Pellet Stoves are amazing!

SteamingPile

I've got a Jotul wood stove insert cranking at the moment in my living room. It's 74 degrees in a 31x17 room, 68-70 in adjoining rooms (except the ancient cold kitchen)..

Mother has a Harman pellet stove heating her 750+ sq ft in law apt. It's a toasty 75 degrees on low on the first floor and maybe 72 on the second. Burning maybe 1/2 - 3/4 a bag a day.

Pellet prices have gotten outta hand... I'd expect them to drop a bit since oil is basically cheaper now.

Just moved into this house so I didn't get a chance to pick up a few cords of dry wood. most likely stuff I'd buy now isn't all that dry.

I'll be the guy in the pickup truck stopping to pick up random logs on the side of the road.

Mark Eatherton

Gordy said:

So what are pellets going for a bag? Was at menards, and 3.99 a bag on sale. Bag said 8000 btu per bag? Per #? That's expensive no?

$50.00 per therm?

3.99/8000 = .0005 per BTU.

.0005 X 100000 = $50.00 And people think they are saving money with pellets eh...

Wow... Even if it was 80,000 btu/bag, it's still at $5.00 per therm... Gas is what, around a buck a therm right now.

CORRECTION: It is 8,000 btu's per pound, and there are 40 pounds in a bag, so 320,000 btus/bag. So the per therm cost (gross) is $1.25 per therm. Tough to justify if natural gas is available. Fairly good compared to propane costs, but the efficiency of the appliance is not reflected in the net efficiency nor the sweat equity involved with wood. If the appliance is 80% efficient, then delivered therm = $1.56

ME

Gordy

Mark Eatherton said:

Gordy said:

So what are pellets going for a bag? Was at menards, and 3.99 a bag on sale. Bag said 8000 btu per bag? Per #? That's expensive no?

$50.00 per therm?

3.99/8000 = .0005 per BTU.

.0005 X 100000 = $50.00 And people think they are saving money with pellets eh...

Wow... Even if it was 80,000 btu/bag, it's still at $5.00 per therm... Gas is what, around a buck a therm right now.

CORRECTION: It is 8,000 btu's per pound, and there are 40 pounds in a bag, so 320,000 btus/bag. So the per therm cost (gross) is $1.25 per therm. Tough to justify if natural gas is available. Fairly good compared to propane costs, but the efficiency of the appliance is not reflected in the net efficiency nor the sweat equity involved with wood. If the appliance is 80% efficient, then delivered therm = $1.56

ME

I thought it kind of odd one to commit to btu content per pound. Especially with pellet in consistencies from what I have read after posting. A good high efficiency pellet stove is comparable to a mod/con boiler cost. Bad pellet quality can be a nightmare.

Remember the corn burners before pellets? Same system. Corn was cheap, and then got out of hand too.

ChrisJ

Gordy said:

Mark Eatherton said:

Gordy said:

So what are pellets going for a bag? Was at menards, and 3.99 a bag on sale. Bag said 8000 btu per bag? Per #? That's expensive no?

$50.00 per therm?

3.99/8000 = .0005 per BTU.

.0005 X 100000 = $50.00 And people think they are saving money with pellets eh...

Wow... Even if it was 80,000 btu/bag, it's still at $5.00 per therm... Gas is what, around a buck a therm right now.

CORRECTION: It is 8,000 btu's per pound, and there are 40 pounds in a bag, so 320,000 btus/bag. So the per therm cost (gross) is $1.25 per therm. Tough to justify if natural gas is available. Fairly good compared to propane costs, but the efficiency of the appliance is not reflected in the net efficiency nor the sweat equity involved with wood. If the appliance is 80% efficient, then delivered therm = $1.56

ME

I thought it kind of odd one to commit to btu content per pound. Especially with pellet in consistencies from what I have read after posting. A good high efficiency pellet stove is comparable to a mod/con boiler cost. Bad pellet quality can be a nightmare.

Remember the corn burners before pellets? Same system. Corn was cheap, and then got out of hand too.

The pellet stove I had was also a corn burner.
Was never able to find any corn locally though and stuck with pellets the short time I had it. I think it was also able to burn other things, but can't remember what.

The stirrer motor was making noise at times and I had looked into converting it to what I think was called a "clinker pot" where it didn't stir, and burned a little differently.

But, the screws in the twist lock pope and everything put the last nail in that coffin.