Newbie

[dlpz]

Hello,

Thinking of going to a Pellet Stove. We have two Gas fireplaces, one which is "modern" and the other is an old piece of junk we don't use. I want to replace the old one with a pellet stove. Most of the dealers where I live live sell primarily Harmon stoves, which seem to be a great standard stove. But obviously there are cheaper stoves out there i.e PelPro cheap charlie stoves. The price point on these stoves is excellent but compared to something like a Harmon are they crap? I have champagne taste on a beer budget, but don't want to buy junk, are the Pel Pro stoves worth buying? Is there a great stove for a decent price? All opinions appreciated!! Thanks!

 

[MountainStoveGuy]

number one consideration, does the dealer carry parts for these stoves? you going to need them. Will the dealer honor the manufactures warrenty? there you only backup if something goes south. Personally, i dont like the dansen line of pelletstoves. thats just me. I would by a harmon or a quad. i think both are the best on the market. You can get a quad stove for $1800, and a insert for $2200. Not bad.

 

[dlpz]

Thanks,

I'm trying to shoot for the 1800 dollar range. Our house is about 1500 sq ft ranch shaped like a "L" . The good Gas fireplace is at end of the foot of the L and puts out about 26000 btu. The fireplace I want to replace is a t the turn of the L. As far as BTU's are concerned would I be doing myself a disfavor by buying a stove that can go up to around 2000 sq ft so that if we move to a bigger house in a couple years I can take the pellet stove with me?

 

[MountainStoveGuy]

Why not replace it with a high efficiency natural gas fireplace? you can buy alot of fireplace for that kind of money, and the fuel is alot cheaper and easy to get. Disreguard if you are on propane.

 

[martel]

Why not replace it with a high efficiency natural gas fireplace? you can buy alot of fireplace for that kind of money, and the fuel is alot cheaper and easy to get. Disreguard if you are on propane.

As usual, I agree with MSG. The efficiency of a high end gas stove would be more cost beneficial than pellets (from my research) and is also less maintenance/work instensive. That assumes there is not more huge spikes in gas prices (unlikely?) and that pellets continue to rise. Considering these things we ended up going with a wood insert- and glad we did. And we really have fallen in love with burning wood.

 

[MountainStoveGuy]

Yesterday, when i was pulling all my current rates for the fuels avalible in my area, gas was down to .61 cents a therm. The high point last year was 1.04 a therm. So i dont get it, when the media talkes of another 40% spike like they have been talking about. That just brings it back to where it usually is. I have noticed this trend for the last three years. .60 range in the summer time. 1.00 range in the winter time. Pellets always follow natural gas prices. To much manufacturig and shipping going on to ever make it competitive. One thing for shure, this season so far has been lots of gas stoves. Im suprised. But people seem to be waking up to the pellet reality. This industry is very cyclistic. every three or four years we have a "pellet" year. The other three gas dominates the market around here, with wood a close second. Pellet market share in my shop is almost like the mac in the US market. Its not much. I would say on average, i have a 60/35/5 percentage split between gas/wood/pellet sales. Of course, if you dont have natural gas, then pellets make sense in every other scenario.

 

[dlpz]

We do have the one gas firelace, which is nice and certainly convenient, turn up the thermostat and voila! heat! Just something about the ambience of burning something. I know currently in this house wood is out, for the reason of too much maintenance, cutting stacking etc. Just something about burning pellets and/or corn intrigues me especially if it gets me a little bit farther from the grid. I had a couple sales guys from different shops out to the house to price out stoves, including nat. gas, but it always seems they keep pushing 3,000 to 4,000 dollars for a free standing stove. If you guys know of some good stoves, nat. gas, pellet, corn, in the sub 2000 range that can heat 2000 sq ft let me know, I'd definitley pay the shipping to get it to Upstate NY!

 

[MountainStoveGuy]

i dont have a single free standing stove for 3000 or 4000. The absolute high end for a 40k btu gas stove is $2500. the jotul firelight is less then 2K. Sounds crazy to me, that must have included installation. Pellet stoves you should be able to find for 3k or less as well. I understand wanting to be more independent from the grid, it just comes at a price. If you want the budget pellet stove from quadrafire, the santa fe is your stove. I dont know harmons competing price point model, Im shure shane or harry will.

 

[BrotherBart]

If you are in Northern Virginia or Southern Maryland, we need to talk. Got these bank repossessed Jotul gas stoves new in the crates...

 

[dlpz]

I must be living in the wrong part of the country. Nat. Gas fixed price currently 1.31. per therm, coming down but had an offer for 1.19 fixed. Where do you live that it's .60??

 

[MountainStoveGuy]

dont worry it will go up, it usually tops out at 1.04 in the winter, but right now it might as well be winter at my house, 80 plus mph winds and 29* temps... burrrrrrr. thank goodness for the stove, i havent turned my furnace on yet. Snow is going sideways at the moment.

 

[BrotherBart]

dont worry it will go up, it usually tops out at 1.04 in the winter, but right now it might as well be winter at my house, 80 plus mph winds and 29* temps... burrrrrrr. thank goodness for the stove, i havent turned my furnace on yet. Snow is going sideways at the moment.

Sounds like a snuricane.

 

[MountainStoveGuy]

Yea, snuricane...:gulp: i cant find the trash cans, today was trash day and the stove flares up bright red every time a big gust comes through.

 

[Roospike]

dont worry it will go up, it usually tops out at 1.04 in the winter, but right now it might as well be winter at my house, 80 plus mph winds and 29* temps... burrrrrrr. thank goodness for the stove, i havent turned my furnace on yet. Snow is going sideways at the moment.

Yeah , I think that weather forecast you just gave qualifies as "brrrrrrrr"

 

[MountainStoveGuy]

Tonight...Partly cloudy in the evening then clearing. Windy. Lows in the 20s to low 30s. West winds 25 to 35 mph with gusts to around 80 mph increasing to 45 to 55 mph with gusts to around 90 mph after midnight.

WHOOOOO HOOOOOO gota love that forcast. Nothing is sticking, the ground is to warm. I realy love winter around here, its the damn winds that i cant stand. This is pretty standard stuff for the next 8 months. Living a few thousand feet below the contintal divide, and less then a mile away, makes for pretty intresting weather.

 

[BrotherBart]

Tonight...Partly cloudy in the evening then clearing. Windy. Lows in the 20s to low 30s. West winds 25 to 35 mph with gusts to around 80 mph increasing to 45 to 55 mph with gusts to around 90 mph after midnight.

WHOOOOO HOOOOOO gota love that forcast. Nothing is sticking, the ground is to warm. I realy love winter around here, its the damn winds that i cant stand. This is pretty standard stuff for the next 8 months. Living a few thousand feet below the contintal divide, and less then a mile away, makes for pretty intresting weather.

Of course nothing is sticking. It is on its way to Kansas with winds like that.

 

[Roospike]

Tonight...Partly cloudy in the evening then clearing. Windy. Lows in the 20s to low 30s. West winds 25 to 35 mph with gusts to around 80 mph increasing to 45 to 55 mph with gusts to around 90 mph after midnight.

WHOOOOO HOOOOOO gota love that forcast. Nothing is sticking, the ground is to warm. I realy love winter around here, its the damn winds that i cant stand. This is pretty standard stuff for the next 8 months. Living a few thousand feet below the contintal divide, and less then a mile away, makes for pretty intresting weather.

Of course nothing is sticking. It is on its way to Kansas with winds like that.

I hear you there ........"HIS" winds and weather is going to blow across "ME" in lower Nabraska !

 

[MountainStoveGuy]

roo you getting some of this your way?

 

[Roospike]

roo you getting some of this your way?

We be just right of you brother man -----------------> If Nebraska had taller trees and more of them maybe we could git it to lop over the top of us. na, were not so bad tho we went from the high 80's today to now going to be upper 60's lower 70's tomorrow . We are in one hell of a "tornado watch" & severe "thunderstorm warning" right now. Check your radar for SE Nebraska . We are only < 556.0 miles - 8.2 hours > apart MSG

 

[begreen]

Yep, nasty front moving through. 70 degrees on one side and 40 on the other. Batten down the hatches Roo.

 

[seaken]

Yesterday, when i was pulling all my current rates for the fuels avalible in my area, gas was down to .61 cents a therm. The high point last year was 1.04 a therm. So i dont get it, when the media talkes of another 40% spike like they have been talking about. That just brings it back to where it usually is. I have noticed this trend for the last three years. .60 range in the summer time. 1.00 range in the winter time. Pellets always follow natural gas prices. To much manufacturig and shipping going on to ever make it competitive. One thing for shure, this season so far has been lots of gas stoves. Im suprised. But people seem to be waking up to the pellet reality. This industry is very cyclistic. every three or four years we have a "pellet" year. The other three gas dominates the market around here, with wood a close second. Pellet market share in my shop is almost like the mac in the US market. Its not much. I would say on average, i have a 60/35/5 percentage split between gas/wood/pellet sales. Of course, if you dont have natural gas, then pellets make sense in every other scenario.

Wow! The last time I checked our local fuel costs (Hudson Valley) we were at 2.06 per therm for NG. Around here pellets are still winning the cost per BTU battle against NG. LP, and Oil. (Although oil sometimes wins out over pellets). In the Catskills Wood is king. Our split is about 65/33/2 as Wood/Gas/Pellet.

Sean

 

[seaken]

Thanks,

I'm trying to shoot for the 1800 dollar range. Our house is about 1500 sq ft ranch shaped like a "L" . The good Gas fireplace is at end of the foot of the L and puts out about 26000 btu. The fireplace I want to replace is a t the turn of the L. As far as BTU's are concerned would I be doing myself a disfavor by buying a stove that can go up to around 2000 sq ft so that if we move to a bigger house in a couple years I can take the pellet stove with me?

Here's the thing. You can get a quality pellet stove for $1800. We sell the Harman P38 for about that. But you may not like that it doesn't have all the nice fancy features of our other models that sell for over $3000. And, in general, you won't get up to 2000sq. ft. in that price range. There are some large cheaper pellet stoves that are rated for over 50K Btus/hr but in our experience you will have more problems with the cheaper brands. The best pellet stove manufacturers have learned a lot about what makes a good stove over the last 15 years. The good ones are going to cost more. If you are more of a "tinkerer" you may be able to make good use of cheaper model but be careful when you are shopping for pellet stoves on price. Pellet stoves are not plug and play and you may end up hating your stove and feeling like you wasted your money. Take the time to consider the value of a $3000 pellet stove before you decide.

The Harman P68 will handle the 2000 sq. ft. The P61 also. If you want the freedom of fuel choice (corn, grass, etc.) you might want to look at the PC45.

Sean

 

[dlpz]

Snowing already!!?? I'm envious!! I live in Syracuse NY. We get a crap load of snow but usually doesn't start till after Oct.31st. The wind comes out of Canada across Lake Ontario, picks up a ton of moisture and literally drops 6 ft of snow a night. Its funny though depending how the wind blows, it could be blue skies over your house but 10 minutes north is a big black cloud dumping feet of snow. Sometimes we get it some times we don't. The Tug Hill Plateau is the main target and they literally get pounded with snow. Great snowmobiling, some of the greatest Salmon fishing, actually great all species fishing and hunting, a great untapped resource. The people around here are putting their money into building a big ass mall about the size of Mall of America ( and giving the city away to the developer) in hopes it will "turn the economy around", when this area has so many great untapped natural resources. We just had a Bass Masters tournement which was a huge success. The town I live in (Camillus) has a beautiful trout stream stocked with thousands of beautiful fish and some great natives, but nobody tries to promote or make a living off of it.

OOOPs Sorry, hopped on to my soap box....

Having the old crappy gas fireplace removed this week, getting a new roof. When I originally bought the house I called the manufacture to get parts for the old fireplace and their reply was "where did you find that stove?" That made me nervous! Still up in the air for going pellet/corn or gas. Brother Bart, what are you selling? Gotta brother living in Charlottesville, not a bad drive.

 

[BrotherBart]

Having the old crappy gas fireplace removed this week, getting a new roof. When I originally bought the house I called the manufacture to get parts for the old fireplace and their reply was "where did you find that stove?" That made me nervous! Still up in the air for going pellet/corn or gas. Brother Bart, what are you selling? Gotta brother living in Charlottesville, not a bad drive.

GF400 DV Sebago in Matte Black or Blue/Black enamel or Blue/Black Enamel GF300 BV Allegash left at the moment. One Jotul Iron finish GF300 BV is new but out of the crate.

Charlottesville is only 65 miles but NY is a DRIVE.

Of course it would save around nine hundred to a grand and brothers really should get together more often.

 

[dlpz]

Actually just drove down and back to see the inlaws in N.C., Van full of bikes, coolers and everything we didin't need for vacation!! Seriously, VA is not a bad drive, 8 hours down.