Burn a log in a pellet stove?

[Lance1]

Has anyone ever burned regular firewood in a pellet stove? Any drawbacks besides the low capacity and big mess in the fire chamber?

The reason I ask is my town ran out of pellets one Winter.

 

[sydney1963]

I don't think that is a good idea.

 

[Lance1]

Can you give me a reason why?

 

[sydney1963]

Wood has a lot of moisture content which causes creosote, where pellets are very low moisture content. Pellet stoves and vent pipes are not designed for that and would probably cause a fire. Be careful.

 

[hearthtools]

pellet stoves are designed to burn pellets in a burn pot with controled air to fuel ratio
the venting is Power venting and not disigned to burn cord wood

a wood stove is a wood stove
a pellet stove is a pellet burning stove

would you burn wood in your kitchen oven?

 

[kinsmanstoves]

There is a big difference in flue size, thickness of steel in the stove, and design of stoves. I bet all those wires and motors will love the extra heat.

If you do it run a video camera. That would be nice to see.

Eric

 

[Lance1]

Oh, OK. I was just planning in case of an emergency. Last year my town ran out of pellets and I was hand loading small pieces of a hardwood pallet into the firepot, which was a pain in the butt. I'm not a pellet pig, 15-20 bags a year, but it's my main source of heat and lows in the 30's is common.

I don't see how wires and motors would have an issue since they would be on and would have air flow. My stove is an insert, so there is more open space for the air to flow around. As far as flue size, wood core stove are static venting and pellet is dynamic.

I mainly wanted to know if anyone has tried it.

 

[Xena]

Oh, OK. I was just planning in case of an emergency. ....
I mainly wanted to know if anyone has tried it.

Common sense says I never would have tried it. And if
I didn't have any of that, my manual specifically says all over
it, "do not burn cord wood in this stove".

If you need planning in case of an emergency maybe you
need a backup wood stove?

Curious though, you say you use 15 to 20 bags but this
is your main source of heat? How is that possible?

 

[hearthtools]

Oh, OK. I was just planning in case of an emergency. Last year my town ran out of pellets and I was hand loading small pieces of a hardwood pallet into the firepot, which was a pain in the butt. I'm not a pellet pig, 15-20 bags a year, but it's my main source of heat and lows in the 30's is common.

I don't see how wires and motors would have an issue since they would be on and would have air flow. My stove is an insert, so there is more open space for the air to flow around. As far as flue size, wood core stove are static venting and pellet is dynamic.

I mainly wanted to know if anyone has tried it.

Yes many renters in housed we take care of have.
I recall about 5 times
and we had to REPLACE the stoves or do major fixes because the stove melted out

DONT DO IT>

 

[sydney1963]

Your gonna hurt yourselves messing with that.

 

[hearthtools]

Oh, OK. I was just planning in case of an emergency. Last year my town ran out of pellets and I was hand loading small pieces of a hardwood pallet into the firepot, which was a pain in the butt. I'm not a pellet pig, 15-20 bags a year, but it's my main source of heat and lows in the 30's is common.

I don't see how wires and motors would have an issue since they would be on and would have air flow. My stove is an insert, so there is more open space for the air to flow around. As far as flue size, wood core stove are static venting and pellet is dynamic.

I mainly wanted to know if anyone has tried it.

i have englander 25 & burned many things= books, sawdust+WVO,.+ pea coal & chimney creosote lately. amazing pstove but ive gone thru some reconfigurations! insurance co. wont like my act but i do. amazingly!, my outermost exhaust pipe from the sidevent is B-VENT which has AL interior pipe & not at all approved for PSTOVE! my progressive act? is tricky but i can still ...send me a PM & i'll talk.

are you being a smart ass. or are you for real?

 

[Lance1]

If you need planning in case of an emergency maybe you
need a backup wood stove?

Curious though, you say you use 15 to 20 bags but this
is your main source of heat? How is that possible?

No place for a backup wood stove.

This is possible because I spent huge amounts of time winterizing my house. Sealing every little crack, lots of insulation, I can go on and on what I did. One would be amazed how poorly houses are designed to conserve energy. I also have modified my stove for more output with less fuel.

 

[kinsmanstoves]

If you need planning in case of an emergency maybe you
need a backup wood stove?

Curious though, you say you use 15 to 20 bags but this
is your main source of heat? How is that possible?

No place for a backup wood stove.

This is possible because I spent huge amounts of time winterizing my house. Sealing every little crack, lots of insulation, I can go on and on what I did. One would be amazed how poorly houses are designed to conserve energy. I also have modified my stove for more output with less fuel.

15-20 bags a year and you modified the stove? You should be rich by now. Better market your skills. Do not talk to the pellet industry.

Eric

 

[kinsmanstoves]

Oh, OK. I was just planning in case of an emergency. Last year my town ran out of pellets and I was hand loading small pieces of a hardwood pallet into the firepot, which was a pain in the butt. I'm not a pellet pig, 15-20 bags a year, but it's my main source of heat and lows in the 30's is common.

I don't see how wires and motors would have an issue since they would be on and would have air flow. My stove is an insert, so there is more open space for the air to flow around. As far as flue size, wood core stove are static venting and pellet is dynamic.

I mainly wanted to know if anyone has tried it.

i have englander 25 & burned many things= books, sawdust+WVO,.+ pea coal & chimney creosote lately. amazing pstove but ive gone thru some reconfigurations! insurance co. wont like my act but i do. amazingly!, my outermost exhaust pipe from the sidevent is B-VENT which has AL interior pipe & not at all approved for PSTOVE! my progressive act? is tricky but i can still ...send me a PM & i'll talk.

There was certain big box store in this area that had is pellet sales staff (I think they also doubled as lawn and garden and lawn mower sales staff) telling people to use PVC for an exhaust on the stoves they sold. The bad part was people were doing it. Got to love insurance pay offs to keep the media from finding out.

Eric

 

[Xena]

Yes I'm sure you could go on and on about what you
did to weatherize your home, but 20 bags will not
suffice to heat an average size home, in a cold climate
for the entire year..no way not even close.

In New England for example, for a pellet stove as a main heat source
one needs at least 3 tons or more depending on the
severity of the winter and the size of the area being heated.

So you either live in a warmer part of the country and
also have a small house, or you're full of doody. One or
the other.

Anyway, good luck with your experiments.

 

[DAGME]

Wow. Even with sealing every little crack, it just seems really difficult to believe that you can heat for a whole winter (with lows regularly? below 30) with 20 bags of pellet. How many square feet is your living space? How old is the house?

If one could heat for a whole winter with only 20 bags of pellet, I think it would be extremely cost-ineffective to spend a few grand on a pellet stove (even a cheap, small capacity one) and installation. With that little heat demand, I would think oil, propane, or even an electric space heater would be more cost effective.

As for modifications, I would think that any physical modifications could put your stove at a significant risk of failure and catastrophic fire.

Another consideration that people forget is that it is possible to over seal one's house. Houses need some degree of ventilation with the outside - albeit it should be balanced to minimize it. Have you checked your attic for mold?

 

[Wet1]

Yes I'm sure you could go on and on about what you
did to weatherize your home, but 20 bags will not
suffice to heat an average size home, in a cold climate
for the entire year..no way not even close.

In New England for example, for a pellet stove as a main heat source
one needs at least 3 tons or more depending on the
severity of the winter and the size of the area being heated.

So you either live in a warmer part of the country and
also have a small house, or you're full of doody. One or
the other.

Anyway, good luck with your experiments.

+1



Hey Pook, what have you done with your stove which will allow you to burn all these things? I have my 25 sitting around doing nothing and I was thinking about seeing if it would like to eat mulch... or even squirrels!

 

[MCPO]

Oh, OK. I was just planning in case of an emergency. Last year my town ran out of pellets and I was hand loading small pieces of a hardwood pallet into the firepot, which was a pain in the butt. I'm not a pellet pig, 15-20 bags a year, but it's my main source of heat and lows in the 30's is common.

I don't see how wires and motors would have an issue since they would be on and would have air flow. My stove is an insert, so there is more open space for the air to flow around. As far as flue size, wood core stove are static venting and pellet is dynamic.

I mainly wanted to know if anyone has tried it.

i have englander 25 & burned many things= books, sawdust+WVO,.+ pea coal & chimney creosote lately. amazing pstove but ive gone thru some reconfigurations! insurance co. wont like my act but i do. amazingly!, my outermost exhaust pipe from the sidevent is B-VENT which has AL interior pipe & not at all approved for PSTOVE! my progressive act? is tricky but i can still ...send me a PM & i'll talk.

Forget the insurance co. I want to know what your analyst thinks.

 

[kinsmanstoves]

To show you how slow it is at the store today I came up with the following.
There are approx 61 pellets per oz. Yes size does matter.
61 pellets x 16 oz. = 976 pellets per pound
976 pellets x 40 lbs = 39,040 pellets in a bag (yes size matters still)
39,040 pellets x 20 bags =780,800 pellets in 20 bags
Kinda of the long way to figure this out but oh well.

figure you burn 4 months (just a rough guess)
4 x 30.4 adverage days in a month = 121.666 days
121.666 days x 24 hrs = 2919.984 hrs


780,800 pellets / 2919.984 hrs. = 267.3987 pellets per hour or 4.3835 oz. per hour or 6.57525 pounds a day

6.57525 lbs of pellets a day, WOW.

I hope I did my math right.
Eric

 

[Lance1]

You guys certainly get defensive quickly.

I don't heat my whole house, just areas I spend my time awake in and not while I'm sleeping, maybe 900 sqft and use an electric blanket for sleeping and don't heat this room. I live in Mountain/South to the East, but I do get snow. I do get lows in the single digits.

The way I winterize my house has helped allot. My neighbor that has done nothing in improvements on the same built house, the snow melts completely off his roof while my roof shows no signs that I'm heating, except a little around the stack.

 

[DAGME]

figure you burn 4 months (just a rough guess)
4 x 30.4 adverage days in a month = 121.666 days
121.666 days x 24 hrs = 2919.984 hrs

Actually, accounting for February's 28 days, you overestimated the number of days per month (a joke - really!). So the end number comes just a tad closer to 7lbs per day.

 

[kinsmanstoves]

figure you burn 4 months (just a rough guess)
4 x 30.4 adverage days in a month = 121.666 days
121.666 days x 24 hrs = 2919.984 hrs

Actually, accounting for February's 28 days, you overestimated the number of days per month (a joke - really!). So the end number comes just a tad closer to 7lbs per day.

In either case, it doesn't pass the smell test.

You are correct. I did not take the month of Feb into account.
& lbs to obtain say a constant 65 degrees in a room of any size is some severe modifications and I would like to see a t the least a sketch on a bar napkin of the changes made.
I also agree on the aroma of the droppings of a bull.

Eric

 

[DAGME]

You guys certainly get defensive quickly.

I don't heat my whole house, just areas I spend my time awake in and not while I'm sleeping, maybe 900 sqft and use an electric blanket for sleeping and don't heat this room. I live in Mountain/South to the East, but I do get snow. I do get lows in the single digits.

The way I winterize my house has helped allot. My neighbor that has done nothing in improvements on the same built house, the snow melts completely off his roof while my roof shows no signs that I'm heating, except a little around the stack.

Actually, it's not getting defensive really - your statement of 15-20 bags per heating season just strike many of us as incredible. Even in a 900 sq. ft. home, not all of the heat generated by a pellet stove (or any air-based heat source) is going to stay in the "air". Kenetic energy dictates that some of that heat energy will be transfered to walls, furniture, mattersses, windows (interior panes), cement foundations, books, people, pets - essentially cooling the air down. This is true no matter how well insulated your home is - you may not be losing heat to the outside, but you will lose heat to what is inside the house. This happens until an equilibrium is reached between the inside air and everything inside the heated portions of your home.


For those of us who really think about heat transfer and the physics of everything (me probably more than others), it would take many more than 20 bags over the course of a heating season to bring the interior of your home to a thermal equilibrium - even if you home was sealed to 99% efficiency

I'm certainly happy for you and envious of your situation!

 

[Wet1]

I don't heat my whole house, just areas I spend my time awake in and not while I'm sleeping, maybe 900 sqft and use an electric blanket for sleeping and don't heat this room. I live in Mountain/South to the East, but I do get snow. I do get lows in the single digits.

Okay, Ill say it... BS!

So you carry the pellet stove with you from room to room and you're hiding from the FBI?

 

[Xena]

...I'm not a pellet pig,
15-20 bags a year, but it's my main source of heat and lows in the 30's is common.

I don't see anyone getting defensive, just calling
on the facts which you have somewhat masked.

When someone uses the term "main heat source", it
leads folks to believe just that.... So in reality, you are
only using the stove as a supplemental heat source.

Also, one persons idea of "heating", may be very different
from anothers........a friend of my "heats" her house
to 58F. To me, that's not heat but to some people it is.

Imo, the higher cost of a pellet stove is not worth the hassle
for a couple dozen or less bags of pellets. I think a wood stove
would have served your purpose much better considering
the facts you have stated. Anyway, this thread wasn't about
that.