Off Topic -Pellet Stoves

[JimP]

We added a Harman Accentra fireplace pellet insert about 5 years ago. It heats most of the living area. We use less oil and the heat is more consistent.

It needs to be shutdown and cleaned about every 2 weeks (cleaning time about 1 hour) and the flue cleaned once a season. We buy pellets late summer/early fall when they go on sale. Be careful, not all "premium" pellets are the same - or even good.

 

[whistlepig]

I have a Whitfield pellet stove that came with my house. Recently it started acting up. Instead of feeding pellets in at continuous intervals, it waits until the fire is almost out and then dumps in way too many, so that a lot spill over the sides. Then it stops and won't feed again until the fire is almost out again. It does this two or three times and then goes into fault. Any ideas? I don't know where this thing came from as it came with the house. I have a PDF owner's manual but that's it. I did clean it all out already.

I have a 1999 Whitfield. Built back in the day when Whitfield was the best of all pellet stoves. This was before Lennox bought Whitfield out and the quality went down the tube. I am by no means an expert on pellet stoves. My Whitfield is my first and only experience with pellet stoves. The pellet stove came along with my house that was built in 1999. Along with this pellet stove the previous owner left 8 bags of cheap pellets. The first thing I figured out on the Whitfield is that the auger system is precise and delicate. I tried using these cheap pellets. Too many fines (dust I call it). The cheap pellets clogged the auger with fines. After I started using premium pellets I had no problems. There are other issues with cheap pellets. They take a set in my hopper. They burn dirty and clog my firebox. They burn dusty. If you buy a premium pellet stove and then use cheap pellets you are going to get a very bad opinion about pellet stoves.

 

[204saskman]

I will chime in here. I own 2 Harman PC-45 Corn/pellet stoves. I have had minimal isues with them the past 3 years. One stove it an older one(8 years old) and i bought a new one 3 years ago too. I have burned anything from corn, canola(rap seed), Canary seed,barley,oats,wheat,rye,wood pellets,bio mass pellets,Ag pellets. I have been very pleased with these stoves, they push enough heat to do out whole house(1050 per floor). I find you have to find a dealer that has good customer service. I just sold one of my harmans to a guy and am replacing it with a Enviro(Enviro - Quality Fireplaces, Freestanding Stoves and Fireplace Inserts in Gas, Wood and Pellet) Maxx M. This stove is rated at 70,000 btu and able to heat 2700 Sq/ft. Just want to try a bigger one. Next year i plan on installing a Grain/pellet boiler system to heat my other buildings and my house also but well see once i get there. If you have any questions, feel free to PM me.

 

[soulasphil]

Very nice setup! Do you worry at all about moisture getting to your pellets from the concrete floor and walls?

I am a bit worried about that, but no moisture so far. The walls are thick (granit on the outside and cinderblocks on the inside), the floor is isolated from the ground and the pellets rest on wooden slopes. I keep my fingers crossed. The only incidents I've heard about concerned metal silos.

 

[5030]

L<ets see, besides being a moderator on a bio fuel forum, I've been heating with a solid fuel appliance (more than one, I've worn a few out) for about 18 years now, before they were popular, because I've always been cheap....

At present I have a USSC 6039 Multifuel stand alone in the great room that heats the entire house, all winter, on 150 bushel of corn or 5 ton of pellets, this year it's pellets because the price per bushel of corn (12% RM) is too high so it's pellets.

I like having the option of any bio-mass fuel and the USSC has a computer controlled burn plus manual settings so it combusts anything that can be pelletized or whole grains and cherry pits.

Plus, ir's basically less thyan 2 grand installed with venting.

Its running right now. 32 outside, 70 inside. You'll need to keep the interior air moist however. The stove/appliance will dry thr interior air and make it 'feel' colder plus everything will dry out, including your nose.

I use a pair of Honeywell 'Whole House' stand alone humidifiers that run 24 hours on one filling. I try to keep the inside air at least at 50% RM.

 

[Willl]

I had a pellet heating installed last summer

Wow, yes, very nice setup.

How does it feed pellets from storage cell to stove ?

 

[Car Doc]

I have a multi-fuel American Harvest free standing pellet stove and wood pellets are the cheapest this year again compared to corn.

We have a 48 bushel grain cart to bring bulk corn home from the coop or the field but corn is so high again we wont be using any for the 3rd year in a row which sucks I like using it makes lots of heat and its real handy to bring in from the cart in 5 gal buckets.

Corn and wood mix is the best of both worlds we have found, corn makes the most heat but it needs to be throttled up whereas a 30/70 etc mix burns hot and can be run on low/med.

 

[Kep]

I have a Breckwell Multi-fuel now on it's 4th year. It pays to buy most of my pellets in Aug. (170.00 a ton from Menards) Oil was getting way to expensive years ago and the fill I got last week Cost me $3.49 a gallon for 171 gallons. I keep close taps on engergy prices with a spread sheet.

Fuel oil $31.45 per Million BTU's 80% efficiency
Pellets $12.93 per million 82%
propane $25.83 92%
wood $16.53 65%
electric $26.02 98%
Geo heat pump $7.73 330%
Coal $10.67 75%

 

[ddb123]

Sounds like the auger feed control is gone. If it's anything like my Harman then both the blower and auger are variable knobs on a circuit board and subject to fail. The replacement board with both controls for mine is about $150. It looks like yours may be a little more: Replacement parts for Whitfield Pellet Stoves

I love this forum.

Turned it on today and it only blew cold air!

 

[Willl]

Pellet heat is our only heat and we used a old manual ignite Whitfield Advantage for about 5 years and never had a problem with it.

About 7 years ago I upgraded to a Breckwell with auto ignite and hooked it up to a fancy thermostat.
In those 7 years, I've had to replace igniters (X4), room air blowers (X2.5) and 1 control board.

The igniters were kinda my fault. When we first got it, I had the thermostat controlling stop-start. Problem was thermostats dead zone was at a nonadjustable .5 degree diff. Stove was stop/starting 48 times a day !
Now run it at the high/low setting and haven't bought a igniter since.

The blower motors I now rebuild myself. Bearings are the same size as rollerskate bearings. I'm on my first set.

 

[5030]

I'm not an igniter fan myself in as much as gelled firestarter or parrafin impregnated blocks are so cheap (one bottle of gelled lasts me all season).

Probably thr biggest downfall to owning a bio-fuel appliance is the lack of maintenance on the part of the owner.

Because it's burning a solid fuel (versus a gas appliance that makes little soot), a bio fuel appliance needs regular maintenance.

As the fly ash builds up in the firebox, it insulates the heat exchanger and as it builds up, less heat is transferred from the fuel to the HX and out into the room. Ash builds up in the vennting as well.

If you don't clean it regularly, like weekly, it's not very efficient and the ash biuldup can clog the evnting. Remember, this is a negative draft burner, that is, the combustion air is drawn in and pulled through the firebox by the negative draft fan. That fan also controls the burn rate, more air in, more fuel consumed...to a point that I'm not going to get into here because that's all about fine tuning for maximum heat output.

I shut mine down weekly and vacuum out not only the firebox, but behind the firebox and heat baffles as well plus I vacuum ot the passages to the draft fan and twice yearly, I pull apart the venting (inside and outside the house) and clean it too.

My 6039 USSC has an ashpan that gets dumped monthly (or more often if necessary).

I've spent a few years fine tuning my appliance for maximum output utilizing outside air for combustion and tweaking the control board to provide the maximum output with the least amount of fuel consumed, but without regular and through cleaning, no amount of fine tuning will increase BTU output versus fuel usage.

I've been playing with these (stoves) a long time.

Fianlly, I run a remote thermostat, a LUX. I've reset the parameters on the remote to a temperature differential of +- 2 degrees. and I run a LUX Clean cycle thermostat on the central heat system so the central furnace goes into a forced air only mode every 15 minutes for 5 minutes, distributing and equalizing the air temperature throughout my home.

I can't see having one room (where the appliance is) at a sweltering temperature and the rest of our home freezing.

Like other posters, I prefer a corn/pellet mix of about 50-50, getting the better BTU per pound output from the corn, while the pellets reduce the clinkering but corn is way too high per bushel to justify burning this year, so it's Premium Hardwood Pellets for me.

All pellets aren't created equal by any means but that's another subject for another time.

Anyone thinking about purchasing an appliance should consider a multi-fuel appliance that has the capability of not only burning pellets, but any bio-fuel, including corn, wheat, rye, soybeans, cherry pits and pelletized bio-mass because they aren't that much more and they give you many options concerning fuel prices not just now, but in the future.

 

[D33r3 6r33N]

We have a Harmon 25. (50,000btu) On its 5th year I think. Other than cleaning no issues as of yet. I also buy pellets; 5 tons worth, in the summer and pay around 170$ per ton. Just stack them as high as I can in the garage to save space. We also
use a plastic deck box to store about 12 bags so that you don't have to go out to the (unattached) garage to get a bag.

 

[5030]

...and I leave mine on the skid which I convenienty place near the back deck so my wife can bring them in as needed.......:laughing: I am retired you know.......:thumbsup:

When I burn a corn pellet mix, I usually have 5 or 6 30 gallon plastic trash cans on the deck to mix corn and pellets in.

The ashes from the ashpan wind up in the garden. Potatoes like 'em.

 

[timswi]

I've had a Quadrafire for almost 4 years and love it..Use it to heat my game/media room and supplement the furnace..Works great and would recommend...

Just have to clean it with a shop-vac once a week or so. They do need some light maintenance, nothing major.

 

[5030]

...Light but regular. Like filling up your car every week. Rwice yearly it's a bit more than light. Moderate to heavy and sooty and dirty to boot.

The 'set it and forget it' syndrome is what takes ir's toll on a bio-fuel appliance.....

 

[not2clever]

I have been fortunate and bought a Whitfield Quest pellet stove in 1996 that is still my main heat source for the house. In its 15 yrs, it has gone through 2 auger motors and 1 convection motor. Blower motor may last 1 more season.

As previous posters have noted, pellet stoves require maintenance and directly impacts the units longevity. I burn approximately 3 tons of pellets a year and have been using Blazers from Home Depot.

Dave

 

[Combustix]

Switched over from propane which was way to expensive to a Lopi pioneer pellet stove. I burn just about a ton/year which runs me 210-230 as I use bear mtn pellets, which are good hardwood pellets, and burn pretty clean. Have had the stove 4 years now hooked to a thermostat and have had zero issues. I do a thorough cleaning before the season and once about mid season when the weather is nice as I don't have a hepa vac and use my shop vac on the outside with a long hose. I am looking at getting a pellet furnace for the other side of the house as that is still heated by propane.

 

[5030]

Switched over from propane which was way to expensive to a Lopi pioneer pellet stove. I burn just about a ton/year which runs me 210-230 as I use bear mtn pellets, which are good hardwood pellets, and burn pretty clean. Have had the stove 4 years now hooked to a thermostat and have had zero issues. I do a thorough cleaning before the season and once about mid season when the weather is nice as I don't have a hepa vac and use my shop vac on the outside with a long hose. I am looking at getting a pellet furnace for the other side of the house as that is still heated by propane.

You really don't need a HEPA vacuum. Go get yourself a package of 'Drywall Rated' bags/liners for your shop vacuum. They are yellow, not white and a drywall rated primary filter. I use my shop vacuum in the house for appliance cleanout and have been for years using the drywall bags. Actually, I use them for all dry pickup... Not that much more expensive.

 

[5030]

I have been fortunate and bought a Whitfield Quest pellet stove in 1996 that is still my main heat source for the house. In its 15 yrs, it has gone through 2 auger motors and 1 convection motor. Blower motor may last 1 more season.

As previous posters have noted, pellet stoves require maintenance and directly impacts the units longevity. I burn approximately 3 tons of pellets a year and have been using Blazers from Home Depot.

Dave

I buy pellets directly from the manufacturer or in a large quantity if I can find them as follows...

Most important... They need to be PFI (Pellet Fuel Institute) rated as premium hardwood pellets, however, that don't mean that they will be suitable for your application as all pellets that are certified aren't creared equal (as I've found out over the years).

It still takes some experimentation to determine what burns best, with the least amount of ash, in your particular unit, because, while all units combust and extract heat, they all do it in different ways, utilizing different methods.

I've even seen pellets that burn good one winter, burn like crap the next because the material content changed at the mill. Remember pelletized wood fibre is a waste product, hammermilled and extruded wood fibers so it all depends on the material content prior to hammermilling, as to what the end product will burn like.

Pellet manufacturers can be looked at like a scrap yard for wood. The pellet manufacturer takes in wood scrap whether its saw log parts, scrap wood skids, scrap flooring from a flooring mill or scrap dimensional lumber from a manufacturer and processes it into pellets, bags them, skids them and sells them to stores (and you if you can buy a large enough quantity).

Because my neighbors all have bio-fuel appliances and I own a fork lift and have unloading capabilities, I try to buy quantity, direct from the pellet manufacturer. Most times, that entails a truckload, 22 skids at 2,000 pounds a skid but the price is apppreciably less, even factoring in transportation.

I can typically negotitate a per skid price 25-30 percent lower than any sale price on full skids, plus the manufacturer likes truckload sales because there is less handling for them.

 

[Luremaker]

You really don't need a HEPA vacuum. Go get yourself a package of 'Drywall Rated' bags/liners for your shop vacuum. They are yellow, not white and a drywall rated primary filter. I use my shop vacuum in the house for appliance cleanout and have been for years using the drywall bags. Actually, I use them for all dry pickup... Not that much more expensive.

I use the same yellow bags in my shop vac for the past few years. I go through two or three bags a season. Pick them up when they are on sale. In early summer after the heating season I take my stove outside and clean it out using my air compressor. You would not believe how much soot and ash is still in the stove after you vacuumed it out.