Pelllet stoves

[GaryN]

I use a Blaze king wood stove to heat with. It has been a real good stove. I was curious about pellet stoves. How many pellets it takes to make them work. How much they cost. Are they as good as a regular wood stove. I have also heard that people are using cherry pits in them. Do they work? I know where I can get them on the cheap. My stove is about worn out. I am looking for options. If you have a pellet stove, what are your experiences with it?

[TXGunNut]

I know MaryB uses one and seems pretty well studied up on them. I think she's using corn this winter.

[Old Scribe]

My folks had oneand really loved it untill the power went out.

[starmac]

Yup comepletely USELESS without power. My son has a 1 year old and the very first night it got down in single digits a motor in it went out, again it was comepletely USELESS, other than that he loves it. lol

I don't guess I have ever seen a wore out blazeking, don't even know what one looks like.

They do make a powerless pellet stove that actually works good, it will not heat as big of an area.

[BrassMagnet]

Yup comepletely USELESS without power. My son has a 1 year old and the very first night it got down in single digits a motor in it went out, again it was comepletely USELESS, other than that he loves it. lol

I don't guess I have ever seen a wore out blazeking, don't even know what one looks like.

They do make a powerless pellet stove that actually works good, it will not heat as big of an area.

Please post a link. I am interested in a powerless pellet stove.

[Bzcraig]

As mentioned, the only downside is power. I have a small generator that I could use to power the circuit my stove was on but never had the need. I've used a pellet insert for 15+ years now and really like it. Pellets have gotten expensive in my area, so much so, it is now more economical to pay the power company. But the majority of our overnight lows are above 30*. I've seen free standing ones that can burn pellets, almond hulls, corn and I'm sure other stuff. They are less messy than wood. I used a wood stove when I was able to cut free wood but once I had to buy wood I switched to pellets.

[jimbo1950]

I used a pellet stove when i lived in Massachusetts and i loved it. Many advantages over burning wood! Much cleaner, and very few ashes. Full hopper would run at least 2 days. Bagged pellets easier to handle than cordwood. My neighbor and i split a semi load of pellets on pallets and in plastic bags and shrink wrapped, stored outside and stayed dry. The stove had a blower on it, and you could adjust auger speed to get heat you wanted.I was equiped with 12 volt battery back up,i cash of power loss. and switched automatically. I ran 24/7 and kept the house comfortable all day!
Obviously i was a big fan of pellet stoves!

[starmac]

Just for Brass.

http://gravityfeedstoves.com/

My son ceramic coated one of these for a guy and he claimed it worked even better. I know he heated his fairly small house all winter solely with one, and that included some 50 below weather.

[4wheeler]

We are on our second winter with pellets and we like it a lot. Here in Nevada I scored a ton (50 40lb bags) for $260 and that's about as cheap as they get in early fall. From here on they'll more than likely hit $300 to $350 a ton as demand increases. The power thing is a big issue if you don't have back up power, a definite plus for wood burners. The pellets are definitely cleaner and easier to store and they heat very well. Depending on the temps I plan to use no more than the ton I bought, unless we hit the minus 0 degrees for any length of time and then maybe another 1/2 ton and our home (1400 sq ft) stays comfy running on the low setting (ours has 4 speeds with blower and thermostat). The brand is Country Flame. Best of luck in your endeavor.

Enjoy the day, tomorrow may not come!!

[Mtnfolk75]

We have been using pellets since 2006, on our 2nd stove. My cabin is 536 Sq Ft in the main living area, I have a 144 Sq Ft Mudroom/Shop downstairs. The cabin sits at 6,000 Ft elevation in the Southern Sierras, we average 160-170" of snow a year, although the last 3 have been a little short after a 200" year. Average heating cost over the last 5 years is $382.06 a year with a 68 bag average. We are happy and life is mostly good.

FWIW, Home Depot had Blazer Pellets for $246.50 a ton OTD. I have a 2006 Jeep Unlimited and can only haul 16 bags a trip, so I buy them by the bag, makes it $267.00 a ton.

[Freischütz]

www.hearth.com has a section devoted to pellet stoves.

[dragonrider]

I have been burning pellets for over 20 years, using the same stove. I might replace it this year, maybe. As far as power outages go it is something to consider. I would suggest anyone using a pellet stove to also have a generator. I also have a coal stove in my cellar, between the two my house is nice and toasty. About the powerless pellet stove, I had one for a short time, was going to replace my coal stove with it. It was a big mistake, controlling it was virtually impossible, it was either glowing red or cold, no in between. Fortunately I was able to return it for a full refund. Not a stove I would recommend. If you would like to choose between pellets and coal, coal is by far superior to pellet, and to wood for that matter.

[reloader28]

A friend of mine has one with a built in inverter for battery backup. Its the only one I've seen like that and I dont remember the name.

I know several people that quit using them because the cost of pellets here is about the same as the cost of propane. It wasnt worth the hassle and mess.

As for myself, I stick with wood as our sole heat. Not everyone can.

[Mtnfolk75]

Unfortunately, we can't get Propane during the winter due to Snow. We switched to Pellets in 2006 after a year of Electric Bills in the $700 a month range, our Propane stove died in 2004, we had ran out every winter so decided to try something else. I do keep Propane cylinders for emergencies, I have several heat heads that go on the 5 & 7 gallon cylinders, sometimes we have to run them in my storage area under the cabin to keep drains from freezing. They have been used to heat the cabin when the power was out for more than a hour or so, but only when vented and during awake hours.

[starmac]

Propane will not reliably burn here all winter, so no use for heat. Pellets are cheaper than firewood and less hassle if you have to buy firewood, but if you cut your own firewood it is way cheaper.

[Mtnfolk75]

I'm nearly 61, with bad legs & back from Workman's Comp injuries at the SO. My better half just turned 60, we are past the wood cutting stage and are happy with pellets .... [smilie=s:

[MaryB]

Love corn/pellets and go with what is cheapest each year. Last year $5 a bushel corn made pellets equal in price and they are less work to store so i went that route. How many square feet do you need to heat and down to what outside temps? Stay away from ebay specials on pellet/corn stoves because you will be on your own and there is a learning curve!

I am heating ~1500 square feet, 2 stories, no basement with an American Energy Baby Countryside DC, the DC being 12 volts DC. Currently it has dropped to zero and the pellet stove has only been using ~5 gallon bucket of corn a day. Corn is more dense so produces more heat but you need to live near a grain elevator or have a farmer that will sell to you. The stove can be connected to a battery or run via the built in 120 to 12 volt converter. Mine is connected to my 928 amp hour solar battery bank and could run off it for a week. Pellets do produce ash that gets in the venting, if you have any vertical rise make sure to include a bottom clean out. And they are not set and forget, you occasionally need to tweak settings as the weather and temps change. Plus weekly cleanings for best performance with a shop vac with a drywall filter or a home vac hepa filter model.

I do have a natural gas furnace but the living room has no basement under it(kitchen and bath have a dirt floored hole in the ground under them that is about 5 feet tall and unheated). Floor in here was always so cold it made me ache and with the pellet stove and a ceiling fan I have warmer floors plus nice even heat with no cold/warm cycle. And most of the newer models of corn/pellet stove can connect to a thermostat for automatic temp control if you don't mind temp cycles. Stay away from the outdoor hot air/boiler units unless you are wealthy and don't care how much fuel you use, they are not energy efficient! Plus I would miss the flicker of the fire!

[starmac]

I'm nearly 61, with bad legs & back from Workman's Comp injuries at the SO. My better half just turned 60, we are past the wood cutting stage and are happy with pellets .... [smilie=s:

I actually like cutting wood. I like it so much I have 5 pro huskies, I also like it so much that I haven't sunk a bar in a tree in close to 3 years. lol The saws are in nice warm storage, and I will crank one once in a while, just to make sure they will run if I ever HAVE to use one. lol

[bob208]

my sister has one and likes it the only thing is this time of year you mite have a hard time finding pellets. she orders hers in June and picks them up by September.

[GhostHawk]

I burned corn all one winter, started with a fish house stove, and a fan hooked into the stovepipe to increase the air.

After the corn price went up to 4$ a bushel I gave it up but I did stack up some 20 bags of pellets for emergency situations.

I didn't have an automated corn/pellet stove so it took a lot of baby sitting.
But we heated the house for a winter on what it cost me to put the stove together and buy the corn. Which IMO was a pretty good deal.

Knowing I can fire up the stove on pellets if we lose power is a comforting thing.

But I mostly run on Natural Gas cause I'm lazy. And because fuel assistance helps out.

But, if I didn't live in Fargo ND, I'd probably invest in a good pellet stove for my heating needs.

When corn was at 2$ a bushel it was cheaper to burn it than natural gas. Since then I've seen corn at everywhere from 3$ to 8$.
The corn also does make a "clinker" of calcium that has to be cleaned out several times a day.
So it is a fair amount of tending it, but it gives a LOT of BTU's per bushel.

An acre or 2 of corn will heat your house all winter even up here in the Dakota's if you have a good setup.

[buckwheatpaul]

Gary we have three of the little critters plus a fireplace.....my wife is extremely cold natured so we burn 3 cords of wood per season plus 1 to 2 tons of pellets per season. One ton of pellets equal 1-1/2 cords of wood and are extremely effecient. The only down side is you need them to be on a generator, if you loose power they will not work, and they need to be vacuumed out every few days to get the small amount of ash away from the flame hole....we love all three.....plus as you age you can get 20 lb bags of pellets for a few dollars more.....Paul

[Para82]

I have had a Whitfield pellet stove in our house since Jan 1999 when we built the house. Never had a problem with it and we burn it all through the winter. Just got two tons delivered the other day. We had a heat pump put in last spring so I will have to see how many pellets we use this winter in combination with the heat pump. Cons are pellets can be hard to get in winter and no electric equals no heat unless you have a generator. Always clean mine at end of season and beginning of new season. Clean ash out about once a week.

[montana_charlie]

I use a Blaze king wood stove to heat with. It has been a real good stove. I was curious about pellet stoves.
When we moved out of town in '87, this house had a Blaze Queen (insert) in the smaller of two fireplaces.
The house was equipped with all-electric heat, to be suplemented with wood. The big fireplace will take four-foot logs, and has an air system built into the masonry that captures heat that would otherwise be unused.

We ran with wood for the first few years. It quickly became apparent that the big fireplace was simply too 'wood hungry', and it made more heat than that room could use.
So, the Blaze Queen was the 'supplement' for the electric, and did pretty well.
But, my wife had a very hard time handling the wood, and there was no good place to keep a supply near the stove.

Therefore, we pulled the Blaze Queen insert and replaced it with a Whitfield pellet insert in 1991.

Being in the country, we do have generator backup available for most of our critical needs, and that includes the well and the pellet stove.
When the Whitfield is running on '2' (out of '5') it provides most of the heat in our house, and the electric becomes the 'supplemental' source.
At that setting, we can get about 22 hours out of a 40 lb. sack.

Good seasonal maintenance, and regular cleaning keep it running quietly and efficiently.
The only 'repair' in 23 years was replacement of the firebrick behind the firepot.


To get an idea of what we heat with that Whitfield, the house is in the center, and you can disregard the attached garrage.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=50081&d=1232332712

CM

[MaryB]

Corn clinker is easy to deal with, I put a clinker hanger in the fir pot and while the stove is running left the clinker out by the wire and drop it in the ash bucket. Pour off any still burning corn, drop in a fresh hanger and close the door. The hanger got its name because the first were made from wire coat hangers! They are just a u shaped piece of stainless wire(preferably, steel works but corn acid eats it fast) with the bottom inch or so of each leg bent 90 degrees to sit in the pot. Can take pics if that doesn't make sense.

As I mentioned there are DC stoves, mine is 12 volt and runs off solar battery if power fails

[5.7 MAN]

I have used a Pellet stove for 4 years now, Mine works great. I agree that Power outages are an issue however I have a generator and my Oil furnace doesn't work without power either. I use about 3-4 tons of pellets over a season and it heats my whole house(2500SQF) pretty nicely.

Mine is Breckwell P2000

[7Acres]

www.hearth.com (http://www.hearth.com) has a section devoted to pellet stoves.

I am on that forum all the time. Great forum and great members (second only to this fine forum). From my observation it seems the biggest drawbacks to pellet stoves are their mechanical complexity coupled with the rising cost of pellets and supply shortages. Last Winter there was a big pellet shortage. Lots of people on the forum bemoaning about not being able to find them in stock anywhere. People reselling pellets on CL price gouging just like we see with ammo. This year prices per ton seem to have risen $20 - $40 across the board.

Many pellet burners on that forum are posting about scoring pellets, hoarding pellets and scrounging for pellets. In Europe former coal power plants are switching to burning pellets because of government regulation. As the demand increases it makes sense there are supply shortages and rising pellet prices every year. I get depressed reading those posts because it seems like we have to scrounge and hoard too many critical things these days. Just go on that forum and cruise through the posts in The Pellet Mill section.

[Cornbread]

I had one in my house in Oregon and I hated it. Costs the same or more as propane to run and is more work. Then every time the power went out (which was often) I froze. When I moved to Montana I swore I would never deal with pellets again. I went to burning wood in both my house and shop and am much happier. Costs waaaaaay less than pellets to cut my own and I am still nice and toasty warm when the power goes out which it does at least six times every winter up here. I can even still cook if I want to on the top of the one stove I have in the shop. Kind of a pain doing meals out there but it beats eating it frozen :) The one in the house doesn't have a surface I can cook on or I would just do it in here.

[Maineboy]

It gets cold up here and the winters are long We burn about 5 tons of wood pellets yearly in a Quadrafire Mount Vernon for our primary source of heat. We also have a backup generator as the power does go out occasionally. Pellets cost about $220.00 a ton if you buy early which I do. This stove replaced a Lopi Pioneer which now heats my workshop. Our other source of heat is a fuel oil furnace which heats our hot water and costs about twice as much per BTU as wood pellets so we use it sparingly for heating our home.

[starmac]

It is all relative. Wood is cheaper if you cut, haul and split your own. Most people do not really keep up with saw costs, splitter costs, vehicle costs, and most count nothing for their time. At the price of fuel these days it adds up pretty quick if you have to go far to cut wood. Nothing is free. At least here, if you have to buy firewood, their is no savings at all. Our other alternative is oil, less trouble than wood or pellets, and not much difference in costs if you have to buy wood, but firewood cut to stovewood lengths and delivered here runs 300 a cord or more. A lot of people buys truck loads in log lengths for 2 grand and cuts and splits it themselves, to maybe save a little.

[bnelson06]

Have a corn furnace in our house. Once I get it set it usually goes all winter without a problem. Getting it set can be a chore though. Going to put a Plc control on it so I can have more control, that should clear up most of the setting problems.

[MaryB]

Shortage? Local farm store last winter had 90 pallets of them in March...


I am on that forum all the time. Great forum and great members (second only to this fine forum). From my observation it seems the biggest drawbacks to pellet stoves are their mechanical complexity coupled with the rising cost of pellets and supply shortages. Last Winter there was a big pellet shortage. Lots of people on the forum bemoaning about not being able to find them in stock anywhere. People reselling pellets on CL price gouging just like we see with ammo. This year prices per ton seem to have risen $20 - $40 across the board.

Many pellet burners on that forum are posting about scoring pellets, hoarding pellets and scrounging for pellets. In Europe former coal power plants are switching to burning pellets because of government regulation. As the demand increases it makes sense there are supply shortages and rising pellet prices every year. I get depressed reading those posts because it seems like we have to scrounge and hoard too many critical things these days. Just go on that forum and cruise through the posts in The Pellet Mill section.

[MaryB]

And cost to own a wood lot(if you can find one) or pay someone to cut on their land... I did the wood thing for to many years


It is all relative. Wood is cheaper if you cut, haul and split your own. Most people do not really keep up with saw costs, splitter costs, vehicle costs, and most count nothing for their time. At the price of fuel these days it adds up pretty quick if you have to go far to cut wood. Nothing is free. At least here, if you have to buy firewood, their is no savings at all. Our other alternative is oil, less trouble than wood or pellets, and not much difference in costs if you have to buy wood, but firewood cut to stovewood lengths and delivered here runs 300 a cord or more. A lot of people buys truck loads in log lengths for 2 grand and cuts and splits it themselves, to maybe save a little.

[MaryB]

Which corn furnace? Iburncorn is slowly coming back online and I am trying to get my hands on a copy of the Wiki that had tons of info about different stoves/furnaces
Have a corn furnace in our house. Once I get it set it usually goes all winter without a problem. Getting it set can be a chore though. Going to put a Plc control on it so I can have more control, that should clear up most of the setting problems.

Edit: Wayback has part of the wiki https://web.archive.org/web/20080701080007/http://forum.iburncorn.com/wiki/index.php/Main_Page wish I could get a copy of the full site so I could restore that forum, it was the go to for pellet and corn burning

[GaryN]

Thanks everyone. Lots of feedback here. I didn't even know you could burn corn in one. I have a relatively cheap source for cherry pits (as many as my truck can hold for $50). That's why I am considering a pellet stove. I'm heating 1800 feet all on one level. We get 20 below for a week or two every year. I live in a mountain valley above Salt Lake City. Last year wasn't as cold. My wife likes it real warm (hot) in the winter. Right now I burn about six cords a year or three cords and 2 ton of coal. Coal is getting harder to find. Our government doesn't like it even though it is plentiful and cheap.

[Cornbread]

I burn 12 - 16 cord of wood a winter. It gets cold here and I have a large house and shop both heated by wood. It costs me $80 for a permit to cut 16 cord. I cut within five miles of my house or have buddy who logs drop off a full 32' truck load of logs(12 cord) if I am feeling lazy. Bar oil I get for free as I use reclaimed engine oil from an oil change shop. I do my own saw maintenance and my protective gear and snatch blocks and cables were paid for ages ago, but much of it I also got for free. Chains and files are my only other real expense. If I spend over $300 to get 16 cord of wood a year I'd be really surprised. You do what is cheapest and works best for you. Up here not having heat when the power goes out is a bad, bad deal. If I lived somewhere warmer I wouldn't worry.

[wlc]

We burn wood in our wood stove with a toyo oil stove as back up/supplemental. Stayed in a cabin when visiting a friend that has pellet stove for heat. I liked it and the ease of use over wood. That said, I'll keep my wood stove as I can't make my own pellets and the wood stove works whether or not the power is on and I get my firewood basically for free.

[MaryB]

Actually you can buy pellet making machines...

[7Acres]

Actually you can buy pellet making machines...

Really? Homeowner-scale pellet making machines? Can you provide a link to where they are sold?

[dragonrider]

here is one source
http://www.stakproperties.com/index.php?p=3_62

google "pellet mills" and you will find more.

[7Acres]

here is one source
http://www.stakproperties.com/index.php?p=3_62

google "pellet mills" and you will find more.

My word... I'll stick with nature's original wood fiber extrusion machine "The Nut". Bury a nut in the soil and over time entire logs extrude straight out of the ground like magic. No gasoline or maintenance necessary. Completely DIY. They even reproduce themselves without human intervention. It's almost too good to be true.

I guess if there's no naturally extruded wood fiber available to harvest or purchase, pellets would be a welcome solution to keeping warm.

[starmac]

I don't see the sense of making pellets after a guy has gone to the trouble of cutting and hauling firewood.

[MaryB]

I can grow enough corn to heat my house on two acres so it is an easily renewed resource

[dragon813gt]

Shortage? Local farm store last winter had 90 pallets of them in March...

They're impossible to find here already. It dropped down into the low teens earlier this week and they're all gone now. They will be back but who knows when. Every area is different but a lot of people here have been installing pellet stoves over the past few years.

[starmac]

All pellets are not created equal by a long shot either.
I know when the pellet mill here first started out, they were supposed to supply the big box stores, but couldn't even supply the private sales completely the first winter. They were using several truckloads a day.
I do know they will not just any wood, like they were when they first started out, because some causes more ash than people liked.

[MaryB]

I have had some really bad pellets, one 3 ton load so bad I had to return them because they would not stay lit no matter what I did. Burned Indeck last year and they burned okay, bit high on the ash content. Forgot how low ash corn was, about 1/4 of what I get with pellets.