Pellet vs lp? I need advice.

I think you'll find a lot of us want to steer you into a pellet stove. Personally I like the lugging aspect of it for exercise. I love the smell of burning wood and the automation of it is better still. That said, certain LP systems look very nice and are certainly easier to use and maintain. You have to be the judge.

Hello

2 years ago I installed a 30,000 btu Heat & Glow Model 550 direct vent zero clearance fireplace with a electronic ignition so there is no standing pilot to waste gas. This will heat the whole upstairs of my split entry home which is nice if there is a power failure because it is on a setback thermostat and will keep the house up to temp. There are 2 D-cell batteries for the electronic ignition when there is no power and the thermostat also works on AA batteries. It works well and the flame is really nice.

1 year ago I installed a 45,000 BTU Avalon Astoria Pellet Stove in the Basement. So not only does it heat the basement but also the upstairs! So last winter the LP Gas fireplace did not get much use! So with 1.5 tons in the basement and 1.5 tons in the garage under the house and right next to the basement. Now the stove has a 115 lb hopper and lasts for over 2 days without a refill! Since the bags are close I have no trouble.

Needless to say, my Valiant 155,000 BTU oil fired hot water baseboard heat saw very little use last year.

As far as comfort goes, the pellet stove wins HANDS DOWN over all

You can tell me which looks better from the pics.
As far as the cost goes..
The Heat&Glo; was approx $1700 plus $500 for the iron gas pipe hookup not counting the new wall cabinets and $550 Granite for the sides and raised hearth
The Pellet Stove was $4,000 not counting the Tile, Cement board Raised Hearth and Stainless Steel Chimney!

What is the price of propane in your area? From you profile, it looks like you're in Oklahoma. You probably have some the cheapest propane in the country down there. Plus your "heating season" is probably 6 to 8 weeks. I burned my stove from 8 MONTHS last season!

If you're into such a thing, you'd never see a return on your investment on a pellet stove when compared to a propane stove. Throw in the time for maintenance, misc. expenses like an electric leaf blower (chimney cleaning), ash vacuum and so on, you would really have to like wood fire a heck of a lot.

Be careful with a direct vent setup. There is a good chance you could get soot on the exterior of the house. Most recommend an up flue to reduce smoke issues in power outages.

A pellet stove does require a lot of cleaning cycles. You would also need to remove components from the stove and clean them. Along with regular vent cleanings(after each ton). Pellet stoves are a hands on daily adventure.

Probably the cheapest route would be the woodstove. If wood isn't available you could burn the logs or bricks made by many. Still has lots of cleaning cycles.

If LP is that cheap there? I also would recommend that route. LP burns cleaner and requires much less cleaning if any. More user friendly over all.

Do you have nature gas available in your area??

for convienence/ ambience, nothing beats a gas heater. However, for heat output, even the smallest pellet units have btu ratings equal to the largest gas heaters. venting either dv thru a wall will be about the same in $ and material. The sooting from a gas unit is often an improper adjustment w/ the air/fuel ratio on the air shutter (easy fix) while pellet sooting can have many causes: incorrect fuel to air setting, bad stove, bad pellets, bad operation/ cleaning schedule.

To my fellow Okie. Well I installed a pellet stove when I built my house 4 years ago for supplemental heat. I have a LPG HVAC as my main heat source. I use my stove during the heart of winter (dec-feb) and using about 1 1/2 to 2 tons of pellets. I did vent it horzonal and it works fine but the advice and knowledge from these guys you really can't go wrong. You do have to think about cost of fuel. I just filled up LPG and I payed $1.40 a gal and during winter it's usually around $2.40 or so. And I just stocked up on pellets and payed $169 per ton. Fuel is cheaper where we live but a pellet stove is an investment and will pay off in the long run. So what part of okla you live in?
Forgot to mention my average electric bill in the winter is $50 to $60

I also live in NE Okla. I think I understand what your saying but what I'm getting from it is you don't have much options on venting but venting horzonital. My is vented right out to my back porch and it does it soot on the concrete but in the spring I pressure wash it and it gets most of it clean.

We have a Harman P68Plus pellet stove - does a great job heating; however, my husband suffers from asthma, & there's enough wood dust/smoke to irritate his breathing. So, we're looking into switching to a Harman direct vent lpg stove. BUT monthly - day to day - cost is a huge consideration. We've been told that heating with propane is just as expensive as heating with oil - is this true?? We want to make sure that we're not making a mistake, making the switch from pellet to DV LPG stove. We were hoping that it would be at least similar in savings to our pellet stove. Any advice would be appreciated.

dvv711 said:

We have a Harman P68Plus pellet stove - does a great job heating; however, my husband suffers from asthma, & there's enough wood dust/smoke to irritate his breathing. So, we're looking into switching to a Harman direct vent lpg stove. BUT monthly - day to day - cost is a huge consideration. We've been told that heating with propane is just as expensive as heating with oil - is this true?? We want to make sure that we're not making a mistake, making the switch from pellet to DV LPG stove. We were hoping that it would be at least similar in savings to our pellet stove. Any advice would be appreciated.

Click to expand...

Heating with LP is in fact heating with oil as that is where it comes from, however it is a cleaner burning fuel and the burners get pretty close to maximum efficiency, your actual heat cost vs a standard oil burning system should be less however versus pellets it is going to depend upon the relative costs of the two fuels where you are and the efficiency of the stove you burn the pellets in.

There are fuel cost calculators on the web that when given the cost and efficiency can provide you with the answer.

dvv711 said:

We have a Harman P68Plus pellet stove - does a great job heating; however, my husband suffers from asthma, & there's enough wood dust/smoke to irritate his breathing. So, we're looking into switching to a Harman direct vent lpg stove. BUT monthly - day to day - cost is a huge consideration. We've been told that heating with propane is just as expensive as heating with oil - is this true?? We want to make sure that we're not making a mistake, making the switch from pellet to DV LPG stove. We were hoping that it would be at least similar in savings to our pellet stove. Any advice would be appreciated.

Click to expand...

Do you have natural gas available in your area? Right now that seems to be the cheapest form of fuel besides firewood. Like SmokeyTheBear says check out a fuel calculator to compare!

Propane is VERY volatile. It'll jump price overnight or even the same day.

Hate it.

We live in upstate NY, if that helps any. As to calculators...would anyone mind posting a couple of links to these? I guess my question is, would we see a substantial savings, if we switch to, say, a Harman Sterling direct vent lpg gas stove - over using our oil furnace? We've been spoiled by our Harman pellet stove; just aren't sure a Harman gas stove is really going to save us any money. Again - we're trying also to save my husband's lungs because of his asthma, otherwise there wouldn't be a question at all: we would keep using pellets.
Thanks for your advice on this...salesmen just want to sell. :-(

dvv711 said:

We have a Harman P68Plus pellet stove - does a great job heating; however, my husband suffers from asthma, & there's enough wood dust/smoke to irritate his breathing. So, we're looking into switching to a Harman direct vent lpg stove. BUT monthly - day to day - cost is a huge consideration. We've been told that heating with propane is just as expensive as heating with oil - is this true?? We want to make sure that we're not making a mistake, making the switch from pellet to DV LPG stove. We were hoping that it would be at least similar in savings to our pellet stove. Any advice would be appreciated.

Click to expand...

Do research on coal. Maybe it won't effect your husband as much or not at all. Do you have duct work throughout your house? If yes, you can install a coal furnace and add an air filtration system. The great part of this is the CHOICE of suppliers and coal has been very steady in prices for years.

That would be great...if we had duct work, but we don't. We don't. We have a boiler, and forced hot water heat. We also can't afford a new furnace & an air filtration system. We DO already have 2 free standing IQAIR air filtration units because of husband's allergies/asthma. However, when we run the pellet stove, the filters don't last long and he still has breathing issues. That's why we're considering other options...
Thanks for the suggestion though.

Here ya go: http://www.builditsolar.com/References/Calculators/Fuels/FuelCompare.htm

Thank you for the link! Well, doesn't make sense $$wise or environmentally to switch to LPG stove. The only reason (which was a big one) was my husband's asthma. He says he'd rather suffer....but buy another IQ AIR purifier instead. Keeping our pellet stove is the smart thing to do. Again, really appreciate your recommendations! You helped steer us in the right direction. Many thanks.

Is there smoke leaking into your house from the stove?

If there is it isn't operating correctly, there should be no smoke.