Man you guys are a tough crowd...I have reviewed the Maine Energy Systems web site and spoken to the admittedly green sales associate on the phone - I am ready to send my $500 deposit tomorrow. The actual cost of the burner/boiler combo is $8100 and 8,800 for the larger unit.
Great! You be the Beta tester then.
Me? I`ll jump on that bandwagon if and when the pellet boiler business gets a better foothold here than it presently has.
Til then I`ll be content using a pellet stove with simple proven technology , a substantially smaller cash layout , and most importantly knowing that I (or my local dealer) can fix when something goes wrong.
I do however wish you nothing but success and good fortune with your new pellet boiler from Europe.
John
Well i find it very interesting that bulk pellets are going to be $250 a ton
I talked to the company and was told that the price of $250 would be the cap for this year. No telling what the price will be. They are having the trucks built right now. A large local oil company will be the first installer. Talk about irony. No sales to self installers though. Maybe in the future if they don’t get enough sales.
I share your concerns about pellet boilers lacking a track record. My problem is that my house does not lay out well for pellet stove (I would need 2 or 3 minimum to warm entire house), and switching to pellets will save me $2,500 a year or more at today’s prices, so I feel some urgency to make the change sooner than later. We’ll see how it turns out…
I share your concerns about pellet boilers lacking a track record. My problem is that my house does not lay out well for pellet stove (I would need 2 or 3 minimum to warm entire house), and switching to pellets will save me $2,500 a year or more at today’s prices, so I feel some urgency to make the change sooner than later. We’ll see how it turns out…
there are quite a few pellet boilers being produced domestically. im not familiar with the harmon boiler, but their other products are extremely good quality, and service is good also.
i would prefer to deal with a us company with a small track record here than with a foreign company with none. your urgency may lead you down the harder path.
I share your concerns about pellet boilers lacking a track record. My problem is that my house does not lay out well for pellet stove (I would need 2 or 3 minimum to warm entire house), and switching to pellets will save me $2,500 a year or more at today’s prices, so I feel some urgency to make the change sooner than later. We’ll see how it turns out…
warranty as per?
seems gun & feed auger are parts of concern,maybe,beside computer feedbrain.....good luck
id rather heat the house with pelletstove & fans but im ghetto!
Now I’m going to sound kind of like a heat snob because the other reason I want to go the boiler route rather than a stove is that I have quite a bit of radiant floor heat in the house that I would like to continue to use. I’m getting older and softer - I need warm toes to get through 6 months of winter.
Now I’m going to sound kind of like a heat snob because the other reason I want to go the boiler route rather than a stove is that I have quite a bit of radiant floor heat in the house that I would like to continue to use. I’m getting older and softer - I need warm toes to get through 6 months of winter.
moving all the pellets should toughen u up!
the pellet man cometh!
Now I’m going to sound kind of like a heat snob because the other reason I want to go the boiler route rather than a stove is that I have quite a bit of radiant floor heat in the house that I would like to continue to use. I’m getting older and softer - I need warm toes to get through 6 months of winter.
nuthun snobbish about that! we all will become eldery sooner or later.HE!HE!
3) I like the idea of Pellet Trucks rumbling through the neighborhood filling customers up with several months worth of pellets, though I imagine it would take up my entire basement !
Tom
There are outdoor silos poping up also, pellet fuel delivery service will reflect the old days of coal delivery.
Probably not apples to apples.
These are non-pressurized and have to be tied into the existing system from a distance. We don’t know the real efficiency of them, but I highly doubt they are anywhere near a Euro model which must meet some very high standards there.
An indoor unit often is fed from a bin or silo - where it looks like you’d have to pour bags into this one? Or have a truck come around regularly and fill it up.
I can see some advantage to an outdoor wood boiler due to fueling (and even that is debatable), but I see none at all when it comes to Pellets.
Either way, I think that money saved in the initial purchase of a central heating system does not mean a lot. The efficiency, longevity and other factors will end up making more difference.
Folks tend to use real high (75-80) total efficiencies when calculating the potential savings of pellets.....but what if the entire system ends up at 60 or 65 or less? That takes a lot of savings out of the deal.
The big hangup with this new conversion idea is the fact that it makes you dependant upon the lone dealer / installer / serviceman and an unknown foreign supplier in the event something goes wrong and at some point, it definitely will.
Way too much money for the marginal benefit.
John
Seems pretty iffy to me too. Maine has the wood sure enough but unless you are already in line for tossing your old boiler / furnace it seems like its going to be one very long payback. Could be a good bid for old folks who can’t haul their own wood but otherwise that’s still a lot of cabbage. I don’t see these stoves being rated multifuel so if pellets go sky high what then. A lot of us were doin this 4 or 5 years back when they got real scarce and stupidly priced to boot. What will something like that do to your payback. Personally I think its time for some folks with these sprawling homes to do like they did in 1975. Start plowing in the insulation and closing off certain sections of the place where its workable. With the Euro positively killing the US Dollar you aren’t going to get anything cheap from over there. Sounds to me like the old saying about how to make a million dollars in the airline industry. Start by bringing 2 million.........................
I need to make a choice soon as the backup for installation of pellet stoves in the Bangor area is now over 60 days. I have looked at the Harman pb105 and the weight (over 900lbs) is an issue for my limited access space.
I have not gotten any good info from the Maine Energy Sysytems as to availablity in Bangor - The website says yes but no one has contacted me yet to provide any info on the pricing or availablity. If the boilers are as good as they are portrayed to be I’m in. I can get bulk delivery for $235 from a local supplier in either 1 ton bags or 40 lb bags. I am also looking into several boiler stoves from Europe (Ecotherm H2O 34, Artel 14, Etc) so I can avoid the needed tear-out to make entry into my limited access basement.
But if they are not able to work on 60Hz (rather than 50Hz - European power standard) I am willing to hand a pile of money to Mr. Otten to ensure my pre-buy (this week is $4.59/gallon) doesn’t put me in the poor house or worse the street.
I use 1600 gallons per year (last three years average) converting oil BTU’s to pellets has some ambiguity but the savings are real and substantial. My boiler runs at about 78-80% efficiency. If the pellet boiler is approximately the same (rated at 83.5-88.7%) I win in avery short time. Last year I pre-bought at $1.79/gallon and this year my cost for the average gallons is $7344. At $235/ton that equates to 31 tons - The math works out to be about a 2-3 year payback if prices don’t go up another penney for #2 oil....
My opinion only, but I (and many others) think you are seeing a bubble and heating oil will be well LESS even this winter, let alone in the future. Obviously you take your chances, but at $4.50 it is about the price of electricity, which would seem to put a serious dent in the tendency of people to use it!
My opinion only, but I (and many others) think you are seeing a bubble and heating oil will be well LESS even this winter, let alone in the future. Obviously you take your chances, but at $4.50 it is about the price of electricity, which would seem to put a serious dent in the tendency of people to use it!
Are you implying the cost of heating oil will fall to a point that moving to the pellet boiler or pellet boiler stove will not make economical sense? The futures markets for energy have tripled in incoming money value in the past 60 days. I don’t see millionares/billionares deciding they don’t want to drive the prices of the futures contracts up further so they can continue to make more money. The price per barrel excluding the run made by futures investing should be around 85-95 US dollars/barrel factoring in the weakened dollar and if the dollar was as strong as it had been even 12 months ago it would be nearer to $68-75/barrel. Wall Street has a 245 Billion dollar interest (oil futures contracts as of May 15) in keeping the prices up near these levels for the foreseeable future. I have made a moral choice to not invest in the energy futures market due to cost be paid by the world’s poorest, don’t bet the average trader feels any moral pull against making money on the misery of others. They don’t see the cost it is making on every product and service they consume, they only see the 401K or their investment potfolio continue to GROW!
