First bag of second half of stash just went in the hopper.

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IMO, a humidifier and an OAK are necessary add-on items to any pellet stove, regardless of house set up. Installers are lazy/companies don't see the profit in OAKs which is why they don't push them.
 
I do not have an OAK at the recommendation of my installer. My house gets very dry to the point that when I brush my collie, he is full of static! I have a pan of water on top of the stove to evaporate into the room.
Just an uninformed installer (and / or lazy). Just bad advice, but can likely be fixed.
 
Just cracked into the fourth ton of my 6 ton stash a few days ago! Might have to get one more just to be on the safe side to burn into April...
 
Just an uninformed installer (and / or lazy). Just bad advice, but can likely be fixed.
Yes, it could, but then my stove would become a room heater rather than a whole house heater! By pulling air from inside, it is creating a circulation that keeps my upstairs at a consistent 62 degrees through the winter. The upstairs is accessed 40 feet from the stove and around a corner. Rather a catch 22 but for now I will deal.
 
I imagine the blower in stove would create circulation. Adding fans would work as well. You might find it better than drawing cold dry air into the house to replace the warm combustion air you are using.
 
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Without an OAK your stove is feeding the flame with the air it already heated up. It then be pulling cold air into your house to replace that air. My house is awkward as well. I have a 1900 sq./ft L shape ranch with a second floor. My stairs are also around a corner and the heat gets up stairs fine. Downstairs stays 70-73 and upstairs 66-68. Just put a small fan on the floor blowing towards the stove in the area of the stairs. Works like a charm.
 
Yes, it could, but then my stove would become a room heater rather than a whole house heater! By pulling air from inside, it is creating a circulation that keeps my upstairs at a consistent 62 degrees through the winter. The upstairs is accessed 40 feet from the stove and around a corner. Rather a catch 22 but for now I will deal.
As others note, that's just not accurate. And if the installer told you that, they're just wrong. The air being pulled in is COLD. There is no way it HELPS to heat your whole house, or a room, or an area the size of a thimble. Cold is cold, and you must pay to heat it to be comortable.

So while it may indeed affect overal circulation, the air coming in almost certainly negates the air from the warm part of the convection loop. Find another option for aiding circulation - this one is expensive.
 
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The pellet stove itself should not dry the house out. It's how you have it set up. If you use an OAK, there should be no difference. If not it will dry your house out like a would stove would.
Stoves don't dry the air..period. They change the temperature.
The air has the same amount of moisture in it before and after it is heated.
If the air outside at 10 degrees, for example, has 70% relative humidity, when heated, it's capacity to hold moisture increases. Because of that, it's relative humidity drops (to, perhaps 30%). It still contains the same amount of moisture, it's just that it could hold more. It will take that more from wherever it can find it; from the furniture, from house plants or from you.

So, here is the important part; It doesn't matter how you heat the air. For the same starting temperature and the same temperature rise, with the same starting relative humidity, the air will see the same drop in relative humidity.

I believe people think of a wood stove as being more drying of air because people tend to overheat their homes when they heat with a wood stove. A greater increase in temperature results in a greater drop in relative humidity.
 
250 +- gone 200 left....gonna need some... I suspect I will burn between 10 and 11 tons
I don't know how big the barn you're heating is, but I suspect that you are doing something seriously wrong. $0.02
 
I don't know how big the barn you're heating is, but I suspect that you are doing something seriously wrong. $0.02
That my response to a tee. I enjoyed your explanation of relative humidity very much. Having gone through college for a meteorology major, there tends to be a gross misunderstanding of moisture capacity of air. Now would you like to have a crack at explaining advanced thermodynamics? My have my original post has morphed!
 
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my original post has morphed!
They do that, don't they.
Just finished off my second ton. Two in reserve. I expect I will use most of it this year.
Thermo wasn't my favorite subject, I decline.
 
Burning since mid September on, 80 bags down :) .Will get one more ton ,a split between Trebio and Satisfaction, when things warm up will go back to Curran to finish the year out.
 
I don't know how big the barn you're heating is, but I suspect that you are doing something seriously wrong. $0.02
if I recall, he has the pellet boiler and is heating a house and an apt/outbuilding with it or something like that.
 
Two tons down, and the first Baggie of my third (of four) ton just went screaming into the hopper. Seems like I am using more this year than last, and these wicked cold snaps may force me to grab an extra ton before the season is over. Any observations from others around the globe? Are you at your halfway point as well?


Not at the halfway point yet. Bought 4 tons up front and dragged another 20 bags or so home from HD whenever I saw FSU available. Have burned about 1 3/4 tons so far.
 
The air being pulled in is COLD. There is no way it HELPS to heat your whole house,
What I'm saying is, that by pulling air from inside the house towards the stove, it is creating circulation without the added necessity of fans to circulate the air. By adding an OAK, the lost circulation would, by necessity need to be created by purchasing and installing fans.

And by the way, Because of all the uproar on this site last year when i posted that an OAK was not installed, I contacted HARMAN directly. Their response? THsat it is not always necessary to install an OAK.
 
What I'm saying is, that by pulling air from inside the house towards the stove, it is creating circulation without the added necessity of fans to circulate the air. By adding an OAK, the lost circulation would, by necessity need to be created by purchasing and installing fans.

And by the way, Because of all the uproar on this site last year when i posted that an OAK was not installed, I contacted HARMAN directly. Their response? THsat it is not always necessary to install an OAK.
I never installed an OAK either and I am running just fine.
 
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As others note, that's just not accurate. And if the installer told you that, they're just wrong. The air being pulled in is COLD. There is no way it HELPS to heat your whole house, or a room, or an area the size of a thimble. Cold is cold, and you must pay to heat it to be comortable.

So while it may indeed affect overal circulation, the air coming in almost certainly negates the air from the warm part of the convection loop. Find another option for aiding circulation - this one is expensive.
Madcodger,
This conversation reminds me of the truth of the lyrics from a Simon and Garfunkel song,
"Still a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest....."
People will believe what they want to believe and you are wasting your breath trying to change their minds.
 
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Madcodger,
This conversation reminds me of the truth of the lyrics from a Simon and Garfunkel song,
"Still a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest....."
People will believe what they want to believe and you are wasting your breath trying to change their minds.
I must unfortunately agree. I'm done. There is just no way to differentiate between "works fine" and "efficient" in some corners of the world. It is what it is...
 
I am at 70 bags so far but I am just about rite on track as far consumption goes bought 4 ton 2 vermont and 2 tsc and should be just about enough for the season
 
I don't know how big the barn you're heating is, but I suspect that you are doing something seriously wrong. $0.02
Ever think just maybe I'm doing EVERYTHING wrong?:mad:
 
Ever think just maybe I'm doing EVERYTHING wrong?:mad:
Nobody is that consistent.
Just how many square feet of housing are you heating?
 
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