| Author | Message | ||
     Wolfridgerider |
Anyone out there using a pellet stove to heat your home? I live in a rural area and my home is all electric. I dropped over $8500 bucks a couple of years ago on a new furnace & heat pump. The good news, my electric usage dropped by about a 3rd. The wonderful, bend me over news. The price of electricity went up about 30 percent. I am thinking about getting a pellet furnace and was looking for some input This is a link to furnace I am thinking about. http://www.usstove.com/index.php?route=product/pro duct&path=125&product_id=979 Thanks!! | ||
| Ratbuell |
I used a pellet stove for 17 years in my old house. Loved it. Inexpensive, reliable, and a good workout every 5 weeks when it was "pallet-o-pellets-time" - 2,000 lbs, or (50) 40 lb bags  My tenants are still using it and they love it too. Mine was an Englands Stove Works, don't ask me the BTU's because at this point I have no clue. House was a split foyer, about 1200 sf per level, and I placed the stove at the bottom of the stairs. I kept one auger motor, and one blower motor, on hand at all times for spare/replacement. I think it went through a motor every 2 or 3 years - dust, heat, gunk, I figured that was acceptable. Used the electricity of a 100w light bulb. On bitter cold days, I'd go through a bag every 24 hours - and by bitter cold, I mean single to negative digits F. Install is simple - fireproof flooring, 1' spacing to walls (I cheated, and went 4" because I used ceramic tile on the walls around it). The 4" double-wall chimney is rated for 0" to drywall (direct contact). I put a cleanout on my chimney, outside the house - horizontal pipe came out of the house, into a tee. Top of the tee was the chimney stack, going up to the roofline; bottom of the tee was a removable plate. Every month or so, I'd pull it and use a piece of PVC long enough to reach the top, and just tap up and down the exterior, until all the ash dropped out. When it stopped dumping, I'd put the cap back on and go another month. Low ash pellets are key. I had good luck with Southern States, they always had decent pellets for a good price. Low ash burns hotter, more heat per bag, and less ash left behind. Once a week, I'd let it burn out totally and cool. Open it up, shop-vac the burn cup, clean the glass so I could see in there again...and fire it back up. That said, I have a heat pump in my current house and ...well... I love it. My pellet was my sole heat source; I think using it as a supplement, or for spot-heat in "the room you use most", definitely makes it worthwhile. "Can" it heat the whole house? Absolutely. But...I'm getting old, decrepit, and lazy - and I like simply going to a thermostat and pushing a button. Not AS efficient (dollar-wise) as the pellet stove per month, but the lack of having to schlep bags of pellets every 5 weeks...its kinda nice. And if you're not careful, you can run into a pellet shortage - undoubtably at the same time you experience a personal pellet shortage (i.e. time to buy pellets and everyone's out of stock). | ||
| Aesquire |
The advantages of the pellet burner are that fuel cost is "reasonable" and you can store a winters worth with some homebuilt ( local code approved ) shelter. The downsides are that the pellets from different vendors have different size tolerances. So the batch you buy this month runs great, and next months from a different source jam up and just will not work. So you have to check to be sure locally available pellets fit your feed mechanism. The other problem is irregularity in seasonal supply, which you overcome by buying in bulk. Usually a years worth. That aspect of it is attractive on an emotional level, since it's prepaid heat, and even in a crunch you don't freeze. ( as long as you have electric ) I don't know from brands, but that looks good. Multifuel, ( corn! ) big though. How many square feet are you heating? | ||
| Wolfridgerider |
2500 sq ft ranch with a couple of vaulted ceilings. My electric bill at its worst was over $600 last January Lowest, last October $200 | ||
| Wolfridgerider |
Just a FYI, I am on the "budget" So my bill is $350 monthly I'm not to happy with that to say the least. | ||
| Orman1649 |
Definitely check out the price of pellets before you invest in a stove. When I was shopping around they really weren't all that good a deal. I went with a wood insert instead. It's definitely not as convenient but I haven't spent $1 on wood...although I have spent a pretty decent amount of time splitting it. | ||
| Torquehd |
2 years ago, I was renting a place that had a pellet stove. I'm assuming it wasn't an efficient model. I'd burn through a half a bag of pellets a per night on the lowest setting. It actually cost more to run the pellet stove than to rely on the electric heaters. And, you can't run them in the even of a power outage (unless you have a generator of course). I can't wait to put a woodstove in my new place. I can get wood super cheap nearby (free if I fell my own trees, but I only have a couple acres). And as I've heard many "old-timers" say, splitting wood is the best way to stay warm in the winter (I did it most winters as a kid). It's good exercise, and it gets you off the couch. Or you could consider a hydraulic splitter. | ||
| Brother_in_buells |
Tulikivi and Nunnauuni (massive) soapstone stoves are very nice!. Well you have to get used to the color and /or models and they are heavy ,but the heat is perfect! Have it burning for a couple of hours (small pieces of wood) and after that 24+ hours of great warmth in your home! | ||
| Hughlysses |
Mark- I can imagine you're getting killed where you're located. A heat pump is only effective down to about 35 degrees F or so when it reverts to straight electric heat, so I'd bet a lot of the time you're running straight electric heat. Do you not have gas available where you are? Natural is cheapest but propane might be better than electric. You can actually add a gas furnace downstream of your heat pump and set it up so that is your system uses gas supplemental heat rather than straight electric when it's too cold outside. | ||
| Arcticktm |
Hugh, I thought modern heat pumps can do quite a bit better than down to 35F. They are standard issue in NC (even in our colder western NC mountains), and our almost 10 year old unit will go down to about 20F (when at full charge, it now has a slow leak so it is struggling) before it reverts to electric resistance heat (auxiliary mode). I have read that high end modern units can go almost to 0F, but efficiency goes down the lower the temp is in general. That said, I hate the damn things for our region. They build around here like it's the deep south, but it will be in single digits tonight, and I will need to fire up the wood insert fireplace to keep from freezing or blowing up my electric meter. I am due for a replacement HVAC ($$$$), and I am seriously thinking about adding a supplemental furnace, which means I would have to put in a LPG tank an lines, as the house is all electric now, and there is not natural gas available where we are at. Our monthly total electric in winter is $300 or so, and its about $150 in summer, so not nearly as bad as Mark is getting soaked for. We must have much lower rates, as our house is no efficiency model. Lots of windows, suspect sealed French doors, and cathedral ceiling in a 2300 ft2. My new garage stays warmer because I designed it to northern standards. It also has a ductless mini heat pump that seems to handle at least into the low 20'sF with ease, but it is only about 3 years old. | ||
| Oldog |
My electric bill at its worst was over $600 last January WOW!  Thanks for sharing that, Mine in winter is just over your october bill up in to 350$ I will never complain again..... good luck on the stove, I have been where they make pellets for stoves out west. interesting process, } | ||
| Oldog |
Tim if available and affordable, heat pump with ground water heat exchange (ground water loop) and a heat exchanger works good here in eastern NC The office building where I work is done that way ) the water comes out of the ground at about 50F all year long and the heat is removed or dumped to it as needed. | ||
| Aesquire |
8 f. Now. Colder tonight. I have a propane boiler for underfloor heat. Averaged $450month last year (down from $550month last year) Using Mitsubishi hyperheat split system heat pump to kick it from 65f to 70 when I was home. This year I'm running the heat pump full time with the boiler as backup. $150 electric bills and the same propane.... I'll let you know in 3 months how that works out. The split system is good to below zero f. | ||
| Hughlysses |
Artickm- I know some of the split ductless systems (Mitsubishi, etc.) can do much better. They have variable speed compressors and sophisticated controls. Probably high end "conventional" units can go down low too. But if we're talking a standard residential heat pump, I still think they don't do very well at sub-freezing temps. I'll do a little research when I have time- I need to know that for my own good. Ground source has a lot of advantages but first cost can be steep and it's easy to hose up the installation. Most use multiple wells (DEEP) with vertical heat exchange piping. Easy to do at the coast; much more costly in rocky soil. A dishonest contractor can short you on well depth without you knowing it. An honest contractor can run into problems estimating heat exchange rate and then later finding out ground conducts much better for some wells than others. I've been involved with ground source heat pump installations on a few government projects. We've had good luck on some and not-so-good luck on others. (Message edited by Hughlysses on January 07, 2015) | ||
| 86129squids |
We will see single digits here in E. TN tonite, with wind chills going sub-zero... Make sure your pipes are protected, and the faucets dripping as needed! I learned that the hard way last year- no fun doing plumbing repair outside, temps below freezing with a stiff breeze... Got a thermostat controlled electric pipe wrap in place now, highly recommended for anything with a hint of exposure. BRRR!!! | ||
| Wolfridgerider |
The thought of humping 40 pound bags of pellets to the basement does not appeal to me in the least. I'm about ready to pack up my toys and move back to the burbs. city water and natural gas... never thought I would miss you... | ||
| D_adams |
I've started investigating solar panels to offset my electrical burn rate. During the summer there were a few $700 bills, last month's was $450. I ran the A/C for the garage in the summer, plus running the pool for the salt water chlorine generator. I have gas for heat, but there's a pair of 5000 watt electric heaters out in the garage for winter use, so that's why mine's high. Sister-in-law across the street with the same floorplan house runs about $70-80/month in electric all year. | ||
| Torquehd |
$70-80/month in electric all year and how? | ||
| Aesquire |
I'm guessing no kids.  Amazing how cheaper life is with the rugrats grown up... except of course for College costs....... Got home to a 63f. house. Zero outside, heat pump valiantly struggling away, underfloor heat sustaining. Turned up the thermostat and am now sitting in front of a space heater in the basement reading e-mail.... The split system doesn't have electrical resistance heat. Still, kind of impressive it's putting out heat at all. I went from $60 month winter/spring/fall, $150 summer electric bill, then gave away the window AC and installed the split system, now it's $100-150 a month year round. Save about $50 a month for AC. ( so in 100 months, I'll have it paid off  ) Seriously, it's a 1300 sq. ranch, and it's kept comfy with a 18K btu split heat pump and a 36k btu boiler. If I was 150 yards down the road I'd have natural gas, and it'd be much cheaper. Once I insulate the basement, it will be cheaper. | ||
| D_adams |
Grown kids, she works 12 hour days most of the time, 6 or 7 days a week so she's never really there except to sleep. Not sure what she keeps the thermostat set on, but it's not all that warm there in the winter. | ||
| Hootowl |
I have gas heat and water heater. My bill is $13 in the summer and $26 in the winter. Power runs around $40 in the winter and $230 in the summer with my 30 year old AC unit. I just lowered my electric cost per kwh by about 40% to 5.7 cents thanks to Texas deregulating retail electricity providers, so it should be even cheaper this year. When the price of fuel goes down, so does power, or I switch providers. If only cable tv would follow suit...I might just get cable again. | ||
| Thumper74 |
My gas bill is $56 a month or so in the winter. Less in the summer. On my lonesome, my electric bill is usually less than $50. I don't have anyone to fight with on the thermostat, but I do have a livestock heater for my shop cats, when it gets frigid like this. | ||
| Airbozo |
Late to the party, but we had a pellet stove for about 15 years. Put out some pretty good heat and would completely warm our 1100 sf house in about an hour from 58 to 68. Except when the power went out, which is several times a year where I live and usually when it is raining or cold. About 10 years ago one of the few suppliers of pellets decided he wanted more money and when the public and distributors pushed back, he shut down operations and went on "vacation" which caused the supply to dry up and prices to double. We went for over 2 months without any pellets during the coldest part of the year. Ended up installing a new forced air heater and replaced the pellet stove with a wood stove insert. The wood burning stove will still heat the house without the blower going. We are on local water, electric and propane for heating and cooking. I also replaced my water heater with a Bosch tankless that uses no electricity (generates it's own electricity for the spark using a water wheel that activates when the hot water flows). That thing is so efficient I can run the dish washer, washing machine, shower and hand wash dishes at the same time. It will even heat the water from freezing to 100+ (my pipes partially froze twice already this season). Storing the pellets was an issue for us as we live in a moist environment and a full pallet would have some not so useable bags on the bottom by the time we got to them. The space was also and issue. Now we just keep the wood covered by a tarp out back and the F-I-L has more than enough wood for the entire family. Electricity never goes over $80 in the winter and $40 in the summer (including my video game binging and servers running 24/7). Water is fairly cheap too ($20 max during the grow season) and propane is ~ $250 for 3 months). | ||
| Strokizator |
As Airbozo pointed out, a pellet stove is subject to power outages; doesn't work if the electric grid is down. Otherwise it has lots of plus points. I use a Woodstock Soapstone stove and it keeps my house nice and toasty. It's fed a steady diet of almond or peach/nectarine/plum wood as there are thousand of acres of orchards around here and the farmers are no longer allowed to open-burn. Were it not for a ready supply of hardwood, I'd probably go the pellet stove route. | ||
| Torquehd |
For you guys with pellet stoves - how much do you spend per average day (or week or month) on pellets? What is your average savings (or spending) per month when running the pellet stove on a daily basis? | ||
| Wolfridgerider |
electric bill for the past month $662.68 and I used 700 KW less than last year  .......... ......... | ||
| Etennuly |
 Makes me glad that I heat my shop with wood and used motor oil. I bought one load of cut split wood for $60 so far this winter. I just cut up a tree that was blown down along my fence line today. The oil comes from customer truck oil changes. Not a perfect system, but it is nearly free with some care, maintenance, and fire box safety involved. Worst part is a cold start every morning. But winters are fairly short here. | ||
| Torquehd |
Do you have a dedicated oil burning stove or do you burn it in the woodstove? | ||
| Etennuly |
I built a double 55 gallon drum wood stove. One over the other with a 6" high plenum welded between them. The fire is in the bottom barrel with the smoke/heat doing a zig zag path through the barrels then out the stack. The oil is held in an elevated 250 gallon tank outside with a 3/8" copper tube run through the wall to the stove. Flow is controlled by a ball valve, the last foot or so the pipe is reduced down to a 1/16" barbed fitting that is pushed through a hole in the top of the bottom barrel over the center of the fire. I get a good wood fire started then turn on the oil flow. It drips about a gallon an hour at full on. Burning the oil effectively doubles the heat that the wood supplies alone and actually makes the wood last longer because the draft air flow can be slowed down. I distribute the heat with a 24" industrial fan set to blow at/over the top third of the top barrel. | ||
| Mr_grumpy |
Can you post pics & a "how to" of that setup Vern. I'm sure there's plenty of us would be interested in something similar for our workshops. |
