Wood vs Pellet

[Eric Johnson]

You get that back pretty quick after a couple of typical Adirondack winters.

 

[Henz]

yuppers..I think the true woodburner is a rare breed. We are scroungers, survivors and do it your selfers who take pride and satisfaction in hard work. Its a funny thing..You can tell a true woodburner by where they goto relax..It is A. over their woodsplitter B. In a chair with a beer next to their woodpile...

 

[BrotherBart]

One advantage I see to cordwood burning over pellets is that you can scrounge and cut and split all of the wood yourself, buy it all or any combination of the two. With pellets you are going to buy it all, period.

While this post doesn't say it outright, i fell like i should mention something that seems to be vailed slightly in all this talk.

i think, on this board, you'll find deep down, and mostly not outright, a strange survivalism aspect. that is to say when the S*** hits the fan, you can toss a chair in your wood stove ala B.J. Honeycut from Mash. In an emergency, be it disaster, end of the world blizzard, whatever, you can burn any cellulose you can find, with no power.

now, this isn't an argument over if this is logical, just something to think about.

Except for the fact that the poster is in no way a survivalist. Just a guy that does not have any other heat source in his house but has five acres of trees in front of it and a high volume commerical wood processing operation two miles down the road. No garden, no stash of canned and dried food and only one box of candles in the house.

Self sufficiency, what you find mostly with the regulars on the Forum, and "strange survivalism" are two different animals. Is there somewhat of a "cult" mentality in a group of people that enjoy heating with and talking about non-traditional heat sources? Sure. Not much different than a forum on hot rodding Honda Civics though.

 

[CK-1]

A wood stove has a better fire and view of it. In my opinion, it also produces more heat. I remember just last year when their was a pellet shortage in my area. Stores showing huge signs that they where out of pellets due to the fact that alot of people where purchasing pellet stove to help heat their homes due to high energy costs. Due to this, pellets went up in prices a few times. I think this year won't be any different..

 

[Henz]

Nope..no differnet..Yeah eric, I shelled out $4500 last year but only shelled out $400 in oil bill..the previous year I only used oil and paid $3300..Put it this way, by this December, the woodstove will have already paid for itself..

 

[elkimmeg]

yuppers..I think the true woodburner is a rare breed. We are scroungers, survivors and do it your selfers who take pride and satisfaction in hard work. Its a funny thing..You can tell a true woodburner by where they goto relax..It is A. over their woodsplitter B. In a chair with a beer next to their woodpile...

Or sitting in a chair next to the wood pile with a double barell shot gun drinking a beer and protecting your hard earned effort..

Another true sign of a wood burner is ,pointing single middle finger looking to the east and indicating where OPEC can go

 

[Henz]

haha..thats a good one..I will do it..ahhh...feels good!

 

[wg_bent]

A wood stove has a better fire and view of it. In my opinion, it also produces more heat. I remember just last year when their was a pellet shortage in my area. Stores showing huge signs that they where out of pellets due to the fact that alot of people where purchasing pellet stove to help heat their homes due to high energy costs. Due to this, pellets went up in prices a few times. I think this year won't be any different..

I'm not sure. Some places over priced pellets so badly last year that they never sold them. Now I see plenty of pellets in stock at local stores. The problem the stores have is that they purchased at inflated last year prices, now they may have to sell them at a loss. I'm not sure how pervasive that is, but I suspect one store that has that situation.

At 279 a ton and an expected 4 ton usage if I owned a pellet stove, my cost would almost equal my oil bill. In that case it's not worth the hassle.

 

[TJN66]

Lol...I feel the same way about OPEC..freaking jerks.

You have given me so much to think about and I appreciate it.

The 2 rooms we are mainly interested in heating is a 12x22 living room and a 12x12 dining room right off the living room with a double door entry. All new windows downstairs. All newly insulated. (We have been remodeling the house room by room. And by we I mean Hubby and I. From the studs out to make sure everything is done right. Not one contractor has been in to do any of it I am proud to say!) The living room has the drywall up but has not been mudd 'd and taped as we thought this would be the time to get one put in while its tore up. And do you need a professtion to install a wood/pellet stove or is this something else we can tackle ourselves?

Also we do not have a chimney. We had a new furnace put in when we remodeled the kitchen. The dang furnace ran right up the middle of my kitche lol..it was horrible. So it will have to be all new piping. We do have a corner wall in the living room that looks like the most likely spot to place one. Right next to an outside wall and next to the dinning room doorway. My whole house is just 1000 sq ft. 2 stories and a full basement.

I am thinking that the wood is the way I want to go. But to convince hubby lol..that might take some work. And it sounds that even if we buy the wood already cut and split we will still be saving in the long run over pellets. But storage is an issue. Although we do have room inside our yard by the garage that we could store it. Can you store wood in the basement? We only use it for storage and its dry. Never had any problems with water down there. See..all newbie questions =)

I am on the survivalist list also. I do believe that crap is going to hit the fan and things are going to get nasty. Even if we have only lost power a total of 5 times in the 12 years we have been in this house, I keep thinking that if there is a huge storm we are up a crick if we dont have heat in the winter. Ah...the things we think about huh?

Thanks again and I'll let you know what the stove estimate turns out to be next week.

Tammy

 

[Henz]

$279 a ton! thats crazy..It is $220/ton here.

 

[begreen]

Congrats on the good remodelling. Sounds like the challenge for you is going to be finding a small stove that burns long. Take a look at the Vermont Castings Intrepid. If at all possible, don't run the chimney outside. Keep it in the interior envelope of the house unil it exit through the roof. I'm guessing for an Intrepid installed that you can do this for $2500. Less if you and hubby want to tackle it yourselves.

 

[Henz]

Storing in the basement you have to worry about insects getting in..Lots of differnet viewpoints there ion this board..You best bet is to also ask aroudn and find a reputable wood dealer..Dont know what your prices are where you live..We sell seasoned hardwood for between $180-$220/cord. Dont know how many cord you will need. but, I am sure that you will have room someplace for 2-3 cord when you do some measurements..
Also, you can do an outside chimney, I have one triple wall insulated and it works fine..Not much creosote buildup at all..At some point, I am planning on boxing the chimney in jsut for aesthetics..

 

[stoveguy2esw]

ok , time to weigh in...
reading this post i see the good and bad for both pellet and wood. personally i use both (although the pellet stove gets used more often than the wood these days (wife still hasnt mastered the "building a good fire" technique and i play with it a lot (a little at home r&d) in reading your replies to the comments made, i think you would be happier with a wood unit rather than pellet. but one little tidbit to look at , i see that you are remodeling (new windows and such) making the house energy efficient GREAT! but in doing that i would strongly recommend that the woodstove (or pellet if you go that way) should be able to accept an outside air intake. this will allow the chimney to better pull air through the stove when you get the house tight (as in sealed up to hold the heat in and the cold out)

personally i love my woodstove, i enjoy the pellet stove as well especially when i get a "no notice drive to arizona for a week" and the wife has to heat without me. (without the pellet unit , she would eventually turn on the baseboard electric and i'd probably have to detour to vegas while out there and try to "win an electric bill payment")

a big plus for the woodstove is also that the "work" of getting wood for the season is very theraputic, and if you guys are "outdoorsy" folks , its a good excuse to ignore the TV for a while and get out there.

either way though bottom line its convienience vs. cost vs. effort. i (we) build both wood and pellet so i can straddle the fence on this comfortably. last but not least .... welcome to the absolute BEST place to get your questions answered

 

[GVA]

Most of the ground has been covered - but I will try to summarize...


3. Fuel cost and storage - Pellets are expensive, and require "premium" storage - they MUST be kept totally dry, either indoors, in the garage or basement or in a very well waterproofed shed. There have been times when pellets were either not available or VERY expensive. However you are limited in your fuel options, as pellet stoves can only burn pellets or other "pellet size" biomass fuels such as corn. Exact cost comparisons are difficult, but most indications are that a pellet stove will save somewhat over LP or electric, but will be about the same as oil or natural gas. Wood will be less expensive, depending on how much work you want to put into it (note that processing your own does add costs for equipment) and is much less fussy about storage. Many people build woodsheds, but these are low cost structures just to keep the worst of the rain and snow off. Others just throw a tarp or other cover over the top of the pile, or even leave the pile uncovered. Stoves are more flexible about fuels - Ideally you should ONLY burn cordwood, but if you have to, a stove will burn almost anything combustible you can get in the firebox (NOT RECCOMENDED!), even in normal times, while there are preferred woods to burn, you can (and many do) burn any kind of wood they can get into their piles.

4. Work on fuel - Pellets are easy to handle, just pick up a bag and dump into the hopper. Repeat once or twice a day. Pretty neat, simple, etc. Cordwood will be more work to handle, stack, bring into the house, and the stove will probably need feeding more often. If you process your own, then the amount of work goes up greatly, as you may need to bring the wood home, cut it into stove length rounds, split it, etc. OTOH, if you process your own wood, I'll just about guarantee that you won't need to go to the "health club" for exersize.

5. Maintainence - Pellet stoves are much more maintenance intensive. You will need to regularly scrape out the burn pot, the stove will need frequent cleanings (typically weekly) and other service. A Pellet stove has a lot of complex moving parts and electronics, all of which are prone to expensive failure, often requiring expensive service calls from the stove shop. Like a pellet stove, a wood stove will periodically require ash removal, probably more often than the pellet stove does, but otherwise requires minimal maintainance beyond having the chimney swept once or twice a year (This is something that many people get a pro for, but you can do it yourself and save a lot, it usually isn't hard.) Aside from possibly a blower, a woodstove has very few moving parts, and those are pretty reliable.

6. Ambiance - As said, a pellet stove is about as much fun to watch as a bunsen burner. A wood stove will give you a real fire, and some of the secondary combustion tube style stoves will really give a great light show.

The decision is up to you, as the different factors have different levels of importance to different people.

Gooserider

Goose 1,2 and 4 are true.....
3
Fuel cost:depends.... I know most here can scrounge and have tools but what about the people closer to the city and the ones that don't have room to season 4 + cords a season out? And as alot here know some people here with chainsaws should not be using them...... Elk know's what I'm talking about......... as well as Harley and Keyman...
One can always call these guy's (I have them saved in my favorites and watch the prices climb all year)
http://www.mywoodenergy.com/2.html I think these guy's are part of OPEC......
Fuel storage last time I checked.... when I pick up my pellets they have been outside in the elements since the spring.... I break down the pallet and bring them inside the house but if one was to have them delivered they could leave them outside for a long time. as long as they are covered they are fine...

I'll add to 4 The person feeding the wood stove needs to know what they are doing to prevent run away fires etc.

5 Goose you just don't seem to understand.......
Alright here is my maintenance procedure for the winter.
1. wake up and top off the hopper with pellets maybe half a bag.
2. Go to work
3. return from work
4. Open up front door scrape burn pot a couple of times, close front door.
5. before going to bed I top off the hopper again
so in a 24 hour period I spend maybe 3 minutes tending/maintaining my bunsen burner...... That heats my whole house..
full cleaning I do about every 25 bags (avg. 25 days)
6. The only one that I've seen that looks like a Bunsen burner are the Quads (no offense)

7. Don't forget that a pellet stove can be turned on when it hits whatever temp you feel cold at.... Where most with a wood burner turn on the old furnace when it hits 60ish for a couple of days...

8. I'll add that zone heater for zone heater pellets still blow away NG in my area especially since NG efficiancys seem to be on the low side....

Goose maybe you should also talk about how clean a modern EPA woodstove or pellet stove can burn as opposed to the old smoke dragons... :cheese:

 

[BrotherBart]

Don't confuse us with facts GVA. Darn it, we are cord wood burners. Gotta justify the backaches, gear, 90 degree living rooms and yard full of wood somehow! :cheese:

 

[elkimmeg]

What GVA is refering to is guy next door to the donor stove instalatuion. tThis guy is running at round in shorts no s in 38 degree weathger revvin gup his chain saw as hw walk.
No Pe what so ever. The guy is so clueless it takes him 10 minutes to cut threw a 2" shrub.. More amazing. this guy walks out of his way revving the saw just ti get our attentiion.
we could have had a dozen beers and still figured out this guy was clueless, Gva was with me on the firdt donor instsllsayion without him there would be no sucsess story. Despite the cost of pellets, they are part of energy independence of foreign imported fuels. You will never hear me bashing pellet stove users. they are part of the solution

 

[Eric Johnson]

I'm sticking with my boiler.

 

[Gooserider]

The 2 rooms we are mainly interested in heating is a 12x22 living room and a 12x12 dining room right off the living room with a double door entry. All new windows downstairs. All newly insulated. (We have been remodeling the house room by room. And by we I mean Hubby and I. From the studs out to make sure everything is done right. Not one contractor has been in to do any of it I am proud to say!) The living room has the drywall up but has not been mudd 'd and taped as we thought this would be the time to get one put in while its tore up. And do you need a professtion to install a wood/pellet stove or is this something else we can tackle ourselves?

You DO need to pull a permit, and get the installation inspected in most jurisdictions, but there is nothing horribly complicated about installing either type of stove and you sound like the type of folks that would do it better than some of the "pro's" we hear about - I would someways say that we hear more horror stories about pro installations than we do about amateur jobs, which is not intended as a negative about the many competent pro's out there, just noting that there are also a lot of hacks... If you search on the forums and in the wiki, you will find the basics, and between that and the manuals you should do fine.

Also we do not have a chimney. We had a new furnace put in when we remodeled the kitchen. The dang furnace ran right up the middle of my kitche lol..it was horrible. So it will have to be all new piping. We do have a corner wall in the living room that looks like the most likely spot to place one. Right next to an outside wall and next to the dinning room doorway. My whole house is just 1000 sq ft. 2 stories and a full basement.

That will raise your expenses some, but does give you much more flexibility in picking where you want the stove and chimney to go... As a general rule, a stove will do the best job of heating if it is centrally located in the house, with the chimney running straight up in the interior until it exits at the peak of the roof. Obviously this isn't always possible, but the closer you can get to the ideal, the better. Given that you are doing a good job of sealing things up, you will probably need an outside air kit (OAK) which is easier if you put the stove next to an exterior wall, but it doesn't have to be done that way - for instance some folks run a duct under the floor to the hearth area.

I am thinking that the wood is the way I want to go. But to convince hubby lol..that might take some work. And it sounds that even if we buy the wood already cut and split we will still be saving in the long run over pellets. But storage is an issue. Although we do have room inside our yard by the garage that we could store it. Can you store wood in the basement? We only use it for storage and its dry. Never had any problems with water down there. See..all newbie questions =)

You can store wood in the basement, but it is not usually reccomended. The risk of bringing in insects has been mentioned (this isn't as much of a problem during normal operation, most of the heating season the insects are dormant, if you only bring in a days supply at time, the bugs will go in the stove before they get out to explore very much...) Drying wood gives off a lot of moisture, which can cause mold / humidity problems, etc. Mostly the reccomendation is that you store the wood outside - as a reference, I built a woodshed that is about 8' x 16' by 7' tall, this will hold about 6 cords, which is a fairly typical winter's supply.

I am on the survivalist list also. I do believe that crap is going to hit the fan and things are going to get nasty. Even if we have only lost power a total of 5 times in the 12 years we have been in this house, I keep thinking that if there is a huge storm we are up a crick if we dont have heat in the winter. Ah...the things we think about huh?

Well from a survivalist standpoint, cordwood is definitely the way to go. As mentioned before, in a crunch, a cordwood stove can be fueled with pretty much anything that burns and can be stuffed in the firebox, and doesn't require electricity. A pellet stove without electricity is useless - yes they can be run on backup batteries or small generators, but that doesn't work for a long term problem - and will only burn certain specialized fuels, so the survivalist would define it as a "plant stand"...

Gooserider

 

[Gooserider]

Most of the ground has been covered - but I will try to summarize...

3. Fuel cost and storage - Pellets are expensive, and require "premium" storage - they MUST be kept totally dry, either indoors, in the garage or basement or in a very well waterproofed shed. There have been times when pellets were either not available or VERY expensive. However you are limited in your fuel options, as pellet stoves can only burn pellets or other "pellet size" biomass fuels such as corn. Exact cost comparisons are difficult, but most indications

5. Maintainence - Pellet stoves are much more maintenance intensive. You will need to regularly scrape out the burn pot, the stove will need frequent cleanings (typically weekly) and other service. A Pellet stove has a lot of complex moving parts and electronics, all of which are prone to expensive failure, often requiring expensive service calls from the stove shop. Like a pellet stove, a wood stove will periodically require ash removal, probably more often than the pellet stove does, but otherwise requires minimal maintainance beyond having the chimney swept once or twice a year (This is something that many people get a pro for, but you can do it yourself and save a lot, it usually isn't hard.) Aside from possibly a blower, a woodstove has very few moving parts, and those are pretty reliable.

6. Ambiance - As said, a pellet stove is about as much fun to watch as a bunsen burner. A wood stove will give you a real fire, and some of the secondary combustion tube style stoves will really give a great light show.

The decision is up to you, as the different factors have different levels of importance to different people.

Gooserider

Goose 1,2 and 4 are true.....
3
Fuel cost:depends.... I know most here can scrounge and have tools but what about the people closer to the city and the ones that don't have room to season 4 + cords a season out? And as alot here know some people here with chainsaws should not be using them...... Elk know's what I'm talking about......... as well as Harley and Keyman...
One can always call these guy's (I have them saved in my favorites and watch the prices climb all year)
http://www.mywoodenergy.com/2.html I think these guy's are part of OPEC......
Fuel storage last time I checked.... when I pick up my pellets they have been outside in the elements since the spring.... I break down the pallet and bring them inside the house but if one was to have them delivered they could leave them outside for a long time. as long as they are covered they are fine...

I'll add to 4 The person feeding the wood stove needs to know what they are doing to prevent run away fires etc.

5 Goose you just don't seem to understand.......
Alright here is my maintenance procedure for the winter.
1. wake up and top off the hopper with pellets maybe half a bag.
2. Go to work
3. return from work
4. Open up front door scrape burn pot a couple of times, close front door.
5. before going to bed I top off the hopper again
so in a 24 hour period I spend maybe 3 minutes tending/maintaining my bunsen burner...... That heats my whole house..
full cleaning I do about every 25 bags (avg. 25 days)
6. The only one that I've seen that looks like a Bunsen burner are the Quads (no offense)

7. Don't forget that a pellet stove can be turned on when it hits whatever temp you feel cold at.... Where most with a wood burner turn on the old furnace when it hits 60ish for a couple of days...

8. I'll add that zone heater for zone heater pellets still blow away NG in my area especially since NG efficiancys seem to be on the low side....

Goose maybe you should also talk about how clean a modern EPA woodstove or pellet stove can burn as opposed to the old smoke dragons... :cheese:

Well I will freely admit that I'm not a pellethead, and most of what I know about pellet stoves comes from reading the posts here on the forum, mostly written by pellet stove owners... I see that even purchasing cut and split, most places / wood guys charge less than equivalent BTU's worth of pellets - If I wanted to quote the outliers, I could point to that pellet vendor on e-bay that sells by the express mail box... I see much more talk about the need for maintainance on pellet stoves, and how failure to clean them causes them to malfunction. Wood stove maintainance seems like it may take a little longer, but has a much lower frequency. Seems like the "bunsen burner" comments also came from pellet stove owners. As to fuel costs, again I'm mostly going by the pattern of what I see posted - NG and oil are roughly comparable according to most folks, with LP and electric being much more, and pellets falling somewhere in between.

I'm not throwing stones at the pellet stoves, though they are emphatically not my choice, but merely trying to summarize what I've observed to be the trend of comments during the time I've been on the Hearth.

Gooserider

 

[GVA]

With almost 1600 posts people may take what you say as truth.....
If you don't know for fact what you are posting than don't do it......... There are almost 3000 members here some may have more of a user perspective than you on certain models.
Again most people post here due to problems with the stove or setup or what ever........ That doesn't mean that that line or type of stove is problematic..
VC threads and problems....... Most don't comment on them cause we don't know much about them or the problems.....You take a tour of the plant and now you are an expert, on them and every other stove make and model........
Sorry for the rant it just pi$$es me off when all I see is you posting facts that you google off websites like this about problems with this and that and contacting this and contacting that.....
Don't summarize for the other 2999 members, this is a forum after all..
That is all..................... have a wonderful weekend all I'm off to Charlotte...................................................... >:-(

 

[jjbaer]

Here's the way I see it: pellets cost about $230/ton. Since wood has about 8000 BTU/lb, a ton of pellets is about 16,000,000 BTU or a little over $14/million BTU (corrected per GVA's catch on my decimal slip...I had $140 originally). Natural gas this year is plentiful and runs about $10/million BTU (again, corrected per GVA's catch...thanks) so natural gas is FAR cheaper than pellets are and modern NG furnaces are also more efficient than are pellet stoves (by the time you take into account duct losses, the pellet stove may be slightly more efficient but the pellet fuel is still 40% more expensive than is NG). Wood (if you scrounge your own as I do) is FREE.......takes time and energy to get it but if you have the tools (small chainsaw and axe) then it's free except for the gas and chains. This summer I scrounged about a cord of hedgewood......highest BTU wood in the world...31 million BTU/cord and I got it for free........that's about 2 tons or $460 worth of pellets....... Also, the prettiest flame, hands-down, is wood. Don't know ANYBODY who would argue with that. Wood takes more tending and feeding but I like it better. Also, pellet stoves consume electricity vs a free-standing wood stove that has no blower and there are more mechanical parts to go wrong with a pellet stove vs a wood stove.

Bottom line: pellet stove fuel costs more than even NG and their flame (pellet stove) is not very pretty and they consume electricity and they have more moving parts that can break so, in my opinion, a wood stove with free fuel beats it hands down any day. Also, the only thing less romantic than a pellet stove flame is that of a coal stove..............put another way: no children were ever conceived in front of a pellet stoves flame or that of a coal burner...... ;-)

 

[karl]

Cast Iron, you mean you have said, "Hey babe, you wanna curl up on the couch and watch the furnace?" and nobody took you up on it?

I'm hoping I can find some hot young hippie chick from burning issues and get her in my living room once the Summit is up and running. If she's also a member of PETA then, I'll pull out the bear skin rug.

 

[Eric Johnson]

I basically agree with cast on this one. As usual, he's done his research and crunched the numbers.

But I will say that there's a certain segment of the population that wouldn't be burning wood at all if it were not for pellets, so I'm thankful for that. I think burning wood pellets is good for the environment and good for the economy. If you share my view that energy independence is a matter of national security, then I think it's fair to say that burning pellets is a good practical and ideological approach as well.

And I will say this about pellets: Consumers have more power than they may think when it comes to buying pellets, at least over the longer term. I've talked to pellet producers, and they're in a bit of a bind when it comes to the weather, which they can't predict any better than anyone else. They have to try to anticipate demand, and that depends almost entirely on the weather. Since nobody wants to be caught short of product in a hot market, I think they tend to shoot for the moon and hope for the best. When we get a warm winter, they get stuck with unsold inventory at the end of the season. That should result in bargains for smart shoppers. Of course, if they guess the weather right, then they're holding all the cards.

I think it's more like running a ski resort than a more traditional manufacturing operation.

 

[GVA]

Here's the way I see it: pellets cost about $230/ton. Since wood has about 8000 BTU/lb, a ton of pellets is about 16,000,000 BTU or a little over $140/million BTU. Natural gas this year is plentiful and runs about $100/million BTU so natural gas is FAR cheaper than pellets are and modern NG furnaces are also more efficient than are pellet stoves (by the time you take into account duct losses, the pellet stove may be slightly more efficient but the pellet fuel is still 40% more expensive than is NG). Wood (if you scrounge your own as I do) is FREE.......takes time and energy to get it but if you have the tools (small chainsaw and axe) then it's free except for the gas and chains. This summer I scrounged about a cord of hedgewood......highest BTU wood in the world...31 million BTU/cord and I got it for free........that's about 2 tons or $460 worth of pellets....... Also, the prettiest flame, hands-down, is wood. Don't know ANYBODY who would argue with that. Wood takes more tending and feeding but I like it better. Also, pellet stoves consume electricity vs a free-standing wood stove that has no blower and there are more mechanical parts to go wrong with a pellet stove vs a wood stove.

Bottom line: pellet stove fuel costs more than even NG and their flame (pellet stove) is not very pretty and they consume electricity and they have more moving parts that can break so, in my opinion, a wood stove with free fuel beats it hands down any day. Also, the only thing less romantic than a pellet stove flame is that of a coal stove..............put another way: no children were ever conceived in front of a pellet stoves flame or that of a coal burner...... ;-)

Your decimal point is off on the cost per million BTU'S ($14 and $10 respectivly)

from an old thread the $1.84 per therm is after all associated charges are added

Still though, I can’t quite find the savings that you promised me.
http://www.quadrafire.com/products/stoves/gasStoveDetail.asp?f=CASTILE-DV
this was the first one i checked and didn’t check any further...... 81% efficient.
Now using the calculator with the defaults.
pellet stove 70% eff at $200 per ton (or the $5 a bag you stated earlier)======$17.71 per mil BTU
gas stove at 80% eff at $1.84 per therm===========================$23.00 per mil BTU

so I punched in a more realistic minimum # for a pellet stove
pellet stove 80% eff at $200 per ton==============================$15.50 per mil BTU

You might have me confused with someone else. You see I bought my stove when pellets WERE cheaper, but maybe I should get a gas stove and wood stove and rotate them out baseed on the market.......
My wife was all excited when I said that we could add another stove to the house and run NG and save money..... Now I guess I have to break the news to her

Also this was a zone heater comparison. not central to zone.
I believe in that same thread Elk mentioned that typical eff loss from duct work was 35%

 

[GVA]

This was another old post as to the actual cost breakdown

So My price per therm is $.3784..... Damn that’s a good price I’ll go back to NG…
Oh wait there’s more…
$.4342 per day charge just for having the privelige of having gas enter your home…
distribution adjustment.. $.05640 PER THERM......
That is under gas delivery charge…
NEXT
Gas supply charge....... are ya ready....... $1.36 per therm................ Oh yeah....... woohoo
let’s figure it out here
the per day charge for 30 days $13.026
300 therms at .3784 =$113.52
dist adjustment=$16.92
gas supply charge=$408.00

total=$551.466 per month

avg $1.838 per therm again this is input BTU’s since the gas co has no Idea what I have on the other side of the wall.......
Thats about $22.88 per million BTU’s.................................. And I’m sorry these are winter rates they change back to the normal rates in April.....

Oh yeah and the minimum charge I left out.
My HW and gas Dryer is all I have hooked up right now
so this last month 21 therms my bill $52 bucks, wow .........................................