Pellet boiler for a 3000sqft house

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9 tons per season +-?
 
I average using 7 and a half tons per year with my PB105 and Castile insert. Our house is about the same size. The PB105 supplies hot water and heating from middle to end of October through the end of April.
 
My installation was a winter and a half ago and I have burned 12 tons in my PB105 since late February 2011. I didn't have the joist insulation up and lots of the heat energy went into the cellar keeping it at an inordinate 80 plus degrees all winter. My plan is to insulate the joist for my radiant heat and keep the cellar at about 50 degrees. I think I can cut my pellet burn from 10 tons per year down around 6 or 7.
 
You guys are making me feel real good. I went thru five tons.
 
9 ton's ? @ $300 per ton = $2700, plus all the work involved loading it/cleaning etc
If you can afford a 3000sqft house you can afford to heat it!
Should of went GeoThermal
And who would buy this house if he decides to sell?

You act like your bragging it such a great deal, didnt factor in the cost of the stove/installation either.
 
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old house/new house? insulation levels?
 
r40 walls, r60 roof on a ICF foundation built in 05. Insulation has the fastest payback of almost all home improvements-upgrades. Average mean temp I think for area is 43. Cost with Harman install was kept under 115K. Basement largely unfinished with workshop.
 
9 ton's ? @ $300 per ton = $2700, plus all the work involved loading it/cleaning etc
If you can afford a 3000sqft house you can afford to heat it!
Should of went GeoThermal
And who would buy this house if he decides to sell?

You act like your bragging it such a great deal, didnt factor in the cost of the stove/installation either.

lot of money to heat for a year, we just had a geo system put in for ~2500 sq ft cost about 22k after tax incentives. I sure hope people looking at pellet boilers who are spending ~10k+ to have them installed think long and hard if its the right solution. Im all about pellets but at some point you really have to look at every solution out there.
 
9 tons for 3k SQ FT doesn't sound too bad if you got room for the pellets. I got through 6 tons for 1.6k, but alas I'm in the artic.
I didnt realize you pellet burners went through so many tons. I burn 3-5 tons per season heating 3000 Sq ft but im burning anthracite, which has more BTUS per pound and is cheaper to buy. Winter of 11-12 cost me $550.
 
lot of money to heat for a year, we just had a geo system put in for ~2500 sq ft cost about 22k after tax incentives. I sure hope people looking at pellet boilers who are spending ~10k+ to have them installed think long and hard if its the right solution. Im all about pellets but at some point you really have to look at every solution out there.
Geo like Solar have come down, i'm sure in the next few years be even lower as it becomes more main stream, how would Geo work for a forced air heating system?
 
9 tons is a heck of a lot of fuel! But, He also didn't say how much oil they were consuming. Hopefully the're saving something to offset the system cost? Otherwise might have steered them towards NG!

Geothermal still has the below 0::F issues AFAIK. Still would need an assist in the cold?
 
Pellet stove may make a nice backup for very cold weather and when a heat pump become less efficient or to help a Geo system.
 
Geothermal still has the below 0::F issues AFAIK. Still would need an assist in the cold?

A ground source geothermal system has no troubles below 0. In the winter they will pull 35-40 degree water all winter long regardless of outdoor air temp. What they do need assist with is they are not sized to heat your house at -10 they may only generate 40k btu your house may require 60k btu to be 68 inside when its -10 outside. They usually put a electric coil in the system to help out on extreme days. This is much cheaper then installing a larger system to accommodate extremes. Our heat pump max rating is 48k btu with an additional 34k btu of electric heat for extreme days.

Air source heat pumps do have problems in colder temperatures they typically are not installed as the only source of heat though in cold climates.
 
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Pellet stove may make a nice backup for very cold weather and when a heat pump become less efficient or to help a Geo system.

Thats pretty much what my pellet stove has become for our geo system. Although I consider it more a backup for when the power goes out more they anything. Id need a very large standby generator to handle the surge from my heat pump when it starts.
 
VS OIL ~ I saved about 700$ last winter, I normally burn about 700-800 gallons a year (Including DHW)

I can imagine a savings of at least 1000$+ a year for a pellet boiler that is using 9 tons.
 
9 ton's ? @ $300 per ton = $2700, plus all the work involved loading it/cleaning etc
If you can afford a 3000sqft house you can afford to heat it!
Should of went GeoThermal
And who would buy this house if he decides to sell?

You act like your bragging it such a great deal, didnt factor in the cost of the stove/installation either.

I would be bragging!! Its my understanding that for every ton of pellets you don't burn 120 gallons of oil!!! This savings combines with the fact that I believe most pellet burning people keep their houses warmer (I know I do) I burned 7+ tons last season and kept the house 5 degrees warmer. NG is not available so oil is my only reasonable option.
 
9 ton's ? @ $300 per ton = $2700, plus all the work involved loading it/cleaning etc
If you can afford a 3000sqft house you can afford to heat it!
Should of went GeoThermal
And who would buy this house if he decides to sell?

You act like your bragging it such a great deal, didnt factor in the cost of the stove/installation either.

Besides who pays $300/ton for pellets?
 
A ground source geothermal system has no troubles below 0. In the winter they will pull 35-40 degree water all winter long regardless of outdoor air temp. What they do need assist with is they are not sized to heat your house at -10 they may only generate 40k btu your house may require 60k btu to be 68 inside when its -10 outside. They usually put a electric coil in the system to help out on extreme days. This is much cheaper then installing a larger system to accommodate extremes. Our heat pump max rating is 48k btu with an additional 34k btu of electric heat for extreme days.

Air source heat pumps do have problems in colder temperatures they typically are not installed as the only source of heat though in cold climates.

I agree. I have a Waterfurnace Envision closed loop vertical geothermal system. I think it is 5 tons but I don't remember anymore. No issues in PA when temps are at or near zero. As mentioned, my system has an electric coil if it can't keep up and it has never turned on unless I change the temp setting more than 3 degrees warmer at one shot. Then it goes to stage 2 or 3 until it catches up. It also has an "emergency heat" stage if the comperssor fails. It will then rely on the electric coil for emergency heating until the compressor is fixed.
 
For the Geo guys - what do your power bills run for the winter?
My total average from 7/21/2011 until 7/21/2013 for electrical use is $192/mo. That is all year with geothermal for heating and cooling. Also 80gal electric hot water heater, electric range, microwave, etc. No gas bill, no oil bill, no coal bill, only a small pellet bill for my attached garage :)

I have a lot of energy drawing devices running all the time now. The first winter we moved into our new home (2009), it was about $150 each month for a few months in the winter. But since then I've added plenty of large screen TV's, refrigerators, kegerators, 24x7 lights, etc. And now we have a 2 year old.
 
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