Would you do it again?

[clancey]

I like the idea of a multi fuel stove and we just need to work on the idea of having less pollution and that's why I like cats but for some just too complicated (me)...But people need to have something for a energy back up--just in case...clancey

 

[SidecarFlip]

If you are anywhere near corn country it is worth it to have a multi fuel stove. Then you have options for fuels.

My thoughts exactly. My total heat bill for an average winter (for the house, not the shop) is 500 bucks, all in, 400 for 2 skids of pellets and a couple bucks to go pick up corn (diesel for the tractor) and the juice to run the stove... Pellets around here average 200 a ton.

 

[bogieb]

In a heart-beat I would do pellet stoves again. Only thing I would have done differently is not listen to the "experts" who told me that the P61 would heat my whole house just fine. I would have stuck with my original plan of getting two smaller stoves to begin with. Oh, the P61a should be able to heat the house, just the heat won't rise nor the cold settle. So once I ended up putting a smaller stove on my main floor anyway, my basement stove became way over-sized for that area.

But other than that beginning SNAFU, I love my stoves and they paid for themselves a long time ago as primary heat. I have a propane boiler and when I moved in I was paying $1,000 a month to heat the 950 sq/ft main floor to 64* - with no heat in the basement except residuals off the boiler. That made for very cold floors in my living area. Now I have both levels heated for $1,200-1,500 a season and my living area floors are warm.

The pellet heat price is on parr with what i was paying for running a new oil boiler at my previous house - and that was with running a wood stove at night and full time during weekends.

 

[mtnbiker727]

Pellets are expensive. I just took a quick look for decent brand pellets in my area and came back $300-$320 a ton...crazy. I like to buy at $250-$270.

If you've got a big truck and can rent a trailer, come up north and get a couple tons at once. I bought two tons in October and paid $260/ton. If I had a bigger place to store them in the summer, I could have got them for about $220 per ton in May or June.

 

[SidecarFlip]

TSC on pre buy was 200 a ton this year. Should have enough for next winter too, well maybe. My second hand 6039 is going in the shop.

 

[bbechtel16]

This is true, the first gas bill will be in a couple of weeks and get an idea what costs will be just keeping a low temp. All forms of heating seem to have their plus and minus. The most simple thing would be to get a higher btu gas insert - but then I would be tag teaming the gas meter. Wood would probably be a no-go as they abandoned the old chimney and moved the insert over 3 or 4 feet-unknown why this was done. Pellet is a little more labor intensive but is an alternate source - cheaper to run than a gas insert? ?? And there is the current Tax Credit as well.

If you live in town where you can get cheap utility natural gas, that's one of the cheapest (and easiest) ways to heat. I have to scratch my head about country folks switching to propane though. Although they are similar gases, they aren't similar at all in price. Propane is one of the most expensive. Supposedly these new heat pumps (think mini split) are really efficient heat sources, but I'm not sure how true that actually is. I know the colder it gets the less efficient they are?

 

[bbechtel16]

If you've got a big truck and can rent a trailer, come up north and get a couple tons at once. I bought two tons in October and paid $260/ton. If I had a bigger place to store them in the summer, I could have got them for about $220 per ton in May or June.

I've definitely thought about it. I run dry van trailers. But I don't really have any way to get a trailer near my house or to pick pallets. But my Harman dealer is literally 3 doors down from me. So on the rare occasion they have decent pricing, I talk nice to them and they drive their forklift right into my garage!

 

[johneh]

f you live in town where you can get cheap utility natural gas, that's one of the cheapest (and easiest) ways to heat. I have to scratch my head about country folks switching to propane though. Although they are similar gases, they aren't similar at all in price. Propane is one of the most expensive. Supposedly these new heat pumps (think mini split) are really efficient heat sources, but I'm not sure how true that actually is. I know the colder it gets the less efficient they are?

I heat with pellets and have a combination wood/propane furnace
the reason I switched from my old wood/oil combo to wood/propane
is that it saved me 250 dollars a year in insurance costs. In rural areas
insurance companies add a premium on your policy for oil heat. The propane is
to just keep them happy about my primary heat source. We would love to be
able to get NG but it will not be near my place in my lifetime

 

[SidecarFlip]

If you live in town where you can get cheap utility natural gas, that's one of the cheapest (and easiest) ways to heat.

For now. From what I've read in financial quarterlies, the cost of NG is going up, way up and utilities will pass that cost on to users in the form of a surcharge. You know who to thank for that.

 

[Sloleak]

For now. From what I've read in financial quarterlies, the cost of NG is going up, way up and utilities will pass that cost on to users in the form of a surcharge. You know who to thank for that.

Received an email from DTE saying my budget plan would be increasing from $50 a month to $100. That has not occurred..yet.

 

[SidecarFlip]

Received an email from DTE saying my budget plan would be increasing from $50 a month to $100. That has not occurred..yet.

it will, trust me.

 

[SidecarFlip]

I also strongly suspect the lead times on new (not in stock) stoves is directly attributable to supply chain issues. I do know the cost of steel has increased at least 30% from last year this time (I buy it) and at least some of the parts are coming from the far east including the IC's that control the stoves. We became way too dependent on cheaper goods made across the pond and now it's biting us in the behind across the board.

 

[Mt Bob]

LPG 4 days ago=$2.59. Today $2.66
Lots out this way sold their pellet stoves,over the last 4 years, because LPG and NG was so low. I bet they will be regretting it soon.

 

[SidecarFlip]

I'm almost willing to bet 'like my signature line says'... I bet half the owners of bio mass stoves never read the manual or bother to clean them regularly and then they come on here for advice when all they have to do is read the owners manual.

I wager that propane will hit 3+ a gallon by Christmas and NG won't be far behind. Dang gone biomass stove is looking better and better. Keeping the one I'm refurbishing. Going in the shop.

Like I've said elsewhere, we are headed for a recession or maybe a depression, all while the fiddlers in DC fiddle around.

 

[SidecarFlip]

If you've got a big truck and can rent a trailer, come up north and get a couple tons at once. I bought two tons in October and paid $260/ton. If I had a bigger place to store them in the summer, I could have got them for about $220 per ton in May or June.

Thats me. I can haul 28 thousand on my Goose Neck legally. 14 pallets of pellets and I own a hi-lo too.

 

[Mt Bob]

Yep,I find the same thing on the camper/rv forums, people ask dumb questions, and the answers are in their manual.
Well,I have a full LP tank, and 6 ton of pellets, I could go 2 years, for heat and cooking.

 

[SidecarFlip]

I actually have 3 500 gallon bottles sitting at 85% and I pre bought another 500 just in case. 7 ton of corn in the barn and 4 ton of pellets. Heat isn't an issue but food could be as well as gasoline and diesel.

 

[SidecarFlip]

I own an RV and I've never participated in any RV forums. Interesting, I guess.

 

[Mt Bob]

Well,my pantry is almost full,but should have a bit more in freezer. Fuel I am not too worried about,sometimes I go now where for a month at a time. Ya,I had to sign in,to get some info about a project I was doing,a while back.That is where I see all the full timers upgrading,and people buying new rv's that should not,right now.

 

[Pete Zahria]

Pellets have not gone up as much as oil/gas, has/will...
Dan

 

[Lordtimothy200]

This year I paid $925 for 10,000 lb of corn. Just over 5 bucks a bushel. That will more than get me through the winter. Still cheaper than pellets or feeding the electric meter with our electric furnace.

 

[Washed-Up]

For now. From what I've read in financial quarterlies, the cost of NG is going up, way up and utilities will pass that cost on to users in the form of a surcharge. You know who to thank for that.

The only benefit, for us up in Alberta, is maybe we can get out of this deficit a bit quicker.

 

[Sloleak]

Next step is to take a trip to the stealership and check some of these out in person. Any specific things to ask/look for?

 

[tlc1976]

Pellets have not gone up as much as oil/gas, has/will...
Dan

I paid the same as last year for my pellets, $235/ton, in July/August. They’re still the same price. They will go up and sometimes get rationed late winter and spring as supplies dwindle and winter temps drag on and on sometimes into June. That’s always happens. Last season it went to the equivalent of $280/ton. Before coming back down once supplies were restocked.

Nothing is guaranteed, take it as it comes. I have enough for this season and probably half of next season.

 

[Ocelot]

Not only would I do it again, I sort of did. I started with an Englander bought from Lowes back on 2009 and this year I sold the Englander EP-25 and upgraded to a Harman P43. We have a very small ranch style house and the pellet stove provides at least 90% of our heat. I go through about a half tank of oil per year. If it was just the two of us, I wouldn't need the furnace at all, but my wife has a licensed daycare here and the house has to be warm all day every day. The stove is on the opposite side of the house where the kids have no access to it so some cold mornings the furnace kicks on for a bit to warm up that side, then pellet stove maintains it the rest of the day with the help of a fan and cycling the furnace blower motor 10 minutes per hour which helps even out the house.

We love the stove for the added warmth it gives us in the living room and kitchen which is where most of our time is spent and we wouldn't keep it as toasty warm with just the furnace. Love the ambiance as well. I would use the pellet stove even if the heating cost were equal to oil because of those things I mentioned.

That said, I have physical problems and if it was just about money and I was healthier and younger, A traditional woodstove the way I grew up would be nice to. Not if I was buying the wood, but if I could just cut and split my own like I do for other purposes like camping, for out outdoor fireplace, and maple syrup evaporator. Free firewood for heat is a lot of work, but the cheapest option I can think of.

For me, the pellet stove is very convenient even though it's far from set it and forget it like people that don't have them think they are. I'm also a long time tech and tinkerer so I have no problem tearing things apart and rebuilding if necessary. I might occasionally get stumped for a bit an a weird problem, but forums like this are a big help.

Ray