pellet stove questions...

[tiggere]

Hi gang...my wife and I just got the oil bill from our fill up on Sunday and have started to look towards other options for heating our house...its frickin cold in here and costing us a small fortune to be cold...our house design with the sunroom addon should lend itself very well to a pellet stove as it has a large open doorway between it and the kitchen/dining room...one issue is that we live what you guys would consider "in the south" so our winters usually are much milder than yours...our average temps are around 30 degrees for an average winter...knowing this and you guys knowing your stoves how much tonnage would it take to keep a 1700 sqft house warm...now I know warm is subjective...say 68/70 degrees with the bedrooms at the ends of the hall being colder...thats ok we have down blankets and know it will be cold down there...electric heater can warm a room if needed...I would like to use only pellets from a freestanding stove or the Buck Stove fire place insert we currently have (another option I am going to be looking at is replacing the Buck insert with a harmon pellet unit)...we also might have a small problem actually getting the darn pellets down here...I have only seen a few dealers and they are not very close...any and all advice is welcome...thanks for your time...

 

[imacman]

Generally, most people in the colder states burn from 3-4 tons a winter, although this winter is going to require more for most.

IMO, in your area I'd say that 2-3 tons would probably be about right for that size home.

But remember, there is no guarantee that the stove will heat the whole house....pellet stoves are mostly room heaters, and anything else is a bonus.

 

[DexterDay]

Is your house a Ranch? Is your sunroom centrally located? There are people here on this forum and one of my personal friends that have good luck with some smaller stoves (Quad--Santa Fe, Enviro--Mini). 30,000-40,000 BTU's. My Quad is rated at 43,000 BTU's (I Believe, it may be 45-48??) Anyways there are alot of good stoves on the market and as long as it does not drop down to single digits, I can keep my stove on low heat high fan and heat my 2,180 sq ft Ranch with a little more than 4 tons a year. So if your lows are around 20-30 degrees you should not have much of a problem keeping to 2-3 tons a year
Like imacman stated above, these are space heaters, only designed to heat a limited area. The trick is to put it where you can get the most out of it and keep the air moving. If there is any advice that anyone would probably give you. Its to buy a "Bigger Stove" and run it on low. All of the Harman's are nice. imacman has a Beastly Englander 10-CPM multi-fuel, there is a newer brand called Heatilator. They have all the internals of a Quad, but about half the cost. My Quadrafire is a good stove. I just wish it had more adjustments, so I could tinker with it more. But if you want "Simplicity" Quad has it. Some stoves take some tweaking, but IMO you can get more out of them at different settings.
Whatever you purchase, keep us updated and Read your Manual...TWICE before firing it up. Many mistakes are made because people think they "Know how it works"!! Good luck

 

[tiggere]

yep its a ranch with the sunroom/kitchen/dining room making up the majority of the area to be heated...I was looking at the Ecoteck's that can be ducted...run two lines back to the bedrooms and we would be golden...the opening between the kitchen/sunroom is about 7' x 7'...sunroom is about 15' x 18' and the kitchen/dining room is 12' x 22'...hall way right down the middle of the house...the living room on the other side of the kitchen has a standard door but also has a Buck Stove fireplace insert...the house has been ducted so the system fan can run and draw heat from the insert to the rest of the house...the pellet stove is just a cleaner option...not to mention the insert has not been run in 10+ years so who knows whats going on with the chimney...they are coming out to inspect it next month so we will see...

I would hope we could do it for less than 2-3 tons...oil is around $600 to $1000 a year (depending on oil price) so that wouldn't save any money...the insert we have might be the best option if thats the case...

 

[jtakeman]

...we also might have a small problem actually getting the darn pellets down here......

If that is really the case? I suggest a multifueler that will burn other types of fuel just in case. I suffered through 2 seasons with pellet shortages. Not very fun as we were burning corn and horse bedding to get by. I would seriously do some homework on the fuel supply, No sense having the pellet stove if there isn't ample fuel available. One other thing with the multifuelers is the eat any pellet and with a limited supply you don't have to be so choosy on what you purchase. Struggling with a stove that hates its fuel supply really really stinks. You will spend more time cleaning it and fussing that you would really want to. imacmans Englander and the Enviro M55 stoves are something to at least consider.

Any corn or grass pellets in the area?

 

[DexterDay]

The Ecotechs look like a good choice. Like j-takeman said, if you can't get pellets. Look into a Muli-fueler. Do you have any Home Depots, Menards or Lowes around you? They had pellets this winter for HD $177, Menards $175, Lowes $187.
So if you could get them cheap, 3 tons would be $525. Not bad. A little cheaper than the oil.
I would do some serious investigating into other local fuels. Like you said, your best option may already be inside your house now. Good luck

 

[tiggere]

Our Lowes/Home Depot do not carry pellets...must be too far south...the dealer that sells the stoves here locally can get pellets...just wondering what the markup will be with him the only show in town...we are going over there at lunch today so I will know more after that...

 

[save$]

you mentioned heating your home for 600-1000. You also state you are cold in your home. So, I can only conclude that you really aren't heating your home to a level of comfort. That's where the pellet stove comes in. Comfort yes. But for the average cost of the stove and installation, and the pellets, you will be a long time getting a savings even if you are able to heat your home without using your oil back up. If you could get a good buy on CR, year end close outs etc, and have a simple install, you might get into this with a small investment. That will allow you to both save some money and be comfortable. Perhaps with pellets, you can be at a level of comfort for the same $1000, but you will need to fuel daily, and clean frequently. We love ours, but then we heated for years with wood, then went to oil, now with pellets and the oil as backup and supplement. If I were to do it over, I would go with the pellet furnace tied into the other furnace system.

 

[jtakeman]

you mentioned heating your home for 600-1000. You also state you are cold in your home. So, I can only conclude that you really aren't heating your home to a level of comfort. That's where the pellet stove comes in. Comfort yes. But for the average cost of the stove and installation, and the pellets, you will be a long time getting a savings even if you are able to heat your home without using your oil back up. If you could get a good buy on CR, year end close outs etc, and have a simple install, you might get into this with a small investment. That will allow you to both save some money and be comfortable. Perhaps with pellets, you can be at a level of comfort for the same $1000, but you will need to fuel daily, and clean frequently. We love ours, but then we heated for years with wood, then went to oil, now with pellets and the oil as backup and supplement. If I were to do it over, I would go with the pellet furnace tied into the other furnace system.

People always forget about that and then b!tch when pellets cost about the same $$$ overall. But if the house is much warmer then its not the same! Crank up the other heat to where your comfy and then compare! I also fully agree on the furnace/boiler. Heat the whole house not just one room. Plus the room the stoves in is going to be much warmer than the rest of the house. With a furnace/boiler it should be evenly heated. Properly ducted systems and zoned dampers work as good as boilers with zoned valves for boilers. Not sure what system is more efficient though?

 

[tiggere]

that is correct...I could never afford to heat the house to a level of comfort with oil...with the install cost of the P stove and the cost of pellets it would take quite a few years to recoupe our investment and I'm not sure in the long run that it would be worth it...we just got back from the showroom and our pellets cost $275 a ton plus tax (premium hardwood pellet)...here is a floor plan of the house...you can see that its quite an open floor plan with the sunroom/kitchen/dining room being the most used areas...and very open to each other...I have labeled where I would put the pellet stove...to me it looks like if the unit was large enough that it would run us out of the house...the office/living room we use a small space heater and in the bedrooms your under the blankets anyhow...but if we fire up the fireplace insert and that will do the whole house we have a winner...if not the pellet stove and a combo of the insert should work...

See if this works...it would not let me put a pdf in here...

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&...Tg1YmEtZGQxNzYxYWQ1OGQ2&hl=en&authkey=CIGh63o

 

[DexterDay]

Looks like a good floor plan to have one. Very similar to my house. $275 a ton? What brand of pellets were they? There are a bunch of "Premium" hardwood pellets out there that are junk. Do you have a large truck with a trailer? Even if you had to drive to get a decent pellet. @-$175 a ton for 3 tons=$525. Or the showrooms pellets @-$275 for 3 tons=$825. Thats $300 in savings there. So if you spent $100 on gas and drive time. Or $100 for delivery, pretty sure you could get them hauled into where your at. There may be a minimum purchase of 3 tons. (may be more). Google "cheap wood pellets" in Wilmington, NC. Worth a shot. Gonna take a while to recoupe your investment. But if you can keep your home at 72-75 and be comfortable. Even if the cost is relativly the same. I say it would be worth it.
After having a wood stove in the basement. Selling it (Thank God) and buying my pellet stove. I dont think I could go without the pellet stove now. Just bought another stove 2 weeks ago. It becomes an obsession, kinda like this Forum.

 

[libberly]

...we also might have a small problem actually getting the darn pellets down here......

If that is really the case? I suggest a multifueler that will burn other types of fuel just in case. I suffered through 2 seasons with pellet shortages. Not very fun as we were burning corn and horse bedding to get by. I would seriously do some homework on the fuel supply, No sense having the pellet stove if there isn't ample fuel available. One other thing with the multifuelers is the eat any pellet and with a limited supply you don't have to be so choosy on what you purchase. Struggling with a stove that hates its fuel supply really really stinks. You will spend more time cleaning it and fussing that you would really want to. imacmans Englander and the Enviro M55 stoves are something to at least consider.

Any corn or grass pellets in the area?

Hudson Valley Grass Energy has grass pellets that they're producing with a mobile mill.

ww.hvge.org

 

[tiggere]

Got the chimney cleaning scheduled...gonna burn a few loads of wood if we get a clean bill of health and see how that does...the pellets that our stove man sells is from a local company ( within 20 miles) so we obviously have a supply here but I don't think they are cutting any price breaks to the general public...if they will even sell to us...I will see what I can do over the summer cost wise and see if they come down in price when no one is buying them...I'm hoping the insert is ok and we can use it as thats already installed and paid for...wood (with alot of labor) is cheaper than pellets so we will see...