Advice...........

We heat using a Quadra Mt Vernon for half the house and a propane wall unit for the back half of the house. As you stated, I like to be warm not fooling myself with 60's! We keep quite warm and have a 4500 sq. foot home. You are right when when they say a stove will heat so many square feet that may not always be so! Under perfect conditions it would do what they say it will but who has a perfect home?! If you are looking to be nice and warm, definately don't go soley by what they say they will heat. Also, what we learned the hard way was to make sure that you have plenty of dealers that sell pellets, when we first got ours in 2005, we had to drive an hour to get pellets. Also, you should check to see how hard it would be to get service/repair for your stove. Last year I had a problem and they told me they would be out in 2 weeks and it was 17 degrees out. Luckily, I fixed the problem myself. I had a problem this past weekend and they sent someone out the same day I called. It's according to how busy they are. In my area, pellet stoves are still fairly uncommon but are catching on. I haven't answered all your questions but just a few things to keep in mind when shopping around.

Good luck!

The first winter we got our stove (three winters ago), there was a very bad shortage and they were rationing them around here at 10 bags per customer for every so many days. However, the past couple of winters we have had no problems getting them. The best thing to do is stock up on them in the summer. I usually try to buy however many tons that we will need by the end of September and the price per ton is usually dramatically less during the summer too. Luckily, where we buy pellets, they have a large warehouse and they store the pellets free of charge and I go and get however many I want whenever I want. The availability of pellets seems to rely on how popular pellet stoves are where you live. When we got our pellet stove, they were fairly uncommon and that made them hard to find. However, they are much more common now and the pellets are very easy to find. Heck, even local Wal*Marts sell pellets now! I don't know how good they are but I have seen them in there.

Also during that first year shortage, the pellets were running $300 a ton which is really high. The problem was that there was only two dealers that sold the stoves and the pellets and they were taking advantage of their customers. Now that there is much more competition, prices have been pretty steady. During the summer I was paying $200 per ton and I believe anyone purchasing them right now during winter is paying around $225 - $250. So even procrastinators are fairing pretty well. Pellets seem steady and should stay that way.

Good luck!

where abouts in upstate ny are you? I am 25 miles east of rochester and so far this year pellets have been plentiful. I think that the year before last they ran short. but production is definetly more now than before and I think it should maintain. I am also new to the pellet stoves but so far I have had pretty good results given my situation. My house is about 1800 square foot, most of which is on the first level. Second level is under construction with no insulation, old windows on the lower level. My pellet stove is rated for 40,000 btu and seems to heat pretty good for having alot of heat loss in the house. When the outside temp gets in the teens with the stove running on high we still maintain 78 in the room with the stove and 65 to 70 in the far rooms. Your home being better insulated than mine would probably heat better under the same conditions.

No problem and let us know what you decide to do!

Just north of syracuse? That means you get all the snow from the snow machine(Lake Ontario). Any questions you have about these things, this is the place to ask them. Alot of smart people here, and some Techs from what I see too. I take it you own some Stihl equipment? We have an 036 chain saw. That thing is an animal, we love it. Good luck and yes let us know what you decide on.