I am considering a pellet stove to help me cut down on the fuel expenses. Can anyone offer any pro or con advice regarding the stoves? How much mantainence is req'd and how well they heat an open area?

I am looking to find out how big a quantity I may use and how much the pellets cost with the best source to purchase them. I am heating app. 1700 sq. ft.

Oh Yeh - i am in the beantown area.

help ............:thanks:

Don the average pellet price is around $250 a ton right now. Good luck finding a stove. These guys are making a killing right now. I just put a St Croix York pellet insert in the house in May, got the last one in stock and there won't be any more til October or November at the earliest the guy told me. I bought 4 tons of pellets also to get me going. I think we're going to use about 2.5-3 tons a season we'll see. Oil is backup in case something goes wrong and I can tell you that I plan on using less than a tank of oil this winter.

I also understand that a natural gas fireplace insert is more efficient than a pellet stove, I am adding a thermostat to mine this year to heat most of the first floor.

The place across the way from me sells lots of those stoves. Might be a bit far for you Don but he does a lot of business.
Just take your time and research it well and get something that will last. good luck

Don, if i had it to do over again i would go with the pellets.

When we had the oil shortage in 76, i put in a Garrison wood burner and burned around 6 cords a year,
which at that time was about $40 a cord and now around $200. :shocked:
Wood is alot of work compared to the pellets.

Put a Vermont Casting gas stove in about 15 years ago and never looked back,
but gas is no bargain compared to wood or pellets. :doh:

Pellet Stoves Rock

I've had mine for about 10 years now and love it. practically no maintainence just diup a bag in the hopper once a day (depending how hot you run it.)

the only con with them is they are electric powered so if you have a power outage you won't have the stove.

We had a heating pipe burst a few years back on new years day so we had no heat and it was probably 2 degrees outside. Fired ours up, which is located downstairs and turned it up...kept the upstairs at 65 while we waited do get the pipe fixed......which was a couple of days later.

wood stove and BIO BRICKS I'm gonna try this this season I've been heating with wood for the past 28 yrs and learned of these .
I'm so sick of the dust from wood it takes all year forus to get rid of the dust
bio Bricks look interesting I'll give them a shot
not ready to convert to pellets = $$$$ unless you grow your own
link

Don the average pellet price is around $250 a ton right now...............
well with all the saw dust from the plug operation you need one of theses
http://www.pelletpros.com/id68.html

well with all the saw dust from the plug operation you need one of theses
http://www.pelletpros.com/id68.html

I can't believe the price for that gizmo! I wonder what else can be
pelletized:laugha:

Don the average pellet price is around $250 a ton right now. Good luck finding a stove. These guys are making a killing right now. I just put a St Croix York pellet insert in the house in May, got the last one in stock and there won't be any more til October or November at the earliest the guy told me. I bought 4 tons of pellets also to get me going. I think we're going to use about 2.5-3 tons a season we'll see. Oil is backup in case something goes wrong and I can tell you that I plan on using less than a tank of oil this winter.

Scott - I bought a stove - delivery in DEC if I'm lucky. Any info on pellets that I should have?:faga:

wow! That's a great idea. I could see running the larger one for a few days a month and have a nice little business.

hardwood or softwood don't seem to matter. I think they're both the same in btu or really close. I got pellets from the local guy in Mendon but I already got mine...and stacked a ton in the basement yesterday too. Lowes sells them too...maybe they give you free delivery.

Scott - I bought a stove - delivery in DEC if I'm lucky. Any info on pellets that I should have?:faga:

Don, if i had it to do over again i would go with the pellets.

When we had the oil shortage in 76, i put in a Garrison wood burner and burned around 6 cords a year,
which at that time was about $40 a cord and now around $200. :shocked:
Wood is alot of work compared to the pellets.

Put a Vermont Casting gas stove in about 15 years ago and never looked back,
but gas is no bargain compared to wood or pellets. :doh:

200 would be cheap up here for wood this year. The guy I firewood from me told me wood would be 400 /cord this winter. I have a little over a cord left from last year and refuse to pay what they want this year. Once the wood is gone, no more fires in the fireplaces.

Firewood folks are gonna price themselves out if it gets higher than $300.00 a cord......Jeez 3 cords of wood is gonna be about a grand.....just as soon spend the grand on oil!!!!!!:cens:

Oh...good luck finding pellets come fall....there is always a shortage so unless you laid in a good supply now.....you may find yourself with out. I would stick with a wood stove......you can use it when the power goes out....big selling point......and you can always find something to burn!

I have about six cords to cut and split for winter. Buy it log length. Chainsaw crapped out. Need a new carburator. Works out to about $65.00 a cord plus my labor.

This might be a dumb question but does a pellet stove burn wood also or is it pellets only?I have a fair amount of wood from a tree that was cut down this Spring.

I'm looking into a stove because I don't how I'm going to afford to heat my home this winter.

Here's what we have left. Maybe 1 1/2 cord. I already told my wife it'll have to do. We heat with gas and the fireplaces are more ornamental than heat efficient.

The pile is about 14' long and close to 5' high (20" cuts)

http://www.picturehosting.com/images/DMacLeod/after2.jpg

pellet stove is just that for pellets, corn sometimes etc. Wood stove is very much different Norm. Pellet stuff is much cleaner in the house etc.

This might be a dumb question but does a pellet stove burn wood also or is it pellets only?I have a fair amount of wood from a tree that was cut down this Spring.

I'm looking into a stove because I don't how I'm going to afford to heat my home this winter.

pellet stove is just that for pellets, corn sometimes etc. Wood stove is very much different Norm. Pellet stuff is much cleaner in the house etc.

Thanks Scott.

That 1st oil bill is going to be %$%$%$%$ing scary!

aint going to miss it for anything this year Norman. I got 4 tons of pellets, I'm working on making this thing completely solar operated with custom framed panels and if the prices keep going the way they are I will definitely be looking at one of those little pellet mills.

Pellet stove has been running for about a week with a few shut downs. We very much like the heat, with the humidifier running it's been very comfortable in the house, we're able to keep most of the house at 64-65 and if it warms up some outside during the day we hit 70-71. It's been down in the high 20's in the valley a few times already and I'm fairly happy so far with what we're seeing for heat. Been very critical of it too as we learn when to turn it up or down. Eats ALOT of pellets on highest setting, but man does that thing get WARM. I think we're using about 3/4 of a bag overnight right now set on 4 which is one off the highest. I think average we're using about 1.25 bags a day right now total. NOT bad.

Cheetah ash vac. MUST have. Makes cleaning it a 3 minute job. Saw my first heavy clinker last night.Big glob of stuff in the burn pot.

QUESTION for anyone that has one of these. Do you notice that the heat is ALOT more comfortable for the temperature? We're warm at 65 now where as with the oil heat we were freezing cold at 67. Why is this?