Right on schedule consumption wise...

[SidecarFlip]

Running close to 3/4 ton a month on pellets (Sommersets) and about 1000 pounds of shelled corn per month. Just about where I was at last year factoring in it was a pellet only year (no corn, to high price wise).

I'm on track to burn 5 ton of pellets and 7,000 pounds of corn, give or take depending on weather.

Cleaning the stove every weekend and a deep clean every other week with a stack clean monthly.

Maintaining 70 in the house and trying to hold the RH above 35%, trying.

The Somersets quality is comparable to last year, maybe slightly less ash but certainly more hard carbon., but that could be the corn. Test weight was a bit low.

Running the modded pot with a stirrer. If corn stays low (which I think it will), next year I'll switch to the clinker pot and run corn at 90%.......

Other than the routine cleanings it's been running 24/7 continuously since it turned colder.

Nice being toasty.

 

[BrotherBart]

Burned a little under a half cord of wood so far. And haven't fired the pellet puppy yet. Thanks for reminding me why I don't live in Michigan.

 

[SidecarFlip]

I'm not all that fond of Michigan myself but owning a farm here kind of locks me in. I'd prefer a warmer climate at least over the winter. The older I get the more I dislike the weather.

 

[Wilbur Feral]

We burned less than projected for Oct and Nov with two stoves both years, but Dec is over projections, which were based on last year. We burned 14 bags in Oct and 38 in Nov, and project 51 for Dec but have burned 19 as of last night (11th) so are likely to exceed that. Cloudy days have biggest effect as they reduce our passive solar gain, a big factor in this house.

Pres-To-Logs are definitely ashier than last year, and heat output seems a bit lower. Pellet appearance is definitely lighter in color by a marked amount. Monthly deep clean for each stove may need to happen every 3 weeks based on higher ash output, which detracts from value of lower price for Prestos.

Started year with just over 6 tons on hand, about 10% more than projected and near our max storage limit. Plan to switch to Hamers in Jan but may do so a few days early if cold snap hits. Also hope to find Energex and burn about 10 bags as a test for next year, but no luck on that so far. Unwilling to pay $7 per bag to test anything else (the going rate for pellets at Agway, one of the only local places that has anything in inventory I haven't tried before). Box stores perpetually out of inventory in our area.

 

[TimfromMA]

I'm down to my last 11,240lbs

 

[cdodge04]

Haven't even burned half a ton here in Maine yet!

 

[Golfeur]

I have 70 bags to burn since October
I'm from Val d'Or in Quebec it is cold here

 

[Big E]

I'm from Val d'Or in Quebec it is cold here

I almost made it to Val d'Or on snowmobile in 2002. Made it to Maniwaki and as far as Lac Joncas, had to many breakdowns on that trip

 

[Golfeur]

how did you enjoy the trails and I hope you enjoy your trip.
in Maniwaki you it was missing 300 km by road to get you to Val d'Or.

 

[bags]

I have to make it 5 more days on 9 more bags! When I burn these last 9 bags it will be 2 tons since Oct 18th with a P68 and it has been below average temps here all season for the most part. I am stoked! Pun intended too. I have also ran my stove to extremes playing around with it cranking the house temps to 82* at one point and it has been keeping the house at 75* on average which I would normally be at about 70*.

I have snuck it down to 70* here and there but then she catches me. I made her complain it was too hot in here during an extreme (record setting) cold snap. No fluff here at all. I hate high hopes and disappointment big time. Nothing but the facts. If I dip into another ton for a few bags to make it til the 18th at 75* temps I will update. Fingers crossed and it is warming slightly this week. NICE!

I made a mistake and the wife was spoiled with the excessive heat of the Woodmaster OWB. I figured why not keep the house at boxers and flip flop temps all winter then because it was a use it or lose it deal with all the heat it produces. Now she and the 3 rug rats have grown accustom to being overly warm which I was doing with the P68 too. This bit me in the ass! I will start to gradually throttle it down to hit my 70* goal.

I am still pumped up about it's performance and the way it is heating our home. I am now happier after I just did a count and realize where I am in pellet usage. I was not keeping track but just kept dumping bags as needed. I started with 2 tons I stacked into the garages. Seeing this I went out for a count and have 9 left for 5 days which tells me I am so far averaging a ton per month. SWEET! I estimate I will be every bit of 5 tons all said and done. I can live with that even if I am into ton # 6. That's still great for what I am doing here.

 

[TimfromMA]

Seems like alot. Im up here in MA and ive only burned 3/4 ton.

 

[Wilbur Feral]

Seems like alot. Im up here in MA and ive only burned 3/4 ton.

But are you keeping your house at 75? THAT seems like a lot.

 

[bags]

Tim,
It has been well below average temps here so far and I have not been doing anything to conserve pellets really. My friend in MD has had warmer weather up there. Not sure about NH. I want to see what a max consumption scenario might be. It's also a 68K BTU stove so it's going to use more pellets. I will likely burn an estimated 5 tons this season. Still beats 10- 12 cords of wood.

 

[Peterfield]

I normally burned 3.5 to 4 cord augmented with oil. I am hoping to use three to four tons of pellets and not use oil at all. Gone through just over 1 ton thus far.

 

[SidecarFlip]

Last couple days have been unseasonally balmy here, 50 today actually (I picked Brussels Sprouts this afternoon). The stove is basically idling and has been for a couple days and using hardly any fuel (maybe 1/4 bag of pellets and a half bucket of corn and that saves me pellets). The corn, well, whats left gets fed to the steers anyway.

 

[bags]

I normally burned 3.5 to 4 cord augmented with oil. I am hoping to use three to four tons of pellets and not use oil at all. Gone through just over 1 ton thus far.

I burned a lot of wood. OWB I think your goals are realistic. I wanted to use pellets primarily for the shoulder seasons. Now I am going to heat all season with pellets only without a doubt.

 

[bags]

We've had a nice spike in warmer temps here too. It's 44* outside right now at 10:49 PM. Not sure if we hit 50 but likely. Forecast was saying upper 40's and I didn't check the outside thermometer. Looked in the hopper about an hour ago and hardly used any pellets idling all day as it's doing now. I'll take it!

 

[SidecarFlip]

If I had a mind to, I could take my PTO driven chipper, chip logs (which I normally use for bed mulch), take the chips and put them in my hammermill feed grinder (have to change the screens), hammer them to a slurry and extrude them in a Chinese extruder...seems like too much work however. I chipped literally a mountain of hardwood limbs this year. Everything under 8'diameter gets chipped.. I give the rest away. No wood burner here.

 

[SidecarFlip]

We've had a nice spike in warmer temps here too. It's 44* outside right now at 10:49 PM. Not sure if we hit 50 but likely. Forecast was saying upper 40's and I didn't check the outside thermometer. Looked in the hopper about an hour ago and hardly used any pellets idling all day as it's doing now. I'll take it!

You basically get the same weather as wel do. Looking at some precip tomorow according to NWS.

It's nice running on a remote T'stat and letting the unit (think for itself).....

 

[Bioburner]

In a winter storm warning for tomorrow. First freezing rain and fog then maybe some snow as it all went with the past 48 hours was well above freezing. Shut the stoves down for awhile today.

 

[TimfromMA]

But are you keeping your house at 75? THAT seems like a lot.

I sweat at anything over 69.

 

[bags]

I sweat at anything over 69.

I'm with you but the wife has a blanket while lounging when it's 95* and humidity is high in July if the AC is too cool. I am already in the process of hitting my 70* mark. Been creeping it down. I was really experimenting and running the stove thru some paces. Trust me. It won't be 75 in here all winter. Way to hot for me and she can put on warmer clothes. This all started years ago with the OWB.

I have some leverage. I'll ask her if she'd rather dress a little warmer and keep it at 70* with the pellet stove or prefer to start chucking wood and keep it at 75*. DONE! She despises the cold. She hates chucking wood in the cold more. That was a major reason for getting a pellet stove.

 

[TimfromMA]

My pellet stove could make the house 90 if I let it.

 

[SidecarFlip]

I'm with you but the wife has a blanket while lounging when it's 95* and humidity is high in July if the AC is too cool. I am already in the process of hitting my 70* mark. Been creeping it down. I was really experimenting and running the stove thru some paces. Trust me. It won't be 75 in here all winter. Way to hot for me and she can put on warmer clothes. This all started years ago with the OWB.

I have some leverage. I'll ask her if she'd rather dress a little warmer and keep it at 70* with the pellet stove or prefer to start chucking wood and keep it at 75*. DONE! She despises the cold. She hates chucking wood in the cold more. That was a major reason for getting a pellet stove.

Part of that might the lack of humidity. It 'feels' cooler than it is when the TH is low. I try to keep the humidity up all the time with poatable humidifiers, one in the greateoom by the stove and another in the back of the house far from the stove. I go through about 7 gallons of water every 24 hours.

My issue is, I can't use well water (too much dissolved minerals that collect on the humidifier wick and render it useless) so I have to bring home city water from Toledo in plastic jugs for the units, six 7 gallon plastic RV water totes at a time. A bit inconvenient but a better alternative than changing expensive humidifier filters daily....

My wife is always cold too but that seems to help. Must be a getting older thing........

 

[SidecarFlip]

In a winter storm warning for tomorrow. First freezing rain and fog then maybe some snow as it all went with the past 48 hours was well above freezing. Shut the stoves down for awhile today.

Thats not good....freezing rain. Thats power outage stuff and slide off the road stuff, especially with a warm surface. Nothing here but some rain but it's not here yet (9:20am). Just cloudy, still balmy, in fact the stove has been idling all night and today so far. Fuel usage is inconsequential.