run stove all day vs starting before you get home

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NotSure

New Member
Aug 20, 2017
41
NH
Hello,
Just curious what most people are doing with their stoves while at work all day. I ask not from a hesitation of it being lit while noone is home but from a pellet efficiency standpoint. Wondering if it is more efficient to just let it run on thermostat all day maintaining temperature (small amounts of pellets but starting frequently throughout the day) vs leaving it off all day, letting home temp drop and have it kick on the hour before you are home (doesnt run all day but needs to use more pellets to get the house back up to temp).

Essentially asking because I wonder if hooking up to a wifi thermostat is worth it pellet wise where right now I am just leaving it on 66 all day possibly wasting pellets.

Let me know what you think. Thermostat recommendations welcome as well.
 
A lot will depend upon how well your house is insulated. If not very well then it will take a lot more pellets to warm the interior floors and walls before you feel comfortable.

A well insulated house will take less to rewarm.

I saw some graphs years ago debating the use of programmable t-stats, they showed how letting a poorly insulated house cool off to far only added cost to warm the house back up. Taken into consideration was that the time usually set to start warming a house back up is mid to late afternoon when the outside air is starting to cool back down and you could be spending more than leaving the t-stat at a few degrees warmer to begin with. They also considered the wear and tear on NG and oil furnaces on how hard they had to work to get the temps back up. They concluded that it was not worth going as low as recommended with most t-stat manufactures recommendations. Of course those recommendations are based mostly on showing how much you can save in fuel costs, but that is with a well insulated house.

Lots of variables come into play so it's probably best to try it out on one of you days off and see how much the house cools and then compare to the average pellet usage to the pellet usage needed to warm it back up. You should be able to find the sweet spot for your house and pellet stove after some trial and error.
 
First, We do not have ours on a thermostat.

Second, I check the weather in the morning then decide. I am the last to leave the house.
A) If it is below ~40*F I will leave it running.
B) If it is above ~40*F, Below ~50*F and high winds I leave it running. (Drafts Kill Heat)
C) Anything above ~50*F I leave it off and let the oil man profit when the oil heats up to about 60*F.

Third, we have an old Labrador at home that likes the cool temperatures so I need to keep her happy while we are out because she waits in the room with the stove for us to come home.

Bill
 
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To me, any time I'm not running the stove I'm saving money. If nobody is home all day and the temps aren't low enough to risk freezing anything, the stove is off. The house might cool off to about 55-60F in most cases but as it cools it loses heat much slower too. The other decision maker is whether I can get it warm enough within a few hours to make everybody else happy. If I won't be able to, then the stove stays on 1 all day.

I agree with Bill, it's a function of outside temps and wind. Typically for every 10F drop outside I bump up the heat range by 1, and it raises the inside temp by 3F. Have to burn hotter with high wind. Been a pretty good science these last couple years.
 
I turn mine off, even well below freezing outside the house takes over a day to drop past 58/60. I have a tight house however so wind isn't an issue. If I go away for a few days I leave an electric oil heater on low in the basement to protect against frozen pipes but even without that I don't think I would have an issue. This pellet stove's autostart is unreliable so no choice there.
 
I set mine for around 65 degrees when i leave the house..room/auto ignite mode.
regardless of outside temps unless it's going to be a warmup day.
.. pellets might drop couple inches in the hopper by the time
I get home.or, could have been off for hours....my house is not well insulated so it takes a while to heat up the house.
this way the burnpot has hot pellets and takes less time to heat up as opposed to starting from scratch.
 
I run mine all day but adjust the temp down some depending on what the outside temps will be. I like keeping the core and thermal mass up in temp instead of letting it get cool in here and then ramp up the stove. I sometimes set my feed rate as low as possible and just let it sip some pellets while I'm gone. Everyone has their methods and madness so you will have to figure out what works for you really.
 
I run on a thermostat set to 69F in my kitchen (next room over from stove)
When I'm sleeping or during the weekdays, it is set to 64F.
I run mine in Hi/Low mode so it never goes out unless cleaning or I forgot to fill the hopper.
---Nailer---
 
I run mine all day but adjust the temp down some depending on what the outside temps will be. I like keeping the core and thermal mass up in temp instead of letting it get cool in here and then ramp up the stove. I sometimes set my feed rate as low as possible and just let it sip some pellets while I'm gone. Everyone has their methods and madness so you will have to figure out what works for you really.
bags,
had we discussed a bit last year about the reall low feed rates of 2 or 1, and if it could be probmatic to the augur having the constant low flame in that area..? don't remember...
 
above 45 degrees..... on and off when it gets cool in the house......

below 45 degrees... leave it on and adjust heat controls......
 
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don't think any of us have to be cold with a pellet stove..
more or less talking about keeping lower temps when house is empty 8-10 hrs a day..
 
thermostat user here, I reduce the temp to maybe 62-64 through the day when I come home 72 ish and down to 68 at night. I don't use any type of fans to move the air other than the stove.