Pellet volume

[1Randy123]

Hello all, just joined, first post. I looked for a search engine to see if this question had already been asked but did not see one. Did I miss it ?
I have been using a Wood Master 4400 for the last 15 years. I heat a 1700 sq. ft. home, a 1000 sq. ft. work shop, an 800 sq. ft. apartment, a 500 sq. ft. 4 season green house and two water heaters. In a normal year I burn a 16'x16'x7' pile of wood.
I am turning 74 yrs. old and am getting tired of cutting wood so I am considering the purchase of an outdoor pellet boiler. My biggest concerns are - -
1) How many pellets can I expect to burn per year ? (They are around $200/ton here.)
2) What can I expect concerning keeping it clean and ashes dumped?
I would also like to hear the pro's and con's you guys have on outdoor pellet boilers. If there are conversations already on this site I should read please direct me to them.
Thank you for your time,
1Randy123

 

[maple1]

Don't think there are many around here with outdoor pellet burners. IMO with good reason - standby heat loss.

There are a few with indoor units, and some very good ones at that.

Can you put one indoors in one of those places?

 

[Dataman]

Pellets suppose to be equal to 1 Ton Pellets to 1.5 Cord of Wood. Just a guess you have 10 cords of wood and that would require 7 tons of pellets give or take. Or about $1400 plus tax and delivery. Plus you need dry place to store them.

 

[maple1]

Your pile of wood works out to 14 cords.

Quick google showed a ton of pellets ballparking a cord of wood, BTU-wise, but it depends on what kind of wood you are comparing to. And also of course dryness of the wood. So that would be around $2800.

But if you can get a pellet burner inside one of your buildings, you will gain a lot of efficiency that your OWB is currently losing from heat loss to the outdoors.

 

[1Randy123]

My wood burner is sorta inside. The wood pile is on one side, chicken coop on one side, wood wall on one side. Only the front is open to the elements and everything has a steel roof over it so no problem with pellet storage in fact I have lots of room to install a silo/augur system inside to if I decide to go that route,
I am not really noticing much heat loss, I was a little surprised that was almost a universal problem in your replies. The furnace came with insulation and I removed the siding and added another layer of 3" glass when it was installed. I am sort of a fanatic on insulation, our house has 6" foam walls and 6" foam topped with 12" glass in the ceilings. Just completed a 1-1/2 story house for my son a year ago. He heats totally with a small pellet stove in the living room. With the stove set at its lowest setting last winter he was opening the back door as the temp was 76 degrees - insulation is fantastic !
All underground pipes are enclosed in the best insulation I could find at the time plus I enclosed that in 2" rigid insulation on all 4 sides when we buried it. I am pretty much stuck with my current location as that is where all the underground pipes originate from.
I live in the middle of a large woods so I seldom burn "good" wood. I would guess 70% is dead wood I clean up and 30% is storm downed green wood that I mix in.
The local Wood Master dealer carries a line of outdoor pellet furnaces, I guess I am going to have to talk to a few of his customers and get some feel for how efficient they really are.
Right now my heating costs are whatever chainsaw gas and oil I use, chain sharpening plus the gas required to haul the wood. You guys are estimating $2000/yr + -
Thank you for your replies, you have provided me much food for thought

 

[maple1]

It might not be something you really want to think seriously about doing, but I suspect there would be big improvement with different underground lines. That stuff has come a long way from what was used & done 15 years ago. Accurate measuring of pipe temps at all ins & outs should tell that story - if you got curious about it.

The standby heat loss might not be noticeable, but I bet it would be enough to say keep your shop on the plus side all winter. The extra insulating you did likely did help a lot, but there would still be some - with a burner in a heated space, any and all loss would immediately be put to heating that space. Also, I think a good modern pellet boiler would recover much more of the available heat BTUs, than your OWB. Thinking it might be something like 80-90% for a pellet unit, vs maybe 50% for your OWB. Lots of varying variables here.

I know what you mean about fuel costs. We just put mini-splits in. Which by any other measure are cheap heat. But compared to 'free' firewood, it's a bit of a hit. It's all relative - so good luck deciding!

 

[velvetfoot]

I recall Tennman is doing this. Search on some of his stuff. He has big storage though.

I have an indoor pellet boiler and am burning oil because of the price! Although I guess I should re-evaluate from time to time.
Oil came down, but not pellets.
Plus, I burn a wood insert (~4 cords per year) and that helps a lot.

 

[maple1]

I have come to the conclusion that around here, pellets are the most expensive fuel choice, except for resistance electric.

 

[Highbeam]

I have come to the conclusion that around here, pellets are the most expensive fuel choice, except for resistance electric.

There are fuel cost calculators that consider efficiency and unit cost of fuel to tell you this. Capital cost to install a pellet boiler is also huge! That cost must be considered too.

 

[jetsam]

When I decide I am too old for wood heat, I am going solar / battery bank / electric heat. At $2000 a year it wouldn't take too awful long to pay itself back.

 

[maple1]

There are fuel cost calculators that consider efficiency and unit cost of fuel to tell you this. Capital cost to install a pellet boiler is also huge! That cost must be considered too.

That's true, but there are certain things you might compare that efficiency estimates might be wonked out on.

Wood boilers can have a very wide range. My new one is likely 80% range, my old one I am quite sure was somewhere south of 50%.

 

[Highbeam]

That's true, but there are certain things you might compare that efficiency estimates might be wonked out on.

Wood boilers can have a very wide range. My new one is likely 80% range, my old one I am quite sure was somewhere south of 50%.

Yes, you can adjust the efficiency inputs to match your equipment on most of the calculators. It makes a big difference.

I’m surprised at just how inefficient some of the pellet stoves are now that we’re finally seeing some actual numbers due to newer epa requirements.

If fuel is super cheap then even lower efficiency equipment can come out ahead. The calculators do not consider your efforts to operate the equipment like loading and cleaning a wood boiler compared to an automatic electric boiler for example.