Why did You Buy Your Pellet Stove ?

I bought mine because of the fear of $5-$6 oil prices last year. Now I have a choice.

I would have chosen a wood stove instead but my house is too small to deal with it efficiently so pellets made the most sense. Due to oil prices I plan to burn oil this year but I am keeping the pellet stove.

Nice to have options...

I sold my 10yr old Vermont Casting woodstove for 500.00, And bought a 2yr old Quad Sante Fe pellet stove for 650.00....
Need I go on?

www_godzilla said:

I will admit,My main reason to buy a wood pellet stove wasn't to save money. I bought it for several reasons. The ease of cleaning up is easier than a wood stove. The way my home is configured it would be costly and difficult to put a wood stove in. Storing wood pellets in my basement is easier than it is for wood outside. I look at the big picture when it comes to saving money with this Quadrafire Sante Fe. This economy will get better sooner than later. When it does,watch oil/gas prices skyrocket because of supply and demand. Closing.....I really enjoy coming home from work on a cool/cold night,turn up the thermostat and relax in front of the fire. The ease of this stove is the selling point for me the most.

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Why would you refer to gas and oil prices increasing and conveniently omit pellets?

I hope you're not insinuating pellet prices will go up with oil/NG prices... Next you're going to tell me I cant heat my 2000 sq ft house (in northern ME) all year with only 2 tons of pellets.

I bought mine for a lot of the same reasons. I love the fire and my house is set up perfectly for the heat to get everywhere without overheating the room its in. When I bought this house, it had a wood stove insert that was completely destroyed by the previous owner and was not safe to use. Its a miracle the house was still standing for me to buy. I don't have the room to lay in enough wood to keep me going all winter so a pellet stove was a natural choice. When I'm not home, its easy for the wife to maintain and its clean, it saves me money, better for the environment and lets face it, we don't make much anymore so this also supports something made here. I know theres work involved with hauling and stacking pellets but I donate that labor to my favorite charity, me. With that said, thats MY situation. Everyone is different. Different house, stove, pellets, main heating method and location. I would not presume to tell anyone else that they are making a mistake whether they decide to burn or not. I love my stove and its the ONLY part of winter I like.

I am getting old and lazy. Pellet stove and pellets seemed like less work than my wood stove, less mess, and cheaper since I no longer have "free" wood sources. My wood stove chimney had seperated from the house and the cost of replacing the chimney seemed better spent on the pellet stove which would not require me to get up on a steep gable roof to clean it out.

Wet1 said:

I hope you're not insinuating pellet prices will go up with oil/NG prices... Next you're going to tell me I cant heat my 2000 sq ft house (in northern ME) all year with only 2 tons of pellets.

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Heh,heh,heh. I have to shake my head since there are actually some folks who believe pellets prices are not subject to price increases like oil.
That myth sure got debunked .

And 2 tons of pellets stretched out over a period from 01 Nov to 01 Apr constitutes a rather short 150 day heat season but for simple calculations we`ll use it. Do the math for 150 days and it becomes clear how much fuel you have alloted to burn on an average day for the heating season. It amounts to .67 bags a day . Not a lot of BTU`s to be heating my house with.

This does not take into account the other cold days/nights we get in Oct and April plus water heating needs that these space heaters don`t normally do. Those days added in ought to reduce it to 1/2 bag or less per day for those claiming they heat their entire house on those 100 , 40lb bags a year.
Hahaha, most pellet stoves won`t even run properly at such a low rate (so from where I sit , somebody is not burning that pellet stove on a daily basis or spreading tall tales.

Bought my pellet stove last summer for a number of reasons. I was tired of the mess, splitting, stacking, splinters, burned hands, bugs, loading wood every couple of hours, not being able to burn when I wasn't home, etc, of the wood stove I had. Add to that the cost of HHO in my area last summer ( I paid $4.19/gal).

I had already installed a 12kv Generac generator that runs almost the whole house during an outage, so I was covered there already too.

So I sold my 15+ year old Elmira Stoveworks stove for $500, and bought a "gently used" dealer showroom model 2005 Astoria Bay that obviously had "low mileage" for $1500 delivered, so I actually paid $1000 for an almost new large stove.....not too bad.

I did the install myself, so I saved at least another $500 or more there. And after my initial "sticker shock" of 3 tons of $299/ton NEWP, I went on a search for cheaper pellets. Found 2 more tons of Lignetics hardwood at $239/ton, and I was ready for the winter as of 9/1/'08.

Yes, oil is pretty cheap here now (for MY area...about $2.50/gal), but even with that price, my pellets would have to cost me MORE than $300/ton to be more expensive.....I just had 4 tons of CleanFires delivered today at $259/ton + delivery = $278. Now I can be on the lookout for REALLY cheap pellets from now until the next heating season.

As many have said on this forum before, it's all about having options. If oil goes below about $2.25/gal in my area, then I'll be burning oil.....whatever is cheaper......ahhhhhhhh, options.....their a great thing to have.

Always liked/wanted a wood stove but we would have had to buy wood
and we don't have anywhere to store it so when I heard
about pellet stoves about 7 years ago I thought it might be a good
alternative to wood so I began researching stoves and installation options
and in Nov. 2005 we installed the St Croix prescott. The stove has
been everything I expected and more. My wood stove friends are
equally impressed with it's capability to warm the house. ;-P

macman said:

Bought my pellet stove last summer for a number of reasons. I was tired of the mess, splitting, stacking, splinters, burned hands, bugs, loading wood every couple of hours, not being able to burn when I wasn't home, etc, of the wood stove I had. Add to that the cost of HHO in my area last summer ( I paid $4.19/gal).

I had already installed a 12kv Generac generator that runs almost the whole house during an outage, so I was covered there already too.

So I sold my 15+ year old Elmira Stoveworks stove for $500, and bought a "gently used" dealer showroom model 2005 Astoria Bay that obviously had "low mileage" for $1500 delivered, so I actually paid $1000 for an almost new large stove.....not too bad.

I did the install myself, so I saved at least another $500 or more there. And after my initial "sticker shock" of 3 tons of $299/ton NEWP, I went on a search for cheaper pellets. Found 2 more tons of Lignetics hardwood at $239/ton, and I was ready for the winter as of 9/1/'08.

Yes, oil is pretty cheap here now (for MY area...about $2.50/gal), but even with that price, my pellets would have to cost me MORE than $300/ton to be more expensive.....I just had 4 tons of CleanFires delivered today at $259/ton + delivery = $278. Now I can be on the lookout for REALLY cheap pellets from now until the next heating season.

As many have said on this forum before, it's all about having options. If oil goes below about $2.25/gal in my area, then I'll be burning oil.....whatever is cheaper......ahhhhhhhh, options.....their a great thing to have.

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I`d not be so negative towards pellet burning if I could get em at $239 a ton. Right now locally they are $315 a ton so pellets aren`t looking good as a new install/purchase option in this area at this point in time. That said, since the stove is already in place and working it remains a good option for me as a hedge against a sharp rise in oil prices. Last summer was a real shocker .

I bought a Harman Accentra FS last April at Abundant Life in Chichester, NH. I got the stove because oil was going through the roof. I got five tons of CleanFire pellets from Pelletsales.com for $250 delivered. Now mind you the price of oil wasn't the only issue for me. I would prefer to support companies in the USA and pruchase a re-newable fuel like pellets which were produced in the northeast rather than sending my $$$ overseas to our enemies..Sorry, I am not thrilled about the mid-east these days.. Yeah, I know we get most of our oil from Canada.

In any event just recieved 3 tons of Granules LG from PS.com and still have about 3 tons of CleanFire from this year. As was said in prior posts, I like to have options. My pellets are nice and dry in my garage off my kitchen so hauling a bag of two each day is no big deal. There are countless reasons why folks may prefer to burn pellets. The cost of other heating sources may or may not be the only factor

Bank said:

...... I would prefer to support companies in the USA and pruchase a re-newable fuel like pellets which were produced in the northeast rather than sending my $$$ overseas to our enemies..Sorry, I am not thrilled about the mid-east these days.. Yeah, I know we get most of our oil from Canada.........

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Yep, I agree 100%....I didn't mention it in my post above, but that was another reason for using pellets as much as possible. And I don't have any problem buying oil from Canada....I've been there often, and regardless of what you might hear in the far-left leaning media, they are one of our country's friends....nice people.

Pyro,

The wife and I have seriously considered getting a 10-12KV generator after our big ice storm and week-long loss of power. Why did you choose Generac? Did you look at other companies? How much did it cost - any hidden costs??

Thanks

I purchased mine last summer for several reasons,
Cost-Oil at over $4.00 a gallon, our oil budget plan was going to be $459 a month
My wife's Asthma made a wood stove out of the question and the thought of dealing with wood chopping, hauling and splitting was not my cup of tea. I can deal with a 40lb bag of pellets, thats enough work for me.
The way I calculated it, the pellet stove saved me $2000 off my heating bill. Thats 2-3 years and I break even or saved overall. In addition, the room we have the stove in has a cathedral ceiling, the oil baseboard never really kept up, the stove keeps it and the rest of the house, nice and toasty.

I also have a cathedral ceiling (great room) with oil baseboard that never really warmed the room up. I did not buy a pellet stove primarily to save money, I bought it because I'm too old to be freezing my rear off all winter. It's not fair to compare how much I spent in oil vs. pellets because I was never ever comfortable in my living room/kitchen during the winter. Since it's a ranch the temperature is pretty even throughout the house, which was not the case with my oil heat. My husband was dead set against buying a pellet stove, now he thinks it was the best thing we could have done. The only family member not happy is my Newfoundland, she liked the house at 60 degrees.....

My wife was the same way, Dead against a pellet stove til I bought it and installed it, Now I can't get her to move out of the living room...

First off, I too did not buy my pellet stove to save money. I bought it to save labor. I burned wood for a few years because our house has electric heat. In fact its all electric. I would not ever again try the electric heat, Way to expansive to use!

I just got tired of all the cutting, splitting and stacking-stacking. All most forgot about the hauling. With the wood stove the house was either cold or too hot! Never could get the even heat. Then we had the chimney fire, Scared the crap out of the wife! She would never go near it after that. So we looked for alternative's! "Ahh" my back felt better as soon as she said"Lets go look at a NEW stove"

So I bought my Quad(1st stove). Loved it for quit a few years. Bought in 1996 and swapped out for the big E in 2007. Though we had some issues here and there getting pellets. But we always made our winters warmer then the wood or electric. Now that the pellet prices are sky high And the BigE(2nd stove) just wasn't enough to do what the Quad did on the really cold days! We decided to get a multifuel stove(though I will burn mostly pellets as long as I can get for less than $250/ton) So now we have the Enviro Omega (3rd stove)! May I say this is the best stove I ever owned too!

So I can burn pellets,corn or What ever is cheaper to burn! And we are still warmer than the wood or Electric. Plus I have more time to spend with my son! Which there never will be a price I could place on that.

Would I do it again? HELL YES! Best thing for the way things are for me and the wife.

So would any of you DO IT AGAIN???
jay

I think the point to all this is, there is no real way to calculate the "ga-zintas" on pellets vs. oil vs. propane vs. wood. vs. corn vs. Godzilla Way too many non financial factors to consider that you can't put a price on like a back problem, time to split, stack and re-stack. Some folks would just assume pay a premium and have them delivered, some don't. Some folks may have moral issues about fossil fuel vs. wood/pellets and corn.

Also, what kinda of a house do you have, cathederal ceilings, new windows, old windows, big windows, good insulation, no insulation. Ok, how about where to put the stove, what do you want to heat? Some poeple may like the look of the fire, some don't. How about cleaning a wood stove vs a pellet stove..I could go on and on, but I won't.

So when the math geeks do some of the comparisons, just know that's not all there is to it. I think that's my point.

My reasoning is simple we have an older home with forced hot air (hho) no direct heat for the second floor just grates in the floor,we had to keep the stat set down stairs to 80* just to get the upstairs to 65* that was with hho we would go through 800 gallons per heating season,now with the pellet stove the upstairs is a balmy 74* down to 20* outside temp below that its 70* upstairs on 2 tons of pellets,just kidding I use between 4 and 4.5 tons. ;-)

LAZINESS! PLAIN AND SIMPLE.

1) A wood stove wont run on a thermostat
2) I can make more money per hour working than I can splitting and stacking wood
3) I would rather buy pellets made locally than oil from over seas
4) did I mention Laziness
5) I can fit more pellets in my basement than stacked wood.
6) my wife can run the pellet stove
7) no bugs
8) I like working in the basement now.
9) The flue was cheaper.
10) Again did I mention LAZINESS

And yes I do heat my whole house from my basement with my Enviro Maxx!

My reasons last summer for buying were pretty much the reasons people are mentioning here. In order of importance:

1. Diversify. I wanted an alternative energy source to hedge against price spikes for my main source,
2. Some savings in the long run. Depending on pellet prices and the slow economy, it may be for the very long long run.
3. Comfort and enjoyment. On a cold night the fire is cheerful and cozy. Friends enjoy it too.
4. National independence. Better to give a few dollars to ourselves (or to the Canadians next door) than to the other side of the world.
5. Environment. Cleaner energy means less impact on non-renewable resources like oil.

One reason I had not thought of when I bought:

6. Learning something new. Eventually pellet prices and maintenance will all be routine but for now it's fun to find out about.

We were faced with putting in a new liner and installing a wood fireplace as an insert. Cost of the liner alone was the same as my harman insert. Burned 900 gallons oil per year before pellet stove. Now we only burn about 350 gallons and go through about 5 tons of pellets. It is also much easier to open a bag and pour it in versus cut, split, stack, haul, load and relocate any bugs that awaken from hibernation.

Got drunk one night and went to local Agway and bought 4 tons of wood pellets thinking they were hops for making own beer. Needed stove to burn pellets in . Moral to the story , Agway don't sell hops.

I burned wood for 25 years and until I had a chimney fire about 1 1/2 yrs. ago at which time I hardly even knew what a pellet stove was. Well the good news about the chimney fire was I got a free cleaning by the Fire Dept. (no harm done or anyone hurt), the bad news was that our house was built circa 1825 and our chimney wasn't lined. For insurance purposes we finally realized if our house had burnt down, we wouldn't have been insured. The night we had the fire, we were approached by two different people that would line our chimney for between $1,500 and $2,000(they certainly didn't waste any time, much like ambulance chasers!).

At any rate, it was then that I thought it might be wise to look at pellet stoves, after all oil was rising rapidly! Well this was one of the BEST DECISIONS I HAVE EVER MADE. Like others have said, I was tired of the wood hassles, freezing my butt off, chopping ice of the wood pile, making numerous trips a day, not to mention usually getting up at between 4:00 -5:00 in the morning as the heater going on would wake me up. A pellet stove is a piece of cake compared to a wood stove.

Don't get me wrong wood people, especially those who get wood free and like the exercise, if it works for you, that's great! I now enjoy a full nights sleep in the winter and my place is much more evenly heated. I spend about an hour a week in cleaning, etc., compared to spending closer to an hour a day with my wood stove

Is it more cost effective than oil, maybe not, but it's definitely more cost effective than wood, at least in my case, as I always bought my wood.

I love my pellet stove. 3 tons of lignetics in the basement and ready for next November!