How does thelin do it? (power consumption question!)

[tubbster]

I now have looked at 10 or 12 pellet stoves today, and have not seen a gnome yet. I like the foot print, and the power consumption of the little guy though.
But, it leaves me wondering, what is so drastically different in the engineering that it only uses less than 10 percent of the power of its competitors?
Is it a particularly quiet unit?
Does it rely more on convection for combustion?

What has been your experience with the gnome, if you have any?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Titus]

Their words:

"Thelin Co. is the only company in the world that makes a round stove with an old time "pot belly, parlour" look. In addition, our pellet heaters were the first stoves in the industry to use 12-volt technology (1991). The 12-volt system allows the pellet heaters to function during power outages by simply hooking up a 12v battery to built-in battery jacks. Depending upon the size of the battery the stove will run from 15 to 150 hours during power failure. Unlike most pellet stoves the Thelin line utilizes two motors to do three jobs. The fan motor controls both combustion and convection (room air) and the feed motor operate continuously to feed pellets to the fire. This concept allows the Thelin pellet stove to run on 27 watts of power, which is the lowest power consumption of any pellet stove on the market. In addition, the simplicity of the Thelin design technology allows the user, with minimum mechanical skills, to service and repair their heater with ease. Since all pellet heaters require periodic maintenance this is a money saving feature, which most pellet heaters cannot match."

 

[webbie]

We've had some happy Thelin users here......

Jay (thelin) is the proverbial "little guy", who cares deeply about every aspect of his stoves. He spends a lot of time and money engineering them in ways that many others gloss over. Given the electric rates in some areas of the country (I pay 18 cents KWH), the lower electric use can save $30 or more a month.....

 

[stoveguy2esw]

i think they are an awesomely impressive product! im sure its rectified dc from ac power source, which would make a battery backup an easy addition, and they are certainly a beautiful unit as well. i am a thelin fan.

 

[tubbster]

Electricity here in upstate NY is expensive.
I have to get a power bill to check it out, but 250 -350 watts on 24/7 will add up. I have read that they are not quite as efficient as most others, but the difference in electricity may entirely make up for that short fall.

I know it is subjective, but does anyone have a noise comparison to whatever? Generally a noisy unit, or one of the quieter ones?

 

[cac4]

I was considering a Thelin, but there aren't any dealers anywhere near me. Pellet stoves in general seem to be a bit power-hungry, to me. Thelin proves that it doesn't "have to be" that way. (but I wonder...how do they ignite the pellets with only 27 watts of power?)

I was just doing some figuring on electrical consumption, and compared to my oil furnace, it looks like the electric usage will be pretty much a wash. The furnace uses HUGE amounts of power...but its not on all the time. The pellet stove is rated to use much less...but it should be on pretty much all the time, when it gets cold enough. I don't know if this is the right way to figure it, but here goes:

my furnace has a .75gph nozzle. if that can be taken literally...I know I typically burn ~600 gallons of oil...which means my furnace runs for 800 hours per year. The tag on it says "10 amps". thats 1200 watts, plus, there is a power vent attached, which uses 150. So, 1350 watts x 800 hours =1,080,000 watts, or 1080 kilowatts. now, thats over the course of a whole year. The furnace might run on occasion in just about any month. (hey, its August, and it was 53 degrees at my house this morning! I used to be lax about it, and only pay attention to the temp, and not the calendar. hey, if its cold, its cold. but at these prices, I've made sure that the furnace is "OFF") But the vast majority of its run time would be during the 6 coldest months of the year, so, if we divide that by 6, its about 180kw per month.

My pellet stove is "rated" to use 250 watts of electricity, but it'll likely be on 24/7 in the cold weather. so, say 30 days x 24 hours = 720 hours x 250 watts = 180,000 watts, or.....180kw. amazing...

now, the "reality" is that the pellet stove will probably consume less than that, because appliances that use varying amounts of electricity are stamped with the maximum amount they'll use. so that 250 watts is going "full blast". which it probably won't be doing most of the time. (the furnace, otoh, runs at one rate, but cycles on and off). How much will it really use? I'll have to get one of those KW meters...or just wait and look at my electric bills, and compare them to last year. Either way, there's not going to be any windfall, here. 180kw translates to about 25 bucks (for me). But it is an interesting academic exercise.

 

[tubbster]

That math sounds about right. Most of the stoves I checked out went from 250 to 400 watts, in continous, non start mode.
That makes the Thelin a nice bit of engineeering to come in at 10 percent of that figure. He should work for GM!
The Thelin products use A/C for the ignitor, and consume a bit more during start, but only for a couple minutes. They use dc for the pellet feed and combustor/circulation fan.
Now I am wondering if I should not go for the bigger model.
I neeed to see one in action!

 

[BadDad320]

I have the Thelin Parlour 3000. This is my first year. I have run 2 or 3 one hour test burns. It seems quiet but I really have nothing to compare it too. I can tell that it is running but there seems to be no type or volume of noise that would bother me. It blows out some serious heat from what my limited test fires have shown me. My wife loves it. She likes what it should do to the oil bill best but after that the looks are very cool. It really fits the look of our 1876 Victorian home. Our home has been on the charity Belvidere Victorian Days house tour and will be open for display this year. We usually field between 400-600 visitors for the 2 day event. I bet this year I get at least 400 questions on the Thelin. I told Dennis Smith from the Hearth Shop/ Chimney Doctor
(where I got the stove) to bring by some business cards for the event.