Pellet Stoves ?

[JCM 9,993]

Okay now that we are on the subject of staying warm and having my Wood stove thread Hi - Jacked by @WHX?? , thanks Jim   Do any of you have one and what is your opinion on them. My best friend and side kick Plumber who has helped me out whenever the need arises has one and it is a Harmon and he paid around  $ 5000.00 for it. He raves about it and coming from a family that was raised around Plumbers and wood stoves wouldn't have it any other way. Would like your honest opinions about them. Noticed Jim's dog and couch close to his, what are the clearances to combustible's on a pellet stove, must not be much ?  Thanks Guy 's

[ebinmaine 70,390]

Nearly all the  folks I've talked to about a pellet stove and owning one like them a lot. 

Some consider them to be the best thing since @Bar Nuthin's sliced bread. 

 

Some have a nice open fire to view. 

All seem to throw good strong heat. 

My parents had a pellet stove for years and loved it. 

But.....

 

 

The biggest concern I hear about can be serious and should not be taken lightly. 

Allergy sensitive people or those with preexisting breathing issues need to do careful concise research about which pellets are OK for them to use. 

 

My mom has those above mentioned breathing issues...

but oddly enough it was my FATHER that couldn't get the flippin' pellet dust out of his system.

 

He tried for several years... bunches of different brands and types of pellets. Expensive. Cheap. Local. Import. Soft wood and harder types. Some were definitely better but none were completely trouble free. 

Eventually he had to admit that he just couldn't use a pellet stove. 

 

 

Another thing to consider is whether a power outage is a problem for the particular stove you're looking at. 

I've heard that some pellet stoves can be turned manually at the feed auger for use without electricity. Most can't. 

 

 Also, accurately add up the real world costs of buying the stove, the pellets and the electricity to operate it.

Folks are REALLY confused about life when I explain that we spend LESS on our electric heat than we ever had on our oil heat. 

Pellets will be more price competitive than oil heat as a whole consideration. 

 

 

Then consider the manual effort involved. Some people want to use a calorie. Some don't. Some can't. For those incapable of handling the materials every day it obviously isn't practical.  

 

Would we have one here? No.. but we have a 10+ acre forest full of fuel for a wood 🪵 stove. 

 

Would I advise a friend to get one?

Absolutely,  given the correct amount of careful research.  

 

 

 

 

[Handy Don 13,266]

36 minutes ago, ebinmaine said:

Absolutely,  given the correct amount of careful research.  

Some information on pellet manufacture to consider...

https://sph.brown.edu/news/2024-04-29/mississippi-wood-pellets#:~:text=Wood pellet manufacturing involves processing,formation%2C posing severe health risks.

 

https://dogwoodalliance.org/our-work/wood-pellet-biomass/impacts-of-wood-pellets-in-the-us/

Edited January 25 by Handy Don

[lynnmor 7,546]

My daughter has used pellet stoves for years, it better fits their busy lifestyle than a wood stove due to fewer times loading fuel.  But, I don't think a year has gone by without major repairs or complete replacements.  To me, the expense of these failures would have me reverting to a conventional furnace.

[ebinmaine 70,390]

15 minutes ago, lynnmor said:

.  To me, the expense of these failures would have me reverting to a conventional furnace.

Expenses and inconvenience. 

 

 

[pfrederi 18,289]

My neighbor replaced his Harman Coal stove with a pellet stove.  Likes it for convenience however it doesn't keep it as warm as the coal stove. 

[JCM 9,993]

1 hour ago, ebinmaine said:

Expenses and inconvenience. 

 

 

How about Felling, splitting, stacking, drying, hauling it in the house on both floors by myself. Cleaning 2 stoves etc, etc. Is that not an inconvenience at almost 67 years of age. Just curious.   Almost forgot tending to 2 stoves.

Edited January 25 by JCM

[ebinmaine 70,390]

4 minutes ago, JCM said:

How about Felling, splitting, stacking, drying, hauling it in the house on both floors by myself. Cleaning 2 stoves etc, etc. Is that not an inconvenience at almost 67 years of age. Just curious.   Almost forgot tending to 2 stoves.

 

Absolutely! 

 

It isn't the type of inconvenience I was referring to but it's most assuredly a valid one.  

 

6 minutes ago, JCM said:

by myself

 

Here's a key point. 

I would NOT be burning much - if any - firewood if I had to do it all ...

 

Remember that "value" isn't always about money. 

>> Time <<  is a far more important thing to put value on. 

As much as I do truly enjoy spending time and burning calories processing my firewood at this point of my life I do understand this situation is NOT for everyone and it won't be something I can keep doing forever either.  

 

 

 

[Ed Kennell 40,306]

1 hour ago, JCM said:

. Is that not an inconvenience at almost 67 years

Not for this 80 + yo.          My neighbor uses a stove designed for corn and wood pellets.  He had problems with the corn unless it was really dry.  No problem with the wood pellets.

My reason for heating with the wood stove is I am not dependent on the GRID for heating and cooking.    And like Eric, I have a free supply of firewood available.  My oil burning boiler is operating to heat my domestic hot water and kicks on to take over house heating if I am not feeding the wood stove.

[lynnmor 7,546]

Since many of my trees are dying, get storm damage and falling they need cleaned up if I want to keep the trails open, so the cutting and hauling would happen anyway.  I don't mind the work and actually look forward to days outdoors doing worthwhile things while adding to my net worth.  But then I am 2 years and 3 months younger than @Ed Kennell.

I do burn oil when the fire goes out, about 35 gallons per year.  A heat pump runs when the outside temperature is 40 degrees or higher and the inside is kept at 68 degrees.  Everything is connected to the duct work and keeps the entire house at an even temperature.  If the electric goes off, the wood furnace can heat by gravity with less heat available but for extended outages I will crank up the generator.  A humidifier in the ducts will run when either the oil or wood furnace blowers run if the humidistat calls for it.  Coal is also an option, I haven't tried it yet.

Edited January 25 by lynnmor

[adsm08 2,572]

39 minutes ago, Ed Kennell said:

 

My reason for heating with the wood stove is I am not dependent on the GRID for heating and cooking.   

 

 

This is the biggest issue with my setup. I have a stove in the living room that will bring that room to 110 without ever getting any heat into any other room without electric fans, and the furnace needs electricity for the blower too. And burning the furnace without the blower damages it. I got super hot and frustrated with it a few years ago because I couldn't keep the temps under control and I just unplugged the blower. The bearings failed very shortly after that.

[Handy Don 13,266]

We have a 35,000 BTU wood stove. When I built the house, I planned it so that the stove could heat the nearby rooms on the first floor and convection would bring heat, except in severe cold, to the upper floor.

 

We don’t use the woodstove too often, though, because its heat doesn’t quite reach my wife’s first floor studio but does keep the furnace from running. I have experimented with raising the thermostat while burning wood--the forced air return being in the same room as the stove--and it tended to balance out the heat in the entire first floor, including the studio. My spouse, however, thought it not a good method (“burning wood AND gas?”) and I couldn’t prove otherwise!

[adsm08 2,572]

2 hours ago, Handy Don said:

We have a 35,000 BTU wood stove. When I built the house, I planned it so that the stove could heat the nearby rooms on the first floor and convection would bring heat, except in severe cold, to the upper floor.

 

We don’t use the woodstove too often, though, because its heat doesn’t quite reach my wife’s first floor studio but does keep the furnace from running. I have experimented with raising the thermostat while burning wood--the forced air return being in the same room as the stove--and it tended to balance out the heat in the entire first floor, including the studio. My spouse, however, thought it not a good method (“burning wood AND gas?”) and I couldn’t prove otherwise!

Do all the rooms in question have ceiling fans? If so you should be able to use them to move the hot air back to the studio.

[squonk 42,364]

Turn your thermostat to "Fan Only" for your furnace  when running the wood or pellet stove. Circulates some of the heat and gets air moving without putting box fans all over. Box fans are for when your condenser motor on your central AC fails and the supply house is closed! .

 

When I moved into this old house. It came with an old gas kitchen stove with a built in wood stove section. Just like my Grandparents had in the 60's. My Uncle owned 2 bowling alleys and kept them supplied with these weird looking white logs. They came from "AMF " maple trees. Stove came in handy during ice storms.

We used this stove in our house the first winter but I ripped it out because I didn't trust the chimney or the stove.

 

There was also a Giant Octopus furnace. Gravity fed coal unit converted to NG. That thing was awesome for heating the house but we got talked into replacing it with an 80% NG furnace that lasted 30 years. 

 

In 21 we replaced that with a 95% HE furnace that I've already had to repair 3 times!  In case of a power outage we have a NG Atlanta stove in our TV Room that can heat most of the house if needed. The dogs running around provide air movement. 

[Handy Don 13,266]

39 minutes ago, adsm08 said:

Do all the rooms in question have ceiling fans? If so you should be able to use them to move the hot air back to the studio.

Rooms far from the stove on the ground floor will always lose out to heat rising (and cool air sinking) in the central stairwell. In our original (41 years ago) plan, the studio was not thought to ever be used often. Retirement changed the equation!

Yep, I proposed a small ducted fan to move heated air “around the corner” into the studio. So far no positive feedback. Concerns are noise from fan and sound carrying through the duct from room to room. Might have to just go ahead and experiment 😄. 

 

Edited January 25 by Handy Don

[Achto 28,616]

A friend of mine had a trailer house / cabin with a pellet stove in it. We went to his cabin one winter to do some ice fishing. Got there on a Fri. after work, 15 degrees outside, 10 degrees inside the trailer.  (true story)  We fired up the pellet stove and walked over to the local tavern to get a bite to eat. About an hour later we walked back to the trailer to find that it was now up to 12 degrees inside.  We fired up a vent-less LP wall hanging unit along with the pellet stove, walked back to the tavern for after dinner libations. Hour later we walked back to the trailer to find it at 78 degrees. At this point we shut the LP heater off and left the pellet stove on. Trailer stayed a comfortable 70 to 73 degrees the rest of the weekend despite the outside temps decreasing over the time we were there. Our lesson in this application was - The pellet stove would do a great job maintaining temp but it would not bring the trailer up to temp.

Edited January 25 by Achto

[Beap52 1,141]

Next door neighbor runs a pellet stove almost all of the time.  He says he usually cleans the chimney twice a winter and the stove needs to be cleaned to keep the  pellets flowing.  I wonder if he isn't running it  hot enough? 

[adsm08 2,572]

41 minutes ago, Beap52 said:

Next door neighbor runs a pellet stove almost all of the time.  He says he usually cleans the chimney twice a winter and the stove needs to be cleaned to keep the  pellets flowing.  I wonder if he isn't running it  hot enough? 

 

He might not be. A couple chimney professionals I have talked to tell me people run the stoves too cool either trying to keep the house not as hot, or trying to make it burn longer.

 

I'll admit I cheat a bit, after the first week of the burning season I use Rutland creosote remover liberally. It doesn't eliminate it, but it sure helps.

[siebenaler 114]

Had one in my basement for years I finally took it out ??

Wish it was still  down there for emergency heat looking for a wood stove now. I usually burned corn i think it burns longer with more heat output. 

Although pellets i could usually find for 250 a ton . Everyone  ones different me being on natural  gas here i don't think i was saving much but it sure Is a dry heat compared to forced air natural gas.

 

[ebinmaine 70,390]

46 minutes ago, Mark siebenaler said:

Although pellets i could usually find for 250 a ton .

 

$350-$450  around here right now

[pfrederi 18,289]

Wood  Pellets about 17 million BTU/ ton

 

Anthracite about 24 million BTU/ton  Last Fall $365/ ton delivered

[Handy Don 13,266]

2 hours ago, pfrederi said:

Wood  Pellets about 17 million BTU/ ton

Anthracite about 24 million BTU/ton  Last Fall $365/ ton delivered

Add the usage/efficiency factors for each stove and you can do an apples-to-apples comparison 

[Darb1964 1,093]

I had to stop heating with wood about twenty years ago because of MS. I tried pushing through it but started becoming dangerous for me to run a chain saw and my wood lot was remote and my wife worried about me. I miss it big time, it was my escape from working in a paper mill sixty hours a week and good hard work was always enjoyable to me. I was clearing a lot that I was hoping to build on and getting fuel to heat our 1830 drafty home, win win. I don't think it was cost effective but nothing like wood heat. Wood stove out, pellet stove in, bought from a friend I had worked with and went into business selling pellet and wood stove. It's a MT Vernon free standing stove and it has been awesome. I'm sitting by it now unfortunately watching my wife bringing in pellets for the week ahead, it needs cleaning about once a month, I can do that still and I can usually get the forty pound bags up and into the Hopper, it holds two bags and that lasts two days unless very cold and windy like it has been lately. I've replaced one fan in the twenty years I've owned it and that was this year. I have it professionally cleaned. I did short out the mother board two years ago because I forgot to unplug it before cleaning it, reminded by my Bride just now walking by me with a bag of pellets while asking me what I was doing. " THAT WAS AN EXPENSIVE MISTAKE DARRYL "  I was recommended to burn only softwood pellets and that struck me weird but I took the advice, I was gifted ten bags of hardwood pellets a few years ago and they caused big clunkers every bag. Could be because my stove is set up for softwood not sure but it works so good I didn't mess with it. I have an oil furnace also for back up and hot water. I've over time insulated big time and that has made a big difference, now that building isn't going to happened and 40years of living in this old home we couldn't move now we love the place. We closed on it two weeks before getting married so we didn't have $ for a hunny moon. Is it less expensive than oil? I don't know because we've never just heated with oil. My wife pays all the bills so I'm not sure what pallets are going for and now is not the time to ask.

[Ed Kennell 40,306]

3 hours ago, pfrederi said:

Wood  Pellets about 17 million BTU/ ton

 

Anthracite about 24 million BTU/ton  Last Fall $365/ ton delivered

 

fuel oil  about 137 million BTU / 100 gallon  $ 365

[Handy Don 13,266]

27 minutes ago, Ed Kennell said:

 

fuel oil  about 137 million BTU / 100 gallon  $ 365

And we already know that none of these fuels have priced in environmental impacts