How much did you burn with your PF100?

[DoWnAqT]

My first season with my PF100 and it seems to work pretty damn good. However, I burned 8 tons this year, maybe a little more. Not sure if this is because of the cold winter that just wont go away or its nature of the stove. During the really cold weeks, I would burn nearly 4 bags a day... is this normal for a 2300 sqft house with 9 foot ceilings?

BTW, my chain thing is seized and I can not get it to move... any thoughts?

 

[chken]

Impossible to estimate usage based solely upon house size, or volume. How much fuel did you use in the past? Oil? 8 tons of pellets is about 960 gallons of oil.

 

[DoWnAqT]

I use propane, usually I'll burn about 1500 gallons.

 

[chken]

I use propane, usually I'll burn about 1500 gallons.

Off the top of my head, I'll guess 1500 gals of propane is roughly about 1000 gals of oil, or about 8 tons of pellets, give or take, depending upon the efficiency of your appliances. So, you're in the ballpark.

 

[a5t1]

I was burning through a ton of pellets every three to four weeks. Granted it was during temps of -15 to -30 and we had the house at 70. If the shaker is frozen you can work at getting it loose with a mallet. You can also take it all apart and clean it (which is what I did). I also used some penetrating oil to free it up but that ruined the gasket that was in there...

 

[DoWnAqT]

I was burning through a ton of pellets every three to four weeks. Granted it was during temps of -15 to -30 and we had the house at 70. If the shaker is frozen you can work at getting it loose with a mallet. You can also take it all apart and clean it (which is what I did). I also used some penetrating oil to free it up but that ruined the gasket that was in there...

Right now I've been cleaning it with a brush and rod similar to cleaning the exhaust pipe.... I come on through the exhaust fan for the middle two and from the bottom through the fire box for the outer two. I'm not sure how I would be able to take apart the chain rod seeing how it's cast iron welded together from what I can see. I'll have to take a better look, maybe I've been working too hard to clean this thing.

 

[a5t1]

I kept using oil and a soft mallet to gently work it loose...

 

[TimfromMA]

Unless you have a huge house, or are poorly insulated, 8 tons seems excessive.

 

[moey]

Unless you have a huge house, or are poorly insulated, 8 tons seems excessive.

Hes running a central heating system not a space heater. You burn more pellets heating your entire house.

 

[DoWnAqT]

The house is 6 years old. I've just accepted that it burns a lot of pellets. And it's still cheaper to heat this way than it is to heat with propane

 

[TimfromMA]

Wow. For me, if I was going through 8 tons tons of pellets per season, it would be cheaper just to use my oil furnace.

 

[DoWnAqT]

Wow. For me, if I was going through 8 tons tons of pellets per season, it would be cheaper just to use my oil furnace.

For some. For me, If pellets stay around 235 a ton, it will be about 1800 bucks to heat for the season. Giving that this winter was a very long cold winter, I can only imagine what my propane bill would have been. Last year I was able to pre buy propane for 2 bucks a gallon, which is unheard of lately... and even at the price, I would have to spend at least $3k to get through the season. So during this last cold winter, I assume i spent about $2000 in pellets....propane would be about $3500.

Sounds like you dont really save a whole lot burning pellets.

 

[TimfromMA]

I would use approximately 600 gallons of oil. At $3.50 per gallon that's $2100

Now I use about 3.5 tons. I buy high end pellets at $345 per ton x 3.5 = $1207.50

I save approx $900 - $1200 per year depending on cost of oil, pellets and how cold the winter is.

 

[chken]

I would use approximately 600 gallons of oil. At $3.50 per gallon that's $2100

Now I use about 3.5 tons. I buy high end pellets at $345 per ton x 3.5 = $1207.50

I save approx $900 - $1200 per year depending on cost of oil, pellets and how cold the winter is.

That's pretty good. Since 3.5 tons of pellets is btu-equivalent to just over 400 gallons of oil, was your oil burner heating rooms you don't use?

 

[TimfromMA]

I live in split level. My oil furnace has 3 heating zones. The lower level is a zone all by itself and I have 2 upstairs. While my lower level is finished, the only thing we use it for is storage plus our washer/dryer is down there. We have always kept the heat turned down low but never actually off. Our upper level is where we live. All of our occupied bedrooms, kitchen, living room etc is up there which is also where our pellet stove is. The oil furnace thermostats upstairs are turned down very low but not completely off. We do that so in the event of a pellet stove failure while were out, the house won't freeze.

To make a long story short, we are still heating the same areas of the house we always did to the same temperatures we've always used. Perhaps my oil furnace is not as efficient as we thought. Maybe the house is a bit cooler on average but we certainly don't feel cold. If anything, my wife complains of how hot the house gets. Regardless of why, $1000 per year savings is quite nice.

We still use oil to keep our downstairs above freezing and for hot water. We use about 1 tank per year.

 

[DoWnAqT]

I would use approximately 600 gallons of oil. At $3.50 per gallon that's $2100

Now I use about 3.5 tons. I buy high end pellets at $345 per ton x 3.5 = $1207.50

I save approx $900 - $1200 per year depending on cost of oil, pellets and how cold the winter is.

So if you add a tank of oil to your 1200 bucks, figure...150 gallons at $3.50 = $525... now you're at $1732.50. You're only saving 350 bucks or so. I would just heat with oil in your situation.

 

[TimfromMA]

The 600 gallon figure did not include the other tank we use for hot water. The 600 gallon figure was just the heat.

 

[DoWnAqT]

The 600 gallon figure did not include the other tank we use for hot water. The 600 gallon figure was just the heat.

So you have a separate oil tank for hot water?

 

[TimfromMA]

Before pellets, I'd use approx. 900 gallons per year for everything (heat and hot water)

After pellets, I use approx. 300 gallons per year for hot water and a tiny amount of heat for my down stairs.

Net savings: 600 gallons