How much does it cost you run your pellet stove?

[hyfire]

Has anyone figured out how much it costs to run your pellet stove compared, to nat gas, oil, electricity, or just plain wood. Does anyone have the current prices of each, maybe I can do the math for you.

 

[DoWnAqT]

I know that an oil tank filled in NH right now is about $800 dollars. Propane is about the same as that. Cord of wood is about $250 and same for a ton of pellets.

I know the grand total for me and my pf100 running will be about $1800. Thats including one tank of propane for hot water, electricity for running the stove, and the costs of pellets. I'm not figuring the cost of the stove though. Also, If I was to run propane, it would be about $1200 more for the season.

 

[hyfire]

How big of an oil tank are we talking about. Thanks for your input.

 

[DoWnAqT]

How big of an oil tank are we talking about. Thanks for your input.

Sorry, a 250 gallon tank. And the average price for oil is about $3.50 a gallon. Propane is about $2.20...

I was actually wrong with my propane numbers. It would cost me $3200 to heat with propane this year.

 

[reallyte]

This all really depends on prices in your area. Each stoves uses different amounts of electricity and ppl use different priced pellets. I advise you price fuels in your area to get an estimate.

My estimate is 1600+$oil at 62deg or max 900$pellets with house at 75deg. Easy choice for me.

 

[Mike D]

Nothing scientific here, but off the cuff if I assumed 125 gallons of oil per month (heat &HW) @ $3.50/gal (both estimates probably low) that would be $2,625 for six months, November through April. I will probably use ~$800-$1,000 in pellets and $425 for HW for those 6 months. So I will save around $1,000 - $1,200 hearing with my pellet stove. One of the best investments I've ever made.

 

[mikkeeh]

Im sure the dollar figures aren't right.....but here's btu's for comparison.

Premium wood pellets 13.6 million Btu/ton $40/ton
Propane 71,000 Btu/gal $0.22/gal
Fuel oil #2 115,000 Btu/gal $0.34/gal
Fuel oil #6 124,000 Btu/gal $0.37/gal
Seasoned firewood 15.3 million Btu/cord $46/cord
Ovendried switchgrass 14.4 million Btu/ton $37/ton
Bituminous coal 26 million Btu/ton $78/ton
Shelled corn @15% MC 314,000 Btu/bushel $0.94/bushel

 

[Bioburner]

Someone found the forest fuels calculator. Numbers adjusted for efficiency. I know propain is around 90k plus btu per gallon.

 

[Former Farmer]

I have propane besides pellet heat. It is a wash for me this year.

Pellets were 191 per ton and propane was $1.35 per gallon. Pellets are $14.21 per MBTU and propane is $15.60 per MBTU, but I use more electricity using pellets versus propane and we also keep the house warmer.

 

[Bioburner]

When did you get your gas? I haven't seen that cheap for along time. Shortage in state because of all the corn needing drying.

 

[Former Farmer]

End of August. I own my own 1000 gal tank. Cash price.

 

[Bioburner]

Last fill was 2 years ago for 1.65, 120 gallons. Still have 60 percent of a 250 gallon tank. Used about 5 percent last year to run the pilot light. This is the second season with Harman setup. Might get charged for tank rent if we don't use some more gas next year. If they do we will have them pull the tank and setup the 100lb tanks.

 

[bbfarm]

Where do you get propane Former Farmer? I am also in northeast WI. My friend is getting hers for $1.59 a gallon and I thought that was cheap.

We don't have propane we have fuel oil. But if our furnace ever needs replacing we are going propane

This is our third winter with the pellet stove

We buy 1 ton of pellet for $225 and that lasts a month keeping thermostat at 75 degrees

It would be over $400 a month to heat with fuel oil keeping the thermostat on 62 - 65 degrees

 

[Mpodesta]

No fancy calculations or hard numbers.

Got my stove end of February , was paying about 600$ in oil to heat the house for the month. With the stove in and t-stat set to 75, I spent roughly 150-175$ in pellets and another 125-150$ for oil (hot water) for the month. This was me buying crappy box store pellets (I ended up buying 15 bags of Barefoots at the end of the season to try out a good pellet)

This year I placed a bulk order of 6tons of orfords hardwoods at 239$ ton (269$ was the per ton price originally). With the bulk savings and a pellet that pumps way more btu, I should be saving even way more this year.

House was built in 1870 (grandparents home), no instillation, about 1400 sqF, drafty as all hell

 

[Pellet-King]

$600 a month for oil, hope you have a good job paying 100k!, I burn maybe 3 tons @$600ish and my stove uses 75 watts of juice to run

 

[hyfire]

Wow 6 tons...why did you go with the hardwoods compared to the softs?

 

[Mpodesta]

noooooope! but the misses does gotta love them nurses

Love my grandparents house, grew up here, but the winter heating was murderous, hence the switch to pellets

 

[Mpodesta]

Wow 6 tons...why did you go with the hardwoods compared to the softs?

the 6tons was a shot from the hip, I have nothing to really base my number of pellets needed of off, so I went with what my neighbor was doing as far as quantity (similar house in size and built around the same time). If I have left overs, I have a 25x40 shop space thats dry and has plenty of storage space.

When looking at hard vs soft, My house losses heat very quickly, so having a hardwood that burned abit longer made sense to me?(I could be way off on this, first full year with a stove, so im just doing alot of guessing)

 

[Bioburner]

Relating hard verse soft woods in a pellet stove are not like a log burning stove. Harman has ESP that senses temp. Auger controls feed rate. Not a damper choking a fire to control heat and burn rate.

 

[RKS130]

Has anyone figured out how much it costs to run your pellet stove compared, to nat gas, oil, electricity, or just plain wood. Does anyone have the current prices of each, maybe I can do the math for you.

I have no idea how much electricity to run my stove is, but on pure fuel costs we did the following calculation. We used to burn an average of 900 gallons of oil per year for heat. At an average cost right now of about $3.75/gal that would be $3,375.00 for the season. My 4 tons of pellets were $209/ton + 3% tax + $65.00 delivery fee. That comes out to $926.00. I know I will bring home every stray bag of pellets I see that I want to try, but I am not counting that. So, I figure I am saving just under $2,500 on fuel this year - our third year with pellets.

 

[iceguy4]

wow I had a nice post typed...something ate it.. My house is MUCH warmer...Wife is much happier...I'm saving lots of $$$...I guess if you want to know how much you save, you will have to compare via formulas like ...one ton pellets= 125 gal heating oil. Its my guess most here keep their houses much warmer when burning "cheaper " fuel. Also, I recommend a heat pump hot water heater for summer use. The energy guide on my AO Smith 60 gallon says $201.00/ year!

 

[iceguy4]

I have no idea how much electricity to run my stove is, but on pure fuel costs we did the following calculation. We used to burn an average of 900 gallons of oil per year for heat. At an average cost right now of about $3.75/gal that would be $3,375.00 for the season. My 4 tons of pellets were $209/ton + 3% tax + $65.00 delivery fee. That comes out to $926.00. I know I will bring home every stray bag of pellets I see that I want to try, but I am not counting that. So, I figure I am saving just under $2,500 on fuel this year - our third year with pellets.

Why do you pay tax?

 

[Vinelife]

Propane around here is like 2.5 a gallon.. much better to burn pellets...

 

[Former Farmer]

bbfarm, check your inbox.

 

[bbfarm]

Inbox checked.

Interesting. Our farmhouse was built in 1870 also but it is insulated well