Do you wish you went with a wood stove instead?

[1Dtml]

No one has mentioned how much fun they have pellet hunting??? ;-)

I've made it a hobby %-P

1D

 

[jtakeman]

No one has mentioned how much fun they have pellet hunting??? ;-)

I've made it a hobby %-P

1D

With this warm season, I have been denied some of the fun of pellet hunting. This time last season, I had picked up 2 replacement tons. Hoping to head out and have fun this weekend! :lol:

 

[1Dtml]

No one has mentioned how much fun they have pellet hunting??? ;-)

I've made it a hobby %-P

1D

With this warm season, I have been denied some of the fun of pellet hunting. This time last season, I had picked up 2 replacement tons. Hoping to head out and have fun this weekend! :lol:

Thanks for the Green Team at Lowes time table, for I was able to find these at two local stores this week. :coolsmile:

1D

 

[save$]

We burned wood in our all electric home for 15 years. When we put the furnace in, that took our only access to our chimney.
I had seen a few of these pellet stoves, and with all the hype going on with oil, and with our age and limitations, going to a pellet stove was the apparent best option. I would burn wood again in a heartbeat, but I also would not give up our new found friend we have made with pellet stove. Best thing to have in home heating is options, realistic ones.

 

[tjnamtiw]

There are lots of reasons for each one and it is up to each of us to decide which works best. I don't know what brand/model stove you own or what you have done to try to get your problems rectified.

Give the experts on this forum a chance to help you out. If you bought a clunker then its not a pellets stoves fault per-say.

I heated with wood for 30 years prior to going the pellet stove route and unless I have someone cutting stacking restacking etc for free. I will never go back. Just not having to deal with the almost daily ash removal and overall dirt from a wood stove is priceless to me. Ya, it does cost more money if you can get or have been getting your wood for free. Add in the time to go fetch, cut, transport, stack, and usually move again is a deal killer for me looking back at things. Let alone the expense of a wood splitter, chainsaws, special clothing, axes and wedges.

XXX 100. EXACTLY why these weary bones gave away two wood burning inserts! I burned wood (and coal) for 40 years and NO WAY IN HE[[ WOULD I EVER GO BACK unless 'energy costs necessarily skyrocket' as someone once promised us.....

 

[iceman]

I have both and both bring pretty much the same at the end of the day...
It's true wood can be dirty
My stove needs to be loaded 2xs a day
My pellet stove cranked up has to get loaded 2xs a day.. even if its not completely empty
My stove worked great with no power for 8days
Pellet stove can't do that without big battery setup
Woodstove has a much better light show
Pellet stove always has a flame
Wood requires labor and some time
Pellets require time and some labor
overall comes down to choice
Love my wood stove and its much cheaper for me
Love my pellet stove... But when I had to get it fixed was over 400 not bad after 7 years
I do clean my pellet stove more than my wood stove
If you add up all the time cleaning pellet stove I am sure it adds up to a good chunk of time I spend splitting n stacking n such
And if you add the time it takes to drive wherever and bring pellets home and then stack its close to wood...
If i could only keep one......
Wood - power outtages and I hate pellet prices when they fluctuate. Now the prices are good but couple of years ago didn't burn to many bags at 300+ for cheap stuff ... Remember guys?

 

[KINGOFTHENORTH]

:lol:

I did go with a wood stove......................

it burns tiny little logs called

PELLETS

:lol:

 

[perchin]

I have both. I like to have options. We have been mainly just burning cord wood this year though.

 

[cold front]

I guess what it all boils down to is how much is your time worth? Wood stoves eat a lot more of it.

 

[jtakeman]

I wish my wood stove would auto load and control the heat of the room. I also wish it would self clean so I only need to open the door once a week.

Make some of those and I'll buy 2. :cheese:

 

[smoke show]

Make some of those and I'll buy 2. :cheese:

After the wife's approval. :lol:

 

[jtakeman]

Make some of those and I'll buy 2. :cheese:

After the wife's approval. :lol:

Well in that case? She'll buy one maybe! :sigh:

Come on man, I can dream a little. No?

 

[iamdrumming]

My wife is happy when its hot...
I guess the bottom line is use whatever you feel comfortable with. I'm ok with the added time and work load of a wood stove ("sorry honey, I have to go chop wood" how bad is that.. grab a 12 pack and your outside all day! I love it).
Maybe I'll just get a wood stove for the living room and use both (if I ever get the pellet stove fixed).
I just keep thinking about the fact that firewood is free!
No matter what you do, you aren't getting pellets for free. That, and all the moving parts and intricacies of a pellet stove (control boxes, snap disks, power, fan motors, augers, blah, blah). F-that. Give me a big metal box, throw some wood in and light it. Done.

 

[smoke show]

Make some of those and I'll buy 2. :cheese:

After the wife's approval. :lol:

Well in that case? She'll buy one maybe! :sigh:

Come on man, I can dream a little. No?

Only if she lets you. :roll:

 

[ironpony]

Hey J,
Had the Rott neutered want his????????????

 

[jtakeman]

That's OK, She's letting me keep those!

 

[slls]

J is hen pecked.

 

[Valhalla]

OK, you guys now have me convinced to get a backup pellet stove! All the pros and cons were very well described. I'll keep my great Oslo in my stove room and put the pellet stove on the hearth of an existing, but unused living room fireplace hearth. Of course to teach the wife to run it. It can be my spring/summer install project.

This old wood burner will become a pellet pig too! Now to choose the best pellet stove to put on a hearth! Certainly, there is no better place that Hearth.com to find that out.

Thanks guys!

 

[Dreamboater]

New here but going through these same issues. I have a 2 story home that's 2500 sq feet well insulated with separate propane furnaces for upstairs and downstairs. My options are going the with a wood stove, free standing pellet stove or an insert in place of the gas insert currently in my family room. I have gotten prices on both the pellet insert and wood stove. The m55 cast black will be $4550 total installed and the Alderlea t6 will be $6700.

The wood stove option I like because of free wood. However I don't have a chimney which is why the wood stove price is so much higher. I would need to upgrade my chainsaw and build a good size storage area for seasoning wood. It makes sense to me to go the pellet stove route. My fear however is rising prices of pellets although cheap now I fear the future. My other issue and while I have considered the free standing pellet stove is because the family rooms is not centrally located. There is no second story above where the insert would be and while the house is very open I am hoping to heat the upstairs as well. Puttong a free standing stove wood or pellet into the now formal living room would accomplish this.

My other issue is the chimney pipe that would be running 25' up the side of my house should I choose a wood stove. I haven't even gotten a price on boxing that in but I can imagine its not cheap. I really can't go up through the second story to elongate the chimney outside either.

Looking for some advice and suggestions here. Thanks in advance

 

[1Dtml]

New here but going through these same issues. I have a 2 story home that's 2500 sq feet well insulated with separate propane furnaces for upstairs and downstairs. My options are going the with a wood stove, free standing pellet stove or an insert in place of the gas insert currently in my family room. I have gotten prices on both the pellet insert and wood stove. The m55 cast black will be $4550 total installed and the Alderlea t6 will be $6700.

The wood stove option I like because of free wood. However I don't have a chimney which is why the wood stove price is so much higher. I would need to upgrade my chainsaw and build a good size storage area for seasoning wood. It makes sense to me to go the pellet stove route. My fear however is rising prices of pellets although cheap now I fear the future. My other issue and while I have considered the free standing pellet stove is because the family rooms is not centrally located. There is no second story above where the insert would be and while the house is very open I am hoping to heat the upstairs as well. Puttong a free standing stove wood or pellet into the now formal living room would accomplish this.

My other issue is the chimney pipe that would be running 25' up the side of my house should I choose a wood stove. I haven't even gotten a price on boxing that in but I can imagine its not cheap. I really can't go up through the second story to elongate the chimney outside either.

Looking for some advice and suggestions here. Thanks in advance

Yuph, the chimney does drive up the price of the wood stove, but having to feed it all the time to keep it running is why I went with a pellet stove.
I am so glad that I did, even though I have acres of free wood around my house.
I was concerned about inclosed storage for the pellets as well, but you would be amazed at how much space you can find once you get hooked on pellets. ;-)

I'm building a large stash because it has been a mind winter, and as you say the pellets are cheap now.

Running on a T-stat is very nice as well.

1D

 

[Meneillys]

I prefer pellets. I was the free labor for 18 years and was very happy to move 15 tons of pellets instead of 50 face cord of wood. You can make a pellet stove more reliable although you make it very unsafe at that point. We took an old Breckwell P23FS and jumped the snap disks or left them open if needed and jumped the vacuum sensor then put a 1rpm motor in a 4rpm stove that is plugged into its own power source not the control board same with the fans so they run all the time. Before every one tells me how stupid this is to do and how very unsafe it is this stove is in a shed to keep our fork lift warm during the sub zero nights and we understand the risk and do not recommend this to anyone due to safety concerns.

 

[Don2222]

Hey Rob

I had a Vermont Castings Cast Iron Consolidated Dutch West Federal Design Extra Large Catalytic Combuster Wood/Coal Stove with a Blower model FA288CCL. I had it for 19 years and used it only 3 years. Paid $1060 for the 550 pounder and sold it for $380! I tried to heat the whole house with it but never could! Then I purchased the Avalon Astoria for The Stove Shoppe in your town. It has been running 24/7 in the winter and nights in the shoulder season for 3 years now with NO problems and yes it does heat the whole house!! No oil for heat now has saved me thousands!! In fact I heat my shed with pellets!! I am partial to the Steel Free Standing units.

So if you post exactly what is wrong with your stove, we can really help you out here!!

Good luck neighbor.

 

[Pellet-King]

New here but going through these same issues. I have a 2 story home that's 2500 sq feet well insulated with separate propane furnaces for upstairs and downstairs. My options are going the with a wood stove, free standing pellet stove or an insert in place of the gas insert currently in my family room. I have gotten prices on both the pellet insert and wood stove. The m55 cast black will be $4550 total installed and the Alderlea t6 will be $6700.

The wood stove option I like because of free wood. However I don't have a chimney which is why the wood stove price is so much higher. I would need to upgrade my chainsaw and build a good size storage area for seasoning wood. It makes sense to me to go the pellet stove route. My fear however is rising prices of pellets although cheap now I fear the future. My other issue and while I have considered the free standing pellet stove is because the family rooms is not centrally located. There is no second story above where the insert would be and while the house is very open I am hoping to heat the upstairs as well. Puttong a free standing stove wood or pellet into the now formal living room would accomplish this.

My other issue is the chimney pipe that would be running 25' up the side of my house should I choose a wood stove. I haven't even gotten a price on boxing that in but I can imagine its not cheap. I really can't go up through the second story to elongate the chimney outside either.

Looking for some advice and suggestions here. Thanks in advance

Honestly STOP and think about all that cost to just "save" money, i'm sure propane is costly but all that upfront cost to save in the long run is your not saving at all, VA is pretty warm compared to NE, if you have good sunlight i'd think about going Solar.

1987 I got Married and first thing i did after the honeymoon, was buy a woodstove, a Conlidated Dutchwest woodstove with a Cat convertor, used that for over 10 years, all the buying the wood, trying to find a reputable seller, getting burned buy a few, finally finding a honest seller and having to go there and load my own in my truck and then restack then haul it all down the basement, sure it was great i was young, well in 1998 bought my Whitfield and honestly wouldn't ever want to go back to wood, wood is either ON or OFF, your sweat or freeze!!

 

[iceman]

We all have stories about either or... It really just comes down to choice and availability..
My wood stove is newer than my pellet stove. Now i have the hang if it I load 2xs a day for over 2000+ sq ft
My pellet stove does about 900 and chips in on the other. I do think about pulling the wood stove and going with an pellet insert..
But for the headaches I should just put a gas fireplace in..
Wood is work yes more than pellets. But at my price its cheaper than pellets ... Way less so its worth it .. I can keep my house warmer with wood vs pellets as wood is almost all free , and to turn up the pellet stove would cost more..
I do love my accentra and it works wonders especially when she has the right pellets...
My thought is at $4 a bag I would use about 1.5 a day on average 2-2.5 if I included the other stove.
Using 2 a day that would be 240 + a month for that i could run my furnace..
Now its a bag or Lil more + free wood so 120 a month
For those who have pellets not knocking you, it Just works better for me financially to use both trying to heat 3000+

 

[DexterDay]

If you have the option..... Do both. Like stated above. Both have advantages.

I have them running in tandem now. If I shut my basement door I can get it pretty warm downstairs (about 90° without the pellet furnace). But with the pellet furnace running, it sucks that Hot air out and distributes it throughout the house via registers.

I have a "Cat" door installed in the basement door. I have the flapper door removed, so it acts as the Cold Air return for the furnace. Cold air comes down through the hole and the Furnace sucks the Hot air out of the basement (along with the BTU's it produces) and does a fantastic job (in unison).

Both have great features. But together they are a match made in heaven.

Pic was taken a few minutes ago. It doesn't get to 90° with the furnace running, as it sucks a lot of Hot air out of the basement and is replaced by cooler air. But its about 78°-80° normally downstairs and 72° upstairs (t-stat ensures that) which is another reason the basement door stays closed.

The Chair is my Shepards Bed. He loves a fire more than me.... ;-P

Its messier than some of the Pre-pic clean-up Pics.......