Warmup Time

[SRMobile]

I'm still mulling over the idea of getting a wood pellet stove instead of using baseboard heating for this comming winter.


One thing I am curious about and I know this will obviously vary but how long does it take to warm up the immediate room the stove is in ? I'd put the stove on the main floor with approx dimensions of 40 x 15, open concept.

Also during the day, what do the rest of you do when your not home ? Do you use electric heat to keep the house above freezing and turn on the stove when you get in from work ? Do you leave the stove running all day on a low setting ?


Thanks in advance!

 

[tsmith]

I have a Quadra Fire Mt. Vernon AE, and it gets up to temp in about 20 minutes total from start up to shut down. I have it set at a certain temperature, and it stays there 24 hours a day, I never shut it down, it is my main source of heat. I feel very safe with it running. If you clean them and take care of them they will take care of you.

 

[SRMobile]

Thanks for the quick reply!

So with your particular experience, it is safe to leave the stove running all day long ?

I've read some concerns about running unattended is that there is a possibility of the wood pellets getting stuck and thus killing the fire, is this a legitimate concern ?

My initial thinking was to have the stove going when I got home from work up until I went to bed. I didn't think of the possibility of leaving it on all the time, perhaps during the day at a lower setting.

How much do you burn a day running the stove all the time ? If its a bag it borders what I pay for a day of basebord heating....

 

[imacman]

.... I know this will obviously vary but how long does it take to warm up the immediate room the stove is in ? I'd put the stove on the main floor with approx dimensions of 40 x 15, open concept.

Also during the day, what do the rest of you do when your not home ? Do you use electric heat to keep the house above freezing and turn on the stove when you get in from work ? Do you leave the stove running all day on a low setting ?......

Like you said, unless someone here has the same size room, same ceiling height, is the stove is located in the same place, and the starting temps are the same, how many doorways, etc, etc,...we really can't help much there....all we can do is to give examples of what we have & how it works.

My stove is in a 40'x15 great room w/ cathedral ceiling to top of 2nd flr. Also has open plan to kitchen. I keep the programmable stat at night at 65, and set to come up to 70 at 5:45 am. By 6:15, rooms are up to 67-68. Takes about an hour+ to get back to 70.

I leave my stove on stat 24/7 when the heating season starts (about now). I have it set for on-off now, but as it gets colder, will change to hi-lo.

 

[imacman]

Thanks for the quick reply!

So with your particular experience, it is safe to leave the stove running all day long ?

I've read some concerns about running unattended is that there is a possibility of the wood pellets getting stuck and thus killing the fire, is this a legitimate concern ?

My initial thinking was to have the stove going when I got home from work up until I went to bed. I didn't think of the possibility of leaving it on all the time, perhaps during the day at a lower setting.

How much do you burn a day running the stove all the time ? If its a bag it borders what I pay for a day of basebord heating....

There are many safety systems on these stoves, so running unattended isn't much of a problem. If your concern is frozen pipes, etc, then set your electric stat at a temp a little lower than the stove's...if stove goes out, eventually the electric will kick on & keep house above freezing point.

Just curious...what is your Kwh price for electricity? Unless it's VERY cheap, or your pellet cost is VERY high, haven't heard too many people that say electric is cheaper.

EDIT: A bag a day is about average in the winter. Even at $6.00/bag (very high), I'd think you'd use more than that for electric

 

[SRMobile]

.... I know this will obviously vary but how long does it take to warm up the immediate room the stove is in ? I'd put the stove on the main floor with approx dimensions of 40 x 15, open concept.

Also during the day, what do the rest of you do when your not home ? Do you use electric heat to keep the house above freezing and turn on the stove when you get in from work ? Do you leave the stove running all day on a low setting ?......

Like you said, unless someone here has the same size room, same ceiling height, is the stove is located in the same place, and the starting temps are the same, how many doorways, etc, etc,...we really can't help much there....all we can do is to give examples of what we have & how it works.

My stove is in a 40'x15 great room w/ cathedral ceiling to top of 2nd flr. Also has open plan to kitchen. I keep the programmable stat at night at 65, and set to come up to 70 at 5:45 am. By 6:15, rooms are up to 67-68. Takes about an hour+ to get back to 70.

I leave my stove on stat 24/7 when the heating season starts (about now). I have it set for on-off now, but as it gets colder, will change to hi-lo.

I knew that some stoves were programmable but I didn't realise you could set an entire schedule! Unless its because I'm looking at low end pellet stoves ?

My ceilings are about 10 feet so I'd imagine my place would warm up faster than yours since you have cathedral ceilings but it does give me an idea thanks!

 

[tsmith]

I have electric baseboard that i never turn on, but i had installed a new heat pump this summer, I needed a new A/C anyways , so I decided to go with the heat pump right away. I have the heat pump set at a lower temp than the stove as backup just incase my ignitor would not work or something dumb like that happens. I feel very comfortable running the stove when I am not at home, due to the fact as it has been said they have many safety features.

 

[tsmith]

Oh, I forgot to tell you that I burn corn, about a bushel a day, currently $3.60/bushel, so $3.60/ day to heat my home. I can live with that.

 

[SRMobile]

Thanks for the quick reply!

So with your particular experience, it is safe to leave the stove running all day long ?

I've read some concerns about running unattended is that there is a possibility of the wood pellets getting stuck and thus killing the fire, is this a legitimate concern ?

My initial thinking was to have the stove going when I got home from work up until I went to bed. I didn't think of the possibility of leaving it on all the time, perhaps during the day at a lower setting.

How much do you burn a day running the stove all the time ? If its a bag it borders what I pay for a day of basebord heating....

There are many safety systems on these stoves, so running unattended isn't much of a problem. If your concern is frozen pipes, etc, then set your electric stat at a temp a little lower than the stove's...if stove goes out, eventually the electric will kick on & keep house above freezing point.

Just curious...what is your Kwh price for electricity? Unless it's VERY cheap, or your pellet cost is VERY high, haven't heard too many people that say electric is cheaper.

EDIT: A bag a day is about average in the winter. Even at $6.00/bag (very high), I'd think you'd use more than that for electric

I'm going to have to wait until I get home to pull out a hydro bill.. I'll post it when I get the numbers. I can tell you for sure though that a 40lbs bag of pellets at Home Depot are 5.99$ CAD + tax.

Your help is much appreciated!

Cheers,

SR

 

[ShaneR34]

If you're going to invest in a stove and the pellets, you'd be giving up most of the cost advantage by not running it 24/7 in my opinion. All or nothing, as the saying goes I only used my electric when I had the stove shut down for cleaning AND it was bitterly cold out...my house holds heat pretty well.

As Macman said (and I do this), keep you electric at a low temp to just keep away the freezing in the event the stove does go off when you're not around. You'll be fine. And, once the stove works to get up to the temp you want, much more efficient to maintain that it is to shut down/restart.

And, I think all new timers go through the initial discomfort and hesitation about leaving the running 24/7 and unattended. Last year was my first season and I was like that, but after a month it wasn't a concern at all.

 

[peirhead]

I have a regular old noma programmable thermostat on my stove from Canadian Tire when it was 1/2 $ off....I think I can have up to 5 programs per day. This capability really doesn't have anything to do with which stove you have (unless it is a Quad Mt Vernon which has a funky controller built into the thermostat)

Just make sure the thermostat is a low voltage type not the one for electric heat. You will probably just use 2 wires and the instructions with them are pretty clear which wires to connect. I didn't bother with a wireless thermostat which some people like, just snuck the wires along the stove and wall and up behind the stereo cabinet.

 

[krooser]

I run mine 24/7 mid-October until April. If it's 50 or colder it's running. never any problems. Like others have siad these stove have lots of safety features built in like any oil or gas appliance would have...

Pellet heat is great.

 

[Dr_Drum]

. . .I have it set for on-off now, but as it gets colder, will change to hi-lo.

Now that's an option I seriously wish my Leyden had. It's on or off for me.
Mike -

 

[SRMobile]

I have a regular old noma programmable thermostat on my stove from Canadian Tire when it was 1/2 $ off....I think I can have up to 5 programs per day. This capability really doesn't have anything to do with which stove you have (unless it is a Quad Mt Vernon which has a funky controller built into the thermostat)

Just make sure the thermostat is a low voltage type not the one for electric heat. You will probably just use 2 wires and the instructions with them are pretty clear which wires to connect. I didn't bother with a wireless thermostat which some people like, just snuck the wires along the stove and wall and up behind the stereo cabinet.

Okay so if I understand correctly, you used a programmable thermostat instead of the one that came with your stove to set a schedule ?

I'm looking around and it seems I have very limited options; the local pellet / wood stove / alternative heating dealers want an arm and a leg and I'm basicaly left with:

Canadian Tire: (broken link removed to http://www.canadiantire.ca/AST/browse/3/HouseHome/1/HeatingAirConditioning/PelletStovesPipes.jsp)

Home Depot: http://www.homedepot.ca/webapp/wcs/...Ntx=mode+matchall&recN=0&N=0&Ntk=P_PartNumber

I can't find any documentation on the ParaMount....

 

[SRMobile]

Okay so I've calculated that last winter, during the coldest winter months it was costing me to heat my house (keeping it a little on the cold side) was on average 6.40$ per day..... If bags are 5.99$ + tax (roughly 6.80$) and I use a full bag every day it doesn't look like this will be cost efficient for me......

 

[CanadaClinker]

Hey SRMobile.... when I buy my pellets at CT, they only charge GST (5%).... works out to a total cost of $6.29 a bag (got lignetics though).....that may change however when they bring in the 'harmonized' tax .... anyway, get a stove with a big bay window then while you are sitting in front of it watching the fire and enjoying the warmth of it in your living room, you will forget all about your hydro bill....... I love siting in front of mine with my laptop (checking out this forum) in the evening with the dogs lying in front of it...... pretty hard to do that with electric heat (and I have some too)......... just my $ .02 ........ :lol:

 

[imacman]

Okay so I've calculated that last winter, during the coldest winter months it was costing me to heat my house (keeping it a little on the cold side) was on average 6.40$ per day..... If bags are 5.99$ + tax (roughly 6.80$) and I use a full bag every day it doesn't look like this will be cost efficient for me......

You heated your home with all electric for less than $200 a month in the winter??? Maybe, but I find it hard to imagine.

OK, even if your figures are correct, what's better for your family?:

electric heat - being cold trying to save 40 cents a day

or

pellet heat - your family is warm, happy, all for 40 more cents a day

And be honest...what did you REALLY have the electric stat set at? I'm guessing around 65 degrees?

BTW, how did you calculate the costs? Did you use something like this?:

(broken link removed to http://www.pelletheat.org/3/residential/compareFuel.cfm)

 

[SRMobile]

Okay so I've calculated that last winter, during the coldest winter months it was costing me to heat my house (keeping it a little on the cold side) was on average 6.40$ per day..... If bags are 5.99$ + tax (roughly 6.80$) and I use a full bag every day it doesn't look like this will be cost efficient for me......

You heated your home with all electric for less than $200 a month in the winter??? Maybe, but I find it hard to imagine.

OK, even if your figures are correct, what's better for your family?:

electric heat - being cold trying to save 40 cents a day

or

pellet heat - your family is warm, happy, all for 40 more cents a day

And be honest...what did you REALLY have the electric stat set at? I'm guessing around 65 degrees?

BTW, how did you calculate the costs? Did you use something like this?:

(broken link removed to http://www.pelletheat.org/3/residential/compareFuel.cfm)

Hi macmac,

No I didn't use the link your provided but it does look interesting. What I did was took my highest energy bill from last year From Dec 16 2008 - Feb 24 2009 (71 days). I divided my bill (454.46$) by the number of days and got the average consumption per day.

Now everything I've read is that I'll be burning about a bag a day give or take a few lbs. So looking at the 6.40$/ day for my electric baseboard heating, vs the 6.80$ /day doesn't make sence for me since I am only taking the worst case scenario from last year and not the other winter months that were bellow this high average.

I've come to learn that I am spoiled in terms of the cost of electricity here in Quebec. I found a chart on the Hydro Quebec website that put things into perspective: (broken link removed to http://www.hydroquebec.com/residential/prix.html)

I live in Montreal, so according to that I pretty much get the cheapest power in North America.

I currently have programmable thermostats that bring the temp to 15C (59F) during the day and 30 minutes before I come home, they bring the temp up to 18C(64.4F) and if I'm a little chilly in the particular room I'm in I bump up the temp to 19C(66F).

If it weren't for going through a bag everyday I would be all over this.

Unless I am missing something and people have misinformed me that I won't be going through a bag a day ?

I appreciate all your input and your help.

Cheers,

SR

 

[packerfan]

I'd plan on easily burning more than a bag a day when we get into the colder months. A bag a day seems to be what I burn until the temperature gets below freezing. When it gets really cold around here, I'll go through 2 bags/day.
My home could use some insulation updating, but that is the approximate amount of pellets I burn.

How well insulated is your home? You might be better off using all that $$$$ that you are thinking about spending on a stove and pipes for updating the insulation, windows, and or doors on your home. Just a thought, but worth taking a look at also.

 

[Lorilooo]

We like the distribution of heat with the pellet stove much better than with oil heat. Once the house gets up to a comfortable temp, it stay warmer longer with the pellet stove. Of course, all of this depends on many things, layout of your house, placement of stove, size of stove, how well your home is insulated, on and on. Like others have said in the past, a pellet stove is an oversized space heater. I can only tell you that we love ours, and it works great for our applicaton.

 

[SNAPMAN61]

My stove is pumping heat within 15-20 minutes of start-up . We run it 24-7 with no problems so far(2nd season). We have baseboard heating and set it at 55-60 just in case the stove shuts down. My Regency is quiet, and troublefree................