Newbie:LP, wood or pellets?

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ranshe

ranshe

New Member
Mar 2, 2014
9
North Coast California
I live in rural coastal northern California.
Home is 18 years old with an LP fireplace(Heat N Glo). Costs a lot of $$ to operate. Vents out the back. Blower is loud and electronic start has been replaced.
Also have an 18 yo LP furnace.
LP is metered from community tank and more expensive than owning your own tank which we are not able to do.
Our house is long and fireplace in one end, would desire to heat about 1000 sf, not the hall and bedrooms. Not cold here but damp, heat about 5 months of the year, low is 30' but ave low 40. Coastal climate with rust. Lots of windows (dual pane-1/2 are new) and peaked ceilings.

We love having a fireplace and the warmth of wood. We have used a wood insert and a pellet stove in other homes and liked both. Had 2 stove dealers come out. All discouraged replacing old LP fireplace as costly remodel. However, I would rather remodel that space. I have thought of finishing out the alcove so a free standing unit of any type could be put there, rather than remodeling just the "fireplace". To replace fireplace we still have to gut existing framing and redo. So I would rather remodel the alcove (exterior 4 feet by 2 feet, up to roof). Yes this will initially be expensive.

Wood is wonderful heat: expensive to buy, lots of work, storage. We do not have a truck. There is a forest of softwood in our area. Fir and pine. Does not require electricity to run. Ours rarely goes out though.

Gas: LP is expensive here. Would a free standing low clearance stove be more efficient than an insert?

Pellet: nice warmth like wood.. Costs around $250/ton maybe a little more for better. Free standing more efficient than insert?

I have pondered this for 2 years and can't come up with the best solution. Would appreciate your advice and direction on figuring this out. Inserts don't seem to heat as well as free standings, is this still true? Wood is nice but maybe too much work at this point, and too messy. LP or Pellets?
Pic attached.
Thanks!

Dang the pic was upright until I loaded it! photo.JPG
 
There have been several folks here that have removed an old zc fireplace and then repurposed the chase for a freestanding wood stove. The problem here is there is no real chase with a back-vented gas fireplace. That means a build out on the house to accommodate the alcove. A simple alternative would be to remove the gas unit and put in a freestanding stove with a new hearth and chimney going either straight up or up and out at about the 5 ft level.
 
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That will give you the best heat and the most options for a stove as well as creating a beautiful hearth for the stove.
 
Sorry, I accidentally deleted your post about agreeing this being the best option.
 
I almost want to lean towards a pellet stove for your situation from reading your post.
Sounds like the homes are close to each other since you are drawing from a community tank?

Pellet stoves burn clean. Easy to buy pellets as you need them. Very little ash.
Easy to control temp. It's not that cold where you are most of the time.
 
Having a bit of experience with PRK, you are likely best off with pellet stove. Those communities out there have a lot of very strange ideas about what you can and can't do, what you can store out side &/or how much and such.
 
Considering the low temps you are talking, I THINK a wood stove would be way too warm. I have both pellet and wood in my house, and as soon as it hits the 30s and god forbid 40s, it gets warm real fast in the house. At that point of course the wood stove gets a siesta, and the pellet stove handles everything no problem. In temps such as the 40s the pellet stove will shut itself down quite frequently as well, as the load placed on it is nill. Pellets are clean and easily stored. Automated temp setting. Feed it and check on it periodically to see if it needs another Baggie. Wood is definitely more work and tending.

Get yourself a Harman, sit back, and love it.
 
I really like the efficiency and convenience of wood pellets but finally sold the pellet stove because of the noise and unattractive flame. It's a small wood burning furnace which was not the best for living room use. This is a big house with cathedral ceilings. We run the T6 all the time with temps in the 40s in a much smaller room. I don't think a proper wood stove will overheat the space.
 
begreen said:
There have been several folks here that have removed an old zc fireplace and then repurposed the chase for a freestanding wood stove. The problem here is there is no real chase with a back-vented gas fireplace. That means a build out on the house to accommodate the alcove. A simple alternative would be to remove the gas unit and put in a freestanding stove with a new hearth and chimney going either straight up or up and out at about the 5 ft level.
Click to expand...
begreen said:
I really like the efficiency and convenience of wood pellets but finally sold the pellet stove because of the noise and unattractive flame. It's a small wood burning furnace which was not the best for living room use. This is a big house with cathedral ceilings. We run the T6 all the time with temps in the 40s in a much smaller room. I don't think a proper wood stove will overheat the space.
Click to expand...

I am concerned about a pellet stove being noisy. Are the new ones quieter?
 
Quieter yes, a few like the newer Quadrafire Mt. Vernon are quieter.
 
An age-old dilemma. I have burned wood in a pre-EPA stove, pellets in a P61A and wood in an EPA stove. My take: Firewood is a lot of work, as is feeding a woodstove. However, if and when the day comes that there is no firewood, we have much bigger problems. Pellets are very convenient and their workload is minimal compared to firewood. However, supply here in the Northeast is as fragile as a china doll. Some years we are awash in pellets, and right now there are jackwagons on Craigslist selling them for $12.00 per bag. Supply in the western US seems to be more reliable than in the Northeast. A wood stove needs no electricity and I was happy to have one after Hurricane Sandy. If electricity and pellet supply were ever guaranteed, I'd go back to pellets. That day ain't gonna happen any time soon.
 
I love my wood insert......
image.jpg
 
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In a pinch end tables won't burn in a pellet stove.
 
If you want a freestanding woodstove, get a small cat like the Woodstock Fireview so it burns clean and you can throttle it down to a long slow burn. Attractive furniture too.
 
A 40 pound bag of pellets can get messy in a hurry, not always, but spills happen.
Convenience of pellets is nice, plenty of pine (since a 40# bag of pine pellets should be as much heat as 40# bag of hardwood {pellet marketing trick to sell hardwood pellets for more $$$})
It was about $210/ton FOB out here this Fall from the local ranch store.
Wood was about $170/cord split and delivered.

Wood will be around, LP not always.
Pellets are a good compromise, money/convenience, but the stoves aren't cheap and you don't want the cheapest one you can get. But if you're mildly handy it's nothing to replace a few motors now and again, just those motors cost a lot and it adds up.
I think an outdoor air kit with a pellet stove would work better than having it draft from the house, always made mine colder than it needed to be.
 
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Thank you everyone. I'm thinking a pellet insert could be easier than a pellet stove. I love the brown/mahogany enamel ones. Some might be too big for our place.
I really want one that is quiet. Looking at Quad Castile, Harmon Ascentra, some Enviros look good too.
 
I had contemplated the same thing not that long ago. While the pellet stove originally attracted metro them due to clean burns, and ease of use..I have decided to go with a wood stove for the few reasons....

1. Pellet stoves need electricity to operate, so in a power outage, you are gonna have to run a backup power supply.
2. Supply and demand....in the north east, I have seen a pellet shortage...guy that had them were really hiking up the prices.
3. Here's a big one.....circuit boards, auger, electronics, thermostat, etc....more items that are prone to break. I like the simplistic approach.
4. Local hearthstone dealer told me they no longer sell pellet stoves due to lack of sales, the increased servicing, and being problematic.

I am currently preparing for a stove install myself, so I am no expert, but I have gotten great advice from the guys here, who have helped me gain a ton of knowledge.

Dom
 
Firemountain said:
I had contemplated the same thing not that long ago. While the pellet stove originally attracted metro them due to clean burns, and ease of use..I have decided to go with a wood stove for the few reasons....

1. Pellet stoves need electricity to operate, so in a power outage, you are gonna have to run a backup power supply.
2. Supply and demand....in the north east, I have seen a pellet shortage...guy that had them were really hiking up the prices.
3. Here's a big one.....circuit boards, auger, electronics, thermostat, etc....more items that are prone to break. I like the simplistic approach.
4. Local hearthstone dealer told me they no longer sell pellet stoves due to lack of sales, the increased servicing, and being problematic.

I am currently preparing for a stove install myself, so I am no expert, but I have gotten great advice from the guys here, who have helped me gain a ton of knowledge.

Dom
Click to expand...
Yes a wood stove is simpler. I had one and had wood on my property. Now where I live I have no trees. No truck. Would have to buy wood. Just not the best fuel at this place and time. Thank you for your input!
 
If I had to BUY my fuel, I would go pellet. I would try to get years ahead in storage, to hopefully avoid shortages/runs/market volatility. I would own a small inverter genny to run it in a power outage.

Literally last night they were interviewing some shop owner in the NE about a pellet shortage going on there.. and SWMBO looks over at me and said "I am so glad we have wood and not pellet, cause we don't own a single pellet tree".

I do love her so.
 
Priced pellets, no shortages here. 338/ton Lignetics, 249 for Pacific Pellets. If we get a stove I will try a couple bags of each and see how they burn. Had used Lignetics in an old Pellet Stove in a previous home.
 
It's not just about the fuel. The flame of a pellet stove looks like some sort of crack pipe torch thing, it is brightly colored, overly active, and small. They are noisy, with several blowers running all the time. Until you've sat in front of one running, don't buy. There are some positives too but none are better than gas.

If your cost for gas is similar per btu to pellets then always get the gas stove. Gas looks good, is silent, no maintenance, no electric needed, and no loading.
 
Highbeam said:
It's not just about the fuel. The flame of a pellet stove looks like some sort of crack pipe torch thing, it is brightly colored, overly active, and small. They are noisy, with several blowers running all the time. Until you've sat in front of one running, don't buy. There are some positives too but none are better than gas.

If your cost for gas is similar per btu to pellets then always get the gas stove. Gas looks good, is silent, no maintenance, no electric needed, and no loading.
Click to expand...
Unfortunately we are on metered propane which is very high!
 
We had a Quad 1200i and it was moderately noisy though tolerable to watch TV in the same room. The Quad Mt. Vernon AE is a pretty quite with DC motors throughout.
 
ranshe said:
Thank you everyone. I'm thinking a pellet insert could be easier than a pellet stove. I love the brown/mahogany enamel ones. Some might be too big for our place.
I really want one that is quiet. Looking at Quad Castile, Harmon Ascentra, some Enviros look good too.
Click to expand...
If you are talking 'physically' too big to fit, then okay. But the nice thing about sizing a pellet stove is, too big in heat capacity is relative because they so easily startup/shutdown and are on thermostats...So gives more leeway in the going too big, category.

Basically when I hear someone say they got a pellet stove that was too big, it means their house heats up in 5 mins or less.
IMO, the bigger the hopper the better (less frequent loading).
 
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