Replace Wood Stove With Pellet

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joescho

joescho

Feeling the Heat
Feb 11, 2009
391
Northeastern PA
Well I'm seriously thinking of replacing my Jotul wood insert in my basement with a pellet insert. I've been doing the firewood thing for 35 years now and I'm just getting tired of it. Going out in the cold/snow/wind, clearing a path to my backyard so I can get back there to get firewood, getting 3 gigantic loads every Saturday morning without fail week arfter week...

All the while my Mt Vernon pellet insert upstairs gets cleaned weekly or bi-weekly (depending on my schedule), and all it asks is for me to feed it every day and make sure its clean.

I'm thinking I'd rather deal with bags of pellets in the summer than the firewood in the freezing cold anymore..... Maybe its the winter wearing on me I don't know...

Anyway I'm thinking either another Mt. Vernon or maybe a Harmon Accentra... I already have a 6 inch SS liner for the wood stove so all I would need is a reducer to the 4 inch to connect it to the stove and I'm good to go...
 
Sounds like you know what to expect from the insert upstairs. I hear you on switching from wood to pellets but then you'd have to get a gym membership to replace all that good physical activity you'd no longer be getting;lol

Do you have a plan in the event of a power outage?
 
I haven't completely made up my mind just yet... There's the cost. Neither stove is cheap, and yes I do have a deep cycle battery and special cords to run the stove in the event of an electrical outage (but I think I would need 2 batteries then).

I was wondering if anyone has ever made the switch and if there's any concerns with a 6 inch pipe rather than a 4.
 
I leaned the other direction - cordwood insert upstairs and replaced a freestanding woodstove in a finished basement room with pellets. In my case the woodstove would not draft (unless I opened the outside door) but the pellet stove seems to work fine.

I found a lot of varying opinion on using the 6" flue in my chimney. I wound up going with 4" double wall pellet vent pipe from the stove to the masonry adapter, then just enough 4" flex to get to the flue and point upwards. Seems to be venting fine even though the pellet stove has much less heat in the exhaust and my chimney is 35' tall. I will say I'm not fond of all the joints it takes to get from the stove to the adapter with the "universal" nature of the parts - I think I should have welded up a nice 4" stainless pipe since double-wall is not required for my install.

Anyway the jury is not completely out on my setup yet, but so far so good (knocks on wood).

Good luck,
- Jeff
 
joescho said:
I haven't completely made up my mind just yet... There's the cost. Neither stove is cheap, and yes I do have a deep cycle battery and special cords to run the stove in the event of an electrical outage (but I think I would need 2 batteries then).

I was wondering if anyone has ever made the switch and if there's any concerns with a 6 inch pipe rather than a 4.
Click to expand...
FYI, I have a 6 inch SS liner in my 32 foot masonry chimney and I adapted my 4 inch double walled pellet boiler's vent to the 6 inch. At 8 feet from the boiler's combustion fan the stack temperature inside the vent at the adapter runs at 300 degrees. Each time I've cleaned the vent all there is is a layer of fine grey fly ash. The draft has been measured and is right on the specs for the manufacturer, Harman.
 
So it looks like the install would be a little easier than I thought. I guess I just need to come up with the money for the stove.....
 
Gotta say it > Northeast Pa > Keystoker coal stoker stove > heat your whole house > You haul the coal for $177 a ton > 40% more heat per pound than pellets > no brainer. :)
 
Yeah I know but I'm just not a fan of coal. I can probably dig down a few feet in my yard and get coal. I think to make it cost efficient you would need a coal bin (as opposed to buying bagged coal) and I'm not willing to go there because of the logistics in filling it and the mess (I have a finished basement). With pellets I can put 4 or 5 ton on pallets which admittedly take up more space than the coal would but would not be as dusty and messy.
 
joescho said:
Yeah I know but I'm just not a fan of coal. I can probably dig down a few feet in my yard and get coal. I think to make it cost efficient you would need a coal bin (as opposed to buying bagged coal) and I'm not willing to go there because of the logistics in filling it and the mess (I have a finished basement). With pellets I can put 4 or 5 ton on pallets which admittedly take up more space than the coal would but would not be as dusty and messy.
Click to expand...
Coal is NOT dusty and no more messy than pellets. IMHO, of course. I paid $6 a bag for Reading Anthracite stove coal from Strunk's in Reading this fall. I don't know what he charges for pea, which is what you would use in a stoker. Stoker's are the way to go. Double or triple the heat of a pellet stove IF you need it and they will idle back to almost nothing when you don't need it. And you can store coal anywhere inside or outside.
 
tjnamtiw said:
Coal is NOT dusty and no more messy than pellets. IMHO, of course. I paid $6 a bag for Reading Anthracite stove coal from Strunk's in Reading this fall. I don't know what he charges for pea, which is what you would use in a stoker. Stoker's are the way to go. Double or triple the heat of a pellet stove IF you need it and they will idle back to almost nothing when you don't need it. And you can store coal anywhere inside or outside.
Click to expand...

maybe not, I do not have a firsthand experience with coal, but I remember my aunt years ago had a coal furnace and thinking it was dirty but I was pretty young at the time so I guess I could be wrong.
 
joescho said:
maybe not, I do not have a firsthand experience with coal, but I remember my aunt years ago had a coal furnace and thinking it was dirty but I was pretty young at the time so I guess I could be wrong.
Click to expand...
That's a very common problem that even I wrestled with years ago. Everyone remembers that BIG coal-eating monster in their parent's or grandparent's basement and maybe even the big grate in the floor that left the heat upstairs.
Today's stoves and furnaces are state of the art and every bit as efficient and some are even more efficient than pellet stoves. And they look good! With a stoker, all you need to do is keep it fed and learn how and WHEN to remove and dispose of the ash to prevent dust. It's your option, of course, but I just wanted to make you aware of your choices not being just brands of pellet stoves but stoves in general since you have the option of available coal.
 
FWIW,
If I was in your situation I would ;

A) keep the wood insert and some firewood around (for emergency's of ANY kind)
and do a separate standalone pellet stove, they are a bit cheaper than the inserts.

OR

B) (being from PA myself) Coal is definitely the most economical choice ! BUT you do have the "liberals war on coal" to consider..........and how it may affect prices in PA over the next few years.
 
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wsar10 said:
FWIW,
If I was in your situation I would ;

A) keep the wood insert and some firewood around (for emergency's of ANY kind)
and do a separate standalone pellet stove, they are a bit cheaper than the inserts.
.
Click to expand...

I thought of that too but it would mean taking out the lower portion of the fireplace (lower mantle) and extend the hearth for safety purposes which I think would be cost prohibitive. At that point I would be committed to a stove rather than an insert.
 
joescho said:
I thought of that too but it would mean taking out the lower portion of the fireplace (lower mantle) and extend the hearth for safety purposes which I think would be cost prohibitive. At that point I would be committed to a stove rather than an insert.
Click to expand...

I meant put it in a different location (if possible) in your basement.
 
tjnamtiw said:
Coal is NOT dusty and no more messy than pellets. IMHO, of course. I paid $6 a bag for Reading Anthracite stove coal from Strunk's in Reading this fall. I don't know what he charges for pea, which is what you would use in a stoker. Stoker's are the way to go. Double or triple the heat of a pellet stove IF you need it and they will idle back to almost nothing when you don't need it. And you can store coal anywhere inside or outside.
Click to expand...

Yes! pea anthracite in a stoker would be ultimate in heat output and low cost if available. This stuff can have HHV values of up to 15,000 Btu/lb. Compared to wood pellets which my compare at about 8300 or so Btu/lb. Not quite half that of the best anthracite. In dollars per million Btu though, coal has it all over all else. (don't know about some natural gas prices though).
 
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The stoker feed system is so simple that I wonder why pellet stove manufacturers haven't utilized it. It would eliminate the auger jams, dealing with fines, and other things that I'm too tired to think about now. :)
 
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