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 ....

[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 ....

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.