Pellet stove cost

[GWguy]

Originally Posted by Cletus_Vandam

Funny you should ask.... My in-laws have one they are getting ready to try and sell.

I'm not trying to solicit a sale, but I wanted to ask a question to all those who have the pellet stove.

My in-laws have had theirs for about five years now and right from the beginning they have complained that the pellets cost more then they are worth and the stove doesn't heat as well as the wood stove they took out.

Is that really the case????

Check out some of the recent posts in the Home and Garden section. There were some specific discussions on wood vs pellet.

I prefer the heat of a real wood stove, but the convenience of the pellet far outweighs. A year or two ago, it was cheaper to buy pellets than fuel oil to stay warm. Prices on fuel oil have dropped somewhat, so that's not as big an issue. I got 3 tons of pellets in for the season, should last me until spring. Cost was about $800-850. You could spend that much one one oil tank fill up, and you might need to do that 2 or 3 times a season. I went for 3 years without buying any oil at all. Didn't use any fossil fuel, used leftover sawdust to heat.

[SamSpade]

Originally Posted by Symom

Backup??? They require electricity to operate. Ours is a Breckwell. They use to sell pellets stoves at a place in Waldorf called Hearth and Patio or something close to that name. Not sure if they are still there.

Backup in that, once it gets below *freezing*, you're running almost entirely on electrical heat.

I didn't mean it in the sense of heat in the event of power failure. If that happens for any length of time, I won't be staying in my house.

I'd heard that Tri-County Hearth and Patio prices were ridiculous. I know my wife went to both them and American Hardware some time back and found that they beat their price on absolutely everything.

[huntr1]

Originally Posted by Symom

Backup??? They require electricity to operate. Ours is a Breckwell. They use to sell pellets stoves at a place in Waldorf called Hearth and Patio or something close to that name. Not sure if they are still there.

The auger and blower on a pellet stove take a LOT less electricity than your furnace/heat pump. You can easilly run the pellet stove off a generator in a power outage, whereas a furnace/heat pump will take a MUCH larger generator.

[Symom]

Originally Posted by huntr1

The auger and blower on a pellet stove take a LOT less electricity than your furnace/heat pump. You can easilly run the pellet stove off a generator in a power outage, whereas a furnace/heat pump will take a MUCH larger generator.

Because we use the woodstove in the basement our pellet vs oil costs are more like back-ups. GWGuy was right about the cost of pellet vs oil if you use only one or the other. Plus his way of doing math makes me happier because I like the pellet stove but need the furnace if I want to go away for any length of time. :o)

[SamSpade]

For those of you WITH wood stoves already -

Would you ever let it run when you are not home?

[clevalley (Premo)]

$2500 to $$3500 installed; call and speak with Chris Plater at American Hardware and Hearth on 301 in Waldorf. 301-645-2700

They sell Quadrafire's and they are really great stoves. We are on our 5th year and not a problem.

[Symom]

Originally Posted by SamSpade

For those of you WITH wood stoves already -

Would you ever let it run when you are not home?

Yes, both the wood stove and the pellet stove.

[migtig]

Originally Posted by SamSpade

For those of you WITH wood stoves already -

Would you ever let it run when you are not home?

I would rather have a woodstove and we are looking at that for the future. And having had a woodstove in the past, yes, I would let it run when I'm not home, as long as your flue/chimney had been properly serviced there should be no issues.

[SamSpade]

Originally Posted by migtig

I would rather have a woodstove ...

Rather, as opposed to pellet stoves?

I'm not crazy about pellets, but I don't think there's ever likely to be a shortage of stuff to burn for them, since they burn just about anything.

What I don't like about wood stoves is, there's no easy way to keep the area soot free and clean all the time. Our fireplace is right in our family room, and it's hard enough to keep it clean. Plus, I hate having to keep the fire going.

[GWguy]

Originally Posted by SamSpade

For those of you WITH wood stoves already -

Would you ever let it run when you are not home?

I used to have a wood stove. After seeing what can happen, I never left it for more than a half hour at a time.