Recently moved to SW Montana and bought a large (newer) farm house. Moved in last December while temps were in the -40F to -50F range. The home is about 4600sqft and heated with a propane furnace. I burned about $1000 worth of propane the first month we were in the home and my wife was still pretty cold most of the time. Looking to avoid spending that much $$$ this year, so we've made some changes. In addition to adding heated mattress pads, I bought my first-ever pellet stove. Its an older Whitfield WP2 Advantage, circa 1988, according to the sticker under the hopper.
The previous owners had a sunroom added onto the home which served mainly as a smoking room. That room has been gutted (hate the smell of cigarettes!) and will eventually hold a sauna and possibly a hot tub. In that room was a stand-alone propane fireplace with thermostat. I intend to reuse the thimble and wall pipe when I install pellet stove later this weekend. Since that room is mainly used for storage right now, the hole in the wall will be blocked off. Here's a question....will the single-wall pipe be sufficient or should I pony up for double-wall? I cannot find info on local codes. Also, the pellet stove has fittings for 3in pipe. As my elevation is near 6000ft, I thought I read that I should move up to 4in pipe. The pipe that I would like to reuse from propane fireplace is already 4in, so I'll obviously have to use an adapter off the back end of Whitfield.
Lastly, I can't get pellets in my little town (pop. 650), but have found some <30mi from me. 3 different brands, all rated <1% ash. Prices are $250-280/ton, but had a guy on Facebook tell me he'd deliver his brand to me for $220. Tempted to try the delivered option! How do these prices compare to what you are getting them for? Prefer hard or soft wood?
The previous owners had a sunroom added onto the home which served mainly as a smoking room. That room has been gutted (hate the smell of cigarettes!) and will eventually hold a sauna and possibly a hot tub. In that room was a stand-alone propane fireplace with thermostat. I intend to reuse the thimble and wall pipe when I install pellet stove later this weekend. Since that room is mainly used for storage right now, the hole in the wall will be blocked off. Here's a question....will the single-wall pipe be sufficient or should I pony up for double-wall? I cannot find info on local codes. Also, the pellet stove has fittings for 3in pipe. As my elevation is near 6000ft, I thought I read that I should move up to 4in pipe. The pipe that I would like to reuse from propane fireplace is already 4in, so I'll obviously have to use an adapter off the back end of Whitfield.
Lastly, I can't get pellets in my little town (pop. 650), but have found some <30mi from me. 3 different brands, all rated <1% ash. Prices are $250-280/ton, but had a guy on Facebook tell me he'd deliver his brand to me for $220. Tempted to try the delivered option! How do these prices compare to what you are getting them for? Prefer hard or soft wood?
