in September. Had to put another $100 into new gaskets and a chimney liner. But I heated my whole place in central Mass with mostly free scrap wood from a neighbor's tree job. My oil bill from November to February was only $180 compared to like $800 last year. Anybody else had good luck with marketplace finds for heating gear?

2 comments

2 Comments

coleman.seth8d ago

Wait, how did you gauge the actual savings though? I ask because I picked up a Jotul 118 off Craigslist last year for $400, put maybe $150 into it, and I keep hearing stories like yours about slashing oil bills down to next to nothing. But my oil company has me on a budget plan so I'm still paying like $150 a month year round regardless of what I burn. Are you guys on some kind of pay-per-gallon thing or do you fill up a tank as needed? Trying to figure out if my setup is just weird or if I'm missing something about how the math actually shakes out.

evan_jenkins5d ago

Wait, have you checked what your actual oil consumption has been since you got the stove? I read somewhere that budget plans kind of hide the real usage because they spread the cost out evenly. You could ask your oil company for a delivery history report (they usually have to give it to you if you call) and compare last winter's gallons to the winter before. If you're still burning the same amount of oil but just paying on a plan, you might not notice the savings right away. I switched to paying per delivery after reading a forum post about how budget plans mess with your tracking, and it made a huge difference in understanding what I was actually saving.