Trying to beat high winter heating costs, George Bedoya recently turned to an old-fashioned solution by installing a wood-burning stove in the dining room of his fourth-floor Chicago condominium.
Bedoya paid about $2,500to $2,800, including installation, for a traditional black model, which he positioned to heat the living room and bedroom as well as the dining room of the two-bedroom unit he bought last year.
“I’m trying to save money. My heating bills are going through the roof,” said Bedoya, 45, owner of Sign Studio in Chicago.
Bedoya may be more familiar than most urbanites with wood-burning devices because he says stoves are used for heating and cooking in his native Columbia. But he is hardly alone this year in seeking out heating alternatives such as stoves that burn wood, wood pellets or corn pellets. Since early fall, fireplace and patio stores have been swamped with customers worried about high home heating bills.
“With the high cost of heating, it has sparked big inquiries,” said Jim Sako, co-owner with John Dunlevy of American Heritage Fireplace in Chicago, where Bedoya bought his stove.
“Typically, Chicago is not a wood-burning market but a gas market. But this year, wood-burning and pellet-burning products are up 30 to 40 percent,” said Sako, whose firm sells to consumers and builders from Chicago to Milwaukee.
There has been a “huge increase in inquiries,” said Tammy Collins, owner of Collins Fireplace and Outdoor Living Inc. in Wheeling. Collins said sales in wood-burning products are up at least 50 percent this year” while gas log sales are down.
Not everyone is convinced a wood stove is the way to save on climbing energy costs. Cappy Kidd, partner in Informed Energy Decisions, a Chicago energy-consulting firm, said he has concerns about the cost of alternative fuels and their delivery in an urban setting. Homeowners “can save far more by improving the thermal envelope of their building, their heat distribution systems and controls than by looking for alternative heating systems,” he said.
Still, predictions of high heating costs and a slowdown in natural gas production after Hurricane Katrina contributed to the demand for wood stoves, said Leslie Wheeler, spokeswoman for the Hearth, Patio & Barbecue Association, an industry trade group based in Arlington, Va. “That’s why in the third quarter sales jumped so significantly,” she said.
The organization does not collect retail sales figures but does track manufacturer shipments. By the end of the third quarter of 2005, wood-stove sales were up 9 percent over the same period in 2004, while inserts for fireplaces were up 34 percent compared with 2004.
Traditional fireplaces are notoriously inefficient as a heating source because, along with smoke, they suck furnace-heated air up the chimney. Inserts, which slip into existing fireplace boxes and act like a stove, are popular with consumers this season. The insert acts like a stove with its more efficient combustion and heat output.
Homeowners who do not have a fireplace but want an additional heating source are opting for wood-burning stoves or stoves that burn sawdust pellets or corn pellets, Wheeler said.
Wood stove prices start at $1,500, while pellet stoves, which have a hopper that continuously feeds the fire and thus require less attention, begin around $2,000, said Wheeler. Prices do not include installation costs.
The consumer demand for the products caught a number of manufacturers by surprise, which in turn has left retailers scrambling for some models.
“We sold zero corn or pellet stoves” last year, said Rod Edwards, owner of Fireplace Works & More in Manteno, about 70 miles south of Chicago. “This year, we ordered 25 stoves and they were sold before they came in.”
He said consumers as far away as Naperville and Crown Point, Ind., came to his store looking for stoves. Some of those looking for a specific brand or model were disappointed because, in many cases, manufacturers were quoting January and February delivery dates as the soonest for reorders.
“The upsurge in demand for pellet hearth products this year has been unprecedented,” said Steve Tate, brand manager for the Quadra-Fire division of Hearth & Home Technologies, based in Lakeville, Minn. “Our manufacturing facilities are producing more product than at any other time in company history.” Quadra-Fire makes stoves fueled by wood, gas, pellets or corn.
Wood and pellet suppliers were caught by surprise, too, said Sako, causing shortages and price hikes. The Pellet Fuel Institute, an industry trade group, announced that pellet makers are running their plants at capacity and increasing production. But meanwhile, the price has risen from $100 to $150 a ton, suppliers say.
In a spot check of Chicago-area wood dealers, prices from $110 to $149 per face cord were quoted, about $10 higher compared to one year ago. A face cord is three rows of wood that measures roughly 4 feet high, 16 inches long and 8 feet wide, enough wood for about two fires a week.
“The prices are up because we are in short supply,” said Matthew Heitz, owner of Chicago Firewood Co. He said the short supply was the result of a combination in order cutbacks after the warm winter of 2004-2005 and an early increase in demand this winter.
Yet despite the talk of shortages and higher prices for wood-burning products, Bedoya isn’t concerned that his efforts to save on heating costs will go up in smoke. He expects to find a ready supply of wood in rural areas and predicts the Lopi brand wood stove he bought will pay for itself within a year through savings on his $190 a month gas bills.
Meanwhile, stove manufacturers expect that demand will stay high as people turn to wood or other alternatives to avoid high natural gas costs.
“It has been a record-breaking year everywhere in the industry, including our company,” Tate said. “We don’t expect that to stop. Many people have chosen not to purchase pellet appliances now due to the long lead times of many products and increased pellet-fuel demand. Next season could very well be even busier as many people will still look for answers to higher heating bills.”
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sstangenes@tribune.com
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Buying a stove
If your December gas bill has convinced you it’s time to buy a stove, here are few things to consider:
– Cost. “The more efficient the wood-burning product, the more expensive it is,” said Tammy Collins of Collins Fireplace and Outdoor Living in Wheeling.
– Size. Before purchasing a wood stove, a certified chimney sweep or stove installer should be consulted to check for clearance and determine the appropriate-size stove.
– Heat output. The heat cannot be as easily regulated with many wood stoves, and rooms farther from the heat source are likely to be chillier.
– Upkeep. Wood stoves can be messy–from the dirt and bark droppings that come with logs to the ashes, which must be removed. Pellet stoves are more convenient but require an electric source to run the hopper to feed the fire. Electric costs and a battery back-up should be considered.
– Insurance costs. They can go up, so Mike Haeffner, president of American Energy Systems, urges buyers to check with their insurer before installation. Some insurers won’t insure a stove, others will insure it but will hike premiums, and others do insure, he said.
–Sharon Stangenes
