Newbies--(3 or less years burning) How/Why a pellet stove???

[Murphy118]

I'm in my third year burning, and loving it. Until about 1 month before I bought my stove I had absolutley NO idea what a pellet stove was. Back in August of 2009 or so, I saw one in the basement of a house that i remodeled the family room in and started thinking about it. A month later I saw an Englander 25 PVD-C on sale at Home depot for $849 and included a pallet of pellets, and I had a 10% coupon,,, sweet. I thought,, hmmm maybe those $2-$300/month gas bills don't need to be that big. If I saved just 1/2 of my gas bill for the winter, stove would be paid for in 2 years.
I bought the stove, and Selkirk install kit (as recommended by the acne clad saleskid at HD), borrowed a truck from work and brought it home. I read the install instructions,,,, youtubed a bunch of different hearth layouts, and was off on the install. I built a hearth for the corner of the living room, tiled it, cut a couple holes in the wall of the house and about 45 days after purchase I fired it up. Heck, I didn't even start reading this forum until wayyyy after that!
I have run into some quandries,,,,, like my forced hot water pipes freezing under the crawl space of the old part of the house because the pellet stove wouln't let the downstairs heat zone turn on,,,,,, not using a t-stat the first year of burning,,,, and my initiation to the "complete tear down cleaning"..... all obstacles overcome with a lot of help from all the guys here.
So here I am, addicted to keeping a fire going,,,, in my living room,,, fueled by little itty bitty logs of compressed wood scraps,,,constantly searching for the "perfect pellet",,,, and wondering how many pallets I should by before the price goes up.

John

 

[smoke show]

So would you consider it a hobby also???

 

[RidgeRunner56]

I got mine for this heating season to beat the high cost of oil prices. The extra warmth and glow are an added bonus.

 

[John97]

I bought mine because I am tired of paying $500+ electric bills and still being cold.

 

[CTguy9230]

i got mine because i,m getting to old to cut and split firewood
all year

 

[FFRKing]

Just started burning pellets 24/7 4 days ago. Burned off and on for about a week working out settings and becoming familiar with the stove.

I have an unfinished basement and was going to install a gas fireplace when I finished the family room. My propane bills are out of sight and I thought of altenatives for heat and the pellet stove seemed like the best option since I was going to install a fireplace anyway. I tend to over research things when I plan on spending a lot of money. I looked at pellet stoves around town (about 4-5 dealers) and the state fair. Searched the internet for hours. I wanted an insert since I wanted to build a stone hearth and mantle, so that limited my options a lot.

I finally decided on a Quadra-Fire Classic Bay or Lopi Yankee Bay(I think) and started narrowing down prices and dealers. Just when I thought I was about to pull the trigger, someone posted a 2 year old Quad Castile on Craigslist. They had just bought the house and his wife has a severe nasal condition and even the startup of a pellet stove is very irritating. I worried about the Castile being too small as I had originally planned on the Classic Bay, but the price was too good to pass up. I got the Castile with the optional decorative cast iron surround, more pipe than I need, remote thermostat, and 6 bags of pellets for $1800. Not a huge savings over a more basic Classic Bay, but the extras sure do look nice.

So far, the temp outside has been in the teens overnight and low 30's during the day. The propane furnace is set on 67 and hasn't turned on yet. Running the pellet stove on high to get started and switching to medium overnight has maintained 71-72 upstairs constantly. Not great, but my wife and 2 daughters are much happier and think it seems warmer than the 71 it is. My house is 1680 sqaure feet, split bedroom plan with a full basement with 2 finished bedrooms and bathroom. The stove is located in the middle of the house along the back wall and the stairs are located in the front of the same room. I do run my furnace fan continuously to keep the air circulated. The basement stays about 1-3 degrees warmer than the upstairs, so I know the furnace fan is the key.

Wy wife would have no part of a wood burner because of the mess and smoke. With the pellet stove, both of us are always looking at the temp upstairs and downstairs and she has no problems shutting it down for vacuuming and firing it back up. We had a few problems in the beginning keeping it running for more than a few hours but I think that is worked out. Both of us love it and would recommend one to anyone looking to install one.

I'm off today to get my first pallet of pellets and then to start on my idea of how to get them to the basement without having to carry them down the stairs. I have the plan, just have to start on it.As a side note, Does anyone out there vacuum there pellets to remove the dust like the corn cleaners? I'm going to have a provision for it but not sure that I need to do it with the pellets I have used so far.

Chris
www.theflagsaver.com

 

[Threerun]

i got mine because i,m getting to old to cut and split firewood
all year

I can list a few other 'reasons', but when I stop and think about it- Yep, you hit the nail on the head.

 

[DexterDay]

Just started burning pellets 24/7 4 days ago. Burned off and on for about a week working out settings and becoming familiar with the stove.

I have an unfinished basement and was going to install a gas fireplace when I finished the family room. My propane bills are out of sight and I thought of altenatives for heat and the pellet stove seemed like the best option since I was going to install a fireplace anyway. I tend to over research things when I plan on spending a lot of money. I looked at pellet stoves around town (about 4-5 dealers) and the state fair. Searched the internet for hours. I wanted an insert since I wanted to build a stone hearth and mantle, so that limited my options a lot.

I finally decided on a Quadra-Fire Classic Bay or Lopi Yankee Bay(I think) and started narrowing down prices and dealers. Just when I thought I was about to pull the trigger, someone posted a 2 year old Quad Castile on Craigslist. They had just bought the house and his wife has a severe nasal condition and even the startup of a pellet stove is very irritating. I worried about the Castile being too small as I had originally planned on the Classic Bay, but the price was too good to pass up. I got the Castile with the optional decorative cast iron surround, more pipe than I need, remote thermostat, and 6 bags of pellets for $1800. Not a huge savings over a more basic Classic Bay, but the extras sure do look nice.

So far, the temp outside has been in the teens overnight and low 30's during the day. The propane furnace is set on 67 and hasn't turned on yet. Running the pellet stove on high to get started and switching to medium overnight has maintained 71-72 upstairs constantly. Not great, but my wife and 2 daughters are much happier and think it seems warmer than the 71 it is. My house is 1680 sqaure feet, split bedroom plan with a full basement with 2 finished bedrooms and bathroom. The stove is located in the middle of the house along the back wall and the stairs are located in the front of the same room. I do run my furnace fan continuously to keep the air circulated. The basement stays about 1-3 degrees warmer than the upstairs, so I know the furnace fan is the key.

Wy wife would have no part of a wood burner because of the mess and smoke. With the pellet stove, both of us are always looking at the temp upstairs and downstairs and she has no problems shutting it down for vacuuming and firing it back up. We had a few problems in the beginning keeping it running for more than a few hours but I think that is worked out. Both of us love it and would recommend one to anyone looking to install one.

I'm off today to get my first pallet of pellets and then to start on my idea of how to get them to the basement without having to carry them down the stairs. I have the plan, just have to start on it.As a side note, Does anyone out there vacuum there pellets to remove the dust like the corn cleaners? I'm going to have a provision for it but not sure that I need to do it with the pellets I have used so far.

Chris
www.theflagsaver.com

Here is mine. $20 in PVC and then add a Shop Vac

 

[dw06]

I bought mine because I am tired of paying $500+ electric bills and still being cold.

+1 I moved from a house heated by an outdoor wood burner we built for 25 years, to a poorly insulated all electric trailer till I build again. See my shocked face at 1st heating bill of $450. :gulp:
Rode it out 1st winter and said no more. Installed pellet stove last Dec and cut heating cost by a little over half, and am warmer to boot! Very happy with the pellet stove to say the least, and found this site which has given me great info and educated me too. :cheese:

 

[TG3930]

We got ours to fight the high cost of propane and to help heat a area of our home that was always colder. This just happens to be where we spend most of our time. Its been a week today!

 

[mr coffee]

I bought mine because I am tired of paying $500+ electric bills and still being cold.

+1

 

[djs_net]

A friend bought a pellet stove a few years ago and told me several times how cheap the heat was compared to oil. Another buddy bought a house last spring that came with an insert stove... so I was aware that pellets were a good alternative fuel source. I have chimney issues due to settling that have prevented me from using my fireplace so when I was charged $700 to fill my oil tank in October, that was the last straw. I started looking for a stove insert on Craigslist and it took me about 3-4 weeks to find what I was looking for in my price range. I wish I had done this years ago! It didn't take long for me to develop the "symptoms" that many of you know about: playing with the stove, topping off the pellets, reading the forums here, trying different pellet brands and comparing heat/ash. It's nice to have a "hobby" that saves money instead of costs money.

 

[jdege]

I went with a pellet stove for 2 reasons, first was to help reduce the heating cost & the second was becasue I have this nice fireplace that gets used but a couple times a year. I like to sit infront of a fire but the fireplace was to much of a hassle to enjoy and give off little to no heat. Now I have 2 leather chairs in front of the stove and spend many evenings with a beer enjoying the fire (the reduced oil use is nice also.)

 

[76brian]

I got mine because my furnace needed to be replaced. It's located in the crawlspace, with very little room to move around, and my kitchen floor would have had to be cut open to get it down there. It would have made a complete mess of my house, it would have cost twice as much, and I still would have been a slave to the propane company paying them $1500+/yr to heat my small house.

I bought the stove from a local farmer who's been selling Harman stoves from an office in his home for over 20 years. He also sells pellets and heating corn. I could have had his guy install it, but I wanted to save a few bucks. Friends and beer are the best way to get sh*t done, so I called up a buddy and we went and got the stove, built the hearth, and installed everything ourselves over the course of a few days (tile, grout, etc). I love how warm my house is now, and how little it costs to keep it that way. Plus the added bonus of having a little side hobby collecting different pellets is kind of fun too...

I really love the feel of wood heat over all other forms, so I'd wanted either a pellet stove or a wood stove for a long time, but that would have been a "luxury" expense. Since it was late October when my furnace gave out, it turned into a necessity. The automation of pellet stoves won out over cord wood. If I spent more time at home I think I'd prefer the real deal, but the bottom line is I get more heat for less money, with the added bonus that if anything goes wrong with the stove, I can fix it myself. Can't say that about propane furnaces.

As a side note, don't ever buy a Carrier furnace. The damn thing is less than 8 years old and the heat exchanger is rusted out completely. They refused to cover it under warranty because the tech was not able to perform the tests they wanted him to with the plenum as bad as it was. There was a class action lawsuit against the company for this issue a few years back that I was unaware of, but apparently they didn't learn their lesson.

 

[twojrts]

I got my pellet stove because I was tired of paying the high price of propane from our Mobile Home Park. Had my furnace set at 67 and was Always Cold!! My stove was reduced in price from $1900 to $1100. No, it's not one of the well known ones, but it serves my purpose. The year I had it installed I had spent $1,000 in propane from Jan to May!! I heated and cooked (very little cooking) with propane and now...........LOL, my propane bills are $4.00 a month!! Whooo Hooo!! It's in my lease, if I don't use a cubic foot per month, I still have to pay $4.00. I love it!!

Yeah, I'm always checking the hopper to make sure the pellets are even and full. Have to clean this little guy every day, but the warmth is SO WORTH IT!! Have the thermostat set at 72 and I am warm!!

If Skeeter thinks the stove should be on, she starts whinning!! Silly girl! She loves it too.

 

[pelletash]

I got mine because it was the easiest way to fight back against the oil companies. I don't miss the oil truck visiting once a month.

 

[briansol]

This is year 4 for me, so a little older than you :D

I started burning because of $5 oil prices back in 08/09. Didn't want wood as at the time i was commuting 1.5 hours to work on 10 hour days, which meant i was gone for 14-16 hours a day. A wood stove wouldn't make it. Pellet it is It's certainly been one of the better decisions of my life.

Due to a hot water boiler, and a level of my house lower than my stove, I still spend almost as much on oil as i do pellets. (about 800-900 in pellets, and about 700 in oil to heat the water and my lower level). A wood stove for the lower level is something i've been considering. Would give me 3 sources of heat. 4 if you count my tv stand w/ electric fireplace that is mostly for ambiance :X

 

[Frogwood]

Never heard of a pellet stove until we moved to the Pacific North West. I grew up in San Diego where your heating system was not that big of a concern. Bought a house here that was built in '79 and has electric baseboard heating which costs a fortune to run. Explored my options. Learned a ton about pellet stoves here on Hearth.com and went for it. Keeps our house reasonably warm although my wife says we should have purchased a stove with higher btu's. May upgrade in the future when finances permit it. Also considering a wood stove as a backup for those power outages and really cold days.

For now this little guy is keeping us happy. When we bought the house there was an existing inlaid tile hearth built between the kitchen and dining area that had a really cool looking older Lange pot belly wood stove. Unfortunately, the venting situation was pretty sketchy and the home inspector just shook his head and siad he wouldn't place a wood stove there but a pellet stove might work...."A what?", I said...and the rest is history and I am now a pellet junky from November to March every year.

 

[TLHinCanada]

Okay being full of Christmas cheer I will admit the largest screw up of all time. I decided to insulate the attic, it was about a R-15. Got the insulation the blower and the people (of course the beer to feed them). Being a engineer more is better, when it was finished it was certified as R-100. Yes the furnace never started, but, unfortunately we had a finished basement were we spent a great deal of time and we got no heat downstairs because the tsat upstairs was always with in limit. The main floor was fine the downstairs was frigid. Had a choice, put in a splitter duct with new zone tsat (the thermostat would be $600.00) and ducting, or another furnace with new ducting. Was always interested in the pellet stove operation so decided to put one in. It cost twice what NG would but I wouldn't trade it in for anything. My wife and I enjoy the constant heat and the value of looking at flames should never be discounted. Merry Christmas everyone.

 

[FFRKing]

FFRKing - 23 December 2011 02:10 PM
Just started burning pellets 24/7 4 days ago. Burned off and on for about a week working out settings and becoming familiar with the stove.

I have an unfinished basement and was going to install a gas fireplace when I finished the family room. My propane bills are out of sight and I thought of altenatives for heat and the pellet stove seemed like the best option since I was going to install a fireplace anyway. I tend to over research things when I plan on spending a lot of money. I looked at pellet stoves around town (about 4-5 dealers) and the state fair. Searched the internet for hours. I wanted an insert since I wanted to build a stone hearth and mantle, so that limited my options a lot.

I finally decided on a Quadra-Fire Classic Bay or Lopi Yankee Bay(I think) and started narrowing down prices and dealers. Just when I thought I was about to pull the trigger, someone posted a 2 year old Quad Castile on Craigslist. They had just bought the house and his wife has a severe nasal condition and even the startup of a pellet stove is very irritating. I worried about the Castile being too small as I had originally planned on the Classic Bay, but the price was too good to pass up. I got the Castile with the optional decorative cast iron surround, more pipe than I need, remote thermostat, and 6 bags of pellets for $1800. Not a huge savings over a more basic Classic Bay, but the extras sure do look nice.

So far, the temp outside has been in the teens overnight and low 30’s during the day. The propane furnace is set on 67 and hasn’t turned on yet. Running the pellet stove on high to get started and switching to medium overnight has maintained 71-72 upstairs constantly. Not great, but my wife and 2 daughters are much happier and think it seems warmer than the 71 it is. My house is 1680 sqaure feet, split bedroom plan with a full basement with 2 finished bedrooms and bathroom. The stove is located in the middle of the house along the back wall and the stairs are located in the front of the same room. I do run my furnace fan continuously to keep the air circulated. The basement stays about 1-3 degrees warmer than the upstairs, so I know the furnace fan is the key.

Wy wife would have no part of a wood burner because of the mess and smoke. With the pellet stove, both of us are always looking at the temp upstairs and downstairs and she has no problems shutting it down for vacuuming and firing it back up. We had a few problems in the beginning keeping it running for more than a few hours but I think that is worked out. Both of us love it and would recommend one to anyone looking to install one.

I’m off today to get my first pallet of pellets and then to start on my idea of how to get them to the basement without having to carry them down the stairs. I have the plan, just have to start on it.As a side note, Does anyone out there vacuum there pellets to remove the dust like the corn cleaners? I’m going to have a provision for it but not sure that I need to do it with the pellets I have used so far.

Chris
http://www.theflagsaver.com

Here is mine. $20 in PVC and then add a Shop Vac

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DexterDay,

That is what I am planning. The shop vac and funnel part will be in my garage and it will go thru the wall at a 45 degree angle into the basement into a homemade hopper. From there, I will drain the pellets from the hopper into a bucket to dump into the stove.

I really don't need another project, but am having fun with the whole stove thing. Pellet testing is over for a while. I just hauled home 60 bags of Heartland pellets. 19 bags went to the basement by hand, hopefully the rest by way of chute.

Chris

 

[imacman]

......like my forced hot water pipes freezing under the crawl space of the old part of the house because the pellet stove wouln't let the downstairs heat zone turn on,,,,,,

John, did you ever resolve this problem? ThermGuard by Bear Mtn designs works great for these situations:

www.bearmountaindesign.com

 

[Don2222]

Hello

I thought that a pellet stove might throw out more heat and help with the oil bill.

With a split entry and the pellet stove installed in the middle of the house in the basement we use Zero Oil now for heat I was amazed

 

[Countryboymo]

After growing up with heat from a wood furnace in the basement and then moving to my own house with propane when propane was cheap. I purchased this all electric home and started with just strips and no heat pump and a couple 500.00 bills I had the air swapped for a heat pump which helped tremendously. I started thinking about back up heat in case of a power outage and don't have much storage area or time for wood so I started looking for a good used pellet stove and found one after a couple months. I still need power to operate my stove but a 5kw generator will run the stove and bare essentials and I would have needed a 15kw minimum generator to have heat otherwise. I also have the stove in the basement so when it is fully finished I will have a toasty cave to hibernate in.

I burned two tons last year and the house was soo much more comfortable than previous years. I am addicted to tinkering with it and searching for the pellet of pellets now.....

Its great.

 

[RKS130]

Last year we spent $4800 for oil, a service contract and an uncovered service call. Granted my mother in law was living with us and the heat had to be on higher and longer than we would otherwise - but oil was cheaper last year too.

This year we spent about the same amount of $$ to purchase the stove, pipe, etc., and have it installed. It also covered all the pellets we expect to burn this year and we get the $300 federal tax credit and a smaller NYS tax credit as well.

This is a no brainer. While we are still on the upward slope of the learning curve we love the heat and the freedom from the robber baron oil companies around here. Was talking with a guy who drives a delivery truck who told me that his meter has various codes on it and prints out different tickets depending on which company the homeowner is doing business with. So the same oil in the same truck gets charged out at various different prices as he freelances for a bunch of companies.

I always hated seeing the delivery truck pull up and not knowing how many gallons would be delivered or at what price. Now I just fill the hopper and relax.

 

[mrbill]

I was the oil man for 18 years,my boss decided to stop selling it at the end of Febuary.I don't have time to mess with wood and hate gas heat,you never feel warm with gas heat.I got a decent price on a Glow Boy stove,I am very happy with it so far.It hasn't been very cold since I installed it, but I run it on low and can still wear shorts in the winter!