Electric usage

I'm not sure, but I think going from electric used to run oil furnace, to electric used instead to run pellet stove, was a wash for me.

sbatzold said:

Anyone figure out what there electric usage for thier Pellet stove? I know I can look on the blowers and calculate it, but was just wondering what they use on average. I know there are a lot of variables from stove to stove.

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Typical would be about 400 Ws but this depend on the ignitor size and would only be on when first starting up the pellet stove.
Running they take about 400 watts.

I've measured my Fahrenheit furnace using a Kill-A-Watt. With just the combustion fan running, it uses 60W. Typical usage when the 600/800cfm blower is running is 290W. The Auger uses an additional 20-25W when it cycles on to feed more pellets into the burn pot. During ignition, the Fahrenheit pellet furnace pulls 750W of power, but only for a few minutes. Most of the time, the Fahrenheit unit is drawing 290W of power because the blower runs fairly consistently. Below Level 3 out of 5, the blower cycles off and on, so overall power draw is reduced somewhat.

Overall kWh usage is fairly low, 74 kWh over a 1-month period (I don't run my pellet furnace 24x7, I run it an average of 6 hours per day to minimize the use of my LP furnace), which means it costs me somewhere between $10-$20 of electricity to operate per month based on an average of $0.15/kWh (I believe I pay a bit higher than $0.15/kWh where I live).

148 watts on my US stove 2400.

60-80 watt's running on a 3 whitfield 2T..thats it!!, a frickin light bulb

I’ve measured my Enviro Omega using a Kill-A-Watt and I get 735 watts on start up. Then its down to about 400 watts. My Kill-A-Watt meter was free when we got our electrical audit. Well I am sure it was included in the audit fee of $100.00!

Jay thats alot, energy HOG!! hehe

Pellet-King said:

Jay thats alot, energy HOG!! hehe

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It was lower until I added the new bigger blower. Draws more, But heats ALOT! Thats also the max setting which I never use. I have to check the medium feed. I only did it to see what I might need for a UPS.

Manual says:

400 watts for startup, 180 watts continuos.

And ¢.15 for per KW/h??????? Holy crap!

We are ¢.085 out here.

475 on start up and 300 after that on setting number 3

Just got the electric bill. About $20 over last year, but I have to check last Jan KW rates. I think it's a wash also since my propance furnace hasen't moved at all.

who cares, im sure its still cheaper that oil and propane right now

Checkthisout said:

Manual says:

400 watts for startup, 180 watts continuos.

And ¢.15 for per KW/h??????? Holy crap!

We are ¢.085 out here.

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Consider yourself lucky. I live about 17 miles from the LARGEST hydro-power producer in the WORLD, Niagara Falls, yet I pay almost double per kWh as someone else who lives hundreds or thousands of miles away, receiving power from our region. It's nauseating.

I figured it out with my Kill-A-Watt EZ the first season and it costs me about $10.00 per month in electricity to run my pellet stove.

Like everyone said, you're dealing with really small motors so your only real variable that has any impact is the igniter. How often will it come on depends on how cold it is outside and your house construction. Of course, if your stove has HI/LOW instead of ON/OFF, then that's a moot point. In any event, electric is only a few cents. I had hooked up a Kill-a-Watt last year but where I filed the info is a mystery. I think I posted it but can't find it with a 'search'.

ChrisWNY said:

Checkthisout said:

Manual says:

400 watts for startup, 180 watts continuos.

And ¢.15 for per KW/h??????? Holy crap!

We are ¢.085 out here.

Click to expand...

Consider yourself lucky. I live about 17 miles from the LARGEST hydro-power producer in the WORLD, Niagara Falls, yet I pay almost double per kWh as someone else who lives hundreds or thousands of miles away, receiving power from our region. It's nauseating.

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I live 15 miles from a nuclear power plant and pay $0.11

Checkthisout said:

Manual says:

400 watts for startup, 180 watts continuos.

And ¢.15 for per KW/h??????? Holy crap!

We are ¢.085 out here.

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But remember that your stove won't be running 24 hours a day, hopefully! Even if it did, that's still only around $18 a month at the $.15/KWH. The rates usually drop during the winter months, too. Mine are around $.14 in summer and $.10 in winter. They had a deal last summer that, if you signed up, your electric rate would be around $.03 per KWH in off-peak and around $.30 at peak afternoon hours up to 7 PM. Like a fool, I didn't sign up. This year I will if they still offer it. Cool the house down like crazy in the morning and stick it out til 7 or go to the mall.

Pellet Enthusiasts:

I thought the cost analysis of electricity consumption by a pellet stove to be quite interesting. And, as an IBM manufacturing engineer that focuses often on cost analysis, I thought the energy consumption and cost analysis of thepellet stove to be an interesting exercise. So, I measured the current flow on my pellet stove under 3 conditions: During ignition, during heat output and during pellet feed (auger running vs. not running). Then I compared this to my oil / closed loop hot wafer furnace. Here are my findings;

Pellet stove (Whitman Profile-30 insert):

Electricity cost per fire ignition (400W ignitor for ~2.0 minutes): 0.0019 $/ ignition ...or about 0.2 cents per ignition
Electricity cost per hour fire (fans): 0.0036 $/hr ... or about 3.6 cents per burn-hour
Electricity cost per fire hour - auger - pellet feed - set at '2' (of 3 settings): 0.00036 $/hr ... or about 0.36 cents per burn-hour

When I contrast this data with my Burnham oil-fired furnace with burn motor and 2 Taco hot water circulation motors, I find:
Burn-box fans plus 2 Taco motors: 0.0608 $/hr .. or 6.8 cents per burn-hour

So, my conclusion is both the pellet stove and furnace are cheap to supply with electricity per burn-hour but the pellet stove is ~40% cheaper than the oil furnace ...

For those geekies who like to play, a print-out of my spread sheet is attached. Unfortunately, this web site will not allow me to attached the actual spread sheet supporting the calculations. That said, it was fun!

Take care

Ron B

Wow, some MAJOR techie info! I Love IT! Can't argue with real facts. Well done!