First year pellet consumption seems high

[Richard_Harvey]

Harman p61a installed in the basement with somewhat elaborate air ducting system to route heated air off the air heat exchanger directly up stairs spilling out onto the first floor at 3 locations, 2 distribution fans etc.

So I expected to need to drive this thing pretty hard most of the time and it runs pretty much full tilt all the time, when it gets to near 50 degrees outside I do back it down some. When I hit sub 25 degrees I'm forced to add some warmth from oil heat but my home is large and 2 floors so I'm getting good and acceptable performance out of the Harman.

Pellet consumption is higher than I expected despite the full throttle use noted above. It's just January 1st and it's not really been that cold and I'm already at the 3 tons used mark. Purchased 5 tons of New England Preimum as I was told it was a good choice but now I'm wondering. How are all of you doing, especially in a climate like my location in central New England.

Bigger question would be it there a pellet brand or type that would yield this same (or more) heat output but less consumption.

 

[F4jock]

Need more information like: How big is the area you want to heat? You're trying to heat X cubic feet of space with 61K BTU max and a distribution system the stove was not designed to use. Just hip-shooting but might you be expecting too much? What size is your oil burner? Why did you go with a pellet stove and not a boiler or furnace?

 

[acammer]

There are so many variables in the equation to determine if you're usage is on par with what you should expect. What's the home size, and what temp are you keeping it at?

I looked at the P61a manual to see if it listed a maximum feed rate, or a efficiency rating, along with it's BTU output rating - it doesn't give either. So, we'll make some assumptions to get at the feed rate. 61,000 BTU in a 75% efficient stove (guesstimate) would require an input BTU of ~82,000 BTUs. A pound of wood pellets has right around 8,200BTUs (this varies a LOT depending on brand, easily +/- 500BTU) so that would require a feed rate of 10lbs/hr. So, at 10lbs/hr that stove can chew through a bag of pellets in 4hrs, or 240lbs/day at full power. That'll eat 3 tons in 25 days, assuming its run flat out the entire time. So, it's certainly not outside the realm of possibility to be consuming as much pellet fuel as you indicate.

If your 61,000 BTU stove needs oil help when it's <25*F out it sounds like you have a major BTU load in that home. If the stove is just keeping up at lets say 30*F at full power that would be like nearly 1.5 million BTU/day of heat required for your home @ 30*F ambient. That must be a pretty big house, or its pretty drafty. To put some context around that my daily BTU load @ 30*F is right around 500,000 - that's for a 2,100sqft double-wide/modular on a full basement. Stove is the finished section of the basement. Air is pulled from an air return in that room through the HVAC system and pushed around the house. Ambient temp is 70*F or better in every room upstairs, and 82*F in the finished basement. My stove runs ~20hrs/day on a 30*F day, 2 bags of pellets at the 4lbs/hr max feed the stove is capable of.

 

[Jason845845]

It's a space heater.

 

[F4jock]

There are so many variables in the equation to determine if you're usage is on par with what you should expect. What's the home size, and what temp are you keeping it at?

I looked at the P61a manual to see if it listed a maximum feed rate, or a efficiency rating, along with it's BTU output rating - it doesn't give either. So, we'll make some assumptions to get at the feed rate. 61,000 BTU in a 75% efficient stove (guesstimate) would require an input BTU of ~82,000 BTUs. A pound of wood pellets has right around 8,200BTUs (this varies a LOT depending on brand, easily +/- 500BTU) so that would require a feed rate of 10lbs/hr. So, at 10lbs/hr that stove can chew through a bag of pellets in 4hrs, or 240lbs/day at full power. That'll eat 3 tons in 25 days, assuming its run flat out the entire time. So, it's certainly not outside the realm of possibility to be consuming as much pellet fuel as you indicate.

If your 61,000 BTU stove needs oil help when it's <25*F out it sounds like you have a major BTU load in that home. If the stove is just keeping up at lets say 30*F at full power that would be like nearly 1.5 million BTU/day of heat required for your home. That must be a pretty big house, or its pretty drafty.

Told ya he was pushing it too hard. I won't go into technical responses until the person I'm responding to shows me they are willing to accept the particular science I'm using. Too much of a five-finger-exercise (And for those of you with minds of a certain predisposition, that is a PIANO reference!) otherwise.

 

[alternativeheat]

Once in a while we get someone in here with a success story regarding a single pellet stove installed in the basement. Usually that is with a fairly small house. much more likely is the single stove working in the living space or two stoves, one up and one in the basement. The two stove scenario generally doesn't use any more pellets than the single stove in the basement theory. FWIW.

Actually how big is the house, how many SQ FT. ?

 

[F4jock]

Once in a while we get someone in here with a success story regarding a single pellet stove installed in the basement. Usually that is with a fairly small house. much more likely is the single stove working in the living space or two stoves, one up and one in the basement. The two stove scenario generally doesn't use any more pellets than the single stove in the basement theory. FWIW.

Actually how big is the house, how many SQ FT. ?

Cubic feet pls. He may have lofts etc.

 

[acammer]

Told ya he was pushing it too hard. I won't go into technical responses until the person I'm responding to shows me they are willing to accept the particular science I'm using. Too much of a five-finger-exercise (And for those of you with minds of a certain predisposition, that is a PIANO reference!) otherwise.

It's certainly a LOT of heat load, it's gotta be a big 3,000+ sq foot home and not very tight - 1.5mil BTUs a day when it's 30*F out is a lot of heat for a residential place.

 

[F4jock]

It's certainly a LOT of heat load, it's gotta be a big 3,000+ sq foot home and not very tight - 1.5mil BTUs a day when it's 30*F out is a lot of heat for a residential place.

He's in MA as well.

 

[acammer]

Once in a while we get someone in here with a success story regarding a single pellet stove installed in the basement. Usually that is with a fairly small house. much more likely is the single stove working in the living space or two stoves, one up and one in the basement. The two stove scenario generally doesn't use any more pellets than the single stove in the basement theory. FWIW.

Actually how big is the house, how many SQ FT. ?

I guess I have a successful hybrid scenario - I have a basement dweller, but it's in 600sqft of finished basement (small bedroom with a living room where the stove is). There is a nice open stairway, and the center of my house is open as well - it's 1500sq ft upstairs. Bringing the HVAC system into the equation really helped push warmth to the corners up the upstairs/main floor - and it keeps the basement cooler as it causes the cooler air to flow right down those basement stairs. I run the HVAC blower on a separate T-stat on cool mode, once it hits 77*F in the basement it starts the blower. The stove has it's own programmable T-stat with a nice wide swing upstairs in the common area - I kick it down to 67*F at 11pm and back up to 70*F at 6am. I also have a programmable t-stat on the LP furnace that mirrors the program on the pellet stove as a backup/aux heat. It's set 2* cooler and kicks up 3hrs later in the am, down 1 hour earlier at night. The furnace doesn't run at all on a 25*F day, the stove has made up enough temperature in its the morning recovery window where it doesn't have to help. If the suns out the pellet stove will take a rest in the afternoon for 60-90 minutes. When it gets real cold out (<15*F) I imagine the LP will help a bit in the morning. The house is pretty well insulated - but I'm still impressed that a $1,000 stove can keep the whole place at 70+*F on a <25*F day like today.

 

[Richard_Harvey]

Wow guys thanks for all the replies, I should have mentioned a few more things in my original post. First off, I have settled on the fact that this 61,000BTU stove designed for a completely different purpose is doing a fine job and thanks to many folks here I have been able to tweak it to get the most out of it. But frankly, I'm using it more like a furnace and not a pellet stove and I get that. This being my first year with anything other than oil heat has been a great learning experience and I'm please with how little oil I have needed to us so far. I'm contemplating selling the Harman at year end and going with the US Stove 8500 pellet furnace but I have not made that decision as yet. Plus I wonder how many tons I would need with that 110,000 beast.

My home is a two story colonial 1973 built on the higher end of build quality in that day, Pella windows, lots of blown in insulation in the attic, etc. Not drafty but also not as tight as some of the newer homes today for sure. My biggest problem is that it's a 1970's colonial with rooms that are simple boxes with terrible air flow.

 

[acammer]

Whats the square footage, and average ceiling height? How warm are you keeping it?

 

[Richard_Harvey]

Whats the square footage, and average ceiling height? How warm are you keeping it?

Goal is a comfortable 70 degrees in the entire home, 2600+ square feet, ceilings are actually a plus as they are rather low at 7.5 feet but again the layout is boxes.

 

[woodmakesheat]

I looked at the P61a manual to see if it listed a maximum feed rate, or a efficiency rating, along with it's BTU output rating - it doesn't give either. So, we'll make some assumptions to get at the feed rate. 61,000 BTU in a 75% efficient stove (guesstimate) would require an input BTU of ~82,000 BTUs.

If a P43 puts out 31260 BTU/hr, wouldn't a P61 put out more like 45k BTU/hr?

 

[CladMaster]

150 bags down ! Way too heavy on the usage there bud !

I've only used 50 ish bags so far. I am using 1 - 1.2 bags per day since late October to heat my 1500sqf home.

Your running the stove at full tilt to heat a big area, this will chew the fuel / pellets up in no time. Only heat the area's that you using, all other rooms not used are to be closed off to save on heat and $$$'s. I have 2 rooms upstairs that are closed off, no heat in them, master bedroom upstairs and the bathroom are the only ones that get the heat that rises up the stair well.

 

[GIPPER]

If a P43 puts out 31260 BTU/hr, wouldn't a P61 put out more like 45k BTU/hr?

It's not a wood stove .why would you put it in the basement any way?

 

[DBCOOPER]

Move it upstairs...

 

[GIPPER]

It's not a wood stove .why would you put it in the basement any way?

I have a 2500 sqhare ft cape and my home is a comfy 73 degrees right now!

 

[St_Earl]

Move it upstairs...

absolutely. you couldn't possibly do worse.
then use small fans to move cold air along the floor toward the stove.
there are just about as many variations on the convection loop method as there are floor plans.
but that's it in a nutshell.

i also have 2 small vornadoes up high, but they are just helping warm that has first been set in motion by the floor level flow of cool air that displaces the warm back out of the stove room up high.

but once the stove is in the area you most want heated, you may not even need fans.

there are threads about moving air.
i have a single story house, but there are lots of folks who succeed with two stories.

 

[chriscarl]

Pretty high usage there. I just dumped my 50th bag this morning. Started on November 1.....running 2 stoves, downstairs at about 72' and the upstairs keeping 69-70 ( Mrs doesn't like it too warm)

 

[TimfromMA]

3 tons so far is alot. I just finished my first ton. You need to move the stove to where your family spends the most time.

 

[Watcher1]

Harman p61a installed in the basement with somewhat elaborate air ducting system to route heated air off the air heat exchanger directly up stairs spilling out onto the first floor at 3 locations, 2 distribution fans etc.

So I expected to need to drive this thing pretty hard most of the time and it runs pretty much full tilt all the time, when it gets to near 50 degrees outside I do back it down some. When I hit sub 25 degrees I'm forced to add some warmth from oil heat but my home is large and 2 floors so I'm getting good and acceptable performance out of the Harman.

Pellet consumption is higher than I expected despite the full throttle use noted above. It's just January 1st and it's not really been that cold and I'm already at the 3 tons used mark. Purchased 5 tons of New England Preimum as I was told it was a good choice but now I'm wondering. How are all of you doing, especially in a climate like my location in central New England.

Bigger question would be it there a pellet brand or type that would yield this same (or more) heat output but less consumption.

I have a 30x40 log cabin full basement concrete blocks. my 3500 corn/pellet stove is on the north wall in the basement. I made up some ducking to get right from the front of the stove to the stairs up. I run 2 small fans and a ceiling fan. Front of the house is 1 big room north is 2 bedrooms and a bath. I think I have used about 85 bu. of corn and 15 bags of pellets since mid October. House is 66 to 72 or 4 but we ain't freezing either. We turn it down at night up in the mornings down in the afternoons. Gas helps in the morning for a half hr or so. We are in Wisconsin it's 6 out right now, but we got by cheap in most of December. Nov was colder. Point being big house 3 tons? not so bad. we've done for sure 2.5 tons of corn and as I said I mix some pellets.

 

[woodmakesheat]

I think a more typical usage is around 1.5 - 2 tons by this time in the season based on previous posts of pellet usage here (average of 25 posters). I'm currently at 1 3/4 tons heating 1200 sq ft of a 1500 sq ft ranch. Based on your sq footage and the fact that you're heating the basement, I think you're using an expected amount considering the sq footage and layout of the home. I do think you could probably cut usage by 25-30% by putting the stove in the living area.

 

[bcarton]

How are all of you doing, especially in a climate like my location in central New England.

I'm not too far from you in southern NH, with a 1977 2100 sq ft colonial, also all box-like rooms. 4 small bedrooms upstairs, 2 of them unoccupied, closed doors. Stove is not even in the main part of the house, it's in a 15x15' attached family room that's in between the main 2 story house and the garage. I've used about a bag a day since install, and with 2 small fans sitting on the floor the whole house stays warm all day, had to shut the stove off completely 3 days in a row recently because the whole 1st floor was 80* + when the outside temps got up to 50*. First floor stays at 71-72 and upstairs between 66-68. On one or two nights so far, the electric heat in our bedroom has kicked in at 65* around 2-3 AM. My basement, however, is cold.

 

[chken]

Harman p61a installed in the basement with somewhat elaborate air ducting system to route heated air off the air heat exchanger directly up stairs spilling out onto the first floor at 3 locations, 2 distribution fans etc.

So I expected to need to drive this thing pretty hard most of the time and it runs pretty much full tilt all the time, when it gets to near 50 degrees outside I do back it down some. When I hit sub 25 degrees I'm forced to add some warmth from oil heat but my home is large and 2 floors so I'm getting good and acceptable performance out of the Harman.

Pellet consumption is higher than I expected despite the full throttle use noted above. It's just January 1st and it's not really been that cold and I'm already at the 3 tons used mark. Purchased 5 tons of New England Preimum as I was told it was a good choice but now I'm wondering. How are all of you doing, especially in a climate like my location in central New England.

Bigger question would be it there a pellet brand or type that would yield this same (or more) heat output but less consumption.

How much oil did you typically use in a winter or year before getting the stove? I'm going to guess over 1500 gallons.