Trade deal in the works from wood to pellets

[Dustin]

I posted this on the pellet forum as well. Figured I would post here incase there was some insight from the wood burner side of the house...

I won't be totally going away from wood burning, I have a stove in my living room, thinking of swapping the insert from the family room to pellet.

I posted on CL, a shot in the dark looking for someone to trade. I have a quad 4100i insert.

This is the response I got. I don't know jack about pellet stoves I values, maybe some insight from the crew will help?

(broken link removed to http://portland.craigslist.org/clk/hsh/3984777130.html)

Thanks dudes,
Dustin

 

[BrotherBart]

The pellet pup looks like an older Lopi Yankee Bay. Only comment I have is that your wood stove probably isn't filled with wear items and that pellet stove is. It is a crapshoot as to what you would need to replace and when since the pellet insert is a few years old.

 

[webby3650]

Why do you want to go to pellets? Like BB said, they are full of working parts that are expensive and often troublesome. Not to to mention they cost about $8 a day just for fuel. I'm not sure how fuel is priced in your area, but around here an LP or natural gas stove is more economical to run than a pellet stove. At least the gas stove heats the entire room.

 

[NortheastAl]

I went from pellets to wood and found it easier and more enjoyable. Pellet stoves can be plagued with problems. Electronics, like the control board, can cost $400 or more. Then there's motors for the auger and fans. And, when the power is out, so are you. And don't think you can run a pellet stove off any old generator. It has to be regulated or you burn out the board, like I did. Scare you enough yet?

 

[Dustin]

You guys being up some great points! I guess the entire reason would be for ease of operation. It would be nice to hit the switch and walk away. But if I was going to do that, I guess I could just buy a heat pump?

I love my wood stove..but with it being my only heat source other then electric baseboards, by the end of the season I'm a little tired of it

 

[alforit]

You guys being up some great points! I guess the entire reason would be for ease of operation. It would be nice to hit the switch and walk away. But if I was going to do that, I guess I could just buy a heat pump?

I love my wood stove..but with it being my only heat source other then electric baseboards, by the end of the season I'm a little tired of it

Then get a Blaze King

 

[Dustin]

Then get a Blaze King

Been looking for an excuse. If I can sell the wife on it, with the excuse that she can easily run it, I might be in!

 

[webby3650]

Been looking for an excuse. If I can sell the wife on it, with the excuse that she can easily run it, I might be in!

The Blaze King is only stove I have had so far that my wife never got the hang of operating. That's only because she never had to touch it!

 

[stovelark]

Hi Dustin, there are a few of us hams here too (N4GCN) and hearth guy. I understand the desire to use pellets too, I have both in my house (pellet and wood). Here on this forum you might take a bit of ribbing talking pellets..... however replacing a 4100 Insert, you should look for a quad CB1200 pellet insert, will look and heat about the same as the 4100 insert. Bear in mind tho, a pellet stove doesn't heat like, or feel like a wood stove, there definitely is no substitute- coming from a guy who likes pellet stoves too! They each have pros and cons, you'll need to decide that. 73

 

[blades]

Hi Dustin, I see you are getting some heat, and I do not mean from a stove. I have a big stove upstairs and a wood furnace in basement. Furnace is going south ( 1. it was a cheappie. 2. hate carrying wood down stairs. ) So I picked up a pellet unit for basement. I only run basement unit when working down there ( the cheapie furnace can't be trusted to not runaway with a full load so ya gots to baby sit it) The pellet unit will give me a bit more freedom and a lot less mess to deal with ( if I had a walk out basement it would likely be a different story) If I were buying csd wood vs pellets I would be ahead cost wise on the pellets, considering they are about the same price in my area, course no one sells wood that you can burn the same season you get it unlike pellets so storage requirements greatly reduced with pelets and I can safely store a large amount of pellets downstairs, no bugs ect. As far a gen sets go cheap units have a dirty output good ones are pricey but have a good smooth sine wave output sometimes better than the local utility. ( got a T shirt on that). Expensive appliances and such should always have a filter on the line ahead of them, Utilities take no responsibility and Ins. co are getting picky. It is a rare occurrence to come out on top of either one court wise.