newbie question: Is pellet fireplace too nichey for Kansas City

[RDFinKansas]

Hello all,

I live in suburban Kansas City. My house has a 1985 heatolator that sounds like a Lear Jet so we don't run the fan. It sucks the heat out of the house. In short, it has no redeeming qualities other than being something on a real-estate listing.

What I like is a Harmon Accentra. The big barrier for me is that pellet technology is not that common here in KC. I'm afraid that buyers will come through the house, see that pellet insert and be intimidated.

Comments please?

 

[Mike D]

Are you looking to sell any time soon?

 

[RDFinKansas]

I guess it depends on your definition of soon. I would say within 5 years. Are you thinking that a high end firebox might be a bit much? I view a good fireplace as liquidity in the market. I doubt that I will get my money back but I will get some benefit in the time it takes to sell the house. Of course being located 3 blocks from a major corporate headquarters doesn't hurt either.

If I were going to stay in this house forever, I wouldn't hesitate to buy a pellet unit. What do I care what happens after I croak. But I do want to move and I can tell you that New England is on a very short list. We've spent time in New England and you folks are just plain nice.

 

[QuadraBurner]

We've spent time in New England and you folks are just plain nice.

Are you sure it was New England you were in??? We are not generally known to be nice people!

 

[RDFinKansas]

Absolutely. I also know people from NE and they are great. I've generally found that rudeness is exaggerated. I've had great experiences in NY, Chicago, LA...all over. I just treat people nice and they reciprocate.

I may have to revise my opinion, though. I'm not getting an answer to my question. Maybe the non-answer is my answer. Are there any forum members in the KC area?

Am I crazy to want a pellet fireplace insert in Kansas City. Most people around here don't know what pellets are. I guess I am a bit unusual in that I not only know what pellets are but I know what a pellet mill is. If I ever move someplace really cold, there's a mill out there with my name on it.


I should say that my house is already sort of a "thinking man's house".

--I have an underground sprinkler system that I maintain myself. It has a remote (very cool) so I can activate the zones when I am blowing out the system in the fall.

--The house is plumbed for compressed air meaning I plumbed my basement shop and ran air to the garage. Great for airing up the bike tires.

--I have two sump pumps: one electric and the other water powered as a backup.

--The master bath has two dedicated 20 amp circuits so we can run both hair dryers at the same time.

--The house is fully wired for Cat 5 ethernet.

--We have a tankless water heater that I maintain.

--We have a drip irrigation run through the upper rails on our pergola to automatically water hanging plants (and the garden).

To hire someone to take care of these systems might be a little pricey. What's one more unusual but handy thing, he asks?

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

We are mean cantankerous and downright awful people, you ask us for directions to a place and we send you on a scenic drive past the town dump or sludge disposal fields.

 

[DexterDay]

Welcome to the Forums.

Are you crazy for thinking Pellets?? Um, well, we are.... So. Maybe?

Are pellets readily available in your area? Are they a decent price?

Both Hair Dryers? That comment makes me think 89's Big Hair?!? LOL

Other than that, Harman makes one if the finest stoves available.

 

[IowaMaineiac]

I live in Des Moines but I'm originally from Maine and that's why I knew about pellets in the first place because they are so common back home. They are hard to find around here and nobody else I know has a pellet stove but everyone who sees it in action is very impressed with it. Especially when they compare the price of pellets to buying/chopping wood for a conventional stove or the fluctuating price of gas heat.

It might end up being a selling point!

 

[fmsm]

How available are pellets in your area?

 

[bill3rail]

Are pellets readily available in your area? Are they a decent price?

How available are pellets in your area?

That is the major deciding factor! No pellets, no stove.

Bill

 

[thedude110]

I'm sure some buyers would find the stove intimidating, but I suspect more buyers would be excited about the flexibility a pellet stove provides.

IMHO, the beauty of adding the pellet stove is it gives you options. If the price of oil ever comes crashing down (ha!) and the price of pellets remained stable, I wouldn't hesitate to run only my boiler.

 

[RDFinKansas]

That is the major deciding factor! No pellets, no stove.

Bill

I really didn't look into that much. My intended use is more decorative and not to really heat the house. To be honest, I don't know how we would use a fireplace that give us a net increase in heat. The fireplace we have is an old '80s heatilator that just sucks heat from the house and adds nothing. If we had a fireplace that worked, we might use it a lot. In a way, this fireplace thing is sort of a social experiment.

Energy is pretty cheap here in Kansas. We pay $.03-.07/KWH for electricity and gas is generally cheaper since we sit on one of the nations largest gas fields. We get the lower electricity rate since we have a very high efficiency heat pump. We have natural gas backup but it hardly ever runs. Generally speaking, those prices will rise but I can't justify a pellet insert based on fuel cost.

I don't know what a good price is for pellets. The sort of high end BBQ/Fireplace store where I saw the Harmon charges $10/bag. They throw in a half ton of pellets with every purchase so I figured when that ran out, I would shop around. I do think pellets are price competitive with cord wood around here unless you have a forest in your back yard (some do, I don't).

Can someone tell me what a good price/bag is? I don't think I would ever want to buy a ton. I just don't have a place to keep it. Maaaybe a half ton....

 

[DexterDay]

Using a fireplace for heat, is about impossible. But an insert is different. Very different.

You will get Tons of heat from it. Much more than you probably imagine.

As for the pellets. You were prob looking at BBQ pellets. Average pellet prices are between $4-$6 a bag.

 

[JDenyer236]

Wow, if those are $10 for a 40# bag, that's $500 per ton I would definatly price them elsewhere. Reminds me of my oil dealer, when I called them for a delivery once they said to me "boy you sure don't buy as much oil as you used to". I told them I had a pellet stove and didn't burn oil much anymore. Their response was priceless, they said "oh we sell pellets too, $350 per pallet". Thinking they were 1.5 ton pallets I asked how many 40# bags per pallet. Their answer 50 20# bags per pallet. Ummmm that's $700/ton When I told here that was way way too much her reply was, "If you burn anything cheaper your stove will be rotted out in less than 2 years from inferior quality pellets". I hung up

 

[bill3rail]

I really didn't look into that much. My intended use is more decorative and not to really heat the house. To be honest, I don't know how we would use a fireplace that give us a net increase in heat.

If you are buying for decoration, forget the pellet stove! You will NOT be happy maintaining it!

Buy a wood stove and be done with it. Minimal maintenance and you can have your decorative fire when you want it.

Their response was priceless, they said "oh we sell pellets too, $350 per pallet". Thinking they were 1.5 ton pallets I asked how many 40# bags per pallet. Their answer 50 20# bags per pallet. Ummmm that's $700/ton When I told here that was way way too much her reply was, "If you burn anything cheaper your stove will be rotted out in less than 2 years from inferior quality pellets".

Where do you live and what is the name of the Oil company? I would love to call them just for fun!

Bill

 

[whlago]

Do you have Natural gas to the house? If so I would put in a gas insert....just not sure a pellet stove would be a huge benefit in your market. I love mine though and could give a rats ass about the guy that buys my house! Hows that for New England hospitality?!?!

On another note the only reason I could find the need to use a hair dryer would be if I needed to dry my sneakers or shrink wrap something

 

[JDenyer236]

If you are buying for decoration, forget the pellet stove! You will NOT be happy maintaining it!

Buy a wood stove and be done with it. Minimal maintenance and you can have your decorative fire when you want it.




Where do you live and what is the name of the Oil company? I would love to call them just for fun!

Bill

I live in Maine, oil company was CN Brown. This same oil company filled my tank with my neighbors oil delivery, they had to give it to me at the price that my neighbor paid which was signifigantly less than what I was paying at the time. Still wasn't happy getting an unexpected oil bill, but I just couldn't pass up that discount.

 

[briansol]

Some pellet stoves are multi-fuelers and can also burn corn. I would assume corn is cheaper there. Here it is not (its more than pellets) so i never bothered trying it. Look for shelled corn for multi-fueler burners as an option.

 

[JBinKC]

You must be made of money to consider that option. I would cover up the fireplace. Living in the KC metro for many years and recently Lake of the Ozarks I think it is a total waste of money to use pellets given the cheap energy available. Pellets are more costly than those options (but its more like $4.50-$5 a bag if you shop in the outskirts from the burbs not $10). I even think a wood burning insert would take somewhere between 7-10 years for you to recover your costs even with scrounged wood. The only redeeming factor of the latter option is you get heat when the power is off and KC is probably the easiest place to scrounge for free firewood.

 

[WoodPorn]

Forget the stove, if you're only looking to decorate the house for a future sale you will never get your ROI. rip out the heatilator and spuruce the hearth up with stone veneer or the like.