Newbie. Loving it and frustrated at the same time - How long should pellets last??? Harman XXV

Eatonpcat said:

ironpony said:

...I'm using alot less pellets and summer cooling should be a lot better...

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can a pellet stove really cool your house?????????

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In my limited experience opinion...Only if you're burning Green Supreme's ;-P[/quote]

Or Pennington's "Natures Junk"....

X2 on the window film. I have newer windows and use them also. Helps a lot more than one would think. Even a with new windows.

ironpony said:

...I'm using alot less pellets and summer cooling should be a lot better...

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can a pellet stove really cool your house?????????[/quote]

No, but the work that tony was talking about was all insulation and air leak sealing which pays in the winter on your heating costs and in the summer on air conditioning cost (and perhaps even total avoidance of).

ironpony said:

...I'm using alot less pellets and summer cooling should be a lot better...

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can a pellet stove really cool your house?????????[/quote]

Dang,Ironpony I thought everyone had seen the new Harman with ihe cooling fins,they are the Cat's Meow .

Hi, have had the Harman XXV for about a year myself; I'm currently using about 1.5 bags a day, and it will go up to about 2.5 when it gets really cold. Considering the difference between cost of heat from my propane furnace and bags of pellets, I figure every time I burn a bag of pellets, someone shoves a $10 bill in my pocket. Oh, I'm heating about 3300 sq ft. Construction is 20 yr. old, so decent windows and doors, and I agree with spending a few bux on spray foam and caulking. Makes a HUGE difference. BTW, spec on the XXV is 50K BTUs.

I like Dr. Ken's analogy of someone stuffing money in his pocket every time he burns a bag of pellets. I think "Well, here's 3 gallons of oil I'm not burning." But, I like the $ analogy better! Hope you don't mind if I "borrow" your idea, Dr. K.

heat seeker said:

I like Dr. Ken's analogy of someone stuffing money in his pocket every time he burns a bag of pellets. I think "Well, here's 3 gallons of oil I'm not burning." But, I like the $ analogy better! Hope you don't mind if I "borrow" your idea, Dr. K.

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Why, sure :cheese: - I used to wake up in the middle of the night, when my wood stove had burned low, and hear the furnace kick on. THAT sounded to me like $$$ going down the toilet! Now I sometimes wake up, hear some pellets trickle into the stove, and think about the $$$ worth of propane that the pellets are replacing....
Ken

catmas said:

ironpony said:

my opinion is try stove temp
it will eliminate the ups and downs
when it calls for heat in room temp the flame and pellet usage goes up then it idles down
stove temp willl keep one steady stove temp and this works better for me
also your usage does not seem excessive
like was stated, about four ton a year seems normal
seems like alot but at 6 dollars a day 180 a month
thats not to bad

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I ABSOLUTELY LOVE YOU! NO SERIOUSLY, I TRIED STOVE TEMP FOR THE LAST TWO DAYS. I HAVE BARELY USED ANY PELLETS! I HAVE MY STOVE TEMP SET ON 2-3. I AM SO COMFORTABLE. IT IS 70, BUT FEELS LIKE 68. WITH MY FEEDER ON 3.5. I THINK THAT IS THE KEY. NO UPS AND DOWNS. I PACKED IT FULL LAST NIGHT AND HAVE MORE THAN 3/4'S LEFT AND IT WAS 18 DEGREES LAST NIGHT. I AM SO HAPPY. THANK YOU SO MUCH

NO TO DECIDE ON MY PALLETS..CANT DECIDE GREEN SUPREME, NATURES OWN OR GREENE TEAM

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Glad to hear that Totally worth the price of admission to join this forum. Let us know how long of a burn you get on a bag . I avg. 30 hrs. in stove temp with feeder 3.5-4 temp 3-4. Good luck Happy New Year!!

I only run in Stove Temp.

I threw that dumb ass probe in the trash the first day I bought the stove.

Stove Temp 1 - Feed Rate on 2 - I use a bag every ~26 hours.

catmas said:

ironpony said:

my opinion is try stove temp
it will eliminate the ups and downs
when it calls for heat in room temp the flame and pellet usage goes up then it idles down
stove temp willl keep one steady stove temp and this works better for me
also your usage does not seem excessive
like was stated, about four ton a year seems normal
seems like alot but at 6 dollars a day 180 a month
thats not to bad

Click to expand...

I ABSOLUTELY LOVE YOU! NO SERIOUSLY, I TRIED STOVE TEMP FOR THE LAST TWO DAYS. I HAVE BARELY USED ANY PELLETS! I HAVE MY STOVE TEMP SET ON 2-3. I AM SO COMFORTABLE. IT IS 70, BUT FEELS LIKE 68. WITH MY FEEDER ON 3.5. I THINK THAT IS THE KEY. NO UPS AND DOWNS. I PACKED IT FULL LAST NIGHT AND HAVE MORE THAN 3/4'S LEFT AND IT WAS 18 DEGREES LAST NIGHT. I AM SO HAPPY. THANK YOU SO MUCH

NO TO DECIDE ON MY PALLETS..CANT DECIDE GREEN SUPREME, NATURES OWN OR GREENE TEAM

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Glad you got your problem resolved. Now, for the matter of the consultation fee ;-)

catmas said:

I'd be happy to pay a consultation fee LOL. I am driving myself crazy..trying to decide if the greene teams are worth the 247.50, they burn hotter but are they really worth the cost difference of the green supremes which are 234 now??

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Green Team at $247 is pretty good for right now, since Lowes is charging $5.48/bag here by me. At $13 difference for more heat and less ash definitely go with GT

Hey, Catmas

If the price you're quoting is from Lowes, would you mind taken a picture and posting here the price tag of the Green Team. I would like to take this picture to my Lowes to see if they would match it since I'm just in S. NH. Been known to work.

catmas said:

oh crap messed that up. Greene team is 274.50 and green supreme is 219.00 I can get 5% of of the greene team 13 off but not on the green supreme since its a ""special price"".

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Oh, never mind

Well, I changed to stove temp for the long weekend and will report my results on Tuesday. More to come.

Happy New Year to all my pellet friends.

UPDATE 1/1/12: Have been on stove temp for the last couple of days and have used far fewer pellets (about 3/4 to 2/3 bag a day) with better heat. Right now it is 74 inside (on first floor) and 39 outside, with stove on 2 - 2.5 for both temp and feed rate, blower on low. Of course it has been warm, but comparable temps over the past month or so have used more pellets on room temp set to about 70, with less warmth inside (70 - 71). I will stick with stove temps through Tuesday's forecast cold snap and let you know.

Just wondering? Does anyone think insulating the 4" chimney liner does anything for heating your home and maybe using less pellets? Or is insulating more of a good smoke flo rate through the chimney than without insulation? I was also told insulating the liner causes the liner to expand and contract more which is better for keeping the inside of the liner cleaner from build-up?

Years ago I installed new vinal windows and really insulated them using the spray foam. Until now I have been using strictly oil to heat our home. I'd say maybe I've used 300 gallons of oil last year for the whole winter. My house could use more insulation in the attic, but I have to do one thig at a time. I'm just now about ready to install the liner, plus I went with the insulation kit for this install. I'm also thinking of adding a pipe from the vent above the stove to the return on my ac/heat unit. My hope is I will be able to circulate more of the stove heat through the house without loosing heat because the blower on the main heat/ac unit is too high?

I'm going to be watching the feed rate with great interest now that I have been reading these posts about this subject. What I have learned is each home being what it is, and the temp desired amounts to how many pellets are used per day. I'm hoping between the oil heat and now the pellets I only use a bag a day? I'm guessing time will tell.

Thanks to all who have added their knowledge and experience to writing these posts. I know what to expect now, as before, I didn't.

redhot1 said:

I'm going to be watching the feed rate with great interest now that I have been reading these posts about this subject. What I have learned is each home being what it is, and the temp desired amounts to how many pellets are used per day. I'm hoping between the oil heat and now the pellets I only use a bag a day? I'm guessing time will tell.

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Hi redhot1,
As a former Marylander myself, I'd be surprised if you were using more than a bag a day of pellets. It all depends on your house; how large and how well insulated it is, but winters in MD are pretty mild compared to up here in NH. Your current oil usage suggests to me that you'll likely make it through the winter on around 2 or 2.5 tons of pellets, which would essentially eliminate your oil bill completely. Don't give up on the attic insulation thing either, I did it to my house there and had pretty wonderful results in both heat and a/c savings.

Good luck,
dk

Hi Dr. Ken.

Our house is fairly well insulated. It's a home that was built in the late 70's, but I have been updating things as I've gone along through the years, and as money allows.

The Pellet stove was an idea I had last year because our basement doesn't really stay all that warm during the colder weather (mid 60's). At first I was thinking of a wood burning stove, then I would either have to cut and split the wood, or pay someone to do that. I figured I'd be better off using pellets for several reasons. One main reason is I hate paying someone to do what I can do. I'd rather use the money allotted for labor on making the house more efficient if I can.

I thought about the oil I used last year. It was almost 200 gallons, not the 300 I posted earlier. The Oil Company finally told me to call them when I needed oil. Each time they came out last year I was getting less than the 75 gallons they require for delivery. I had two deliveries of less than 50 gallons, and one of 110 gallons. And that last oil delivery was in April of 2011, so I'm not using much oil at all compared to others.

I figure I'd be happy just to heat the basement to a nice 75 degrees for our daughter who has a bedroom on the other end of the basement from the chimney where the stove is going to be located. Right now I'm working to get the 4" pipe down the chimney so I can get this thing going. We've been really lucky because it hasn't been that cold around here yet. So I don't want to be messing around and miss my window of opportunity to get this set-up and heating the basement.

As far as NH goes. I know all too well how cold it gets there. I used to spend every summer in NH for 11 straight years. I went to a Boys Camp in the little town of Holderness that is (or used to be) located on Little Squam Lake. We had no heat, no windows (just slide shutters) and used the lake to use as our bathtub. Ahhh, the 60's and 70's where things like this could go on, and where the public understood we were a bunch of kids. We'd wake in the morning only to run into that cold lake water to freshen up before breakfast. Add to this I've also climbed Mt Washington more times than I care to remember. There would be snow there all year around as we used to see from Tuckerman's Revene located at the half-way point where we'd sleep at night in the middle of July. On several trips I could have used anything that made heat during the nights on some of those mountains. I was so cold on one trip at night in the rain that I just knew I was going to DIE! My sleeping bag was soaking wet, I was so stinking cold, wet and didn't get any sleep once the rain started. A night I'll never forget. But it was fun though....... Couldn't wait to go back and do this all over again the next year.

Beautiful Country!