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Pellet Stoves.

Lilyota

Lilyota

RIP 7/22/2023
Joined
May 19, 2020
Member Number
26
Messages
1,221
Loc
Bolivar MO
So we took the wood stove out for our remodel and have decided that if we put something back in It'll be a pellet stove or possibly a mini split system.

If we go with a pellet stove it would be moved from the original stove spot to somewhere more practical in the house.



I like the wood stove smell and while it might seem petty.

Can you get that out of a pellet stove?


It's not a deal breaker.

But I like it.
 
I have never bought wood either.


I find, cut, split, and stack my wood myself. (my kid helps sometimes)

I believe it's good for a person.
 
No a pellet stove is closed loop. Sucks air in from outside to feed the burn pot, and then exhausts outside as well. It heats via a secondary fan. Think of it like a heat exchanger. So no, you wont get the smell of an open fire. The upside is it can be closer to the wall than a traditional wood stove & it has a smaller chimney so it can be put in more places. Plus, being able to walk in into my garage after work, push the ON button and walk away, is pretty sweet.
 
My understanding is that you need a very dry place to store the pellets. And they can take up quite a bit of room for the season.
 
We have a quadra fire. I love it ten times easier than a wood stove. We have a 2200 square foot house and my wife usually keeps the thermostat close to 80. We go through about 2 tons of pellets a winter. A ton of hard wood pellets is about 260. So a little over 500 bucks for the winter. Tips for you. Get a thermostat. Its nice to wake up and the fire is already on. Don't burn shit pellets. The ash is unbelievable. Find a hard wood pellet. Have a spare ignitor laying around just in case. Enjoy not cutting wood.
 
And as for storage we put them in our back shed. But I know people that leave them outside with snow ontop of them. They are wrapped in plastic so unless the bag has a hole i don't see them sucking up moisture.
 
Other than the constant cleaning they work good. No smell, but they pump out the heat. Just remember, you need electricity for heat.
 
I have two pellet stoves, one on each story. 3k house uses around 3-4 tons a winter in MT. I’d probably burn 7-8 cords of wood. Average year is $600-$800 in pellets, and I keep it 68 all day. The downside is no hot surface to cook a stew on, and it takes 110v to run. I have a battery invertor and a generator for backup power.

screw spending all summer cutting and splitting wood.
 
woods said:
My understanding is that you need a very dry place to store the pellets. And they can take up quite a bit of room for the season.
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It is recommended indoors. Pallets still wrapped, sure stick em outside, unwrapped, I wouldn't. The bags may have pin holes here and there and it sucks in water and pellets be doomed.

This is two tons in my basement:

20190910_145509.jpg



I go through 3 to 4 tons a year. My Serenity burns any pellet I buy but it gets really hot that I keep a window or two open all season.

Where is stove going and what kind of layout on that floor?
 
I will typically spend a a few miscellaneous months acquiring wood every few years.

Literally right now I'm sitting on 3 winters worth of wood.


Can't really say I'm down on spending 500 plus on something I pay nothing for now.
 
aren't pellets like more expensive per BTU than NG now?
much rather have the woodstove, can burn all your garbage as well as the deadfall that 30 ac of woods will always produce
 
[486 said:
;n125433]aren't pellets like more expensive per BTU than NG now?
much rather have the woodstove, can burn all your garbage as well as the deadfall that 30 ac of woods will always produce
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I actually see myself doing the outdoor boiler dealio before long.
 
You have the wood, put the wood stove back in and enjoy it. If, and that's a big if, I was going to do pellets it would be in the shape of an outside pellet furnace along with a hopper, get them delivered in bulk and not go through the hassle of handling them. Wood is free, free's for me :)
 
Screw wood, I have all the free wood I could use 100 feet away , pellet stove is stupid easy , my cost is usually $400 for the heating season 2 tons.
 
No such thing as free wood. Figure saw maintenance ,gas ,bar oil ,chain sharpen. Gas in truck trailer wear and tear. And your time to split stack and haul it.Blah blah blah. Pellets are cheaper where I'm at. Your probably double to burn wood and have way more hassle.
 
2-3 tons a winter here. I shut it down once a week for a cleaning. Deep clean 2-3 times a year. Never an issue. Keeps the house warm.
 
HELL BOUND said:
No such thing as free wood. Figure saw maintenance ,gas ,bar oil ,chain sharpen. Gas in truck trailer wear and tear. And your time to split stack and haul it.Blah blah blah. Pellets are cheaper where I'm at. Your probably double to burn wood and have way more hassle.
Click to expand...






So what yer sayin here is I have a couple hundred dollars in wood here?










Gathering wood is one of my most relaxing times when it happens.
 
Lil said:
So what yer sayin here is I have a couple hundred dollars in wood here?










Gathering wood is one of my most relaxing times when it happens.
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See, I heat with wood and its a double edged sword. Its the only thing keeping me physically in check. I also have pretty much infinite access.

But yea, its s SHIT TON of work.
 
HELL BOUND said:
No such thing as free wood. Figure saw maintenance ,gas ,bar oil ,chain sharpen. Gas in truck trailer wear and tear. And your time to split stack and haul it.Blah blah blah. Pellets are cheaper where I'm at. Your probably double to burn wood and have way more hassle.
Click to expand...

Agreed, cutting wood is cheaper for me by far but I have about 8.5-9 acres of forest on my dirt and live against the national forest where its like $10 a cord to cut wood there. Its 64 miles round trip to the nearest pellet retailer. I typically get 2-3 cords of just blowdown each year and one of my neighbors lets me cut all his blowdown as well. Lots of hemlock & big leaf maple with some alder and dug fir mixed in. Having a saw is essential where I live and mine is a mid 80’s Echo, bought new by my old man, that is just a fawking champ. Going to be buying a bigger saw for milling but I see no reason mine wont continue to hold up for firewood duty for years to come. Need to get my little MS 250 fixed as it crapped out after 4 years.
 
TiTRD said:
Pull heat plates out and vacuum behind them and clean the chimney. Takes about an hour. Basically get all the ash out that you can.
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I was just here the other day:

image_22214.jpg


That was entertaining to say the least.
 
I grew up cutting and splitting wood and running the stove. Chore fell to the boy child, that's me.

I thought I would never like a fancy thing like a pellet stove. I was wrong. Even if it's more expensive than NG, it's a luxury to have the window open with fresh cold air coming in all winter. If you get a bigger stove, you can run it slower and have more room for ashes. Cleanout about every 3-4 days, get right in there with the vacuum atachments like the long skinny nozzle. It's one of those things where cleaning pretty clearly makes the appliance last longer.

The electricity it uses is minimal. You could run it off a battery and a 400 watt inverter.

If you put it in your main living area, you also get a nice little flame going all the time with no mess. Very comfy. Nice nightlight too.

Being able to open the windows in winter is such a killer app and doesn't seem to make a difference on consumption.

I would agree that high-quality pellets are absolutely worth it. There's guys out there grinding up pallets with whatever shit is in them, plus the nails on occasion. You don't want a nail in your auger.

You can get a good wood smoke smell if you open the window next to the stove exhaust. Have some blow by ocassionally, but it's pretty clean smoke, they combust right down.
 
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The pipe disconnects off the back of my stove so I just redneck it to my leaf blower and create the smoke monster from Lost.
 
TiTRD said:
Pull heat plates out and vacuum behind them and clean the chimney. Takes about an hour. Basically get all the ash out that you can.
Click to expand...

Do you pull the exhaust fan out? I find it to be pretty gunked up with ash after a season.
 
TiTRD said:
I can get my vacuum in mine.
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Not possible with the Serenity. Three wingnuts and the fan plate pops off with the fan attached.

I had to replace the ignitor this past spring. It lasted four years of turning on and off multiple times a day but other than that it has been flawless.
 
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