question for the pellet burners

[tjvt]

Looking to heat 3200 sq ft, well insulated, but inefficient layout and lots of glass and doors. Currently burning 6 cords of wood in a stove, and burning 1000 gal of propane in a 140k btu boiler (and this only keeps the addition at 60 degrees). HWBB/radiant slab.

What's a ballpark of how many pellets I may burn? Is 8 tons a safe estimate?

How much can I expect to pay for an appropriately sized unit?

Thank you,
Tyler

 

[DAKSY]

Looking to heat 3200 sq ft, well insulated, but inefficient layout and lots of glass and doors. Currently burning 6 cords of wood in a stove, and burning 1000 gal of propane in a 140k btu boiler (and this only keeps the addition at 60 degrees). HWBB/radiant slab.

What's a ballpark of how many pellets I may burn? Is 8 tons a safe estimate?

How much can I expect to pay for an appropriately sized unit?

One cord of wood is roughly equal to one ton of pellets, so if you were putting a pellet burner in place of your woodstove, & still burning LP, 8 tons should get you thru, but you know what the winters are like in the Northeast. UNPREDICTABLE. I burn between 7 & 10 tons each winter & another $500 in LP, but that includes Hot Water. I'm heating 1450 sf PRIMARILY with the P61. If my daughter bails out of the poorly insulated studio apartment above my detached garage, I will probably pull the P43 from the garage & relocate it to where my LP FPI is currently installed. That will save me some LP, & allow me to get more heat from the pellets into the insulated main house.
As far as cost goes, are you going to put a pellet BOILER in or just a pellet stove?


Thank you,
Tyler

 

[tjvt]

Pellets seemed like a good idea for about half a day. According to the pellet boiler salesman I spoke to, the 1000 gal of LP we burn is equivalent to roughly 5.5 tons of pellets. That 1000 gal heats less than 1/3 of our total sq footage, so I'd be looking at roughly 15 tons. At $300/ton I can buy 22 cords of wood cut and split for the same money, which I hope will be 2 years worth of heat through a wood boiler. No brainer unless that LP/propane ratio is way off.

 

[Paste]

Our home is 2900 sq ft with vaulted ceilings and lots of windows. We used around 6.5 tons for heat and DHW this winter. We keep the house at 68-70 degrees. When compared to LP we saved over $3000 by using pellets because of the LP price fluctuations.

 

[maple1]

Pellets seemed like a good idea for about half a day. According to the pellet boiler salesman I spoke to, the 1000 gal of LP we burn is equivalent to roughly 5.5 tons of pellets. That 1000 gal heats less than 1/3 of our total sq footage, so I'd be looking at roughly 15 tons. At $300/ton I can buy 22 cords of wood cut and split for the same money, which I hope will be 2 years worth of heat through a wood boiler. No brainer unless that LP/propane ratio is way off.

I don't know about that ratio - but you would have to have a pretty darn large heat load to burn through 15 tons of pellets in a year.

 

[bigbobs]

Pellets seemed like a good idea for about half a day. According to the pellet boiler salesman I spoke to, the 1000 gal of LP we burn is equivalent to roughly 5.5 tons of pellets. That 1000 gal heats less than 1/3 of our total sq footage, so I'd be looking at roughly 15 tons. At $300/ton I can buy 22 cords of wood cut and split for the same money, which I hope will be 2 years worth of heat through a wood boiler. No brainer unless that LP/propane ratio is way off.

State of NH publishes a fuel cost comparision chart here:

http://www.nh.gov/oep/energy/energy-nh/fuel-prices/index.htm

Which gives the BTU's per unit per fuel type.

If I did the math correctly, without factoring efficiencies in, I come up with 13 tons of pellets.

13 x $300/ton = $3900.00

Cord of wood at $200.00/cord = 19.5 cords

Your total heat load for the year is 211,33,000 BTU's

Using 20,000,000 BTU's/ cord you would use 11 cords of wood.

 

[Mt Bob]

I think you are comparing apples to oranges,comparing a gas boiler and wood stove to a pellet boiler.You would have to compare a pellet boiler and wood stove,or pellet boiler and pellet stove.Using your usage numbers,1000 gal gas = 5.5 tons,6 cords wood =4 tons,only you will get more heat out of the pellets vs a wood stove.Plus easier,less mess,more free time.

 

[sinnian]

/\ heat from the pellet boiler will always be even and where you want it too, unlike the wood stove ~ so I would think that would reduce pellet consumption a little bit too.