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PELLET STOVE OWNERS ... CARE TO CHIME IN?

Amethyste

Ideal_Rock
Joined
Jul 7, 2003
Messages
2,201
HELLLLLO THERE! :)

Currently, my home is being heated with propane which is at $2.699 a gallon.
I called the provider (which is Irving) to see what they have out there for budget planning since I don't really
want to pay a huge bill when they deliver. The lady on the phone was very nice and tried to help me eventhough
I missed the deadline to sign up for monthly billing. The only way she could help me is to go with what the previous
owners paid last year and use this as a base for my billing this year. So I said Hmmmm... ok, let's see!

Put on hold.......... (music from the 80's playing, which was the nicest part of the phone call lol )

"Hi, I am back with the information and billing plan for you. The previous Owners used 1,250 gallons of propane
last year. At the moment, Propane is $2.699/gallon. That makes a total of $3,374 (rounded up) which ends up
being $421.71 a month! Are you interested to sign up?"

Oh... HELL NO! What the heck did the other owners do?!!? heat the house with the windows open??!! They had 3 kids,
so maybe they wanted it extra warm - but to me, it is almost unthinkable that this little house which is not quite 1,500 s.f.
cape would require that much heat?! Plus, I don't want to have to follow the consumption of the previous owners. Even if I
end up using way less and be given a credit to apply towards next season - I'd like to have all the $$$ into MY own pocket
rather than in theirs.

So.......... I started to inquire about pellet stoves. They are very popular here in New England. The family owned business which
is going to come to my home and see what would work for us said that they have a very drafty antique cape with 1 layer window pane and she goes through maximum of 4-5 tons of pellets and her house is 2,800 s.f. She suggested that our consumption should be a maximum of 2-2.5 tons for the whole winter. A ton of Pellets is $289 (the ones that have a high efficiency burn rate with less ashes) so that means it would costs us less than $750 a year to heat our house! WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I said "sign me up for a cost estimate" and a technician is coming next Tuesday. If we decide to go with a pellet stove, right now, there is a govermental rebate of up to $1,500 or 30% of the cost for adding a different heating source other than gas/oil base. We would still save money if we get outfitted with a Pellet Stove than if we do nothing and pay for propane. I guess it all depends how much the installation, equipment etc will end up being...

I would like to be LESS dependant on oil. Our water heater is heated with propane - but maybe I'd change it to be heated differently. My stove is electric... Perhaps, I'll have my water heater on electricity as well... Not sure. I'd still keep my Propane boiler, in the event that we leave for a week or so - we can turn down the heat and have the propane heat the house instead of the Pellet Stove since we are not there to fill the tank.

Right now i have a propane stove on the first floor - would like to have this stove put upstairs in our bedroom and the pellet stove on the first floor. In the last 3 years - we've had several days (5-6) in which we didn't have power - so having the gas stove upstairs (doesn't need electricity to start) would keep our bedroom warm!

Anyways, this is a long post!!! My question is - anyone of you have one? Do you Like it? Does it furnish decent heat? How much was your stove and how much was your installation... Anything that can prepare me metally before the man comes in.
The good thing is that my cheminey has 2 flues - cause i know they cannot use the same flue... Anyways... Enlight me please!!! :)
 

Steel

Ideal_Rock
Joined
Jul 8, 2006
Messages
4,884
That usage sounds wrong to me - 1250 gallons a year for a 1500 sqft. Are you confident that they were not trying to get you to sign up to a big fat DD that you didn't need? Isn't that like 4700 litres equivalent!

Our house is well over 5000 sqft and we need 2 oil fills to do our hot water and radiators - at 66 cent (euro) per litre. Now we do have 3 solid fuel stoves too, one of which is a 16kw back boiler version which heats the hot water and rad too - but we haven't even used it much yet.

Anyhoo - to answer your question yes the multi fuel/pellet or solid fuel stoves are amazing, even the plain non boiler ones. Apparently an open fire has 80% heat loss up the chimney and by using a sealed flue you reduce the draughts and heat loss when the fire is not lit - up the chimney.

We didn't go for the pellet hopper version as there are only 2 companies that serve our area and one is not so reputable. So i wasn't prepare to buy a product with a monopoly attached. But for you guys I imagine the pellet option would be very affordable and practical.

But try to get a second opinion on how much the propane should cost you for your heating needs and house size.
 

Amethyste

Ideal_Rock
Joined
Jul 7, 2003
Messages
2,201
Thank you for your reply!!! I know it sounds absurd that they would use up that much fuel... but last night, i looked on the home disclosure before i bought it, and i saw that they wrote they used between 1,200 and 1,300 gallons of propane a year. When I read that at first, i thought they meant $$$. But I guess the CSR yesterday confirmed that they indeed used that much propane! that's insane! Our house has double pane windows and is less than 20 years old... I don't understand how they did that! I'd die of heat exhaustion before reaching their consumption!

Yeah... I'll see what the technician says on Tuesday... I think we will probably switch over... Byebye Propane.
 

packrat

Super_Ideal_Rock
Joined
Dec 12, 2008
Messages
10,614
I don't know anyone who has one, tho one of our friends was planning on getting one and then they bought a different house and had a geo thermal heat pump put in. I know when she was researching the pellet burners she was really excited about it tho, and said the savings was great compared to the propane they'd been using.
 

Steel

Ideal_Rock
Joined
Jul 8, 2006
Messages
4,884
Crazy!

Do you need to have a storage area for the pellets -if I recall there can be a min order quantity and it needs to be stored in a dry environment.

I am all for wood stoves - I really hope this works out for you!
 

radiantquest

Ideal_Rock
Joined
Jul 20, 2008
Messages
2,550
I have/use a pellet stove. I am not sure how it compares with other heating sources because it is in my house now and it was there when I moved in and I never paid the bills before this house. This is my experience...

We have a rancher style house and it sounds similar in size to yours. We have it in the living room. It appears that our stove was put in with its own chimney so I am not sure how that would compare with your situation, but no air from outside comes in. The room that the stove is in tends to get really warm so we have to make sure that we have the ceiling fans on so that it will push the heated air to the other end of the house. It really is a great heat source. You will not be cold with a pellet stove. We leave ours running 24/7 when it is bitter cold. In early and late winter we turn it off when we leave. We do not buy pellets by the ton. I am sure that it would be cheaper, but we do not have the storage for it. You do have to keep them dry. Speaking of dry...The air that comes out is very dry. You may want to invest in one of the ceramic stove pot things. I cant think of what they are called, but you sit them on top and fill it with water so that as it heats up it puts water back into the air. Anyway, we go once a week and get 4 or 5 bags. That is enough for a week. So you can buy them by the bag, but if there is not a place that is close to you that sells them it may not be an option. I dont know what sort of stores you have around you, but we usually buy them from Courtland Harware or the Mill. These may be local stores to us. In a pinch we have also got them from Wal-Mart and Home Depot. The pellets that we get from Home Depot seem to be overpriced and the ones from Wal-Mart arent the great ones, but they are cheap. I am trying to remember the brands that we use. One is called lignetics and other are Hamers. Those are both low ash high heat. The price goes up every year. Last year they were $6 a bag. Usually the bag will last at least 24 hours unless we have it on high because its really cold. Our stove is an ooolder model so I am sure a brand new one will be more efficient. For instance we have to actually light our own, the new ones I believe have a push button ignition. Another thing is I find that the house is much dutier in the winter from the stove. We have had it checked and it is safe and nothing is wrong, but I guess it is because it is older and just not sealed as well as the new ones. You may not have any trouble with dust. Whew, that was a lot. If you made it here I hope this information helped.
 

artdecogirl

Brilliant_Rock
Joined
Sep 27, 2009
Messages
1,142
My DD and SIl have one in their home,the house is part of his compensation for his job so they do not buy the fuel, so I can't tell you about cost, DD says she has not noted more dust but you do have to have a large storage space if you want to keep some around, they store theirs in a large back entry / 3 season porch and they go through 1/2 to a whole bag a day in the winter depending how they set it, and they just fill it once a day, they used to burn corn in it but because of the cost they switched to pellets, it is a dry heat and while it has a blower on it, it only heats that space, it is not hooked up to the vent system of the house so they have to keep all the doors to that room open but the living spaces are very warm and bedrooms are a little chilly I think but that is how they like to sleep anyway. We have a wood stove at home in our basement and it makes such a mess I am jealous of how little mess their stove produces, pretty much just some dust when they fill it and they empty a ash pan once in awhile. I think I would go for it.
 

kelpie

Ideal_Rock
Joined
Jan 8, 2008
Messages
2,362
I feel you! I just got slammed with a $1200 propane bill. They never tell me they are delivering and then it just comes out of my account. My propane only kicks on below 40 degrees to assist electric heat. I have a vermont castings pellet stove and a vermont castings woodstove and like them both! The pellet stove is for one room in the house that's not on central air. It's like a warm hairdyer, it's pretty noisy. Pellets are cheap these days (the cost has dropped 30% to $200 ton) cons are you have to store them, they are heavy and can get messy, and the stove itself will produce ash that will need to be cleaned. I got mine for $900 used off craigslist but it was a $3000 stove. We installed ourselves but plan to eventually have a pro install the thermostat/remote system it came with. It required purchasing a new liner for our chimney which was another $180 (in the days of microsoft cashback) from an ebay store called rockford chimney supply. I love my stove but it is absolutely more work than propane. I grew up with just one big woodstove in my parents' home and no other heat source and it required constant work just not to freeze to death so by comparison a pellet stove is easy. Also, while it does have a blower the room is just linked by a doorway and one time in the dead of winter my central heat went out, I cranked my pellet stove and my woodstove up full blast and had all the fans in the house on but only managed to raise the temp upstairs from 45 to 47. It's only going to heat the room it is in and a bit beyond even if the room it's in is like a sauna.

ETA- my house is 3000SQFT and has an old fashioned floorplan where nothing is open, rooms are connected by regular sized doorways.
 
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