Pellet usage though winter

[Caseihmech]

I am pretty new to the pellet stove world and have a question about how much pellets I should stock up.

I just picked up a 1993 avalon 900ps for $75. Previous owners said that the auger would not feed pellets. When I got all the old pellets dug out of the hopper I found that it was jamed packed with pellet fines that were never cleaned out and was stuck. After I pulled the auger out and and cleaned it, and reinstalled. It now feeds pellets just fine. I then cleaned out about 2 gallons of ash that were in the stove. Im still working on changing gaskets and painting the stove.

I plan on swaping out the old wood stove and putting this in its place. I live in a 1100 sq. Ft. Single story house thats built on a concrete slab with a pretty open floor plan. House seems to be pretty well insulated. On the warmer side of Washington state.

With this setup how many pellets do you think I will go through in a winter?

 

[DAKSY]

I am pretty new to the pellet stove world and have a question about how much pellets I should stock up.

I just picked up a 1993 avalon 900ps for $75. Previous owners said that the auger would not feed pellets. When I got all the old pellets dug out of the hopper I found that it was jamed packed with pellet fines that were never cleaned out and was stuck. After I pulled the auger out and and cleaned it, and reinstalled. It now feeds pellets just fine. I then cleaned out about 2 gallons of ash that were in the stove. Im still working on changing gaskets and painting the stove.

I plan on swaping out the old wood stove and putting this in its place. I live in a 1100 sq. Ft. Single story house thats built on a concrete slab with a pretty open floor plan. House seems to be pretty well insulated. On the warmer side of Washington state.

With this setup how many pellets do you think I will go through in a winter?

You are a little further north than we are in NY & I try to have 4-5 tons minimum on hand when the leaves start to turn. This past winter we burned about 4.5...Winter previous about 3.5...Pick a number. You really won't know until you have one or two winters under your belt, to base usage on...If you overbuy they won't go bad as long as you keep them dry...If you run out you gotta get more...HTH

 

[EastMtn]

I think I saw that tractor above your name on US version of Top Speed. Kinda thing that's makes ya grin on the way to work in the morning knowing you get to drive it and frown when you gotta get off to go home at night.
Like DAKSY said don't really know til you burn a couple of seasons. My first one coming up. To get a guesstimate you can take your heating bill and if you can separate the heating cost from everything else, range, WH etc.. then convert the usage to million BTU's, you can compare honey crisp to granny smith apples. This will be slightly better than a SWAG(strategic wild a** guess).

 

[imacman]

Nice find on the stove. Travis makes good stoves. Don't forget to use hi pressure air to blow the insides out (outdoors, of course...LOL).

Given that you have a fairly small house, I'd say 3 tons should do you fine. 4 tons if you want some "insurance".

Don't forget, we love pics of new stoves/installs. Love to see the old 900 all cleaned up & painted.....no pics = it really didn't happen.

BTW, did you actually fire the stove up before going to all the trouble of cleaning it, just to make sure there aren't any other "issues"? You can do it outdoors w/o any exhaust pipe.

 

[St_Earl]

i know it can get cold on the east side of the cascades. 3 might be low depending on your level of insulation.
you'll probably want to look into the topic of OAK (outside air kit) it helps a lot imo.

we just finished an 8 month heating season. so i actually burned more than last year even though i have added some insulation and have gotten my fans set up the best yet for distributing the heat.

5 tons this year and the house is 924 sq. feet.
i did start pretty early in september though. could easily have waited. and will do so this year.

it did get fairly cold this year though.
i really hope to average less than 4 1/2 ton a year. should be able to do just 4 if i'm not burning through most of may again.

also i'm hoping my new brand allows me to burn at a lower rate.
that remains to be seen.

fortunately for you, you have a great selection of super hot pellets at great prices out there.

 

[Caseihmech]

Thanks for the answers.

Eastmtn, when I get to drive a Quadtrac around it pretty much puts a smile on your face when you know you have 600 horsepower in front of you.

imacman, It has turned out to be a really great buy. After I got the auger un jammed I had it running for about 20 minutes on the old pellets. But I think they had soaked up some water over the past year, they didn't seem to burn right and the exhaust had a moist muggy smell to it. But it did run, fans rand like thay should and everything adjusted when I was playing with it.

St_Earl, It funny that you actually mentioned the east side of cascades. Whenever I have talked to people out of state they ask where im from, peoples response most of the time is. "o Washington, it rains all the time there." So I have to explain that its the west side that gets the rain and on the south east side we are a high desert. we only get about 6-10 inches of rain a year. You had a 8 month heating season? I feel bad for you guys. We stopped burning wood this year about march, we could have probably done some more burning a few days in april. Last week we were in the 80's.

I have also been told that its hard to go wrong with any pellet made In the Pacific Northwest. Any ideas on good pellets from this area?

 

[Caseihmech]

O and tonight I will get some pictures of the stove and post them. So far it has been cleaning up real well

 

[briansol]

How warm do you like your house?

I roll 63 at night at 67 days. I use just over 3 tons a year.

 

[Caseihmech]

The stove that was in the house when we bought it was way to big to begin with and its just a old steel box. It kept the house at a minimum 80 all winter long and that was burning it low. I definitely don't want the house that warm.

Also, here is a picture of the pellet stove. Definitely not done with it yet. Had a small storm last night so I turned it around and we sat and watched the stove and the small storm.

 

[EastMtn]

Blah, blah blah... when I get to drive a Quadtrac around it pretty much puts a smile on your face when you know you have 600 horsepower in front of you. Blah, blah, blah....

12 speed 18.7mph Turbocharged Cummins Diesel. Exclusive skip shift system, self tensioning tracks. I bet you have a cupholder in that cab too. Makes me miss my heavy equipment operating days. If you see a guy standing on the edge of your property with a "will work for FREE" sign that's me. But I digress

Stove looks good. It shined up real nice. 80 on low as a little much. Avalon should produce a lot less ash than that whole tree burner. But then again wood stove doesn't need electricity.

 

[DMZX]

Caseihmech,

Nice score on a very nice stove.

Tri-Cities winters are similar to mine (90 miles SE of you), but I get a bit colder and a bit more snow. I typically burn 3.5 tons. I always put up 4 tons just in case we get on of those sub-zero cold snaps. Ranch and Home has decent prices on Bear Mt and Natural Glow pellets. Blazers are a good brand, but often sold at a higher price by Home Depot.

 

[bbfarm]

Last winter we burned 6 tons but we were still burning in June. The year before 3 tons. Big old farm house in Wisconsin