Quoted:
I still think that you'd be happier with vented propane.... "snip".....If you do go with wood, be prepared to spend some big bucks on a chimney.
If you think I'll be happier with vented propane you don't know me very well... I squeak when I walk I'm so tight... but looking at some vented LP options I can probably get into a heat plus venting for less than $700, which leaves quite a bit that I can spend on fuel. The only down-side is that if I go with vented LP I'm leaving it here when I move, so in the end I have nothing. With wood, I make the big initial investment then take it with me.
So the way I see if I have 2 main options...
LP Initial investment is about $700 + operating cost of lets say $300/yr (very conservative estimate as I'm pretty sure my annual cost will be higher than that) and when I leave it stays with the house giving an estimated increase in home value of no more than $250
Heating cost for 2 years is $1050
Heating cost for 5 years is $1950
Heating cost for 10 years is $3450 (this would be worst case scenario of how long I plan to stay in this house)
Wood Initial investment is about $1500 + operating cost of lets say $50/yr in maintenance and wood cutting and when I leave the chimney & stove should still be worth at least $1k when I take them with me (worth more than that to me however because otherwise I would have to go out and buy new)
Heating cost for 2 years is $600
Heating cost for 5 years is $750
Heating cost for 10 years is $1000
So really with wood, I'm gambling that if I stay longer than I hope I have to stay then it will greatly pay off for the added inconvenience and work. With LP, my goal would be to get out of here asap, but I just don't know if that is going to be possible because that depends on my income in the next few years (highly dependent on my deployment schedule). If I knew for sure I was only going to be here a couple more years I would do vented LP for sure and just suck up the additional annual expense for the few years I had to but I'm not really certain of when I will be able to get out of here, I have this eery feeling that it may push closer to the 10 year mark... which is why I'm so uncertain of what to do.