How much do you plan on saving?

[rvasupersport]

This is my first year running the pellet stove and I am a little curious on how much you all plan on saving this year? I did the math and if I were to entirely heat my house with 2 tons of pellets I would have saved 80 bucks. 2 tons of Pennington hardwood oak pellets=540.00

Last year running natural gas baseboard heat from mid october to mid april = 621.00

 

[sydney1963]

80 bucks is 80 bucks.

 

[rvasupersport]

well see, if I only use 1 ton (doubtful) I would save 350 bucks. A little more desirable.

 

[imacman]

Last year running natural gas baseboard heat from mid october to mid april = 621.00

So your paying the same price for gas this year as you were last year?

 

[swalz]

Last year running natural gas baseboard heat from mid october to mid april = 621.00

That was about what my last oil bill was for one month before I started using the pellet stove! :grrr:

 

[rvasupersport]

Last year running natural gas baseboard heat from mid october to mid april = 621.00

So your paying the same price for gas this year as you were last year?

it actually just went up, last year was 1.075/ccf and now its 1.48/ccf. So maybe I will be saving a little more than I thought.

 

[webbie]

NG at that price is cheaper than pellets at 270.
NG is likely to go lower also as the season progresses.
Still, you can be warmer in one area with space heat, and the fire is neat to watch.

For numbers, plug into
https://www.hearth.com/compare

Given the current lower prices of oil and NG, the amount people plan on saving this year is likely to be in the minus column. That's the way the energy cookie crumbles - sometimes you win, sometimes you lose...but either way you have multiple choices now.

 

[uwmcscott]

Hi from Wisconsin

Don't plan on saving any money, but just fired up my first Pellet stove today for the first time. I did a lot of research here and with local vendors, and ended up buying and installing on my own. I purchased a US Stoves/American Harvest 6039 based on reviews and personal acquaintences that own them. Have to see how the quality holds up but it's burning great right now. Unfortunately I already hauled it into my basement on the shipping pallet without burning it in first, but opened all the windows this afternoon and it's been running for about 8 hours now and the "new" stink is just about gone.

Bought a few bags of pellet to get it going, but have a neigborhood friend who works at a wood product company, they make pellets from by-products for $180 per ton apparently. Not heating the house with it, but using it for space heating in a newly finished basement.

Other than buying a true ash vac and cleaning the stove/glass on a very regular basis, anyone have any suggestions for me?

 

[packerfan]

Hi from Wisconsin

Don't plan on saving any money, but just fired up my first Pellet stove today for the first time. I did a lot of research here and with local vendors, and ended up buying and installing on my own. I purchased a US Stoves/American Harvest 6039 based on reviews and personal acquaintences that own them. Have to see how the quality holds up but it's burning great right now. Unfortunately I already hauled it into my basement on the shipping pallet without burning it in first, but opened all the windows this afternoon and it's been running for about 8 hours now and the "new" stink is just about gone.

Bought a few bags of pellet to get it going, but have a neigborhood friend who works at a wood product company, they make pellets from by-products for $180 per ton apparently. Not heating the house with it, but using it for space heating in a newly finished basement.

Other than buying a true ash vac and cleaning the stove/glass on a very regular basis, anyone have any suggestions for me?

I just use a regular shop vac on my stove. Just make sure you don't have any hot ashes first.

 

[swalz]

Hi from Wisconsin

Don't plan on saving any money, but just fired up my first Pellet stove today for the first time. I did a lot of research here and with local vendors, and ended up buying and installing on my own. I purchased a US Stoves/American Harvest 6039 based on reviews and personal acquaintences that own them. Have to see how the quality holds up but it's burning great right now. Unfortunately I already hauled it into my basement on the shipping pallet without burning it in first, but opened all the windows this afternoon and it's been running for about 8 hours now and the "new" stink is just about gone.

Bought a few bags of pellet to get it going, but have a neigborhood friend who works at a wood product company, they make pellets from by-products for $180 per ton apparently. Not heating the house with it, but using it for space heating in a newly finished basement.

Other than buying a true ash vac and cleaning the stove/glass on a very regular basis, anyone have any suggestions for me?

I just use a regular shop vac on my stove. Just make sure you don't have any hot ashes first.

Don't forget about the filter, it needs to be a drywall or hepa type filter.

 

[uwmcscott]

You mean a drywall or hepa filter for a regular shop vac? That's one thing I'm a bit confused about. Ash vacs are about 200 bucks. Is the issue that the regular shop vac will burn out, or that it will blow the dust back in your house? I plan on using this stove as a space heater, so it will most likely be turned off a lot, allowing for maintenance when it is cold.

 

[tinkabranc]

This is my first year running the pellet stove and I am a little curious on how much you all plan on saving this year? I did the math and if I were to entirely heat my house with 2 tons of pellets I would have saved 80 bucks. 2 tons of Pennington hardwood oak pellets=540.00

Last year running natural gas baseboard heat from mid october to mid april = 621.00

$621.00 for the whole winter??
Not to burst your bubble, but if this is a new stove and you want to want to see the real
numbers, you would need to factor in how much you spent on the stove, installation and
pipe, in addition to the cost of your pellets.

With the prices of NG and oil coming down fast , it will take longer for the stove
to pay for itself.

 

[rvasupersport]

$621.00 for the whole winter??
Not to burst your bubble, but if this is a new stove and you want to want to see the real
numbers, you would need to factor in how much you spent on the stove, installation and
pipe, in addition to the cost of your pellets.

With the prices of NG and oil coming down fast , it will take longer for the stove
to pay for itself.

NG actually went up here, 1.07/ccf to 1.48/ccf

Yeah 621.00 for the whole winter, Richmond is pretty mild plus a well insulated house helps. The only reason that we got the stove was that the previous owners had one installed. I had the stove last winter but didn't run it. Just moving into the house I didn't have the time to get everything hooked up. None the less its a neat thing along with having the ability to choose between the 2.

 

[Wet1]

While I already had a pellet stove I bought back in 2000/2001 (paid $600 for my Englander), I bought a new Harman P38 this summer for $1500. I also bought 5 tons of pellets this spring for $205 delivered.

After seeing the run up on oil, I decided to replace my oil boilers (2) and converted over to NG. I haven't added up all the numbers, but I think this cost me around $4000-$4500 for everything (I did the work myself).

While I have a little over 5 tons of pellets, around 10 cords of oak, and some coal, I think I'll likely end up burning NG since it's so cheap right now. NG is far cheaper than pellets, and while the wood cost me very little to harvest, it's hardly worth burning it given NG prices.

With that said, I'll still do a little burning here and there as we like the fire and the local warmth. Prices will no doubt change in the future, it's good to have choices.

 

[JoeS]

I plan on saving plenty since my only other choice is propane.

 

[JBlank912]

I'm supplementing oil with my stove. I topped off the tank in August. They just delivered based on auto-delivery which delivers when they think I will need 200-225 gallons, and I only needed 49 gallons. Based on my lockin price, that saved me $600 and I only used $100 worth of pellets. $500 savings in 3 months. Based on the stove cost and pellet costs, I figure a 2 year break even AND I'm warmer and more comfotable now then with oil. seems like pretty good savings to me$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

 

[DiggerJim]

You mean a drywall or hepa filter for a regular shop vac? That's one thing I'm a bit confused about. Ash vacs are about 200 bucks. Is the issue that the regular shop vac will burn out, or that it will blow the dust back in your house? I plan on using this stove as a space heater, so it will most likely be turned off a lot, allowing for maintenance when it is cold.

The regular filter on a ShopVac doesn't trap the fine ash particles so they'll blow right out the exhaust into your living room

A drywall or Hepa filter (20-$40) will trap all of that very fine ash and keep it in the vac and not blowing thru the house.

 

[rvasupersport]

$621.00 for the whole winter??
Not to burst your bubble, but if this is a new stove and you want to want to see the real
numbers, you would need to factor in how much you spent on the stove, installation and
pipe, in addition to the cost of your pellets.

With the prices of NG and oil coming down fast , it will take longer for the stove
to pay for itself.

NG actually went up here, 1.07/ccf to 1.48/ccf

Yeah 621.00 for the whole winter, Richmond is pretty mild plus a well insulated house helps. The only reason that we got the stove was that the previous owners had one installed. I had the stove last winter but didn't run it. Just moving into the house I didn't have the time to get everything hooked up. None the less its a neat thing along with having the ability to choose between the 2.

Alright I redid my math, since gas went up from 1.07/ccf to 1.48/ccf (which I failed to realize upon my original posting). So using 2 tons of pellets ($540.00) and no natural gas( which would cost about $797.00 this year) would save me about $257.00 Much better than my 80 dollar estimate. Go pellet stove!