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Thread: Pellet stove

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
    Location
    Islesboro, Maine
    Posts
    1,268

    Pellet stove

    We have a wood stove & have to tend to getting, splitting and storing the wood. Getting on in age and were thinking on a pellet stove. Have no experience with one & was wondering what would be the best one to get . I'd like to say money is not an issue but don't want to spend 3-4 thousand for one either. We have a two story house that's 2,100sq'...The wood stove we have now say's it's a 50,000 btu output...

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Apr 2005
    Location
    Central MA
    Posts
    1,584
    I have had a Harman Accentra for 7 or 8 years and I’ve been completely happy with it but you might not like the price. Two things would be important to me if I was buying today; how easy is it to clean, and is there a solid dealer nearby that stocks parts. After that, look for appearance, hopper size and low noise. Picking pellets is another can of worms...

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Sep 2006
    Location
    Deep South
    Posts
    3,970
    I investigated pellets briefly and it looked to me like the heat content of the pellets cost more than an equivalent amount of propane. If that is true then there is no advantage to it.

  4. #4
    If indeed, you shop wisely for your propane and your house is not a drafty old farm house, propane can be cheaper. We heated a small 800 sq ft house with a pellet stove the winter of 2015 into 2016, we used about five bags more than 2 tons of pellets. For the winter of 2016 into 2017 we heated the entire new 2700 sq ft house for $479 dollars of propane, at 84 cents a gallon to fill the tank in July 2016. . We also had the additional expense of buying and burying our 1,000 gal propane tank. If you rent a tank, you will be gouged because you are at that company's mercy for refills. My in laws rented their tank and paid over $4.00 a gallon during the same 2015 to 2016 heating season. That would have been almost $2,000 dollars for the same amount of propane. We shop around and fill up in June or early July. In June 2017, we filled up for 90.5 cents a gallon. My wife misses the pellet stove. She liked the fire glow it gave off and liked to sit close to the heat in the evening when watching TV. We had an extremely cheap bare bones pellet stove $1,50 from TSC) that had to be shut down and cleaned daily. An acquaintance had a pellet stove that set him back close to $6,000 that heated a huge open showroom of his business, (about 1,500 sq ft.) That stove had an automatic thermostat and could shut it self down and restart again on it's own when the temperature dropped. He left it run even on weekends when no one was there. He swore he only needed to clean it once a week. He moved away a few years ago and I do not know where he got to. Most of the cheaper ones can slow down when room temps go up, but can't shut themselves down and restart automatically.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Sep 2016
    Location
    Modesto, CA, USA
    Posts
    9,889
    Pellets cost more then propane per BTU, and pellet stoves have a lot of moving parts. I have heard that dry corn is cheaper per btu then pellets.
    Bil lD

  6. #6
    Join Date
    May 2008
    Location
    Peshtigo,WI
    Posts
    1,395
    When I was in the planning stages of my cabin I thought a pellet stove would be the way to heat it. So I talked to some owners of pellet stoves and to two different vendors. They all talked me out of the deal and into a propane stove. As stated above, the cost of propane versus pellets, corn or even cherry pits is a wash.

    Both vendors warned me of the problems with the pellets, bridging caused by fines, burned out auger motors from being jammed with foreign material, and the cleaning of the fire pot and the heat exchanger. Then you have the extra cost of special vent pipe if you burn the corn or cherry pits.

    So I bought a propane fireplace and haven't regretted it at all. I know a propane furnace is different than my fireplace but I need no electricity to run mine, and I would have needed electricity to run the auger for the pellet stove. I also don't have to mess with hauling, storing and loading the pellets. One tank out back a battery operated thermostat and a call to the gas company when I need a refill, easy peasy.
    Confidence: The feeling you experience before you fully understand the situation

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Sep 2016
    Location
    Modesto, CA, USA
    Posts
    9,889
    Why do you need a battery for a gas stove thermostat? Many 70 year old gas furnaces in California still running strong on millivolt thermostats. Of course then you have a standing pilot which I do not think is really an issue in winter time. I turn ours off in summer, relight it in the fall
    Bill D.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    May 2008
    Location
    Peshtigo,WI
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    1,395
    Quote Originally Posted by Bill Dufour View Post
    Why do you need a battery for a gas stove thermostat? Many 70 year old gas furnaces in California still running strong on millivolt thermostats. Of course then you have a standing pilot which I do not think is really an issue in winter time. I turn ours off in summer, relight it in the fall
    Bill D.
    It's a programmable thermostat. I leave the pilot on during the summer, I was told it will keep the spiders and bugs out.
    Confidence: The feeling you experience before you fully understand the situation

  9. #9
    The 1930's house I lived in Arlington VA, had a completely gravity operated natural gas boiler system with no circulator and a mechanical thermostat that went from the first floor to the basement below. However, nobody, NOBODY builds those anymore.

    Gas fireplaces are real pigs at consuming gas compared to gas furnaces. And Propane is only cheaper than pellets, if you spend the upfront bucks on your own tank and shop for propane in the off season. Right now some propane suppliers are charging over $3.00 a gallon. At that price, pellets are cheaper. But you also need to balance the hassle of getting pellets, cleaning the stove etc. We have a bulk pellet supplier in this area. They bring a truck load of loose pellets and you have to store them. The local bulk pellet company is no real savings, ($240.00 per ton, but in the next county over, I understand a lumber yard has a large storage tank of pellets and they sell to folks who pick them up for $180 a ton. But then how many folks have such ability.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    May 2008
    Location
    Peshtigo,WI
    Posts
    1,395
    Just paid 1.89 a gallon two weeks ago, and yes I have my own tank and get a discount.
    Confidence: The feeling you experience before you fully understand the situation

  11. #11
    $1.89 is twice what I pay, but I fill up in late June early july.

  12. #12
    Join Date
    May 2005
    Location
    SE South Dakota
    Posts
    1,538
    I heated my home with a corn/pellet stove for many years (17-20). I used to just heat with corn----corn prices soared from the $1.30 to over $3.00. YOU CANNOT afford to heat with corn over $2.25 in my area!!! Also, corn doesn't burn as good as pellets due to varying moisture content and you will have hard "chinkers" to contend with. These can sometimes prove to be challenging to contend with.
    Pellets, while SLIGHTLY higher priced in my area were a great improvement over corn due mainly to their consistency of moisture. NO "chinkers" just nice clean ash which would fall into the cleaning tray
    below the firepot.

    We had an ice storm in 2013 which left us without electricity for 4 1/2 days. When power was restored there was such a surge on the system it took out MOST everything electronic-(microwave, tv's, stove, wash machine, and yes the CORN/PELLET stove). I could have replaced the control/mother board on the corn stove for $800 - $900

    I went back to wood!

    Now, if they made a pellet stove with a battery back up (to feed pellet auger) and they didn't attempt to rip-off the public on replacement parts (yes I said rip-off) I would go back, but that day won't come in my life time.
    Epilog TT 35W, 2 LMI SE225CV's
    CorelDraw 4 through 11
    CarveWright
    paper and pencils

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Dec 2009
    Location
    El Dorado Hills, CA
    Posts
    1,311
    Wow, I an surprised how many people say that propane is cheaper than pellets. We moved into a propane heated house about 10 years ago and it was trending around $500 per month to heat for about 4-5 months. We put in a pellet stove and the cost dropped to around $800 for the entire year. This is the time of year to start looking for deals on pellet stoves.

    I am in California with a rented tank, so I am at the mercy of the propane dealer on price per gallon.
    Steve

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Sep 2006
    Location
    Deep South
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    3,970
    California has exceptionally high fossil fuel prices. Government policy.

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
    Location
    Griswold Connecticut
    Posts
    6,927
    Only electric is higher than propane in Connecticut. Propane is a very poor choice here.
    "The first thing you need to know, will likely be the last thing you learn." (Unknown)

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