OT: Pellet Stoves

[Burch]

Thinking hard about getting my folks set up with a wood pellet/corn stove.

So, any input, good or bad, would be helpful.

There house is a ranch, just over 2000 sq. ft. They have a fireplace now, so we were thinking about installing an insert model. Seems the pellet stove will be less "user intensive" than a wood burner.

We think the pellet stove would be better (easier to use) than a standard wood burner.

The stoves we are looking at have a 60# hopper, and are being told it will burn 1-2 #'s on low, up to 6 on high per hour. Does that sound corrcet? 10-60 hours on a single filled hopper???

Any accessories needed? Easy to install? etc....What about the future of buying pellets?? Is corn cheaper? Pellets are $225 a ton.

Thanks,

Burch

[Snuff™]

Burch,
I burn 6 cords per winter in a standard Buck Stove.  No experience w/pellets or corn, but if I was setting up my parents I would go w/wood pellets.  Corn may draw rats and other roddents.  Probably cheaper burning split wood but if you avg. burn 3.5#/hr, you could go 17hrs. per fill-up.
All I get is 8-10hrs. throttled down.  Just my .02.

-Snuff

[Panzer]

Now we're starting to talk about stoves and heaters.
Damn, I knew winter was closing in.

[BART]

A friend of mine put in a corn burning heater.  When the weather got cool he inherited several mice and rats.  They loved the corn and the heat in the wintertime!!  The corn price went higher and his savings were going "up the chimney".  He had to switch to wood type pellets to reduce the rodent population. 

BART

[ΚĜΗΟŜΤ]

Pellet stoves are a wierd form of heat.

They do produce heat, they are far cleaner than wood, they use bagged pellets that are easy to handle. (40 lb bags) for some.

I purchased a 55,000 btu no frills  peelet stove unit last year when oil was $4.25 a gallon. I put it in my basement and hooked it up to my forced hot air system to see If I could heat my home with pellets alone.

I installed a completely programmable thermostat, I wired the heat out put blower (pellet stove) and my forced hot air furnace blower to turn on and off (opposite each other) and plumbed it into my home forced hot air duct work.

It kept my cape warm (62'-65') till the temps got to 35'. then it became inaffective. Of course it was in my basement and the heat output was going into the duct work only.....

My issues with pellet stoves is this,

1. They took advantage of the high price of oil and ran the price of pellets way out of site (around here) to $325.00 a ton. (used a ton+ a month) Used Every excuse in the world as to why!!!!
2.Most if not all require electricity to operate ( loss of power loss of heat source) ( electric bill will go up!) and do make noise, (more noise than a wood stove!!)

If house layout is lets say a one story ranch type home, then with some blowers or fans it could do a good job.

If it is just for auxilary heat for a living room or such than a small one may be good and work fine.

Small foot print and does not require all the code issues that a wood stove require.....

[cheetah]

Article in this months Consumer Reports magazine says it will take years to recover cost of converting to pellet.
C

[Emptypockets]

  Another thing that may be should be figured in is the electric period. Not a big deal unless you get hit by an ice storm to write home about. As the winters get warmer it seems like we get more ice storms.

[wavlovr1]

I have a "cozy heat" fireplace in my house. It has vents and fans on a thermostat. It is fully enclosed, so no smoke. I heat my whole house with firewood in the winter. Even at temps in minus double-digits, the propane heat never needs to kick in. Of course I live in a forest, so a couple of weeks each summer is "cut down, cut up, and split next winter's wood..."

jimbob

[adayrider]

I have been heating with corn for 4 or 5 years now. I heat 125 year old 1500 sqr foot 2 story farm house. Kghost has good points. I also have a ventless propane fire place. Thats is all I got for heat. I burn corn as main heat and kick the fireplace on when we are up and moving in the house for help. When it gets to 20-25 outside it gets on the chillie side in here for sure-65-68. Here in youngstown OH we see some 0-20 weeks every year and its hard to get it over 60 on those days and nights. IF YOUR HOUSE LAY OUT IS NOT RIGHT IT IS HARD TO GET THE HEAT TO MOVE. My house is layed out where I can get the heat every where except upstairs but I love a cold bedroom. My wife calls me very cheap bastard 2 or 3 weeks a year but we love it. Before ethnol frenzy I was heating for $600 a year. Last year I spent close to $900 and that is everything except electric to run it is hard to figure. We do have a battle every fall with mice but we had that before with oil heat. Like eveything else you get what you pay for in a stove. Bulk corn is cheaper if you have co-op grain elevator near you. I use my pick up and get 1 to 1.2 ton a trip 4-6 times a year. and stored it in 6-7 55gal drums. now I got a 100 bushel gravity wagon for 1-2 trips a year.

Here is a good website Iburncorn.com they have a pellet site also.

[panz4ever]

Put in a Quadra-Fire pellet stove last year. House is in Kali where it does not get as cold as  other parts of the country. Like mine. House is 2400 sf two story. The stove can burn multiple types of fuel. Modern ones today are definitely more efficient than my old one. Has a programmable thermostat as well. A week of burning pellets and you can hold the ash in your hands.

[FLH_Rider]

Just for info Woo Pellets at the local Farm and Fleet are about $200 a ton right now. Down from $230 or so a couple months ago.

[stroker800]

  I have 2 Whitfeild pellet stoves to heat 2400 sq,,,They are great ,,,but there are draw backs,,,the hoppers old bout 50-60lbs of pellets,,when run full open need to be cleaned every 30-35 hrs for full efficency..The Whitfeilds throw a hotter forced air..There is a pellet shortage here in Canada,,,so pellet prices went from $200.00 ton to $325.00..I do like pellet stoves over wood ,,but still dirty..I clean daily with shop vac ..I would recommend to anyone as a secondary heat source,,,they will cut heating costs ..Like I said I run 2 ,,24/7 thru the winter and spend under $1000.00 compared to parents upwards of $2500 on oil.....
Dave

[Ridetard]

I like corn                   

[wavlovr1]

I give all my corn to the 4, 5, and 6 point bucks that live on my land, LOL....

I stopped letting them eat out of the bucket when they scraped the soft fuzzys off their racks. Doesn't feel nice when they bump them up against my arm now, LOL

jb