Just found this forum so I'm hoping this is the correct place to post questions and ask for some advise. We just moved into a new house in August. Went from natural gas in our old house to propane in the new one and was a bit sticker shocked by the cost of propane. We are looking at spending close to $4500 a year in propane at today's prices......so we are instantly looking for alternatives and we've decided on getting some pellet stoves. Harman seems to be the top brand with the best reviews so we went to look at some today. Trying to figure out total cost and how long it may be before we break even on our return.
We are looking at two stoves. One in our great room which is our main living area connected to the kitchen. The second one is in our basement apartment. Originally we were considering inserts for both. The P35i insert for the basement as it looks to be the least expensive and would heat this area well enough as its probably under 900 sq ft. Upstairs I'm not sure yet - We were originally thinking only about the Accentra insert just because is could be installed in our current fireplace, but at the store I noticed the P68 stove is rated up to 68,000 btu while the Accentra is rated only up to 42,000. The upstairs area is very open and big. The great room area probably has a 20' ceiling (with a ceiling fan) which is open to the hall and bedrooms upstairs. Kitchen is just off the great room as well.....so due to the size area we are hoping to heat I'm now thinking the P68 may be a better choice. With the new stoves I'm thinking we would rarely use our cenrtal heaters (which we keep at 65 degrees most of the time - 63 at night)
I guess my questions are on some of the cost. For two stove we are looking at about a base price of $6700 plus options and installation.
What's a guestimate of installation cost for these? We currently have propane fireplace inserts (vented outside) that we though could be removed and the pellet stove inserts installed in their place. Is there much of a difference in installation cost between an insert replacing a propane fire place and installing a free standing stove?
Any thoughts or comparing the Accentra insert to the P68 stove....or other recommendations?
Does my break even math seem about right. Hoping if I cut my propane bill by 50% (gas stove and water heater) and estimating that 2 stoves I would use about 5 tons of pellets at about $6 a bag plus the cost of the stoves and installation... I should get my cost back to even in about 6-8 years?
Thanks,
Michael
We are looking at two stoves. One in our great room which is our main living area connected to the kitchen. The second one is in our basement apartment. Originally we were considering inserts for both. The P35i insert for the basement as it looks to be the least expensive and would heat this area well enough as its probably under 900 sq ft. Upstairs I'm not sure yet - We were originally thinking only about the Accentra insert just because is could be installed in our current fireplace, but at the store I noticed the P68 stove is rated up to 68,000 btu while the Accentra is rated only up to 42,000. The upstairs area is very open and big. The great room area probably has a 20' ceiling (with a ceiling fan) which is open to the hall and bedrooms upstairs. Kitchen is just off the great room as well.....so due to the size area we are hoping to heat I'm now thinking the P68 may be a better choice. With the new stoves I'm thinking we would rarely use our cenrtal heaters (which we keep at 65 degrees most of the time - 63 at night)
I guess my questions are on some of the cost. For two stove we are looking at about a base price of $6700 plus options and installation.
What's a guestimate of installation cost for these? We currently have propane fireplace inserts (vented outside) that we though could be removed and the pellet stove inserts installed in their place. Is there much of a difference in installation cost between an insert replacing a propane fire place and installing a free standing stove?
Any thoughts or comparing the Accentra insert to the P68 stove....or other recommendations?
Does my break even math seem about right. Hoping if I cut my propane bill by 50% (gas stove and water heater) and estimating that 2 stoves I would use about 5 tons of pellets at about $6 a bag plus the cost of the stoves and installation... I should get my cost back to even in about 6-8 years?
Thanks,
Michael