How long have you been using a pellet stove for heat? POLL

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How many years have you been using a pellet stove for heat?


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DIY install in early Sept., first fire late Sept. Love it. Still have a few drops of oil from 100 gallons delivered in April 2008 and paid $322.00ish. Time to order another 100 at $200.00ish.
 
Have had our stove on line since December 1st. Prior to getting it installed we burned 90 gallons of oil. Now only run the oil burner once a week for a half hour or so just to exercise it. So far have burned just over a ton of pellets with no problems to date.
 
Second season burning pellets, several years ago a friend tried to talk me into buying one so we could get a deal on pellets, never took him up on it, when I renovated my new house I installed my Harman, I am sure Con Ed is trying to figure how I heat a 2200 Sq. ft house, using $98.00 of gas usage for the month.
 
Since 1997 Breckwell P28I (became p2000I in 98). Insert in lower level family room of raised ranch. Only use it on less then 25 degree days. Even on lowest setting it's about 74 down there. Doesn't do much for upstairs, but I did have to move thermostat down the hall closer to bedrooms first year as it was a top of stairs and bedrooms were really cold, love the warmth on those really cold days (like the last couple of weeks). Do not have OAK, but after discovering this forum may install in summer and see if more heat goes upstairs next year. House is only 14 so not sure it will make difference.
 

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Had my enviro empress FS installed in April and have absolutely loved it. Burned wood for 22 years prior and will definitely not go back! So much easier with the pellet stove, no chopping ice off the wood pile, freezing my you know what off, making 2-3 trips a day.
Clean it for 20 minutes 2x a week, bring up a bag or so of pellets each day and I'm all set. The heat is much more evenly dispersed and quite frankly my wife and I have gotten spoiled.

Even though oil is cheap, as long as I can get pellets for $250 a ton or less, like I did in April I will be happy!
 
Bought my first pellet stove in 2000. It was a Lopi insert. The little one. Served me well for 7 years...sold it...and went out and got myself a Harmen Accentra Insert in 2007. Harmen is a better stove all around....but the Lopi was nice and easy to work on.
 
Interesting.....so far, 53% have had their stove less than a year, and 73% have had it 3 years or less....those high oil prices really did the trick.
 
You are all old time pellet burners compared to me. Install JAN 20 2009, Harman Accentra. We have heated our 2150 sf tri-level with a direct vent Enviro gas stove since a month after moving in in NOV of 2004. The Enviro is on the middle level and is a 20000 to 40000 btu stove. It heats the middle and upper levels fine, but the lower level runs 5-6 degrees cooler. The new Harman is in the lower level and will heat the lower and middle levels to within a degree or so of each other. We are now using the Harman only, but I am sure we will at some point be trying to coordinate these two great stoves. We also have an old gas furnace, but the pilot has been off after the first month we were here (after we bought the Enviro).
 
After reading what everyone has to say about pipes freezing/ cold rooms etc. I am very glad I got an OPB, no cold rooms, no pipes to worry about, one thermostat, and lower priced heat. the only down side is going outside to clean and fill the OPB.
 
Purchased enviro maxx in June..delivered in Nov. Currently heating about 2700 sq raised ranch with addition..Stove is in main house lower floor..still having trouble getting heat distributed through whole house.

Much more work than expected. :bug: ..but we got the crappy Athens pellets..used about 300 gals oil. Getting much better heat by mixing clean energy pellets from Lowes with Athens. So glad we found this website as our dealer is completely useless...no help at all.
 
5th year burning pellets. When you only have electric heat, burn baby burn!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Hello Gang,

I been heating my home since winter of 2001, prices back were $143.00 per ton. What I learn about pellet buying is it goes in cycles, one year will be a shortage and the next a glut. Last year I bought 4 tons early because I sensed a shortage was coming. This year or next season I will buy only one ton at a time, prices will come down and the longer you wait the cheaper it will get. Next September would be a good time to buy.

Dan
 
CZARCAR said:
Highbeam said:
I picked "less than 1" because I've never owned a pellet stove. I do like to hear these sort of summary statements and corresponding years of experience though. Right now we have a burn ban which makes even pellet stoves illegal in addition to my wood stove. I was planning on a second wood stove in an addition to my home but I like the stealth burn of a pellet burner. I am looking at the multifuel route though just due to options.
pellet/corn stoves seem problematic, i thinx

Not problematic at all just a bit more versatile. Its nice to burn whatever is cheaper. Otherwise there is little difference.
 
So as of today (1/27/'09), 70% of the pellet users on this forum have had their stoves 3 years or less, and almost 50% have use them for less than a year...man, that's a lot of "newbies"... :lol:
 
THIS IS MY 4TH YEAR JUST PUT IN PUT IN AND NEW OSBURN PELLET STOVE IN SEPT FOR MY MAIN SOURCE OF HEAT, GAS IS MY SECOND,BUT LOOKS LIKE I'LL BE GOING BACK TO WOOD NEXT YEAR LOOKING AT NEW WOOD STOVES NOW TO USE AS MY MAIN SOURCE OF HEAT AND PUTTING THE NEW PELLET STOVE IN MY SUN ROOM JUST TO TAKE THE EDGE OFF THE OTHER END OF THE HOUSE, THE PRICE OFF PELLETS IT'S NOT WORTH USEING AS MY PRIMARY HEAT SOURCE ANY LONGER UNLESS I CAN GET PELLETS FOR AROUND $240 A TON BETWEEN NOW AND THE NEXT HEATING SEASON
 
Today makes my third week straight running my new Harman XXV.The best money I ever spent.Having an open floor plan with an open staircase,had been tough with the forced hot air.But,now the house stays at a nice 68-70* temp :) constantly.Love it!!!
 
12 years and counting. Just replaced the auger motor on my Whitfield Advantage Plus insert. Its a great feeling to have that stove up and running again.
 
Since Oct. '07... the house is finnally warm. With NG it cost twice as much to have a 65 degree house... now we're toasty warm at 74...
 
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