Multi-fuel pellet stove in northern GA

[26oday]

Hi all I’m new here. I have been looking around the forum for the last few months researching pellet stoves. Lots of experienced people here great info.
I’m retiring to North Georgia full time next winter and like others here have experienced the sad realization of the efficiency of heat pumps in northern Georgia.
I burnt wood in my house up north for 26 years and liked the nice warm heat it put out. My wife loved the Vermont casting stove also although after many years
we both got tiered of cutting and splitting wood. I have a friend who has a pellet stove up north in NY and I like the heat it puts out and the clean way it burns.
My concern is the availability of pellets, supply and cost. I’m wondering if a multi-fuel pellet stove is the way to go in northern GA, I see some of you burn corn also.
I’m in Towns county a few miles from the north Caroline border. I would appreciate any input from some of you locale Georgia people in my area in what your thoughts are
about the best way to go and the availability of fuel in our area.

 

[Fsappo]

Not sure about biomass down there. A good multifuel stove gives ya lots more options of course. I'm just pissin jealous that your retiring to such a great place. Good luck with your plans

 

[26oday]

Not sure about biomass down there. A good multifuel stove gives ya lots more options of course. I'm just pissin jealous that your retiring to such a great place. Good luck with your plans

Thanks Frank, It is a great place. I have family up your way in the Adirondacks and my wife was from Cuba NY south of Buffalo.
Darn cold. That’s why we decided on GA, Mountains got the best of all but seems like change in the weather pattern has brought some
darn cold weather down there the last few winters.
Al,

 

[tjnamtiw]

You sound a lot like me. I heated with wood for 20 years here in N. Georgia and also for many years in Pa. I got tired and too damn old (retired 5 years) to screw with wood anymore. Also, I've learned the lesson of heat pump efficiency when the temps drop below 40, as the OFTEN DO here in N. Ga. I have two Quad pellet stoves I bought and had installed by The Fire Place, in Tiger, Ga. They also have pellets but they wouldn't budge on the price. I've gotten my last supply from Lowes near Clemson, Ga. I worked with the store manager to get a decent price and not the $5.99 they wanted. I also got pellets from Yoder's Lumber just over the border in Fair Play, SC; however, those are Carolina Wood Pellets, which really suck in my stoves. Not very dense, super long pellets, a lot of fines, etc. Those were $250 a ton.
In Commerce, Tractor Supply carries Greenway Pellets, the same brand I got from Lowes. They are a VERY GOOD, DENSE pellet with small length. They were still a little high the last time I checked > about $270 a ton. I see more and more stores starting to carry pellets. If you see Rockwood pellets, get them. They are also very, very good.

The only disappointment in The Fire Place is that they took my old wood inserts and said they would sell them for me. Nothing after almost two years except to say that they couldn't sell a lot of their old stoves and they hauled a bunch to the dump and stored the rest outside! Now THAT ticks me off. Haven't been back up to see if mine are still there.

PS: from your screen name, sounds like you're a sailor! Good for you. That's one thing I miss.

 

[26oday]

You sound a lot like me. I heated with wood for 20 years here in N. Georgia and also for many years in Pa. I got tired and too damn old (retired 5 years) to screw with wood anymore. Also, I've learned the lesson of heat pump efficiency when the temps drop below 40, as the OFTEN DO here in N. Ga. I have two Quad pellet stoves I bought and had installed by The Fire Place, in Tiger, Ga. They also have pellets but they wouldn't budge on the price. I've gotten my last supply from Lowes near Clemson, Ga. I worked with the store manager to get a decent price and not the $5.99 they wanted. I also got pellets from Yoder's Lumber just over the border in Fair Play, SC; however, those are Carolina Wood Pellets, which really suck in my stoves. Not very dense, super long pellets, a lot of fines, etc. Those were $250 a ton.
In Commerce, Tractor Supply carries Greenway Pellets, the same brand I got from Lowes. They are a VERY GOOD, DENSE pellet with small length. They were still a little high the last time I checked > about $270 a ton. I see more and more stores starting to carry pellets. If you see Rockwood pellets, get them. They are also very, very good.

The only disappointment in The Fire Place is that they took my old wood inserts and said they would sell them for me. Nothing after almost two years except to say that they couldn't sell a lot of their old stoves and they hauled a bunch to the dump and stored the rest outside! Now THAT ticks me off. Haven't been back up to see if mine are still there.

PS: from your screen name, sounds like you're a sailor! Good for you. That's one thing I miss.

Hi tjnamtiw, I have read some of your post here on the forum where you talked about heat pumps and also the higher price of pellets down in your area.
That’s one of the reasons I’m thinking about the multi- fuel stoves.
I just got my last elec bill for Dec and was unhappy with the amount of elec I used. I’m not a full time resident yet but travel back and forth from NY.
I set the temp on my thermostat at 55 F for my heat pump and was shocked by the amount of KWH it used just to heat the house for the month.
I don’t think the heat pump will work out for my wife and I. We where so use to the wood stove heat in the past.
It sounds like your happy with your stoves. How many sq ft of leaving space do you heat with them? I only have 1700 sq. ft. to heat in my house in Ga.
I’m thinking one stove with a thermostat control self ignite. It’s a very open floor plan so I believe it will work out fine to distribute the heat thru the house.
Yes I had a sail boat some years back and loved it. I,m big on surfcasting also. But now I’m ready for mountain leaving and fishing the lakes.

 

[tjnamtiw]

I have, as you can see, two stoves. One is in a family room that is separated from the rest of the house by just a doorway so it doesn't run all that much to heat the 16 x 20 room. The Sante Fe insert is in the living room and it heats that room plus the dining room and kitchen and it keeps our master bedroom cool, which we like. That area is about 1600 sq feet or so. Then we have an upstairs that is vacant now that my son moved out so even with the doors to the two bedrooms closed it still sucks up some heat. If I had it to do over, I would get the Quad Classic Bay, just for the extra BTU's since the little Sante Fe works its heart out on cold days.
For multi-fuel, of course the Mt. Vernon is a good stove. Actually, if I had the floor plan and my wife would have agreed, I would have bought a Bixby over EBay because they are well supported by our 'community' here and on Iburncorn.com. I also gained a good friend over the net who is one of the experts on them and can help with programming them with your laptop. Corn is not all that plentiful down here unless you know a farmer. With Obama strangling oil production and forcing through 15% ethanol for the new cars, the price of corn has gone out of sight and people have turned from corn to pellets or other fuels if they can find them. The other problem with corn is that its exhaust is a lot more caustic and you have to be certain you have the right piping.
For one stove in the mountains of Georgia heating 1700 sq ft, I would guess you will need around 50-60K btu's if your house is redneck engineered like mine! :cheese: That means, with a thermostat, you will use 1-2 bags a day. With this mild weather this week, I have used one bag a night and very little during the day for the two stoves. No heat pumps at all. 74 degrees in the main room. That gives you some realistic expectations.

 

[26oday]

I have, as you can see, two stoves. One is in a family room that is separated from the rest of the house by just a doorway so it doesn't run all that much to heat the 16 x 20 room. The Sante Fe insert is in the living room and it heats that room plus the dining room and kitchen and it keeps our master bedroom cool, which we like. That area is about 1600 sq feet or so. Then we have an upstairs that is vacant now that my son moved out so even with the doors to the two bedrooms closed it still sucks up some heat. If I had it to do over, I would get the Quad Classic Bay, just for the extra BTU's since the little Sante Fe works its heart out on cold days.
For multi-fuel, of course the Mt. Vernon is a good stove. Actually, if I had the floor plan and my wife would have agreed, I would have bought a Bixby over EBay because they are well supported by our 'community' here and on Iburncorn.com. I also gained a good friend over the net who is one of the experts on them and can help with programming them with your laptop. Corn is not all that plentiful down here unless you know a farmer. With Obama strangling oil production and forcing through 15% ethanol for the new cars, the price of corn has gone out of sight and people have turned from corn to pellets or other fuels if they can find them. The other problem with corn is that its exhaust is a lot more caustic and you have to be certain you have the right piping.
For one stove in the mountains of Georgia heating 1700 sq ft, I would guess you will need around 50-60K btu's if your house is redneck engineered like mine! :cheese: That means, with a thermostat, you will use 1-2 bags a day. With this mild weather this week, I have used one bag a night and very little during the day for the two stoves. No heat pumps at all. 74 degrees in the main room. That gives you some realistic expectations.

Thanks you been very helpful with sharing your experience heating with pellet stoves.
My house is newly built and well insulated I wanted to go with 2â€x 6†studded walls for the R 19 insulation value and also stronger structure.
I did a lot of research before I built my house on Long Island in the early 80s during the first solar craze.
My wife and I found a open log cabin plan we liked but I wasn’t crazy about building with logs. I really wanted a tight house and went to the extent of
facing the house solar south and framing with 2â€x 6â€walls the design had a lot of windows on the south and only one small octagon window on the north
which I never regretted. The north side backed up on a farm field and then the long Island Sound so the wind would howl in the winter from the north.
The chimney for the wood stove was in the center of the house with a cathedral celling it would heat the upstairs bedrooms also.
I was happy with the design many days with the sun shining I didn’t need mush heat with the southern exposure. That house was 1700sqft with a full basement.
I was young back then and built the house myself with the help of my father in law. I would work on it after work and weekends.
Enough of my blabbering. I like what I’m hearing and reading about the Enviro M55 cast 55k output.
I’ll look into the Bixby also. It sounds like you would recommend that unit.

 

[Turbo-Quad]

Somerset pellets are out of Tennesee and we get the m here in Illinois. I imagine they go the other direction just as well. You moving anywhere near Ellijay? My uncle builds alot of house up there. He heats his house with wood because it's so readily available and free. I do hear alot of bellyacking from him about cuttin and splittin. I'm trying to convince him to get a pellet stove. He has enough pasture that he could grow his own corn but that might be just as greulsome as cuttin and splittin. He's unsure about the pellet stove. I guess he can keep belly aching.

 

[26oday]

Somerset pellets are out of Tennesee and we get the m here in Illinois. I imagine they go the other direction just as well. You moving anywhere near Ellijay? My uncle builds alot of house up there.

Thanks I'll look into somerset pellets. I have a house in Young Harris it's about 60 miles from your uncle.
That's funny I would burn wood myself but my wife is sick of the dirt from the wood and the cleanup not to mention my belly aching about my back hurting from splitting wood. I'm thinking more towards the future when I can't handle wood. I want to install something that will last and not have to change
when I'm older.

 

[Turbo-Quad]

Absolutely. He is 60 and has worked hard all his life so his body is giving out, which is why I wanted him to switch over to a pellet stove. His knee just went out two days ago so he's struggling with the wood and everything else right know.

 

[26oday]

Absolutely. He is 60 and has worked hard all his life so his body is giving out, which is why I wanted him to switch over to a pellet stove. His knee just went out two days ago so he's struggling with the wood and everything else right know.

Age catches up way to fast. I have a uncle who is 81 and still burns wood up north in the Adirondack mountains. He’s my hero.
Do you like your Mount Vernon?

 

[26oday]

Absolutely. He is 60 and has worked hard all his life so his body is giving out, which is why I wanted him to switch over to a pellet stove. His knee just went out two days ago so he's struggling with the wood and everything else right know.

Age catches up way to fast. I have a uncle who is 81 and still burns wood up north in the Adirondack mountains. He’s my hero.
Do you like your Mount Vernon?

 

[Turbo-Quad]

I can't really comment on the new MT Vernon AE. My opinion of it from what I have read is that it is a problematic stove. Mine is a older one, a non-AE. It's not as automated as the newer ones. I burn it on manual mode non-stop. It was notorious for missing ignitions on automatic running off the thermostat, so I just keep it on manual. I ogt tired of coming home to a 40 degree house. I just set it on low before I leave and crank it up when I get home. Low keeps the house at about 62. If I was going to buy a new stove I would probably get a Harman P61A. It will burn inferior pellets very well. My Mt Vernon requires a bit more mantainence with inferior pellets. Fortunately we are getting a good quality pellet this year locally. Last year the only choice I had was Ozark Hardwood pellets and I had to clean my stove twice a day. I only have to clean it once a day with the Somersets. I could probably go a little further even, but I dont like seeing the ash build up that way. From what I read on here the Harman goes a bit longer between cleanings because of the burnpot. It pushes the ash out as it feeds the pellets in from the bottom. The quad just drops the pellets in the pot from the top. Harman has a pellet furnace that I am interested in. It's the PF100. I'd be very interested in buying that if I was looking for new. The Englander is another stove that I have read can go reasonably long between cleanings. It is also labelled under some other names and sold in the big box stores. Summers Heat and some other name that fails me right at the moment. Trail-something??? It would be alot cheaper then a Harman or Quadrafire. Other stove like Enviro, Rika, Bixby...etc seem to have good reputations here. I only have experience with the old Non AE quad though. All the other knowledge I have about stoves is what I have read on here and researched from the internet. There was a very interesting study done by a university that I stumbled across on burning switchgrass pellets. You might be able to google it. I thought it was a good read. They tested aquite a few stoves on switchgrass pellets. Haman prevailed in that study. Good luck with your choice.

 

[tjnamtiw]

Sounds like you are well ahead of the game as far as insulation goes compared to me. That 55K btu's should be really a good match where you wouldn't be stressing the stove. You're about 30 miles from Tiger, Ga where I got my stoves. It's the Fire Place and he had a lot of stoves lined up in the showroom ready to demo for you. He was burning an AE Quad in his house too. You might want to pay him a visit. Maybe I'll even get some 'browny points' out of it! :cheese:

 

[imacman]

.....The Englander is another stove that I have read can go reasonably long between cleanings. It is also labelled under some other names and sold in the big box stores. Summers Heat and some other name that fails me right at the moment. Trail-something??? It would be alot cheaper then a Harman or Quadrafire.......

Englander, Summer's heat, or TimberRidge...all the same stoves, just sold under different "names" depending whether you buy from a hardware store, or Lowes, or HD.

The multi-fuel stove I have and did the extended burn w/o cleaning for 2 1/2 months/58 bags of pellets is the 10-cpm.

www.englanderstoves.com/10-cpm.html

And this was after I finally "caved" and cleaned the stove...was still starting on the stat, and giving good heat.

www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/65377/

 

[26oday]

I want to thank you guys for all your replies much appreciated. You have given me many paths to think about for a multi-burn stove.
I realize pellets will be a higher price down south than up north here and that corn has gone sky high. I really want a multi-burn stove to keep my options open
in the future. I wont be purchasing a stove till next summer so I have time to think about it. Thanks again for your replies.
I’ll be looking on the forum for info and deciding on what stove to purchase. tjnamtiw hopefully with this years cold weather more people in north Georgia will get on board with
pellet stoves and make the competition for sales of pellets more competitive to bring the price down like up north. ;-)
Al,

 

[tjnamtiw]

A multi-fuel stove DOES make a lot of sense and, if I had it to do over, I would go that route. Price (of two stoves and installs) was a definite player in my choice. I am seeing more and more wood burning stoves in my area stores and along with them will come pellet stoves, hopefully. I was able, through some negotiating, to get my last batch of pellets for next winter at the same price as Lowes sells them for up North. I can't count on that, though, as it took some real wrangling all the way up to Corporate to get it done.

 

[26oday]

A multi-fuel stove DOES make a lot of sense and, if I had it to do over, I would go that route. Price (of two stoves and installs) was a definite player in my choice. I am seeing more and more wood burning stoves in my area stores and along with them will come pellet stoves, hopefully. I was able, through some negotiating, to get my last batch of pellets for next winter at the same price as Lowes sells them for up North. I can't count on that, though, as it took some real wrangling all the way up to Corporate to get it done.

I’m glad to hear that. Maybe when I get setup down there we can work together and buy bulk for a deal. :coolsmile: