Why did I buy in a Pellet Stove in 2008

[UpStateNY]

Sometimes I forget why I bought a Pellet Stove in 2008, then I found an old fuel oil bill from 09/02/2014

In 2014 - 176.3 gallons at $3.449 a gallon = $608.06 wow holy bat stuff #$%^& bat man.
versus $200 a ton of pellets back in 2014

Ah yes now I remember why I bought that pellet stove.

Now days I heat with a new high efficiency propane at $1.45 a gallon or our new heat pumps at $0.15 a kwh for about $1300 a year for heating and domestic hot water.

Today's cost of $325 a ton for quality wood pellets is not cost effective compared to propane new high efficiency boiler and electric heat pumps. Hey you never know what the future will be. I am keeping my pellet stove just in case.

 

[tlc1976]

Always a good idea to have options and not have all your eggs in one basket.

 

[Tonyray]

yep... personally i like the steady heat of pellet stove as opposed to the on/off of my hot water baseboard heat..
warms up/cools down.. rinse/lather /repeat..
might cost bit more for the pellets but so does everything else... IMHO..
lot of people end up spending the savings somewhere else...it's our nature..lol

 

[Washed-Up]

Propane’s over 4.30$ CAD here, plus delivery, still cheaper for a Pelletstove, and I enjoy the maintenance side of them

 

[tlc1976]

It’s cheaper for me to burn pellets so I don’t have to heat the unfinished concrete basement with my boiler. If it wasn’t for that, I’m still not a fan of having a pipe in every room that can leak. I’m happy with having pellets to heat the living space, and keep the old boiler on standby as a backup. At least during the cold months when I need heat, otherwise it’s fully off.

 

[Pete Zahria]

Prices for all of the fuels you mentioned
vary soooo much geographically...
We have great pellets @289
electricity is 20¢
Propane is ~$4
Oil is ~$2.75

Dan

 

[SidecarFlip]

Biomass will always be cheaper for me, my corn is free and has been for the last 10 years now. One skid of pellets = 210 bucks for the entire year to mix with the corn. I have a very cheap date....

 

[SidecarFlip]

I am keeping my pellet stove just in case.

I would. Deja Vu can be costly...............

 

[bogieb]

I was paying $5.50/gal for propane in the winter of 2013/2014. Paying over $1k/month heating 950 sq/ft. The stoves paid for themselves very quickly. Even when the propane prices went down to normal, I have never paid less than $3.50/gallon (which would translate to roughly $636/month). A couple of weeks ago I paid $4.14/gal.

On top of that, my boiler does not heat the basement, except for minor heat bleed off. I can get pellets for anywhere from $220 to $260 per ton locally - not great pellets, but decent pellets that work well for me.

I go thru 5 to 6 tons per year. Assuming I never find any good deals on CL I spend $1,300 - $1,600 to heat all of my house for a season. Now, go back and read what I was spending per MONTH to heat only my main floor using propane in 2014. Even at the lowest price I've paid for propane, I would be spending over $2,400 for just 4 months of winter - and my heating season is longer than that.

 

[bogieb]

It’s cheaper for me to burn pellets so I don’t have to heat the unfinished concrete basement with my boiler. If it wasn’t for that, I’m still not a fan of having a pipe in every room that can leak. I’m happy with having pellets to heat the living space, and keep the old boiler on standby as a backup. At least during the cold months when I need heat, otherwise it’s fully off.

I do that too - the boiler's pilot light is only on during the colder months so it can step in as back up if needed. I turned off the gas line to it a couple of weeks ago and it should stay off until November or December.

 

[zrock]

Between gas and hydro i save well over $300 per month burning pellets. Now after 4 years i have gotten things fine tuned and barley use the furnace.. Only time my furnace gets kicked on is at night when the temps are lower than -10 just to keep some heat in the floors for the pipes

 

[SidecarFlip]

Bottomn line here is, we all si alternative heating because, lets face it, we are all frugal, also known as cheap,,,,,lol

 

[bogieb]

Bottomn line here is, we all si alternative heating because, lets face it, we are all frugal, also known as cheap,,,,,lol

When it is a choice of paying a house payment each month for heat (propane), versus a couple hundred dollars per month (pellets), people can call me cheap all they want

 

[maple1]

yep... personally i like the steady heat of pellet stove as opposed to the on/off of my hot water baseboard heat..
warms up/cools down.. rinse/lather /repeat..
might cost bit more for the pellets but so does everything else... IMHO..
lot of people end up spending the savings somewhere else...it's our nature..lol

Hot water baseboard heat shouldn't feel on and off like that. It's about the steadiest most comfortable way to heat an entire house. Maybe your system needs some tuning or settings readjusted? Forced hot air is another story, that can feel hot and cold, with the air current effect added in.

 

[Tonyray]

Hot water baseboard heat shouldn't feel on and off like that. It's about the steadiest most comfortable way to heat an entire house. Maybe your system needs some tuning or settings readjusted? Forced hot air is another story, that can feel hot and cold, with the air current effect added in.

We dont have the best insulated house.. 1920 2 story. To have all the walls torn out or, blow in insulation would take too many yrs to re-coup the $$. 1200 yr for pellets for us is better option..

 

[SidecarFlip]

We dont have the best insulated house.. 1920 2 story. To have all the walls torn out or, blow in insulation would take too many yrs to re-coup the $$. 1200 yr for pellets for us is better option..

Only 1920's, modern home. Ours is at least 150 years old. All pegged together with hand hewn beams. We had it resided and expanding foam put in with new windows. I not so fondly remember in the winter, the snow would collect INSIDE the bedroom windows. Electric blanket and woolies were SOP. Those were the days....

 

[clancey]

Gosh everyone of you are cheap...go get your love ones (wives) a little present with all the money you saved--that's what I say...clancey

 

[johneh]

I never buy my better half little presents only big ones
I saved all this money so when she retired we could travel
now we can't even get out of our province
WTF

 

[tlc1976]

Only 1920's, modern home. Ours is at least 150 years old. All pegged together with hand hewn beams. We had it resided and expanding foam put in with new windows. I not so fondly remember in the winter, the snow would collect INSIDE the bedroom windows. Electric blanket and woolies were SOP. Those were the days....

My dad has a 60s or 70s modular he bought in 1983. He’s still there. Growing up we had ice accumulate on the windows inside the house. Old socks and towels stuffed into them. Some walls had no insulation in them. We cut and burned wood because LP would be gone in no time. We had hardly any money so I knew how to survive when I ended up in the same predicament.

My last house was way better, but still felt like a rickety breezy shack compared to the house I’m in now. This one is 35 years old, original Andersen windows, and it’s still so airtight that the stove will choke and die without outside air.

 

[SidecarFlip]

Why I installed an outside air intake. No point in sucking in cold winter air and heating it needlessly. Bad enough we have to humidify it in the winter. I like to keep the RH around 40%.

 

[bogieb]

Gosh everyone of you are cheap...go get your love ones (wives) a little present with all the money you saved--that's what I say...clancey

I don't have a wife, I just buy myself presents every once in a while

 

[SidecarFlip]

I do but she supports me, I don't support her. I kiss her feet daily. If it wasn't for her, I'sd be living in a cardboard box, under a bridge somewhere.