Friend has been extolling the virtues of a pellet stove owned and
operated by his relative.

He says that it uses about one bag of pellets per-day; which cost
about $5-$6 per bag. $150 to $180 per month? There are occasionally
shortage of fuel pellets. Disposing of the small amount of ash is very
easy and not messy. The stove requires a small amount of electrcity to
operate (drive the auger). Not sure if it also has any warm air
circulating fan?

It is not the sole source of heat in the house and there are the usual
lights and appliances using electricity (which then becomes heat)
within the house.

Obtaining the fuel, a pallet load at a time requires either delivery
by truck or the use of one own pickup etc. Not the sort of thing you
can pick up at the s.market and sling eight or ten bags in trunk of a
car, on a regular basis! Although that's what one would do if
necessary during a shortage.

As far as we know the pellets are not made (yet anyway) in this area
and have to be trucked in; also the pellet stove cannot as far as we
know burn anything else. e.g. scrap wood?

Interested in any other comments or expereience with these pellet
stoves. Thanks.

On Feb 1, 9:09*am, terry wrote:
Friend has been extolling the virtues of a pellet stove owned and
operated by his relative.

He says that it uses about one bag of pellets per-day; which cost
about $5-$6 per bag. $150 to $180 per month? There are occasionally
shortage of fuel pellets. Disposing of the small amount of ash is very
easy and not messy. The stove requires a small amount of electrcity to
operate (drive the auger). Not sure if it also has any warm air
circulating fan?

It is not the sole source of heat in the house and there are the usual
lights and appliances using electricity (which then becomes heat)
within the house.

Obtaining the fuel, a pallet load at a time requires either delivery
by truck or the use of one own pickup etc. Not the sort of thing you
can pick up at the s.market and sling eight or ten bags in trunk of a
car, on a regular basis! Although that's what one would do if
necessary during a shortage.

As far as we know the pellets are not made (yet anyway) in this area
and have to be trucked in; also the pellet stove cannot as far as we
know burn anything else. e.g. scrap wood?

Interested in any other comments or expereience with these pellet
stoves. Thanks.

What would his bill be with gas, Split wood would be alot cheaper.

On Feb 1, 12:26*pm, ransley wrote:
On Feb 1, 9:09*am, terry wrote:





Friend has been extolling the virtues of a pellet stove owned and
operated by his relative.

He says that it uses about one bag of pellets per-day; which cost
about $5-$6 per bag. $150 to $180 per month? There are occasionally
shortage of fuel pellets. Disposing of the small amount of ash is very
easy and not messy. The stove requires a small amount of electrcity to
operate (drive the auger). Not sure if it also has any warm air
circulating fan?

It is not the sole source of heat in the house and there are the usual
lights and appliances using electricity (which then becomes heat)
within the house.

Obtaining the fuel, a pallet load at a time requires either delivery
by truck or the use of one own pickup etc. Not the sort of thing you
can pick up at the s.market and sling eight or ten bags in trunk of a
car, on a regular basis! Although that's what one would do if
necessary during a shortage.

As far as we know the pellets are not made (yet anyway) in this area
and have to be trucked in; also the pellet stove cannot as far as we
know burn anything else. e.g. scrap wood?

Interested in any other comments or experience with these pellet
stoves. Thanks.

What would his bill be with gas, Split wood would be alot cheaper.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

No gas here except delivered propane; considered expensive.
Not investigated wood; although I do burn some scrap wood in my
basement workshop. Using an old Jotul stove it is only for occasional
use, not an ongoing method of heating. Thanks for comment.

On Feb 1, 10:09*am, terry wrote:
Friend has been extolling the virtues of a pellet stove owned and
operated by his relative.

He says that it uses about one bag of pellets per-day; which cost
about $5-$6 per bag. $150 to $180 per month? There are occasionally
shortage of fuel pellets. Disposing of the small amount of ash is very
easy and not messy. The stove requires a small amount of electrcity to
operate (drive the auger). Not sure if it also has any warm air
circulating fan?

It is not the sole source of heat in the house and there are the usual
lights and appliances using electricity (which then becomes heat)
within the house.

Obtaining the fuel, a pallet load at a time requires either delivery
by truck or the use of one own pickup etc. Not the sort of thing you
can pick up at the s.market and sling eight or ten bags in trunk of a
car, on a regular basis! Although that's what one would do if
necessary during a shortage.

As far as we know the pellets are not made (yet anyway) in this area
and have to be trucked in; also the pellet stove cannot as far as we
know burn anything else. e.g. scrap wood?

Interested in any other comments or expereience with these pellet
stoves. Thanks.




Hello,

I use coal and wood (large, black, coal stove in basement; pretty,
little, red, wood stove first floor). Also propane cooking stove in
kitchen and a little amount of baseboard heaters (hotwired). I heat
the entire house from basement to attic.

No matter how you do it, it will cost you about $1,000.00 dollars a
year to heat your entire house . . . anything can be delivered . . .

I once had an old drafty farm house; turned the hot water, baseboard
heat furnace to circulate constantly, and the temp. down to just warm
enough to keep the pipes from freezing, and heated one, large room
with kerosene. Thatis the only way to get your fuel bill down. It
keeps the chill out of the house, and was fun; sort of like going
camping. No one ever got cold. I kept a large pot of hot soup on top
of one of the pretty, kerosene Moonlighters. We also used electric
blankets. Sometimes i would put a canning pot of water on the
electric, cooking stove (Flair), during the day hours, for humidity
warmth.

Truly

Truth will set you free: John 8:32

When I first bought my house, not know what things really cost, I
thought 280 dollars for natural gas during the coldest month was
expensive. This is in the northeast and that is usually the bill in
februrary, which includes gas for stove, furance, water heater for a
2000Sq ft house. I don't have to load any pellets and I don't have to
clean ash.

On Feb 1, 9:09*am, terry wrote:
Friend has been extolling the virtues of a pellet stove owned and
operated by his relative.

He says that it uses about one bag of pellets per-day; which cost
about $5-$6 per bag. $150 to $180 per month? There are occasionally
shortage of fuel pellets. Disposing of the small amount of ash is very
easy and not messy. The stove requires a small amount of electrcity to
operate (drive the auger). Not sure if it also has any warm air
circulating fan?

It is not the sole source of heat in the house and there are the usual
lights and appliances using electricity (which then becomes heat)
within the house.

Obtaining the fuel, a pallet load at a time requires either delivery
by truck or the use of one own pickup etc. Not the sort of thing you
can pick up at the s.market and sling eight or ten bags in trunk of a
car, on a regular basis! Although that's what one would do if
necessary during a shortage.

As far as we know the pellets are not made (yet anyway) in this area
and have to be trucked in; also the pellet stove cannot as far as we
know burn anything else. e.g. scrap wood?

Interested in any other comments or expereience with these pellet
stoves. Thanks.

A friend of mine sells pellet stoves. Here (central Illinois) they use
either pellets or corn depending on price. Popular with many farmers,
of course. If shelled corn is available in your area, price might be
OK at $3 a bushel. Check it out.

Joe

When I was really young, we heated with coal, which meant I learned
early to shovel more coal in and to bank the fire at night so it
wouldn't go out. But everytime we missed a feeding, it went out and had
to be restarted.

Then we got a coal burner with an automatic feeder; what a labor saver.

I think the pellet stove offers the same advantage over a traditional
wood burner, as the ones I have seen are self feeding. So how much
money is it worth to be freed from constantly feeding the furnace?

Pellet burners aren't as pretty as a nice woodburner, but I think they
are the most efficient way to heat with wood. Of course, around here we
aren't permitted to heat with wood, so we all use gas.

terry wrote:
Friend has been extolling the virtues of a pellet stove owned and
operated by his relative.

He says that it uses about one bag of pellets per-day; which cost
about $5-$6 per bag. $150 to $180 per month? There are occasionally
shortage of fuel pellets. Disposing of the small amount of ash is very
easy and not messy. The stove requires a small amount of electrcity to
operate (drive the auger). Not sure if it also has any warm air
circulating fan?

It is not the sole source of heat in the house and there are the usual
lights and appliances using electricity (which then becomes heat)
within the house.

Obtaining the fuel, a pallet load at a time requires either delivery
by truck or the use of one own pickup etc. Not the sort of thing you
can pick up at the s.market and sling eight or ten bags in trunk of a
car, on a regular basis! Although that's what one would do if
necessary during a shortage.

As far as we know the pellets are not made (yet anyway) in this area
and have to be trucked in; also the pellet stove cannot as far as we
know burn anything else. e.g. scrap wood?

Interested in any other comments or expereience with these pellet
stoves. Thanks.

Newfoundland? I'm in a new, very well insulated 1800 sq. ft house in
Manitoba. I'll trade your winter for mine anytime. I only use hydro.
No gas, wood or any other energy source. I pay my electric bill
monthly as I use power not spread out over the year. My monthly
electric bills in the winter will run into the $250 range in Dec. Jan.
and Feb. Summer, perhaps $50 unless I run my A/C a lot. That also
includes heating my garage/workshop with an 4800W electric heater most
days. By the way, my total electric bill is lower than what I used to
pay just for the gas heat in my old 900 sq. ft 1950's bungalow.

Pellet stove's were a big thing around here a few years ago. Of course
as more people started using them the cost of the pellets increased.

Whether you like it of not they've got good grip on both of them and
they're not going to let go. If you loosen their grip on one side but
they'll just squeeze harder on the other.

You'll probably be better off adding insulation, sealing air leaks,
installing better windows etc. These improvements pay for themselves
over the years and put money back in your pocket, not theirs. Makes
your house a lot more comfortable.

If you need proof then how's this. My wife is in her mid fifties. I
leave the thermostat in her controll compleatly. I have not touched
it in over a year.

LdB

On 2/1/2010 9:09 AM, terry wrote:
Friend has been extolling the virtues of a pellet stove owned and
operated by his relative.

He says that it uses about one bag of pellets per-day; which cost
about $5-$6 per bag. $150 to $180 per month? There are occasionally
shortage of fuel pellets. Disposing of the small amount of ash is very
easy and not messy. The stove requires a small amount of electrcity to
operate (drive the auger). Not sure if it also has any warm air
circulating fan?

It is not the sole source of heat in the house and there are the usual
lights and appliances using electricity (which then becomes heat)
within the house.

Obtaining the fuel, a pallet load at a time requires either delivery
by truck or the use of one own pickup etc. Not the sort of thing you
can pick up at the s.market and sling eight or ten bags in trunk of a
car, on a regular basis! Although that's what one would do if
necessary during a shortage.

As far as we know the pellets are not made (yet anyway) in this area
and have to be trucked in; also the pellet stove cannot as far as we
know burn anything else. e.g. scrap wood?

Interested in any other comments or expereience with these pellet
stoves. Thanks.

On Feb 1, 10:53*am, terry wrote:
On Feb 1, 12:26*pm, ransley wrote:





On Feb 1, 9:09*am, terry wrote:

Friend has been extolling the virtues of a pellet stove owned and
operated by his relative.

He says that it uses about one bag of pellets per-day; which cost
about $5-$6 per bag. $150 to $180 per month? There are occasionally
shortage of fuel pellets. Disposing of the small amount of ash is very
easy and not messy. The stove requires a small amount of electrcity to
operate (drive the auger). Not sure if it also has any warm air
circulating fan?

It is not the sole source of heat in the house and there are the usual
lights and appliances using electricity (which then becomes heat)
within the house.

Obtaining the fuel, a pallet load at a time requires either delivery
by truck or the use of one own pickup etc. Not the sort of thing you
can pick up at the s.market and sling eight or ten bags in trunk of a
car, on a regular basis! Although that's what one would do if
necessary during a shortage.

As far as we know the pellets are not made (yet anyway) in this area
and have to be trucked in; also the pellet stove cannot as far as we
know burn anything else. e.g. scrap wood?

Interested in any other comments or experience with these pellet
stoves. Thanks.

What would his bill be with gas, Split wood would be alot cheaper.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

No gas here except delivered propane; considered expensive.
Not investigated wood; although I do burn some scrap wood in my
basement workshop. Using an old Jotul stove it is only for occasional
use, not an ongoing method of heating. Thanks for comment.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Find out the BTU of a bag of pellets and compare to Propane BTU per lb
and cost per lb or gallon or however its sold, When I fill up a bbq
tank I pay by the lb. You might be suprsised after all the shipping
etc etc that the cleaner burning Propane could be cheaper.

"terry" wrote in message
...

Friend has been extolling the virtues of a pellet stove owned and
operated by his relative.

He says that it uses about one bag of pellets per-day; which cost
about $5-$6 per bag. $150 to $180 per month? . . .

Few people hereabouts use pellet stoves because they
need stove heat during power outages (and a pellet stove
requires electricity for its fan system). Outages are
nowadays rare but the pellet fuel supplier down the road
went bust years ago.

My stove burns 5 or 6 face cords every winter cost-free
except for chainsaw maintenance (less than $100 in the
last three or four years.) Surprisingly, two acres (including
some mature trees that need thinning out) produces more
than I can burn, including the low-grade poplar (OK if from
40-year-old trees and split and stacked for 2 years.)

--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)

terry wrote:
Friend has been extolling the virtues of a pellet stove owned and
operated by his relative.

He says that it uses about one bag of pellets per-day; which cost
about $5-$6 per bag. $150 to $180 per month? There are occasionally
shortage of fuel pellets. Disposing of the small amount of ash is very
easy and not messy. The stove requires a small amount of electrcity to
operate (drive the auger). Not sure if it also has any warm air
circulating fan?

It is not the sole source of heat in the house and there are the usual
lights and appliances using electricity (which then becomes heat)
within the house.

Obtaining the fuel, a pallet load at a time requires either delivery
by truck or the use of one own pickup etc. Not the sort of thing you
can pick up at the s.market and sling eight or ten bags in trunk of a
car, on a regular basis! Although that's what one would do if
necessary during a shortage.

As far as we know the pellets are not made (yet anyway) in this area
and have to be trucked in; also the pellet stove cannot as far as we
know burn anything else. e.g. scrap wood?

Interested in any other comments or expereience with these pellet
stoves. Thanks.

I've heated with pellets for 20 years now, 18 years with my current stove.
Our electric rate is one of the highest in the nation at nearly 18c per KWH.
Natural gas isn't an option in the immediate area because there is no
delivery infrastructure. This house was built with baseboard electric, so
there is no distribution system for Hot water or air. We moved here 28
years ago, and our first cold-weather electric bill ran to nearly $800. I
immediately installed a big wood burner in the basement and bought a few
cords of seasoned wood, and then spent most of the winter culling trees for
the next season.

Firewood involves a lot of work, but I always enjoyed the work. My wife,
however, didn't like the dust that drifted upstairs, nor the bits of bark
and dirt that got tracked up. I first saw a pellet stove in 1990 and bought
it on the spot, along with a ton of pellets. It was a pretty basic model,
and I just piped it into the chimney in the basement where the wood stove
used to vent. A couple of years later I got a nice-looking insert and put
it in the kitchen fireplace, pretty much in the center of the house. It
keeps us warm with about a bag of pellets a day (more when it drops below
10F outside or on 20F days when the wind is howling. Keeping the downstairs
at 70 leaves upstairs at 65, which is perfect for sleeping.

Pellets here are going for about $250-300 per ton and I usually go through
2.5 tons - probably more this year because it has gotten pretty cold. There
was a shortage of pellets one year, but my guy had them when nobody else
did, so I didn't feel the effect.

Most newer stoves have electric start, so they can go out completely when
there is no call for heat. Mine stays lit between cleanings, so probably
burns more fuel than it has to. Still, my annual heating bill is about the
same as our first winter monthly bill, so I'm saving big time.

Keith



--- news://freenews.netfront.net/ - complaints: ---

On Feb 1, 1:55*pm, "Not@home" wrote:
When I was really young, we heated with coal, which meant I learned
early to shovel more coal in and to bank the fire at night so it
wouldn't go out. *But everytime we missed a feeding, it went out and had
to be restarted.

Then we got a coal burner with an automatic feeder; what a labor saver.

I think the pellet stove offers the same advantage over a traditional
wood burner, as the ones I have seen are self feeding. *So how much
money is it worth to be freed from constantly feeding the furnace?

Pellet burners aren't as pretty as a nice woodburner, but I think they
are the most efficient way to heat with wood. *Of course, around here we
aren't permitted to heat with wood, so we all use gas.



terry wrote:
Friend has been extolling the virtues of a pellet stove owned and
operated by his relative.

He says that it uses about one bag of pellets per-day; which cost
about $5-$6 per bag. $150 to $180 per month? There are occasionally
shortage of fuel pellets. Disposing of the small amount of ash is very
easy and not messy. The stove requires a small amount of electrcity to
operate (drive the auger). Not sure if it also has any warm air
circulating fan?

It is not the sole source of heat in the house and there are the usual
lights and appliances using electricity (which then becomes heat)
within the house.

Obtaining the fuel, a pallet load at a time requires either delivery
by truck or the use of one own pickup etc. Not the sort of thing you
can pick up at the s.market and sling eight or ten bags in trunk of a
car, on a regular basis! Although that's what one would do if
necessary during a shortage.

As far as we know the pellets are not made (yet anyway) in this area
and have to be trucked in; also the pellet stove cannot as far as we
know burn anything else. e.g. scrap wood?

Interested in any other comments or expereience with these pellet
stoves. Thanks.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -




Hello,

You didnot have a coal stove with a hopper. The new coal stoves with
hoppers can last two days without any attention.

Truly

Truth will set you free: John 8:32

On Feb 1, 10:09*am, terry wrote:
Friend has been extolling the virtues of a pellet stove owned and
operated by his relative.

He says that it uses about one bag of pellets per-day; which cost
about $5-$6 per bag. $150 to $180 per month? There are occasionally
shortage of fuel pellets. Disposing of the small amount of ash is very
easy and not messy. The stove requires a small amount of electrcity to
operate (drive the auger). Not sure if it also has any warm air
circulating fan?

It is not the sole source of heat in the house and there are the usual
lights and appliances using electricity (which then becomes heat)
within the house.

Obtaining the fuel, a pallet load at a time requires either delivery
by truck or the use of one own pickup etc. Not the sort of thing you
can pick up at the s.market and sling eight or ten bags in trunk of a
car, on a regular basis! Although that's what one would do if
necessary during a shortage.

As far as we know the pellets are not made (yet anyway) in this area
and have to be trucked in; also the pellet stove cannot as far as we
know burn anything else. e.g. scrap wood?

Interested in any other comments or expereience with these pellet
stoves. Thanks.

I have a pellet stove and I can say that there is more work to it than
what you say. Probably the worse part is once a month or more you have
to take apart the heat exchanger and clean out all the soot from those
little fingers and soot gets all over the house. And you have to shut
it down every few days and clean out the ash from around the burn
pot.

I always have to replace the igniter a couple of times a year. And the
damn things usually burn out in the middle of the night.

Sometimes if feeds fuel faster than it can burn it so it piles up in
there and the feed auger plugs up and the fire goes out. And sometimes
when that happens, it shuts down and dumps some of the hot smoldering
ashes into the ash pan and smoke gets all over the house Tho it's not
enough smoke to set off the fire alarm.

But I'm doing better with it this year. Still the same problems but
not as severe or as often. Family Farm and Home are selling bags of
pellets for under $4.50. I also buy a few bags of corn and mix in
about 15% corn with the wood pellets. I usually just buy 10 bags or so
at a time. We keep our house warmer than normal these days so when the
temps drop under 20 degrees, we use almost 2 bags of pellets a day.
When it is over 30 degrees, we only use one bag or less a day.

David

On Mon, 01 Feb 2010 12:57:25 -0600, LdB wrote Re
Pellet stoves?:

You'll probably be better off adding insulation, sealing air leaks,
installing better windows etc. These improvements pay for themselves
over the years and put money back in your pocket, not theirs. Makes
your house a lot more comfortable.

+1 on that.
--
Work is the curse of the drinking class.

Joe wrote:
On Feb 1, 9:09 am, terry wrote:
Friend has been extolling the virtues of a pellet stove owned and
operated by his relative.

He says that it uses about one bag of pellets per-day; which cost
about $5-$6 per bag. $150 to $180 per month? There are occasionally
shortage of fuel pellets. Disposing of the small amount of ash is very
easy and not messy. The stove requires a small amount of electrcity to
operate (drive the auger). Not sure if it also has any warm air
circulating fan?

It is not the sole source of heat in the house and there are the usual
lights and appliances using electricity (which then becomes heat)
within the house.

Obtaining the fuel, a pallet load at a time requires either delivery
by truck or the use of one own pickup etc. Not the sort of thing you
can pick up at the s.market and sling eight or ten bags in trunk of a
car, on a regular basis! Although that's what one would do if
necessary during a shortage.

As far as we know the pellets are not made (yet anyway) in this area
and have to be trucked in; also the pellet stove cannot as far as we
know burn anything else. e.g. scrap wood?

Interested in any other comments or expereience with these pellet
stoves. Thanks.

A friend of mine sells pellet stoves. Here (central Illinois) they use
either pellets or corn depending on price. Popular with many farmers,
of course. If shelled corn is available in your area, price might be
OK at $3 a bushel. Check it out.

I was looking at some a few months ago and now they have ones that will
take pellets, corn, cherry pits, barley, beet pulp, sunflowers, and
soybeans. Not sure of all of those choices but cherry pits have more
btu's/pound than corn and even more than pellets. General rule is the
softer the fuel, the more ash and rutine cleaning needed.

On Feb 1, 6:09*am, terry wrote:
Friend has been extolling the virtues of a pellet stove owned and
operated by his relative.

He says that it uses about one bag of pellets per-day; which cost
about $5-$6 per bag. $150 to $180 per month? There are occasionally

Another timely topic. Turns out my cousin is part owner of a
compressed log company. I had never really thought about this stuff,
but we had a "catch up" conversation a month ago (it had been several
years since we really had hung out or anything)

The Northern Idaho Energy Log company apparently ships throughout the
US and Canada. Each 8 pound log contains about 64,000 BTU and is NOT
laced with paraffin, and therefore it is MUCH better for the
environment (less soot up the chimney, hardly any ash residue in the
stove)

I got a sample log to try and it was a little hard to start, but
burned for 4 1/2 hours, and there really wasn't any ash left to speak
of.

I have never tried pellets, but I have heard that you need to clean
your ash a couple times a week. Now ash is good for a garden, but a
winter's worth would be hard to find a home for. These logs could let
you go several weeks in between cleanings.

I am not an employee or anything, but my cousin is a stand-up guy, so
I am just passing this on.

http://www.northidahoenergylogs.com

Best of luck!

xparatrooper wrote:
On Feb 1, 6:09 am, terry wrote:
Friend has been extolling the virtues of a pellet stove owned and
operated by his relative.

He says that it uses about one bag of pellets per-day; which cost
about $5-$6 per bag. $150 to $180 per month? There are occasionally

Another timely topic. Turns out my cousin is part owner of a
compressed log company. I had never really thought about this stuff,
but we had a "catch up" conversation a month ago (it had been several
years since we really had hung out or anything)

The Northern Idaho Energy Log company apparently ships throughout the
US and Canada. Each 8 pound log contains about 64,000 BTU and is NOT
laced with paraffin, and therefore it is MUCH better for the
environment (less soot up the chimney, hardly any ash residue in the
stove)

I got a sample log to try and it was a little hard to start, but
burned for 4 1/2 hours, and there really wasn't any ash left to speak
of.

I have never tried pellets, but I have heard that you need to clean
your ash a couple times a week. Now ash is good for a garden, but a
winter's worth would be hard to find a home for. These logs could let
you go several weeks in between cleanings.

I am not an employee or anything, but my cousin is a stand-up guy, so
I am just passing this on.

http://www.northidahoenergylogs.com

Best of luck!

I know the bio-bricks are popular around here, and they sound much like your
compressed logs. Bio-brick is just one brand name, there are several. You
can burn them in a fireplace, and they are legal in a non-certified wood
stove. That says something about the cleanliness of them. They're much
like giant pellets anyhow.

I have to take issue with some of the comments about pellet stoves. I clean
mine out twice during the winter, and empty the ash about once every other
week. If you're doing it more often than that, you have either a
mis-adjusted stove or crummy pellets. I usually try to burn softwood
pellets from the northwest because they're the hottest. This past weekend
when it was bitterly cold and there were gale-force winds outside I burned a
couple of bags of hardwood pellets from Pennsylvania and they were
phenomenal. It actually hurt to get close to the stove. So much for
northwest softwood, eh?

In my case I don't have a lot of choices, and pellets have kept us comfy for
many years. A lot of newer model stoves will burn different fuels, such as
corn, peanut shells, etc. There is no ready supply of those things in this
area, and I haven't been able to determine the btu value except for corn,
which is far less than pellets.

Good quality pellets will burn at between 8-9000 btus per pound. Corn gives
off about 7,000, and lots more ash due to the higher moisture content, so I
stick with the pellets.

I don't suppose most people have my predicament, but around here pellets
rule.

Keith




--- news://freenews.netfront.net/ - complaints: ---

ransley wrote:
On Feb 1, 10:53 am, terry wrote:
On Feb 1, 12:26 pm, ransley wrote:





On Feb 1, 9:09 am, terry wrote:
Friend has been extolling the virtues of a pellet stove owned and
operated by his relative.
He says that it uses about one bag of pellets per-day; which cost
about $5-$6 per bag. $150 to $180 per month? There are occasionally
shortage of fuel pellets. Disposing of the small amount of ash is very
easy and not messy. The stove requires a small amount of electrcity to
operate (drive the auger). Not sure if it also has any warm air
circulating fan?
It is not the sole source of heat in the house and there are the usual
lights and appliances using electricity (which then becomes heat)
within the house.
Obtaining the fuel, a pallet load at a time requires either delivery
by truck or the use of one own pickup etc. Not the sort of thing you
can pick up at the s.market and sling eight or ten bags in trunk of a
car, on a regular basis! Although that's what one would do if
necessary during a shortage.
As far as we know the pellets are not made (yet anyway) in this area
and have to be trucked in; also the pellet stove cannot as far as we
know burn anything else. e.g. scrap wood?
Interested in any other comments or experience with these pellet
stoves. Thanks.
What would his bill be with gas, Split wood would be alot cheaper.- Hide quoted text -
- Show quoted text -
No gas here except delivered propane; considered expensive.
Not investigated wood; although I do burn some scrap wood in my
basement workshop. Using an old Jotul stove it is only for occasional
use, not an ongoing method of heating. Thanks for comment.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Find out the BTU of a bag of pellets and compare to Propane BTU per lb
and cost per lb or gallon or however its sold, When I fill up a bbq
tank I pay by the lb. You might be suprsised after all the shipping
etc etc that the cleaner burning Propane could be cheaper.

Around here I think by the bag pellet btu's/$ are about the same as
propane. But if you buy pellets by the pallet, there is a large savings.

On Feb 2, 10:10*am, Van Chocstraw
wrote:
On 02/01/2010 10:09 AM, terry wrote:





Friend has been extolling the virtues of a pellet stove owned and
operated by his relative.

He says that it uses about one bag of pellets per-day; which cost
about $5-$6 per bag. $150 to $180 per month? There are occasionally
shortage of fuel pellets. Disposing of the small amount of ash is very
easy and not messy. The stove requires a small amount of electrcity to
operate (drive the auger). Not sure if it also has any warm air
circulating fan?

It is not the sole source of heat in the house and there are the usual
lights and appliances using electricity (which then becomes heat)
within the house.

Obtaining the fuel, a pallet load at a time requires either delivery
by truck or the use of one own pickup etc. Not the sort of thing you
can pick up at the s.market and sling eight or ten bags in trunk of a
car, on a regular basis! Although that's what one would do if
necessary during a shortage.

As far as we know the pellets are not made (yet anyway) in this area
and have to be trucked in; also the pellet stove cannot as far as we
know burn anything else. e.g. scrap wood?

Interested in any other comments or expereience with these pellet
stoves. Thanks.

I have a Napoleaon pellet stove that works quite well. I only use it in
spring and fall because of its easy starting and continious running all
night and variable temp control. But I has to be cleaned every month if
I use it all the time. I prefer my wood boiler from December to March.
With gravity hot water circulation it works with or without power I have
to clean it's stove pipe and boiler tubes monthly but I don't mine that.
Pellets around here are $230 to $250 a ton. Hauling a ton of pellets and
stacking it in the basement is easier than stacking 4 cords of wood.
The name of the game is 'Renewable Energy" and Wood and pellets are just
that. Propane, coal, gas, oil are dirtier and C02 contributors.
Pellets and wood are carbon neutral. If the all cost about the same I
prefer renewables even if they are a little work, something none of us
get enough of. So stay healthy and work a little.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

natural gas is dirtier than wood? I never would have guessed that, you
walk around outside here sometimes and the wood smoke will choke you.

On Feb 1, 9:09 am, terry wrote:
Friend has been extolling the virtues of a pellet stove owned and
operated by his relative.
He says that it uses about one bag of pellets per-day; which cost
about $5-$6 per bag. $150 to $180 per month? There are occasionally
shortage of fuel pellets. Disposing of the small amount of ash is very
easy and not messy. The stove requires a small amount of electrcity to
operate (drive the auger). Not sure if it also has any warm air
circulating fan?

Interested in any other comments or experience with these pellet
stoves. Thanks.

How big of a house? I pay that to heat my 2000 sq. ft. house with
high priced oil these days. I have a wood burning stove and it was
nice when I was able to get wood for free and I was 30 years younger
when I put it in so the labor was no big deal. I like the idea of an
alternate heat source in case of a storm, but a pellet stove still
need electricity.

I'd do a careful evaluation of the potential BTU cost before spending
a lot of money on a stove.

Ed Pawlowski wrote:

On Feb 1, 9:09 am, terry wrote:
Friend has been extolling the virtues of a pellet stove owned and
operated by his relative.
He says that it uses about one bag of pellets per-day; which cost
about $5-$6 per bag. $150 to $180 per month? There are occasionally
shortage of fuel pellets. Disposing of the small amount of ash is very
easy and not messy. The stove requires a small amount of electrcity to
operate (drive the auger). Not sure if it also has any warm air
circulating fan?

Interested in any other comments or experience with these pellet
stoves. Thanks.

How big of a house? I pay that to heat my 2000 sq. ft. house with
high priced oil these days. I have a wood burning stove and it was
nice when I was able to get wood for free and I was 30 years younger
when I put it in so the labor was no big deal. I like the idea of an
alternate heat source in case of a storm, but a pellet stove still
need electricity.

I'd do a careful evaluation of the potential BTU cost before spending
a lot of money on a stove.

If I bought a pellet stove I'd also buy a 12vdc deep cycle battery,
float type charger, and an inverter. I think most stoves you can turn
off the external fan, then the internal fan, auger feed, and electronics
doesn't use too much power. On second thought, maybe I'd just run the
generator and a few portable heaters and forget the pellet stove?

Van Chocstraw wrote:
On 02/02/2010 12:21 PM, mdauria wrote:
On Feb 2, 10:10 am, Van Chocstraw
wrote:
On 02/01/2010 10:09 AM, terry wrote:





Friend has been extolling the virtues of a pellet stove owned and
operated by his relative.

He says that it uses about one bag of pellets per-day; which cost
about $5-$6 per bag. $150 to $180 per month? There are occasionally
shortage of fuel pellets. Disposing of the small amount of ash is
very easy and not messy. The stove requires a small amount of
electrcity to operate (drive the auger). Not sure if it also has
any warm air circulating fan?

It is not the sole source of heat in the house and there are the
usual lights and appliances using electricity (which then becomes
heat) within the house.

Obtaining the fuel, a pallet load at a time requires either
delivery by truck or the use of one own pickup etc. Not the sort
of thing you can pick up at the s.market and sling eight or ten
bags in trunk of a car, on a regular basis! Although that's what
one would do if necessary during a shortage.

As far as we know the pellets are not made (yet anyway) in this
area and have to be trucked in; also the pellet stove cannot as
far as we know burn anything else. e.g. scrap wood?

Interested in any other comments or expereience with these pellet
stoves. Thanks.

I have a Napoleaon pellet stove that works quite well. I only use
it in spring and fall because of its easy starting and continious
running all night and variable temp control. But I has to be
cleaned every month if I use it all the time. I prefer my wood
boiler from December to March. With gravity hot water circulation
it works with or without power I have to clean it's stove pipe and
boiler tubes monthly but I don't mine that. Pellets around here are
$230 to $250 a ton. Hauling a ton of pellets and stacking it in the
basement is easier than stacking 4 cords of wood. The name of the
game is 'Renewable Energy" and Wood and pellets are just that.
Propane, coal, gas, oil are dirtier and C02 contributors.
Pellets and wood are carbon neutral. If the all cost about the same
I prefer renewables even if they are a little work, something none
of us get enough of. So stay healthy and work a little.- Hide
quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

natural gas is dirtier than wood? I never would have guessed that,
you walk around outside here sometimes and the wood smoke will choke
you.
I'm talking carbon dirty. Yes, gas puts out new C02. Wood is carbon
neutral.

But the wood smoke is a far dirtier. It contains all kinds of pollutants. If
everyone in the city used wood, many would be sickened or die. CO2 is at least a
far less immediate problem.

Tony wrote:
Ed Pawlowski wrote:

On Feb 1, 9:09 am, terry wrote:
Friend has been extolling the virtues of a pellet stove owned
and operated by his relative.
He says that it uses about one bag of pellets per-day; which
cost about $5-$6 per bag. $150 to $180 per month? There are
occasionally shortage of fuel pellets. Disposing of the small
amount of ash is very easy and not messy. The stove requires a
small amount of electrcity to operate (drive the auger). Not
sure if it also has any warm air circulating fan?

Interested in any other comments or experience with these pellet
stoves. Thanks.

How big of a house? I pay that to heat my 2000 sq. ft. house with
high priced oil these days. I have a wood burning stove and it was
nice when I was able to get wood for free and I was 30 years younger
when I put it in so the labor was no big deal. I like the idea of an
alternate heat source in case of a storm, but a pellet stove still
need electricity.

I'd do a careful evaluation of the potential BTU cost before spending
a lot of money on a stove.

If I bought a pellet stove I'd also buy a 12vdc deep cycle battery,
float type charger, and an inverter. I think most stoves you can turn
off the external fan, then the internal fan, auger feed, and
electronics doesn't use too much power. On second thought, maybe I'd
just run the generator and a few portable heaters and forget the
pellet stove?

Electricity in our area has been very reliable - I can only think of one
winter outage that lasted more than an hour. The pellet stove obviously
went out, so I started a log fire in LR fireplace. If long winter outagges
are common in your area, then your stove dealer will probably recommend a
UPS with power enough to run the stove for several hours. It's probably
more likely that he'll sell you a wood stove. Most other heating systems
require electricity for ignition and/or heat circulation.

Keith



--- news://freenews.netfront.net/ - complaints: ---

Ed Pawlowski wrote:


I'd do a careful evaluation of the potential BTU cost before spending
a lot of money on a stove.

I agree. There are lots of heating fuel price comparison web sites around. Be
sure you use a legit one. Or you can use a spreadsheet like this one from the US
DOE: www.eia.doe.gov/neic/experts/heatcalc.xls

I've found that pellet fuel is tied to the cost of the dominate fuel in the
area, so you aren't going to be saving massive amounts by using it. Factor in
the cost of the stove and payback is a long time coming. Then realize that the
pellet sources, while more plentiful than they have been in the past, are still
limited.

On Wed, 03 Feb 2010 14:51:30 -0700, Robert Neville
wrote Re Pellet stoves?:

I agree. There are lots of heating fuel price comparison web sites around. Be
sure you use a legit one. Or you can use a spreadsheet like this one from the US
DOE: www.eia.doe.gov/neic/experts/heatcalc.xls

Nice one. Thanks.
--
Work is the curse of the drinking class.

Van Chocstraw wrote:
Bob F wrote:
Van Chocstraw wrote:
On 02/02/2010 12:21 PM, mdauria wrote:
On Feb 2, 10:10 am, Van
wrote:
On 02/01/2010 10:09 AM, terry wrote:





Friend has been extolling the virtues of a pellet stove owned and
operated by his relative.

He says that it uses about one bag of pellets per-day; which cost
about $5-$6 per bag. $150 to $180 per month? There are occasionally
shortage of fuel pellets. Disposing of the small amount of ash is
very easy and not messy. The stove requires a small amount of
electrcity to operate (drive the auger). Not sure if it also has
any warm air circulating fan?

It is not the sole source of heat in the house and there are the
usual lights and appliances using electricity (which then becomes
heat) within the house.

Obtaining the fuel, a pallet load at a time requires either
delivery by truck or the use of one own pickup etc. Not the sort
of thing you can pick up at the s.market and sling eight or ten
bags in trunk of a car, on a regular basis! Although that's what
one would do if necessary during a shortage.

As far as we know the pellets are not made (yet anyway) in this
area and have to be trucked in; also the pellet stove cannot as
far as we know burn anything else. e.g. scrap wood?

Interested in any other comments or expereience with these pellet
stoves. Thanks.

I have a Napoleaon pellet stove that works quite well. I only use
it in spring and fall because of its easy starting and continious
running all night and variable temp control. But I has to be
cleaned every month if I use it all the time. I prefer my wood
boiler from December to March. With gravity hot water circulation
it works with or without power I have to clean it's stove pipe and
boiler tubes monthly but I don't mine that. Pellets around here are
$230 to $250 a ton. Hauling a ton of pellets and stacking it in the
basement is easier than stacking 4 cords of wood. The name of the
game is 'Renewable Energy" and Wood and pellets are just that.
Propane, coal, gas, oil are dirtier and C02 contributors.
Pellets and wood are carbon neutral. If the all cost about the same
I prefer renewables even if they are a little work, something none
of us get enough of. So stay healthy and work a little.- Hide
quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

natural gas is dirtier than wood? I never would have guessed that,
you walk around outside here sometimes and the wood smoke will choke
you.
I'm talking carbon dirty. Yes, gas puts out new C02. Wood is carbon
neutral.

But the wood smoke is a far dirtier. It contains all kinds of
pollutants. If
everyone in the city used wood, many would be sickened or die. CO2 is
at least a
far less immediate problem.


It's not that dirty with the new efficient wood stoves. It's not like
the 19th century when everybody burned coal and your clothes on the
clothes line outside turn black from the soot. Probably your lungs too.

Due to severe wood stove pollution in various places in Australia, one
of the many laws will fine you for selling wood that isn't dry.

Biggest problems I see here are people with stoves that are too big.
You can't keep a little fire in a big stove going without it smoking a
lot. Not to mention it builds up creosote much faster with a small
smoldering fire. Get a smaller stove and run it hot. And do controlled
creosote burns every day or two. If they are done often they don't
build up and aren't dangerous. After two or three years, maybe more,
even with me burning a lot of scrap pine, the chimney sweep said I
didn't need him.

On Mon, 1 Feb 2010 07:09:43 -0800 (PST), terry
wrote:

Friend has been extolling the virtues of a pellet stove owned and
operated by his relative.

He says that it uses about one bag of pellets per-day; which cost
about $5-$6 per bag. $150 to $180 per month? There are occasionally
shortage of fuel pellets. Disposing of the small amount of ash is very
easy and not messy. The stove requires a small amount of electrcity to
operate (drive the auger). Not sure if it also has any warm air
circulating fan?

It is not the sole source of heat in the house and there are the usual
lights and appliances using electricity (which then becomes heat)
within the house.

Obtaining the fuel, a pallet load at a time requires either delivery
by truck or the use of one own pickup etc. Not the sort of thing you
can pick up at the s.market and sling eight or ten bags in trunk of a
car, on a regular basis! Although that's what one would do if
necessary during a shortage.

As far as we know the pellets are not made (yet anyway) in this area
and have to be trucked in; also the pellet stove cannot as far as we
know burn anything else. e.g. scrap wood?

Interested in any other comments or expereience with these pellet
stoves. Thanks.


The cost of the pellets makes it not too practical. A wood burning
stove makes a lot more sense and some folks have an almost endless
supply of free wood. I added another 10" of insulation to the attic
floor over 10 years ago and that has saved me a bundle.

Van Chocstraw wrote:
Bob F wrote:

natural gas is dirtier than wood? I never would have guessed that,
you walk around outside here sometimes and the wood smoke will
choke you.
I'm talking carbon dirty. Yes, gas puts out new C02. Wood is carbon
neutral.

But the wood smoke is a far dirtier. It contains all kinds of
pollutants. If everyone in the city used wood, many would be
sickened or die. CO2 is at least a far less immediate problem.


It's not that dirty with the new efficient wood stoves. It's not like
the 19th century when everybody burned coal and your clothes on the
clothes line outside turn black from the soot. Probably your lungs
too.

It's still a lot dirtier than natural gas. There's a reason they have burn bans,
which sometimes include even EPA certified stoves.