Are people actually saving significant money with pellet stoves?
I was playing with one of those heat source calculators and was surprised at how little savings it was showing for wood pellets over oil heat. Seems like 20% savings at best with local prices, and then you have to have somewhere to store them, pay for maintenance and deal with feeding the thing. I'd think it's even less savings than that because every time I'm at a house with one, they have it ripping hot in one room to try to get the rest of the rooms warm.
Several of my neighbors have pellet stoves, and my in-laws had one installed last year, so people must think they save money.
What's your opinion on pellet stoves for fuel savings?
Comments
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Like all other fuel sources… always compare the cost on a BTUh basis. In some settings they'll save money. Others, not so much.
And there is that hassle of localized heat…
Br. Jamie, osb
Building superintendent/caretaker, 7200 sq. ft. historic house museum with dependencies in New England1 -
For every ton of Anthracite coal or Sub Bituminous coal you burn, you burn 2 tons of wood pellets.
There are fuel comparison charts available to look at to give you a world view of wood pellets versus other heating fuels and electricity of course.
In comparing wood pellets With Eastern Anthracite Coal you spend double per ton.
If you live in the Dakotas, lignite coal is less than $10.00 per ton; in Wyoming and Montana Sub Bituminous Coal is less than $10.00 per ton.
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I think some feel they are saving money when they only heat a few rooms with a stove instead of running a central heating system. As Jamie says, you must compare cost per BTU for an accurate assessment.
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The stove warms the room with the thermostat and turns off the furnace
Unless you have an open one room home, they are more of spot heater
Bob "hot rod" Rohr
trainer for Caleffi NA
Living the hydronic dream-1 -
In my experience there is an enormous amount of self-delusion when it comes to home heating.
I may be guilty of it myself but my delusions are epic.
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why bother with pellets, when most homes have electricity to operate one of these.
Bob "hot rod" Rohr
trainer for Caleffi NA
Living the hydronic dream
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Da frack did I just read?
My brain hurts.
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18 years ago when I first got out on my own, we had a pellet mill nearby that was selling for $150/ton and corn was around $2/bushel so I bought a pellet stove rather than buying propane at $1.09/gal because it seemed cheaper in my head. After 2 years of fighting plugged augers and having a mountain of dust in my basement, corn was $6/bushel and pellets were $225/ton so I sold it. Then I bought an outdoor wood boiler, again too naive to do the math, because "wood is free" (in my head). $25,000 later I'm saving maybe $500/yr on fuel in exchange for 200 hours every year of labor to cut, split, stack, load, take out ashes, etc. Plus I lose 600 sq ft of garage space all winter due to the wood and related equipment. Had I done the math and realized that I'd be paying myself $2.50/hr to do a job I don't even like doing, I'd have saved the investment and found a hobby instead. It may make financial sense for some, but certainly not for this guy. A pellet stove would be the last thing I'd use to make heat unless somehow pellets were free for the taking.
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Is coal dust better than wood pellet dust?
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They're space heaters. So unless your home is one big space they are maybe not the right choice. Like any space heater they are often responsible for frozen pipes in the spaces they can't reach.
Miss Hall's School service mechanic, greenhouse manager,teacher and dog walker2 -
Back when I had a pellet stove and oil was something like $3.50-4 a gallon, yes, the pellet stove saved money and actually, I kind of enjoyed using it.
Once I installed natural gas, not even close and that's when the pellet stove went on Craigslist.
To add to other comments, the room the stove was in ran around 80F and it did heat the rest of the house. Of course some rooms upstairs were chilly but nothing terrible. You had to leave doors open and go out of your way to work with the setup for it to work, but it worked.
Single pipe 392sqft system with an EG-40 rated for 325sqft and it's silent and balanced at all times.
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QUOTE: As the saying goes" build a better mousetrap, and the world will beat a path to your door" attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson
I, for one, believe the steam guys got it right
Regards
RTW
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Anthracite Coal dust is pure carbon, Bituminous Coal, Sub Bituminous Coal and Lignite have a little less carbon.
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I had a Harmon for 10 years in a condo that was heated with an hot air electric furnace. I was able to heat the entire two upper floors with enough left over to open the windows to somewhat keep it comfortable. This was before automatic controls so once started it was at the same output.
I only used a ton per season & did my own maintenance. Delivery was a pallet put inside the garage that I would then re-stack.
Since then I have moved to a small ranch with oil fired baseboards & indirect DHW plus 5 heat pump heads with 2 condensers for most of my heat.
My neighbor added a Harmon after I told my story, they love it.
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Thanks I just spit out my coffee
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It's all about the application and expectations.
My neighbor in Missouri had one in the living room of their small house and loved it. Cut their LP use in half. He was a retired machinist and modified the auger a bit. It was a low cost unit from Lowes.
The distant back bedroom stayed a bit cool, but they used electric blankets anyways.
We had two pellet mills within 30 miles and you could buy direct in pallet quantities, which saves some $$
Bob "hot rod" Rohr
trainer for Caleffi NA
Living the hydronic dream1 -
Breaking News
Edward Young Retired
After you make that expensive repair and you still have the same problem, What will you check next?
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I was surprised, so I did a little digging and can't find anything that says Elon Musk had anything to do with those heaters and never said anything about them? They're obviously just resistance heaters, so nothing special.
Single pipe 392sqft system with an EG-40 rated for 325sqft and it's silent and balanced at all times.
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Natural Gas is the cheapest heat in the USA and it isn't particularly close. Heat pumps are usually next, then Anthracite Coal as I understand it.
Wood gets a big * as labor can be written off in many cases.
The rest are heating sources of last resort. With modern heat pumps, oil and propane don't make as much sense as they used to.
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Nah it was from a commonly shared fake article, it fooled a ton of facebook users since most people don't really understand how any of this works, and those that do would definitely believe a tech billionaire who oversells their product might oversell a new product. It's still funny though imo
here is a link to the original, and again this article is 100% fake news he never said any of this stuff lol
https://web.archive.org/web/20240109175335/https://cosmoheater.store/
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"$25,000 later I'm saving maybe $500/yr on fuel in exchange for 200 hours every year of labor to cut, split, stack, load, take out ashes, etc."
I grew up in New England and knew a lot of frugal Yankees who heated with wood their whole lives. Cut, split and hauled themselves, of course. Those flinty old coots were tough as nails. And they tended to live a long time. One neighbor was still putting up five cords a year when he passed at 83.
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My experience growing up in a house that was heated with a wood fireplace insert is that cutting, splitting, stacking, drying, hauling, cleaning up after wood sucks.
And then there are the bugs. They wake up when you bring the wood into a warm house in the middle of January.
I much prefer the ability to set a temperature on a little screen and my house is automagically heated to said temperature. Even if pellets, or wood were actually cheaper than NG the time value alone really skews it in favor of NG, or a heat pump.
I have thought about upgrading my disused fireplace to a wood insert, but for backup heat only. Say in the event if a long term power or NG outage. But as a replacement to my central heating system? Nah. My 40 year old boiler with 100 year old radiators keep this drafty house with in a degree of set point. And it costs me less than a grand a year in actual NG.
Those dead men knew a thing or two.
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I saw a clip of "Inside the NBA" where one of the hosts was talking about high gas prices, saying he doesn't want a vehicle that costs $80 to fill. Shaq replies, "When it gets down to half, put $20 bucks in. When it gets back down to half, put $20 in again."
I think some people are following that logic with pellet stoves. It hurts psychologically to pay $800 to fill an oil tank, so they're buying a shopping cart of pellets every week or so. Or maybe people are just broke in my area, seems like every time I go to Tractor Supply in winter there's somebody buying a few bags of pellets.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EuH91bQXDuE
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I used to trim trees for the local utility. They paid by the hour. The wood was chunked up on site and thrown into a dump truck. That was then dumped in my back yard.
I had a wood burning furnace next to the NG one in the basement. Wood chute to slide into the basement. 4 kids to keep busy with hauling wood. Could store 1 1/2 cords next to the furnace. 1/2 cord in garage where the chute was. Easy to keep house about 80 when 10 below zero.
Changed jobs and lost that wood supply. Soon went to the NG at about $65 per month. Less than 1 day wages as electrical contractor would cover that.
Sold the furnace, gave the chainsaw to son years later.
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in the 80's, my father (also in Nebraska) had a wood stove in basement hooked up the the heat ducts with sensor to turn fan when hot; I expect something similar to @JUGHNE. Used to feed it wood from pallets from his job with GTE.
He did that for 10-15 year and eventually took it out when he no longer had access to easy wood and the harvested wood made too much mess. See also @JakeCK comment on defrosted bugs coming out of the wood pile. Especially the large borer beetles. 😁
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If you repeat a lie enough times through many outlets……………..people WILL BELIEVE it!!
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Hard to believe a muskrat would be involved in a project like that.
Last year the super efficient Amish Heater was the rage. Probably the same marketing folks.
Bob "hot rod" Rohr
trainer for Caleffi NA
Living the hydronic dream1
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