Mt Vernon Augar Jam

[Bkins]

I’m looking forward to my first heating season with 2 pellet stoves.

Last year was our first year heating with a pellet stove and the price of oil can drop all it wants to, we will continue to heat with it.

Our conventional heating system is a nice Burnham oil burner and all our baseboard is their solid cast iron which currently sells for almost $30.00 per foot. 40-45 minutes after the boiler shuts off, it's still very warm to the touch, it really is about the best there is. But we like the heat provided by our pellet stove better. We don't know exactly what it is, but keeping our pellet stove set at 68° feels as warm as keeping our oil burner set at 72°. And that is being measured using the same thermometer well away from direct heat from either source.

I don't know if you've used any pellet stoves before at all and this is your first season with two, but if you don't mind the little extra work to feed pellets and keep them clean, you'll be one happy camper as we are.

Steve

I've heated mainly with a wood stove and loved the heat that it produced. My wife is tired of all the dirt and dust that the stove produced and all the dirt from hauling in and stacking the firewood. Doesn't matter how careful you are you still have to get the vacuum out if you want to keep it nice looking and not track dirt all over the house. Our 3 cats are going to miss the wood stove as well. I've had 3 back operations in the past 10 years and the moving, splitting, stacking, moving again to the back porch, and then moving into the house has gotten to be to much for my back. My wife has always been a very good helper but we both decided that it time to try something else. My best friend and my wife's sister both have pellet stoves and both rave about them.

In the end of the last heating season I had to do some repairs to my 30 year old wood stove and found I could no longer get parts for it. I had to make a clamp to hold the glass in. At this point I realized I was going to have to get another stove. This kind of sealed the deal for us. Started looking on Craigslist for a Harman insert and one came on and I was the first caller. Came from a house that was a pigsty. Dirty, dirty, dirty. I was told the stove needed a blower motor but did hear the stove run. Once I got the stove home and pulled the blower I found it so caked up with dirt and fur that the squirrel cage could no longer move any air. Cleaned it out, put it back in and was good to go. Refinished the surround and cleaned all places I could and installed the stove. We were in the beginning of spring so we didn't get a chance to run it much but did run a few bags of various pellets and decided on which brand I wanted to stock up on. Got the Quadrafire off E-bay very recently which led to the aguar problem.

I burned 225 gallons of oil last year with the wood stove. We were both somewhat cold if we were in other areas of the house, hence the 2 pellet stoves this year. The wood stove had a 40,000 BTU rating whereas the 2 pellet stoves, if run on full with good pellets, are rated at 113,000 BTU's. I would be VERY surprised if they don't do the trick. Wood has continued to go up in price and a lot of what is sold in this area is junk and not seasoned properly.

There is work involved with handleing the pellets and keeping up with the stove cleaning. I feel the stove is going to be easier.

Sorry for the long post as I guess I was in the mood to rant.

Bkins

 

[Shortstuff]

Rant all you want, that's what we are all here for. Like yourself, I would need two pellet stoves to completely heat my whole house. The Castile we have is heating the main "living" area - living room, dining room, kitchen, bathroom and one bedroom - less than 900 sq.ft. If I find a good deal on a used stove someday (when I have the cash) I'll grab another one and install it at the other end of the house for the remaining 1300 sq.ft., as our house is rather long.

Just in case the pellet dust is a concern at all, I made my own pellet vacuum that I used for all 3 tons I used last season. If you think you may be interested, I'll find my original post for you to look at. Costs less than $20.00 to make your own.

Hope you have a happy heating season!

Just found the link: here.

Steve

 

[Bkins]

Rant all you want, that's what we are all here for. Like yourself, I would need two pellet stoves to completely heat my whole house. The Castile we have is heating the main "living" area - living room, dining room, kitchen, bathroom and one bedroom - less than 900 sq.ft. If I find a good deal on a used stove someday (when I have the cash) I'll grab another one and install it at the other end of the house for the remaining 1300 sq.ft., as our house is rather long.

Just in case the pellet dust is a concern at all, I made my own pellet vacuum that I used for all 3 tons I used last season. If you think you may be interested, I'll find my original post for you to look at. Costs less than $20.00 to make your own.

Hope you have a happy heating season!

Just found the link: here.

Steve

Steve,

That was you who did the Vac post. I thought your name looked familiar. I went out yesterday and bought (2) 10' lengths of pipe to make 2 set ups. I am giving one to my best friend for Xmas. I have not found a hopper to use as of yet. Thanks for the post.

David

 

[Shortstuff]

I don't remember if I mentioned it in my original post about the vac, but the hopper I used was the upside-down plastic shade that came off of one of those cheap $10.00 halogen lamps on a pole that pointed up to the ceiling. My guess is that if you look hard enough, someone must carry a very large plastic funnel of some sort that you could make fit.

There are those who say they wouldn't waste their time with a vac like that and I understand, but it's more for those who may have a dust alergy problem, or someone like myself who doesn't mind the extra work just to avoid extra fines in my stove.

Steve

 

[imacman]

..... someone must carry a very large plastic funnel of some sort that you could make fit.......

This is what I used to make mine....a large plastic bowl I found in either KMart or WalMart.