I cant believe I burned 5 tons

jss227 said:

3000 sq. ft.

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Okay, that is on par with my usage at 1/2 the sq/ft and a little more than 1/2 the tonnage.

I usually burn about 3 to 3.5 tons. I am well into my 4th and still have the 5th in the bunker. Never done that in 19 years of pellet burning. This year it was the prolonged cold and the all time record breaking snow for us. I was amazed at how long the time frame was that I burned 2 bags a day. Its ridiculous that I am still burning a bag a day at the end of March.

bogieb said:

Okay, that is on par with my usage at 1/2 the sq/ft and a little more than 1/2 the tonnage.

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So your burning 5-5.5 tons for a mere 1500sq ft? A close friend has a 1500sq old farm ranch that hasn't had any updates in 35 years, and he's burning 4 ton (plus a few bags) a season. His house is very NON air tight too. He's burning with a P61A in room temp mode set at 67* the entire season.

Both winters were cold but never got any thawing this winter, still have a foot or more of snow on the ground down here on Cape Cod and that is from the first snow storm. Additionally we started burning at night way back in Sept. I'm over 4 tons, no idea by how much but I had 3 tons in stock and I've picked up more than another ton loose over the course of winter and still doing that.. My stash is gone by almost a couple of weeks at that. And March has really just hung in there with teens or low twenties at night and highs of low 30's at max.

Cory S said:

So your burning 5-5.5 tons for a mere 1500sq ft? A close friend has a 1500sq old farm ranch that hasn't had any updates in 35 years, and he's burning 4 ton (plus a few bags) a season. His house is very NON air tight too. He's burning with a P61A in room temp mode set at 67* the entire season.

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Yep. I have an under the house garage that lets in massive cold air to the bedrooms above. Heating 950 s/ft on main floor and 650 s/ft in unfinished basement

Last year I burned up >3k in propane to keep the main floor at 64 degrees (basement wasn't heated with FHW system). Then I went thru 3 tons (1/7/14 on) and > another 600-800 in propane propane to keep the kitchen, living room and office at between 62 and 70 (basement was almost 90), the bedrooms were in the low 40's on the cold days - 50's on warm days (I spent all winter sleeping on couch) and bathroom was in the 50's or 60's depending on wind/cold outside..

This year is good with burning between 5&6 tons with both stoves keeping entire house 72-74. Haven't burned any propane for heating. I put in new wall insulation and sheetrock, windows and a new roof this fall - they have done a lot of what I was hoping for. In November it became apparent that my downstairs stove still was not going to keep my bedrooms at a liveable temperature as the cold from the garage invaded, so I added the stove to the main floor.

And that there is a lesson on how each house is different and why you can't just tell someone they can definitely keep their house warm with a X brand/size/model pellet stove just because it works for you, or your buddy.

Well, it was a super cold winter to add to that also. That could contribute to 1/2-3/4 ton more pellet fuel without a doubt.

Bag #247 just went in the hopper .........

For what you spend on heating a home in the North East you can rent a place in Myrtle Beach for the winter. Winter is an off season for Myrtle Beach because it never gets warm like Florida. On the plus side it is never cold enough to SNOW and its often at least 50 degrees out on the beach.

Just a thought.

moey said:

Last winter was not cold in the northeast it was cold in the midwest which made people think our winter was sooo baddd.

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Huh? Maybe not in Maine, but in Maryland last winter was the coldest I can remember. This year, February was the coldest February I can remember, but the rest of the winter was pretty average. Either way, both years were pretty brutal for the Mid Atlantic region.

But I'm sure anybody north of me will laugh at my use of the word brutal. Three nights in February just below zero is probably balmy compared to what they experienced.

We had 24 nights below zero here === and for "good" measure another at 4.

Wow, just wow!

MarylandGuy said:

Wow, just wow!

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That was February -- Average 24 hour temp for the month was 6.7 degrees above zero.

Lived my life here and never saw anything like it. Coldest on record.

March is warming though ----- So far it is averaging only 15 - 18 degrees below the norm.

2 stoves in an old 1880 's 3,000 Sq. Ft. home and just started my 9th and final ton. I was hoping to have 2 tons left over. Feb. was cold. I was going through 5 bags a day for most of it.

TonyVideo said:

2 stoves in an old 1880 's 3,000 Sq. Ft. home and just started my 9th and final ton. I was hoping to have 2 tons left over. Feb. was cold. I was going through 5 bags a day for most of it.

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You might be in the catagory of someone who could order a tractor trailer load and save some money. At that rate, you would get 2-1/2 years out of the load.

Bought 4 ton, have maybe 20 bags left, and have some 15 bags for shoulder, like GS and North Americans from few year's ago left.
Next week shows daily temps near 60, low 40, finally!!, can maybe burn on a 1 like I am Today

MN had the 9th coldest November, then December warmed up and the icehouses started floating, January came and was normal but still very little snow, February got down and ugly and still no snow, March has been well below normal and froze the hydrant in the yard and that has not happened since I lived here over ten years. April is supposed to swing above normal at least in the long range and fire danger is very high and the rain gauge is almost 9 inches short since last July.

It's all that global warming!

5th coldest February on record here in CNY.

Hmm my big drafty place doesn't sound so bad anymore after hearing a few others! Just starting into 6th ton of pellets and still going strong, plus 2 tons Eco Bricks and about a cord of wood used. Then again this is mid Ohio not the mountains of New Hampshire. And there were dozens of days my house was in the 50's, heck I bet I averaged for the whole winter slightly under 60 except for 1 room.

On the plus side my propane tank has been empty for over a year, though I did have to use electric space heaters now and then.

Starting my upstairs remodel next week and adding insulation to the uninsulated half of the attic.

I almost regret buying this 1880's home. We like it but I keep working on it. I will be adding more insulation among the many other projects. 11 ft. ceilings on 2 floors is a lot to heat and cool. 3,000 Sq. Ft. Not counting the 3rd floor which I blocked off this winter. Add that and it would be 3,500. 9 tons of pellets. I want to get that down to 7 with my insulation plan plan. More attic insulation. Found a company in the northeast which provides a frame in some old windows I haven't changed out yet because they are too big and expensive. The frame has industrial heat shrink plastic on both sides and can remove and add the frame as needed vs single pane poured glass. This will give me 3 layers on these huge windows. I know I loose a lot of heat through these.

If I was burning 10 tons or more a season, I may have well just used my baseboard electric at that point. I'm glad i'm only using 5 tons ..

My heating bill for the whole season was 5k. Now with pellets it is down to 2.5k. Another 2 years I will break even adding the stove cost. I tend to think big picture when it comes to savings. Insulation I benefit year round. I still use some gas when in single digits so my pipes don't freeze. My total gas bill now for a winter might be around $400 so I guess that means puts me around saving 2k a year on heat which I target the savings for insulation in my budget. This then feeds future savings. In a couple years I would like to get the heat costs down to 2k which I think will be my limit in this home. This is not counting summer savings in cooling which I benefit from. 9 tons this year down to 7 max a year will keep me happy with 2 stoves. I will get there eventually.

Vinelife said:

If I was burning 10 tons or more a season, I may have well just used my baseboard electric at that point. I'm glad i'm only using 5 tons ..

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My plan is to move personally. Something smaller and better designed for wood heat. If I was going to stay I'd do a complete remodel adding quite a bit of insulation and air sealing. I still plan on tackling the worse part - actually next week - half of the original cape cod upstairs was not insulated. So I'm tearing down the old plaster and lath and going to air seal and insulate it. Also will try to air seal the basement best I can. I have so much other work to do and cleanup that I figure I wont be ready to sell for at least a year or two. Then there is always the problem of finding the house to move into... might even wait until my son is done with school so I'm not limited in location so much (I've been looking for over a year and haven't found a suitable place yet around here anyhow).

Square footage is often deceiving when talking about heating. Some mention ceiling height, that's a good addition, but a lot more to it than that. Air tightness is really hard to quantify unless you have it measured I assume. But simply the layout has a lot to do with it. For example my home is listed 2400sq' and that doesn't include any of the basement though its not heated. An efficient 2-story design for 2400sq' could have a footprint as small as a square of about 34x34 or 136 linear feet. But mine is like a T with a large addition and is 180 linear feet around, that's almost 50% more wall space for the exact same square footage. Said another way, if all my walls were re-arranged into a square I'd have 1944 sq' just on the first floor. I really want to build new, so I can design something efficient with wood heat in mind. Doing it right from the drawing boards will pay dividends for life. Just not sure if I'll ever be able to do that.

OK, I finally dropped in last bag of 5th ton just this morning. 20 bags to go. At least today is a no-stove day with an expected high of 67.

I burned 2 Tons of NEWP
1.5 Ton GS
1/2 ton PA pellets (Left from Last year)
1/4 Chow
1/4 AWF Soft
1/2 Ton Nations Choice

I burn 2 tons of Hamer's 2 tons NEMP, 1 ton of Brand x at HD, I ton of Stove Chow and 1/2 ton misc leftover. 6 + tons.