ISO Information Pellet v.s. wood stove

[1stGenSMIB]

I like my pellet stove

I grew up with wood stoves...but, in my house, I have a Lopi AGP pellet stove (rated to heat ~2000 sq. ft.). A ton of pellets is about $240-260..I go thru about a ton plus maybe 5-10 more bags the entire season.
My usual rule is that once it gets in the 40's (°F) and the efficiency of the heat pumps starts dropping it is time to fire up the pellet stove. We don't usually leave it on during the day, and I'd say the average burn rate on ours is 2-3 bags/week. Pellet stoves seem to vary widly, but they should have specs..mine set on low if I recall burns at 1.4 lbs/hour. On the weekends when we are home all day or colder nights when we crank it up a bit, it burns more..sometimes we get up to burning one bag per day. A real t-stat that will turn it off and on is worth the extra $$ too.

I personally like the easy maintenance of the pellet stove, and I was lucky and was able to punch a pipe thru the wall so my chimney work and cleaning is super easy, and there is almost zero ash/waste. It takes 4 or 5 bags to fill up the tool box sized ash pan.

I keep a 10 gal. can full of pellets next to the stove for the wife in case I forget to fill it..that is enough to run for several hours until I get a bag out of the garage.

Except for the front door/glass area the thing is cool enough that the cat can lay on it too..so I guess that's a plus too, she hangs her paws down over the front where the vent is...

As mentioned, it does require electricity, and you can't cook on it, but way less hassle as compared to a wood stove, IMO.

 

[frequentflier]

By bringing wood in the house (do you store it inside) have you had any problems with termites or carpenter ants

We loaded up the carts with wood late spring and this is the first year we have stored so much seasoned wood in the house over the summer. The basement has a lot of spiders (always has). When we start burning, if we find termites or ants, we may rethink storing so much wood next year.

 

[steppinthrax]

But very low wattage. A very small generator will power it easily. If you're really green, a solar powered battery and inverter will do it.

####, a deep cycle battery with an inverter might help you in a pinch.

 

[Chris0nllyn]

:shrug: That's what I use. Might go to 2 bags if it's really cold out.

Ah... I also have a real thermostat on mine. It shuts off if the temps are satisfied. You get longer times on a bag that way.

Same here. 1 bag per day unless I'm really cranking it up.

My pellet stove is old also with a DIY control system (the board went out and I'm not about to spend $400 on it)

 

[SamSpade]

So - if you already heat your home with a heat pump, is there an advantage to adding a pellet stove? I have room in my furnace room where I could easily put one.

 

[GWguy]

So - if you already heat your home with a heat pump, is there an advantage to adding a pellet stove? I have room in my furnace room where I could easily put one.

A pellet stove should be in the living space as it vents it's heat directly to the room. There may be pellet burners that could be used in-line with another heat source, like a whole-house wood furnace, but not typically.

Any aux heat source, whether pellet, wood, kero, etc... all benefit by reducing the fuel/elec used by the primary heat system.

 

[PeoplesElbow]

Wood is dirty, hauling split wood into the house you will always have bark/dirt etc to clean up. There will be bugs, not necessary termites and carpenter ants, just all sorts of bugs.

Different wood burns differently, a good wood stove is not cheap, will always have a blower with thermostat on it and is usually bigger.

It will be a lot of heat however, dry heat. How long it burns depends on how much air you let into it, you could burn up a couple oak logs in 2 hrs if it is all the way opened up of they could last almost all night long if you close the air supply down. Forget glass doors, they will be nasty in just a couple days unless you clean them often.

If I still bothered with it I would buy one of these

 

[officeguy]

Heating with a wood stove is pretty much a hobby. Pretty soon you'll own three different size chainsaws and a dump trailer spending your Sunday afternoons in friends yards chopping up trees they had to get rid of.

A pellet stove is like heating with propane that comes in bags.

 

[black dog]

I burn hard ( anthracite ) pea coal in both of my homes and shop for heat. It's cleaner, easier to deal with, you can pile it up outside uncovered and it doesn't get wet, no bugs..
You can buy it bulk or buy the bag.
I would suggest if you are looking at stoves you should stop in at the Patio / Woodstove store off Washington St in Waldorf. You will not find a worthwhile stove at Tractor Supply.. Take a peek at Vermont Casting , Jotul..... Money well spent..

 

[PeoplesElbow]

I burn hard ( anthracite ) pea coal in both of my homes and shop for heat. It's cleaner, easier to deal with, you can pile it up outside uncovered and it doesn't get wet, no bugs..
You can buy it bulk or buy the bag.
I would suggest if you are looking at stoves you should stop in at the Patio / Woodstove store off Washington St in Waldorf. You will not find a worthwhile stove at Tractor Supply.. Take a peek at Vermont Casting , Jotul..... Money well spent..

Where do you get your coal?

My grandfather heated his garage with coal, his was free, the railroad tracks to the power plant ran through his land and he only had to pick up what fell out of the cars.

 

[black dog]

When I live in Mechanicsville I would buy it from Stoffers Farm Supply in Loveville and when I went to WV to hunt or visit family I would load up the dually with bulk coal at one of the mines in Page..
Another avenue is the guys who do blacksmith work use coal and I do believe there is someone that will deliver by the ton thats somewhat local to Southern MD..

 

[black dog]

When I live in Mechanicsville I would buy it from Stoffers Farm Supply in Loveville and when I went to WV to hunt or visit family I would load up the dually with bulk coal at one of the mines in Page..
Another avenue is the guys who do blacksmith work use coal and I do believe there is someone that will deliver by the ton thats somewhat local to Southern MD..

Edit,, Tractor Supply out here sells bagged nut sized coal in a 40lb? bag for 6 bucks..
I would think if it's not stocked in Hollywood it could be ordered..

 

[somdforever]

Don't forget; but a pellet stove requires electric to run the auger that feeds the pellets into the stove! Lose electric...lose the stove.

 

[DEEKAYPEE8569]

Don't forget; but a pellet stove requires electric to run the auger that feeds the pellets into the stove! Lose electric...lose the stove.

The quick answer is, 'make sure you have a genny in case power goes out. I know nothing about pellet stoves. Wouldn't it make sense for them to have a manual auger just in case of a power failure? Something like a handle that works like a lug wrench, that attaches to a gear.....

Disregard.....I found this:
http://resources.secamerica.com/how-to-use-your-pellet-stove-during-a-power-outage

 

[GWguy]

Don't forget; but a pellet stove requires electric to run the auger that feeds the pellets into the stove! Lose electric...lose the stove.

The quick answer is, 'make sure you have a genny in case power goes out. I know nothing about pellet stoves. Wouldn't it make sense for them to have a manual auger just in case of a power failure? Something like a handle that works like a lug wrench, that attaches to a gear.....

Disregard.....I found this:
http://resources.secamerica.com/how-to-use-your-pellet-stove-during-a-power-outage

See post 19 above.

Nobody listens to me.

 

[DEEKAYPEE8569]

See post 19 above.

Nobody listens to me.

I'msorrywhuut? My bad. I just replied to the last post by somdforever. I didn't read the entire tred.

 

[dgates80]

Not too proud to admit I have picked many things up on the side of the road

Rebate through the State. It took some work to get, though! We had to send before and after pics to prove we replaced the old stove with a new stove.

Brand name Regency. We like the window to watch it burn, too. It doesn't require filling as much as the old one and it is easy to adjust the temperature. It helps that our home is well insulated. I only wish we could pipe the heat into our attached in law apt.
We have a (fun) system for loading wood in basement (we have racks from a grocery store with high sides on both ends- perfect!) Husband gets mower and trailer, fills with wood and we put a tarp on basement floor. Open basement door and he flings them down to tarp and I stack.
Like I said, we enjoy heating with wood!

It is a Regency F3500 model stove, has a glass door. It does have a catalytic bed in the flue gas vent path, selectable. It has to get hot before it works, and the info that I have says that it actually generates considerable hear by reburning the smoke before it goes up the chimney, resulting in both much lower emissions and greater heat output. The trick is to RTFM, of course... it has to get up to about 600 degrees before the catalyst bed functions properly (just like the catalytic converter in a car does). It is obvious when it fires off, it glows red hot and the chimney smoke d finitely changes character, from smoke to more like steam - changes from black / grayish to white or often nothing visible depending on outside air temp and humidity.