Heating with Pellet Stove???Wth?

[20 20]

have used pellet stoves for years, wood is our main source but our pellet stoves can easily heat the house also. I have a pellet furnace and a small pellet stove. Even if I were to only heat with pellets it would still be 1/5 the cost of oil. The pellet furnace only gets used few times a season, only when we're not using the wood stove. The little pellet stove is only used on nights when the temp is below 20f. The price of pellets has not gone up that much over the years 15yrs ago it would have been 180.00 a ton now I can get them at around 200-220 a ton. Oil went from under a dollar to over $4.00 per gal, that's why we took the oil furnace out.

 

[Ken45101]

With pellets typically at 200$ per ton and propane typically at 2.5 per gallon, it costs about 50% as much to heat with pellets. Electric resistance heatat 10 cents per KWH and propane heat are about the same and fuel oil at 4$ per gallon is way way too high.

Pellet stoves make plenty of heat, do it dependably, and with a thermostat. They come in different output sizes so if you need a constant 20,40,or 60 thousand btus then be sure you have the right stove(s).

There are some important efficiency variables that you missed. Pellets are less than 100% efficient, probably in the 75-80% range.

Vented propane: 75-95% efficiency. Unvented propane gas logs, etc. are 99+% efficient.

Electric resistance is 100% efficient. However, heat pumps, at milder temperatures (above 40F) are well over 100% efficient.

In our experience, pellet stoves do NOT "make plenty of heat". When we were trying to use our pellet stove, we needed to supplement it with propane (gas logs).

Ken

 

[Dream Farmer]

We have had a pellet stove for four years now... It and the fire place are our two main sources of heat. We have an oil furnace that now only supplements the house heat. as 20 20 said due to redicllous heating oil price pellets are relatively cheap I too pay approx $200 a ton $4 or less a bag for pellets.
Shawn

 

[jonyyuma]

Guys Thanks for the info. We heated with a Wood burning stove, until the ashes and smoke messed up my wife. It was a Ashlee thermostat model. Lots of heat but dirty, enough to trip her allergys. Looking to retire in Arkansas, and saw the stoves in some homes with propane or heat pumps. Exactly like you have described, I had no idea about he noise or possible smoke again? I love Natural gas heat, as when we were all electric, and we were constantly cold. Most of you know it only gets to freezing for a short time here..l

 

[sld]

Pellet stoves have their place. My experience is using it as secondary heat not primary. When we built the house I had the foundation boxed out for a fireplace that we never installed.

I put a 45K btu pellet stove in and it will keep the basement at 72 degrees no matter how cold it gets outside (we will get single digits regularly). The excess heat will go up the stairway to the upstairs. It won't heat the whole house when it's very cold but definitely keeps the furnace from running as much.

The only way to heat the basement like this with our natural gas furnace is to make it unbearably hot upstairs. I burn less than a ton of pellets per year and I will run it for a few hours just about every evening when it's cold.

For this situation I can think of no other source that would work better. It is a Country Flame model and has been flawless for almost 10 years with minimal maintenance.

 

[Highbeam]

There are some important efficiency variables that you missed. Pellets are less than 100% efficient, probably in the 75-80% range.

Vented propane: 75-95% efficiency. Unvented propane gas logs, etc. are 99+% efficient.

Electric resistance is 100% efficient. However, heat pumps, at milder temperatures (above 40F) are well over 100% efficient.

In our experience, pellet stoves do NOT "make plenty of heat". When we were trying to use our pellet stove, we needed to supplement it with propane (gas logs).

Ken

Sorry Ken, you're wrong. I did consider efficiencies. If you took the time to check my figures (instead of just dismissing them) using a very available fuel cost calculator you would have verified that propane is indeed about twice as expensive to heat with than pellets at the given prices. I used a higher than average 90% efficiency figure for propane and the industry standard 80% for pellets.

Sheesh, put brain in gear before engaging mouth.

 

[Highbeam]

You need to properly size your pellet stove if you want to depend on it for 100% of your heat. If you have a particularly "needy" home then you may need two stoves, a very large stove, or a pellet furnace. It is not the fuel source's fault that you chose to burn an insufficient amount of it.

I will never consider unvented petroleum burning appliances as safe for a home. There is a reason that they are illegal in many places.

 

[jmurray01]

I looked at another house last weekend. It had a Pellet stove for heating? What does it burn, I mean beside the obvious?What can you tell me about yours? Do they have cats on the exhaust? Heat output?

Yes, one is called Sooty and one is called Smokey :laughing:

Sorry, couldn't resist! :laughing::laughing::laughing:

 

[Ken45101]

Sheesh, put brain in gear before engaging mouth.

Yeah, speak for yourself.

 

[soulasphil]

Pellets provide a very clean way of heating a house. No logs to carry to the fire place, no smell of oil, very small amount of ashes (maker claims 95% efficiency and I empty the ash container once every fortnight). No limit to the size of furnace you install, very efficient hot water production. The figures vary from one country to another, but in Europe the cost is less than with oil, much less than propane and much, much less than electricity. Pellets can be bought in bulk (cheaper than bags) and blown into your silo.