Cut my propane use by 100 gallons....

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ChrisWNY

Feeling the Heat
...in less than 1 month of having our Fahrenheit pellet furnace installed. Saved nearly $300. LP bill (for nearly 2 months of usage) was $220, vs. our normal $500-$600 over the same time period.
 
Wow! now that is a pay raise. think of all the taxable money you would have had to earn to be able to put that mush back in your pocket. Better than any investment I know! time to celebrate!!!!
 
Doing the same thing. And, indeed it's time to celebrate ... Going for a brandy in front of the stove right now!
 
Harman PF100 pellet furnace.. Use -0- gallons of LP. Propane company talked to me once
about replacing the tank with a smaller tank. Can't cut a deal. Only pay $12.00 rental a year
Third year for the furnace, if need be, can switch over to the propane furance, if I run into
trouble with the PF100. So far, so good. No hav to do!!!!
Stacked up for next heating season with 7 ton which I got from HD for $167.00 including delivery.
PrestoLogs, by Lignetics, WVA plant.
 
Have you tried running 24/7. Don't rmember the exact layout of your house. But we don't have our Fahrenhiet hooked up yet at our Quad heats our 2,180 sq ft Ranch to 74-76 degrees on Low heat high fan. Bag a half a day. Have not got Propane tank filled in over 2 yrs. Still have 35% left. Been paying $80 a year just to keep the tank. We used to spend $3,300-$4,000 a year in propane. Now its less than $800 a year in pellets for the entire heating season
 
I saved 500gal last year using my castjle stove house is 2200 sq ft i start Jan 1st and keep a record of use. I will only put 150 gal at a time. The house is 73 Degrees
and a lot better than 66 . Burning a bag a day now
 
Enjoy the savings and extra heat. My propane use for Dec. & Jan. = 112 gallons, two of the coldest months we have had in years.
Savings after factoring pellet costs = $500. My stove will pay off quick. Yahoo.
 
Since Dec I have used 2 cu ft of propane. That's about 6 gallons!!

WHOO HOO!! I'm sure the gas co is crying!! Oh well, I'll just send them a box of Kleenex!
 
DexterDay said:
Have you tried running 24/7. Don't rmember the exact layout of your house. But we don't have our Fahrenhiet hooked up yet at our Quad heats our 2,180 sq ft Ranch to 74-76 degrees on Low heat high fan. Bag a half a day. Have not got Propane tank filled in over 2 yrs. Still have 35% left. Been paying $80 a year just to keep the tank. We used to spend $3,300-$4,000 a year in propane. Now its less than $800 a year in pellets for the entire heating season

Nearly $4000 for propane. Ugh! That's a huge amount of money. When you think about what propane is and how it gets to you, you have to know at that price there were a lot of people reaching into your pocket and they were the only ones with a smile on their face! Now it is your turn to smile. Good for you!
If this forum had an honor roll, you would have earned a place on it.
 
yah, but what did you spend for pellets over that time period. You saved 300.00 in propane, but did you spend 300 in pellets ?
 
ChrisWNY said:
...in less than 1 month of having our Fahrenheit pellet furnace installed. Saved nearly $300. LP bill (for nearly 2 months of usage) was $220, vs. our normal $500-$600 over the same time period.

Feels good doesn't it!!
So far in the first 2 years we have reduced oil usage by 50%. (Reduced by 500gal/year)
For this year '10-'11 savings will be just over $600!
$825 for 4 tons vs $2.89gal or more for 500gal.

Enjoy!!
 
Well in 2 yrs we have not had our tank filled. We still have about 35% left in out tank. Only pay $80 a year to keep the tank and there service. So that 35% will last us at least another year. We have not used the LP furnace period in 2 yrs. Only start it in the fall and early spring to keep parts moving. Its a Trane (only 8 yrs old). So for the cost of 3 yrs propane. After adding in the initial fill 2 yrs ago, that was $1,300. Add $80 a year for 3 yrs to keep the service. Now your at $1,540. Plus $800 a year for pellets (just over 4 ton a year) for 3 yrs $2,400. Add that up and you get $3,940. For 3 yrs of pellets and propane!!. I was paying that For ONE YEAR in Propane 3 yrs ago. So basically $1,000 a year to heat my house with pellets (And just pellets) or $3,500 average for LP. Are LP bill used to be $350 in the middle of July. Every month was that bill. Was not just during heating months. Not the way there program works. (On there budget program) The only thing we use LP for now is to cook with. That its. So I'm saving a whole lot more than just $300 in propane. Close to $3,000 a year. One full tank of propane used to last 3 to 4 months. Now I get 3 to 4 YEARS. Do the math. The Savings are huge. Some people can get by on just pellets because of the lay-out of there house. Some can't. Thank god I can because the LP was killing me. I just bought another Pellet stove (Fahrenhiet Furnace) same unit that the OP has. I do not have hooked up yet. Heating my whole house with 43,000 BTU Quad CB 1200. That's why I asked him if he tried running the unit 24/7. It is one heck of a unit. That pellet furnace will "Kick" out some heat. Hope this clears up the whole saving only $300 a year. Some save a little. Some save a lot. As long as there is a savings it shouldn't matter. When it starts costing more for pellets I will gladly go back to LP. But I highly doubt that will happen. Sorry so long winded.
 
chris288 - yes, I have taken pellet cost into account in the overall picture. So far, I've spent ~$220 on pellets (just over a ton purchased in total). However, considering my avg. 1/2 bag per day burn rate (since we only run our heating when we're home from work), that ton should take us into April, and by then the temps are warmer so the furnace will probably be burning at Level 2 max, which equates to about a bag of pellets over a 20 hour burn period. Based on the average 5-6 hours of run time per day (for ALL our heating), we should get 3-4 days from 1 bag.

Dexter - we have run the Fahrenheit 24/7 on a couple occasions, when the temps were forecasted to drop below 0°F overnight. So far I've only run it overnight twice in total. We run it on low overnight, Level 2. When I fire up the furnace after returning from work at 4pm each day during the week, I start the furnace at Level 3 and reduce it to Level 2 after a couple of hours, otherwise it roasts our first floor to the point where it's uncomfortable (75°F is too warm for me). The heat makes its way up the 2nd floor stairwell and heats any open bedrooms VERY well, into the upper 60s, so in reality this thing has been providing MORE than enough heat for our entire house (2500 sq. ft.) without any need for LP heating. We do not have vaulted ceilings (which helps), just a standard 2-story Colonial style house (8-ft. high ceilings) with a very open first floor plan. I general contracted the build of my house in 2007/08, we insulated between bedrooms and our exterior walls are all 2x6 construction, which provides that extra layer of insulation that a 2x4 framed house would not have. We scored very high on our Energy Star evaluation in early 2008 after the house was completed.

I expect to further reduce our LP consumption over the next month, as our most recent LP gas fill included a portion of late December where we were using our LP furnace, which was before we had the Fahrenheit furnace installed and direct-ducted to our first floor. The duct work wasn't finished until Jan. 7th, prior to that we had been heating up the basement with the Fahrenheit and letting the heat rise to the first floor up the stairwell, as well as using our LP furnace a couple of times per day.
 
I cut the tank rental out by buying my own tank.

When I need fuel I can call and see who has the best price..and screw them.
 
Taperbill said:
I cut the tank rental out by buying my own tank.

When I need fuel I can call and see who has the best price..and screw them.

What a great idea!! I'm sure the initial cost is pretty high (I'm guessing?). But that gets you out of there "rental fee's".

And ChrisWNY, Congrats on the savings. Keep us posted on more to come. Can't wait to get ours "hooked up" so I can tinker with the New Toy!! Just hope I can run ours on setting 2 or 3.
Hope to save even more money with the Fahrenhiet by putting a 5+1+1 programmable thermostat. We are prob gonna wait till next season to actually run it. Our Quad has done an outstanding job for 3 yrs. Plan on installing the furnace this weekend or following weekend. Ducting everything in and firing it up once or twice. Just to check it out. Then shut it down till next season. We only bought it because the baby's (Due in May) room is at the far end of the hall. Gets a little colder in that room. Only Ducting it to the 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. (Using only one side of our existing HVAC).
Good luck with that Furnace Chris.. Here is to saving money.. Cheers
 
lessoil said:
ChrisWNY said:
...in less than 1 month of having our Fahrenheit pellet furnace installed. Saved nearly $300. LP bill (for nearly 2 months of usage) was $220, vs. our normal $500-$600 over the same time period.

Feels good doesn't it!!
So far in the first 2 years we have reduced oil usage by 50%. (Reduced by 500gal/year)
For this year '10-'11 savings will be just over $600!
$825 for 4 tons vs $2.89gal or more for 500gal.

Enjoy!!

I installed a Harman P35i Pellet Stove Insert this fall and had my first fire on November 6th. By burning the pellet stove during the day and keeping my oil heat at 58 in both my upstairs and downstairs zones, my furnace never comes on in my downstairs zone, and rarely comes on in the upstairs zone except on the coldest of days. I fire the oil heat in the morning set at 66 for about 15 minutes to warm up the downstairs zone while I give the pellet stove a quick cleaning and top off the hopper. Then I light the pellet stove and turn the thermostat back down to 58. My P35i easily keeps the downstairs zone at 70+ degrees for the rest of the day and evening. I leave the thermostat at 58 at night and turn off the pellet stove when we go to bed. I have never burned more than 1 bag in a day. On average I burn slightly more than 3/4 of a bag per day.

By February 5th last year I had used 368.9 gallons of Oil. This year I will have used only 220 gallons of Oil and 46 bags of Wood Pellets by February 5th (just 4 days from today).

That's a difference of 368.9 - 220 = 148.9 gallons

At my prebuy price this season of $2.639/gallon that's a savings of 148.9 gallons x $2.639 = $392.95
Now let's take into consideration the cost of the pellets I have burned.

Technically, I got a "free" ton of pellets with the purchase of the stove, so I could consider the entire $392.95 a savings. I did buy a second ton of New England Wood Pellets for $254.00, so lets do the math as if I paid for the first ton as well.

$254.00 / 50 bags = $5.08 per bag

46 bags x $5.08 per bag = $233.68

So the savings would be

$392.95 - $233.68 = $159.27 so far this season.

Last year I used a total of 522 gallons of #2 Fuel Oil for the season. I am hoping to cut that almost in half with just 2 tons of pellets.

On top of the heating fuel cost savings my electric bill has also been significantly lower since I began using the pellet stove rather than the forced hot air blowers on my furnace. Here's some numbers on that...

January 2010 ADT 26F 1042 kWh
January 2011 ADT 26F 796 kWh

At .19 cents per kWh that's a savings of

1042 kWh - 796 kWh = 246 kWh

246 kWh x .19 cents per kWh = $46.74 and that's only for the month of January! AWESOME!

Congratulations to all for burning pellets and saving $$$ and the environment!
 
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