All electric?

[Zackdog]

Am I the only one that has an all electric home with a pellet stove? I am curious about other people in my situation and their experiences.

 

[OU812]

I have an all electric home with an electric heat pump. The one month that I used it my electric bill shot up close to $300.00 and I rarely ran the heat pump except in the evenings and mornings. That is why I have a pellet stove and never use the heat pump. The only wish that I have is that they would invent pellets that cool your home in the summer when you burn them.

 

[PunKid8888]

All electric? as in Electric heat and electric utilities?

I have all Electric Utilities (hot water, dryer, stove) and Oil fired FHA furnace

 

[jtakeman]

Hey,

I too have an all electric home. I tried the electric for 1 month in Dec of 1995 and received a bill for 400.00. Never used it again!

Used to burn wood, But hated all the stacking! 7 cords for the whole season. Stove in the basement.

I have been using my pellet stove since 1998 and love it. 2000 square feet and I keep it at 70 degrees and never use more than 5 tons for the whole winter. I started with a quadrafire model 800(bought used) and now have the Breckwell bigE(bought new in 2007). My stove is in the basement and it heat's the house very well. I only have to use some room fans on the really cold days. The stove only added $30.00or so to my electric bill per month. Some of that is the room fans.

I kept the wood stove hooked up in case we loose power. I might start a small fire on the days that are below zero.

Hope this will helps.

Jay

P.S. A pellet stove is carbon neutrol, Not a bad way to go!

 

[MCPO]

Hey,



2000 square feet and I keep it at 70 degrees and never use more than 5 tons for the whole winter. I started with a quadrafire model 800(bought used) and now have the Breckwell bigE(bought new in 2007). My stove is in the basement and it heat's the house very well. I only have to use some room fans on the really cold days. The stove only added $30.00or so to my electric bill per month. Some of that is the room fans.

Lets`s recap here.
1.........pellet stove is in the basement
2..........heating 2000 sq ft to 70 degrees
3..........stove heats the house real well
4...........all this on only 5 tons for the whole winter
5...........replaces 7 cords of wood

This testimonial ought to be used by the pellet industry. It ought to sell a lot of pellets and stoves indeed!

 

[crausch]

I am another one zackdog that has all electric (appliances, water, heat, etc.). My stove is supplemental heat. Mostly used to heat basement and assist with upstairs base board heaters. Electric is not very expensive where I live, yet. The temps here are not a bitter as the folks further north (well maybe this coming week - lol). I replaced my wood stove with the pellet stove. So far, I am enjoying it. I like the control I have over my heating compared to my wood stove. Less mess also.

 

[doghouse]

Hey,



2000 square feet and I keep it at 70 degrees and never use more than 5 tons for the whole winter. I started with a quadrafire model 800(bought used) and now have the Breckwell bigE(bought new in 2007). My stove is in the basement and it heat's the house very well. I only have to use some room fans on the really cold days. The stove only added $30.00or so to my electric bill per month. Some of that is the room fans.

Lets`s recap here.
1.........pellet stove is in the basement
2..........heating 2000 sq ft to 70 degrees
3..........stove heats the house real well
4...........all this on only 5 tons for the whole winter
5...........replaces 7 cords of wood

This testimonial ought to be used by the pellet industry. It ought to sell a lot of pellets and stoves indeed!

Mr. Gio, do I detect a tinge of doubt? ;-)

 

[jtakeman]

Mr GIO,

You may doubt it all you want, But I don't feed opec any of my money at all! I strickly burn pellets. PERIOD

Can you say that?

jay

 

[steamguy]

We have a formerly 'all-electric' home: Heat pump, electric strip heaters for backup heat, electric H/W, electric stove...

Used to cost us about $275/month to heat the house during the winter; that was 14 years ago. And that was when we had just cheap hydro power. I'd hate to think of what it would be now.

We installed an Austroflamm that did yeoman work in heating the house, took us about 4 tons a year to heat (not too many really severe days, but when we get them we REALLY get them). A few years ago, we converted the stove to a dual-fuel range (electric convection oven) and plumbed in propane.

Last year, we said goodbye to the Austro for teardown value and bought an Enviro Empress. The Empress has to work harder to heat the house, but we still get about the same "mileage" for pellets.

And the electric bill is now about $125; it's stayed at that point for several years.

 

[AAsTeapots]

I have all electric also.... We had no choice to turn to an alternative and boy did we ever learn a lesson 3 years ago.....
We had a chimney fire! At the time we had one woodstove to heat a 2500sq ft home. It happened in December. We had to wait until they could put up a new chimney so 1/2 of Dec all of Jan and 1/2 of Feb we had to run our electric heat. For the two months total we had a $2000.00 electric bill. The next year we put in a pellet stove upstairs and we used two tons of pellets to the tune of 500.00 and never looked back. We also switched to pellet because of the wood stacking and nonsense. we now have two pellet stoves and it is wonderful. Unfortunatly this year we paid a premium for pellets BUT it didnt cost two grand!

 

[MCPO]

I have all electric also.... We had no choice to turn to an alternative and boy did we ever learn a lesson 3 years ago.....
We had a chimney fire! At the time we had one woodstove to heat a 2500sq ft home. It happened in December. We had to wait until they could put up a new chimney so 1/2 of Dec all of Jan and 1/2 of Feb we had to run our electric heat. For the two months total we had a $2000.00 electric bill. The next year we put in a pellet stove upstairs and we used two tons of pellets to the tune of 500.00 and never looked back. We also switched to pellet because of the wood stacking and nonsense. we now have two pellet stoves and it is wonderful. Unfortunatly this year we paid a premium for pellets BUT it didnt cost two grand!

You heated 2500 sq ft with two tons of pellets? Or did you keep the wood stove too?
I`m confused since you now have two pellet stoves.

 

[MCPO]

Mr GIO,

You may doubt it all you want, But I don't feed opec any of my money at all! I strickly burn pellets. PERIOD

Can you say that?

jay

You might be wrong about feeding OPEC. Do you drive a car? And some of your electric bill might go to OPEC.

 

[Baston8005]

All electric here in a 2100 sq ft colonial built in 1972. Electric hot water heater wrapped up oin the basement and electric heat registers in every room. We moved in about 7 years ago. We went thru 1 winter on electric heat. Jan and Feb of that year we avg'd electric bills of $700-800. I said no more of that B.S. I went out and bought a Mt Vernon Quadrafire and had it installed in my 1st floor living room. I avg about 4-4.5 tons of pellets a season. 78 in pelletstove room. 2nd floor(bedrooms) are in the low 60's. We still avg about $300 to $350 in electric bills a month. Over 1/2 of that is a "delivery charge". That seems like B.S. also!! I've upgraded every lightbulb in the house, installed new windows, new doors, energy eff appliances and a new energy eff water heater.... Wish I was a big whig at the power companied getting Multi million dollar bonues's

 

[MCPO]

All electric here in a 2100 sq ft colonial built in 1972. Electric hot water heater wrapped up oin the basement and electric heat registers in every room. We moved in about 7 years ago. We went thru 1 winter on electric heat. Jan and Feb of that year we avg'd electric bills of $700-800. I said no more of that B.S. I went out and bought a Mt Vernon Quadrafire and had it installed in my 1st floor living room. I avg about 4-4.5 tons of pellets a season. 78 in pelletstove room. 2nd floor(bedrooms) are in the low 60's. We still avg about $300 to $350 in electric bills a month. Over 1/2 of that is a "delivery charge". That seems like B.S. also!! I've upgraded every lightbulb in the house, installed new windows, new doors, energy eff appliances and a new energy eff water heater.... Wish I was a big whig at the power companied getting Multi million dollar bonues's

4-4.5 tons sounds about right since the stove is on the 1st floor and really , you are doing pretty good for 2100 sq ft.
BUT, if you are burning a ton or more in each of those two months and pellets are costing more than $300 a ton the savings is not significant considering what the stove cost and the extra work involved.
I think the real problem here is that $300+ a month electric bill. Either you have a large family using copius amounts of hot water or you need to call in an electrician to see what`s burning up all those kilowatts.

 

[save$]

My home was built new and sold to me as "all electric" in 1975. I was told it was the way to go. What a joke! 4 in. wall and 6 in insulation in the ceiling. Did have thermopane windows. The very first winter, I had to scrounge up enough money for a wood stove. We burned wood for several years after that as our only source of heat. Big family with 4 children. We had to increase the insulation in the ceiling, added storm doors and windows. Built a double entry and had the house sealed for leaks and another layer of insulation to the siding. Went to oil in "91.
Oil got too expensive. We got older. Going back to wood was not a realistic option for us. Found out about Pellets. We have had very good results. Now our adult children will visit and help with getting some of the bags in so we don't have to lug them. Looking ahead, there seems to be much on the way about pellet furnaces. Still the cost factors are there and we have to play the game of looking into that crystal ball hoping to know when or what is the best option. I have been told that heat pumps are not realistic for Maine. Electricity does not seem to be piratical at over .16 per KWH. No access to natural gas here. Seems like just when something starts to look good, greed sets in. Someone finds a way to add fees (tax). Others jump in. Used to be with competition, the cost came down, but that doesn't seem so true anymore.

 

[AAsTeapots]

I have all electric also.... We had no choice to turn to an alternative and boy did we ever learn a lesson 3 years ago.....
We had a chimney fire! At the time we had one woodstove to heat a 2500sq ft home. It happened in December. We had to wait until they could put up a new chimney so 1/2 of Dec all of Jan and 1/2 of Feb we had to run our electric heat. For the two months total we had a $2000.00 electric bill. The next year we put in a pellet stove upstairs and we used two tons of pellets to the tune of 500.00 and never looked back. We also switched to pellet because of the wood stacking and nonsense. we now have two pellet stoves and it is wonderful. Unfortunatly this year we paid a premium for pellets BUT it didnt cost two grand!

You heated 2500 sq ft with two tons of pellets? Or did you keep the wood stove too?
I`m confused since you now have two pellet stoves.

wood stove also.

 

[jtakeman]

Mr GIO,

You may doubt it all you want, But I don't feed opec any of my money at all! I strickly burn pellets. PERIOD

Can you say that?

jay

You might be wrong about feeding OPEC. Do you drive a car? And some of your electric bill might go to OPEC.

Gio,

We all drive cars no? Just not giving them more than I have too!

Do you have an all electric home? (This thread is about all electric not oil.)
If not I would say take your comments elsewhere. If you don't have anything good to say then say nothin at all is a good rule!

jay

 

[jtakeman]

I have all electric also.... We had no choice to turn to an alternative and boy did we ever learn a lesson 3 years ago.....
We had a chimney fire! At the time we had one woodstove to heat a 2500sq ft home. It happened in December. We had to wait until they could put up a new chimney so 1/2 of Dec all of Jan and 1/2 of Feb we had to run our electric heat. For the two months total we had a $2000.00 electric bill. The next year we put in a pellet stove upstairs and we used two tons of pellets to the tune of 500.00 and never looked back. We also switched to pellet because of the wood stacking and nonsense. we now have two pellet stoves and it is wonderful. Unfortunatly this year we paid a premium for pellets BUT it didnt cost two grand!

AAsTeapots,

Try to order your pellets in April, You can save as much as $60.00 a ton that way. Prices always go up in Oct.

jay

 

[MCPO]

Mr GIO,

You may doubt it all you want, But I don't feed opec any of my money at all! I strickly burn pellets. PERIOD

Can you say that?

jay

We all drive cars no? Just not giving them more than I have too!

Do you have an all electric home? (This thread is about all electric not oil.)
If not I would say take your comments elsewhere. If you don't have anything good to say then say nothin at all is a good rule!

jay

I`m all for not giving them more than I have to either but I have to smile when I read posts like yours.
For well over 100 years oil/petroleum products has been what made industrial nations what they are and just because it hit an all time high last summer it has become a scourge . Right now oil is cheaper than burning pellets and might remain that way for some time especially at $300+ per ton. Pellets are probably not possible to produce or ship without oil. Don`t be looking for pellets to be $200 per ton again either.
I do have an electric heat house 2400sq ft (circa 1970) converted to an efficient oil system 12 years ago. I also had a wood stove in the basement for 12 yrs and later an oil stove for the past 8 years til I decided to install a pellet stove this spring. I have a good feeling for what it takes to heat a house with different fuels.
I do think there`s more to your story about heating 2500 sq ft to 72 degrees with 4-1/2 tons of pellets with your stove in the cellar . Since my pellet stove is also in my finished cellar I know the difficulties in getting the heat out and up to the rest of the living spaces, thus my reluctance to believe some of the exaggerated tales on the forum .
Claims like yours need to be fully detailed and not generalized as such.
I`m sorry if you feel offended but you must be able to explain more clearly how you were able to do accomplish what you did.

 

[Zackdog]

Glad to see there are other people with all electric homes.

I've lost track of the number of times that I have been called anal, so bear with me. A little history. I built my home in 1988-89 and, since I was doing most of the work myself, I opted to install electric baseboard heat. Each room is individually controlled by it's own thermostat. I installed a metered subpanel that only contains the baseboard heater circuits. I read the meter twice daily @7:00 am and pm so I know the KWH usage for daytime and night time heat. I am heating two floors (700sf each) above an unheated walkout garage/basement. The sidewalls have 5-1/2 inches of insulation and the roof has 18 inches plus an 6 inch air space. The house faces SSE and is mostly low-E glass with see through reflective blinds that are very seldom open.

In 1994, I purchased a personal weather station that is connected to the computer, so I now have more information to play with! It records average temperature for the month and heat degree days. In 1997 I purchased and installed a used pellet stove on the main floor. It is either on or off, no self-ignition or thermostat. Since I have to start the stove manually, I can keep track of the number of hours it is feeding pellets. I used to only start the stove in the evening when I got home from work and shut it down when I went to bed. I only run the stove on the low setting and its feed rate is adjusted to feed about 1.25 lbs/hr. In 2002 I set up spread sheets to track all of this information. My heating season runs from October through May, since I shut all thermostats of on June 1st and turn them on (65 main, 68 upstairs) October 1st. In 2005, I changed the way I used the pellet stove. I still started it when I got home from work, but I ran it until I left for work the next morning. Boy what a difference!! During the coldest months, Nov. through Feb., my average heat KWH dropped from 860/mo to 255/mo. My pellet consumption is now about 1-1/2 tons per year.

If anyone is interested, I can try and post the summary spreadsheet on my website.

 

[moralleper]

My house is all electric, I use my pellet stove for my main heat. I use just shy of 2 tons of pellets to heat about 1500sqft to 68-70 degrees. We have a fairly mild winter here with lows dipping into the 30s for a few weeks a year.

 

[Wet1]

Let's not forget that a cord of hardwood typically contains over 20,000,000 BTU. So 7 cords equals at least 140,000,000 btu (probably closer to 160 million of mixed hardwoods found in CT) to initial heat the house in question before the pellet stove. Now the pellet stove does the same job with only 5 tons of pellets which contain only about 82,000,000 btu, or only about half of what it took to heat with wood???

And to heat a 2000 sq ft house to 70° (I'm assuming this is throughout the house) with a stove located in a basement and do so burning only 82,000,000 btu? Never mind it took twice as many btu in cord wood to do the same job... Must be some of those magic pellets hard at work again.

I'd say Gio has every right to question your initial claims.

 

[jtakeman]

Mr GIO,

You may doubt it all you want, But I don't feed opec any of my money at all! I strickly burn pellets. PERIOD

Can you say that?

jay

We all drive cars no? Just not giving them more than I have too!

Do you have an all electric home? (This thread is about all electric not oil.)
If not I would say take your comments elsewhere. If you don't have anything good to say then say nothin at all is a good rule!

jay

I`m all for not giving them more than I have to either but I have to smile when I read posts like yours.
For well over 100 years oil/petroleum products has been what made industrial nations what they are and just because it hit an all time high last summer it has become a scourge . Right now oil is cheaper than burning pellets and might remain that way for some time especially at $300+ per ton. Pellets are probably not possible to produce or ship without oil. Don`t be looking for pellets to be $200 per ton again either.
I do have an electric heat house 2400sq ft (circa 1970) converted to an efficient oil system 12 years ago. I also had a wood stove in the basement for 12 yrs and later an oil stove for the past 8 years til I decided to install a pellet stove this spring. I have a good feeling for what it takes to heat a house with different fuels.
I do think there`s more to your story about heating 2500 sq ft to 72 degrees with 4-1/2 tons of pellets with your stove in the cellar . Since my pellet stove is also in my finished cellar I know the difficulties in getting the heat out and up to the rest of the living spaces, thus my reluctance to believe some of the exaggerated tales on the forum .
Claims like yours need to be fully detailed and not generalized as such.
I`m sorry if you feel offended but you must be able to explain more clearly how you were able to do accomplish what you did.

Gio,

First off read my post again. 2000 sq feet home at 72 degrees using 5 tons.

The key is circulation, If your air won't circulate then your heat will not move anywhere! I have floor vents. each has a fan. I have a louvered door on my basement, With a fan aimed at the heat source(my return). My air circulates. This is also a raised ranch by the way. Come on down to CT. I'll show my setup. Must bring beer though.

jay

 

[moralleper]

I used to use 2.5 cords to heat my house and now I use just shy of 2 tons of pellets. The main difference is the heat is more even with the pellet stove as opposed to the wood stove where the house fluctuates from cold 50s in the morning to 80s in the evenings. It seemed to me to be a lot of wasted energy with the wood stove.

 

[jtakeman]

My wood stove doesn't have a blower and a thermostat, My house was warm when stove was lit but cold when I came home. Had to over fire the hell out of it to get the house warm again! A wood stove does not produce steady heat! You can't turn it down when your leaaving home And you can't turn it back up before you get home. Efficient use is a key just like cirulating the air is a key!

Believe what you want to believe

Jay