Thinking of switching to a pellet stove

[dakjd03]

Last year I put in an osburn 1600 wood burning insert. it heats ok, but the burn times are just not even Close to long enough. So I'm thinking of selling it and getting a pellet stove. Being a little short on the cash I was looking at Lowes and home Depot. I checked the reviews and they seem to be kind of mixed. I don't have any specific one in mind, I'm looking to heat about 1200sq ft. Does anyone have experience with any of those models ? Any
input is appreciated. Thanks in advance

 

[claydogg84]

What sort of burn times are you getting/wanting? The type of wood you're burning also plays a big part in that as well.

 

[gfreek]

Pellet stoves put out a different type of heat. The Osburn puts out up to 60,000 btu ? I think you'd need a large pellet stove to match that. Don't know the specs for stoves at HD or Lowes, Assume they are by England Stove Works : Summers Heat and Englanders

 

[dakjd03]

Yes, they are summers heat and englander I was looking at, they're rated for 1500 square feet, my osburn is rated at 1600. When I got it they salesman told me it would work since I only have about 1200 to heat (the 1500sq ft I posted before was a typo). I've only been able to get maybe 4 hours or so of burn time. if I load it up about midnight sometimes the blower is still going but the air isn't all that warm when I get up at 6. sometimes it's not blowing at. I got it late in the year last year and the first cord I got wasn't very seasoned. the stuff I got after that put out really nice heat, but it still didn't last all that long. now I'm just burning a mix of what I could scrounge, some mulberry, maple and other I'm not sure about. the burn time is the biggest reason I'm thinking about switching considering if I load it up at 6 it's done by lunchtime and I don't get home until around 6 at night to get it going again. the time spent cutting, splitting and stacking factors in a little to

 

[claydogg84]

All newer EPA stoves require dry wood to burn efficiently. It sounds like you're looking for around 12 hour burn time, right? That's going to be pretty tough regardless of the type of wood. I do agree, there is a ton of work involved in heating a home with wood and for your application you may be better off with a pellet stove. Unfortunately I know nothing about them, but I wish you luck!

 

[dakjd03]

a 12 hour burn time would be perfect! thanks for your help

 

[claydogg84]

Blaze King stoves offer long burn times, you could always check them out.

 

[johnnyb1970]

I just purchase Lowes new Englander 1500 square ft been using it for a month and its excellent. I would recommend to anyone can't beat it for the price....

 

[dakjd03]

How long of a burn do you get from a full hopper?

 

[Pellet-King]

Your burning the "softwood" of hardwood, no Oak in your area?, before the pellet stove I burned wood in a Consolidated Dutchwest wood stove I bought new in 1987, It was in the basement and heat blew me out, over 90 down there and heated my 1300 sqft Cape easily

 

[bags]

Depending on the outside temps and speaking in general most pellet stoves will use between 1 to 2 bags a day so if you are using 2 bags you will get 12 hours burn times for 1 bag. I can not speak for the stoves you are looking at because I do not own one but many people here do. Some larger stoves like mine I could see getting into 3 to 4 bags tops per day in a worst case scenario during extremely brutally cold weather. You might consider hopper size for longer in between loading and burn times. Still with a 40 to 50 lb. hopper I estimate you will get 12 hrs.

In the beginning I was not using a bag a day though and many base their usage on a bag per day average for the season or 3 to 4 tons. This will vary. I am on track with others and only burnt one ton in a month so far. The most I have used in a 24 hr. period is about 2.5 bags and we have had some cold weather. My unit is 68,000 BTU's also. It's a pig vs. others in pellet consumption. I expect to use a little more than most heating what I am and the stove I have. Beats the hell out of wood for me right now. I have no regrets going the pellet route. I also have tons of free wood (farm), but as you know it's a bunch of time and work.

For many years previously I heated with wood 100% and fully understand where you are coming from. I started with a Lopi insert in 1984 which is not very efficient to begin with but was great at that time in caveman history. Still have it and will keep it. Wasn't bad before the wife and kids and I was younger. I would drag my wood in for the night, get up to reload, and many times sleep on the couch so it wasn't as much of a hassle to come down stairs and throw more wood in. Still sucked waking up cold many times in the morning and getting it rolling again before leaving for work.

Ten years ago I upgraded to a Woodmaster 5500 OWB and that took care of heating and burn times no problem. Tossed some in before work and another load in the evening. But Damn! I was using a lot of wood. Tons of work cutting etc; I still will use it and like it but I bought a pellet stove mainly for the shoulder season to reduce the amount of wood I use each season. I bought my pellet stove thinking I would heat in the beginning and end of the winter.

I am pleasantly surprised and have no doubts I could heat all season easily with the pellet stove. The work involved can not be compared between the two. 40 lb. bags are much easier than cord wood. Night and day. I am sure a pellet stove will do what you are wanting to do and then some. I will say it again. I wish I had bought one a decade ago. Good Luck!

 

[TimfromMA]

Unlike a wood stove, lighting a pellet stove is as easy as walking over to the wall and pressing a button.

 

[Pellet-King]

Unlike a wood stove, lighting a pellet stove is as easy as walking over to the wall and pressing a button.

Ha, I wish!, Gel start here but once I lite it's stay on constant for a week until cleaning

 

[bugman31964]

After heating with firewood for the last 24 years, primary heat for many of those years, we put in a pellet stove this year. Summers Heat 55-SHP22 from Lowes and I am scratching my head as to why I didn't do this years ago. Soooo much less work involved and it heats my 2,400 sqft home very well. The furnace runs a little, but once the house is warmed up the pellet stove does maintain the temperature.

 

[Chrisnow86]

I bought myself a pellet stove for this exact reason... My woodstove was my only sorce of heat and I was sick of coming home to a cold house and wakeing up in the middle of the night to load the stove up.. I had a old nashua and buring seasoned oak I would get 6 to 8 hours out of a burn... After spending all my free time outside dropping trees and splitting them, and quite frankly sick of that. I bought a pellet stove... I love it I get 12 to 24 hours out of a load of pellets (depending on temperature outside) I bought a englander pdv 25 the big brother to the one you are looking at and its been really good...

 

[mustangwagz]

I'm 29 years old, my parents heated this house with wood since i was about 7? Then i took over in 2006 and kept heating with wood. Countless days and weekends Looking for, Cutting, Hauling, splitting and stacking wood. Even started buying log truck loads just to make it easier.

Then i found a pellet stove for 100 bucks, bought all equipment needed and fired it up in october. Its an older unit, rated for just under what my home sq footage is. Also, my home is probably the most inefficient home in the area..lol no joke. This season will be my test run on pellet stove VS the wood burner. SO FAR, results are night and day. The pellet stove is easier to deal with and SO much cleaner. Bring my bags of firewood in, dump em in and push the button to set the temp. Done. 10-12 hours later (depending on temps and such) i may have to top it off again. So freaking nice!! With the wood burner, it was every couple hours i had to feed it, and constantly kept an eye on flue temps just to be safe. Bringing TONS of wood inside, along with dirt, dust, mud snow etc etc.

Also, another nice factor is the Happiness the pellet stove brings... The wife LOVES the No mess, and Ease of use compared to the wood furnace. Sure, there's electronics involved, and things can go wrong with it...but thats almost everything now a days. But, thats the price ya pay for Convenience. A woodburner has little to go wrong with it i understand that but theres a lot of work involved too. i like both of my heating devices, but if i can successfully get through the Western PA winter this year with my pellet stove, id have to say that the big bad wood furnace will be a thing of the past for my indoor home application. The wood furnace will get re-homed to my garage where it can Roast out all my toys! lol

Fair warning, if you get a pellet stove and your happy...just remember...we toldja so! lol Good luck fellow "yinzer"

 

[TimfromMA]

A friend of mine who lives in NH and burns cord wood, told me that they passed a law making it illegal to transport firewood across county lines. Hes now considering a pellet stove since wood just got alot harder to find.

 

[Tony garofalo]

If you are in pa .You should look at a coal stoker stove , I had a pellet stove and I used about a bag a day heating 1,000 sq. feet I bought a coal stoker and now I burn a half a bag a day and I keep the house at 75 all the time .My hopper holds 2 bags of coal that I only fill up every other day , Same with the ash. I just can not believe how good this stove works . Good luck in what ever route you go.

 

[woodmakesheat]

A friend of mine who lives in NH and burns cord wood, told me that they passed a law making it illegal to transport firewood across county lines. Hes now considering a pellet stove since wood just got alot harder to find.

I hadn't heard of this so I did some research:

The emerald ash borer has prompted the state to extend its firewood quarantine to Rockingham and Hillsborough counties, after researchers recently found the pest in communities in both areas.

Merrimack County has also been under quarantine for the ash borer, which was first found in New Hampshire in 2013 and is considered the most destructive forest pest in North America. Federal regulations require the state to quarantine the county where the ash borer was found to prevent the spread to other parts of the state.

The quarantine prohibits people from taking firewood from within the area and transporting it outside the quarantine. Firewood can be transported between quarantined counties, but experts urge caution when doing so. Less than 1 percent of the ash trees in a quarantine area are affected, but the chance of the pest spreading increases when the wood is transported.

...

http://www.concordmonitor.com/commu...uppliers-to-be-cautious#.VGO6h2zJgis.facebook

 

[Tony garofalo]

Look here.http://nepacrossroads.com/ dakjdo3 this may help you find your Info..

 

[bugman31964]

Maine has a simlar policy on transporting firewood.

 

[bags]

So does KY, OH, and IN. Especially the Tri-State area. Mainly crossing state lines for the same reason and some county. They started around here in Ohio. My friend was involved in a study involving the Emerald Ash Borer. Nasty ass little bugs. It has decimated a lot of ash trees mainly in Ohio but has spread from there somewhat. All of my ash is unaffected so far. Great burning wood and used to be fairly valuable but with the borer flooding the market prices are nothing. It's worth more as firewood now even though Louisville Sluggers are ash and it's a good hardwood.

It's excellent firewood though. Damn Buckeyes! Messing things up again for the KY and IN folks. LOL! If ya can't tell the is a lot of ribbing between us.

 

[bbfarm]

Wisconsin as the no wood transport across counties also, but I don't think anyone polices this

 

[dakjd03]

thanks for all the help, as much as I hate to do it considering I just spent 2300 on this insert last year I think I might have to go ahead and make the switch. now the only ones that really fit my budget are the ones at home depot or lowes. any thoughts on the long term durability of these models?

 

[gfreek]

Can you keep the wood burner and install a pellet stove in another spot ? That way you have best of both. Don't forget , power goes out so does the pellet stove, unless you have backup.. I see the Osburn has a fan, but I'm sure it would still radiate heat..