Posted: 9/8/2012 6:15:44 PM EDT
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What brand, how many BTU's, what size house and design. Split entry, 2 story, ranch etc. I am debating a Harman p68 68,000 BTU for a 2700 sq ft house. I am hoping to cut the oil bill by half. Spent $5100 in oil last year. would like not to this year. My calculations say I will need 3-4 ton of pellets at 200 bucks a ton. 800 bucks seems like a deal compared to oil.
What do you like and what do you hate? Thanks |
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Have an older Quadafire 1000 pellet stove. Don't know the specifics of it's heat output. Came with the house but I had to change out one fan motor and replace the combustion pot.
It is in the basement of a 2100 sq foot home and is the primary heat for the house. A couple of bedrooms at the end of the hall (as far as you can get from the stove) will get a little heat turned on in the winter. Go through about 2.25. to 2.5 tons of pellets a year. Usually have at least one sub zero streak of weather and can go 20 to 30 days without going above freezing. Home was built in the late 70s and is not what I would call energy efficient. For what you are paying in oil, I would think you would at least break even your first winter. Only thing you need to make sure of is that heat from the stove is able to circulate through your house. |
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Quoted:
Harmann Accentra insert here. Plenty of heat for my small house, but next time I am going with a pea coal stove. Double the BTU, 2/3rds the price of pellets. I would be all in for coal, I have a flu issue I can not resolve due to code. Running a stainless ou the side would look terrible for my application. Agreed coal is king. I had it in my old house. I would go to Sams and buy 500 packs of paper grocery bags and load the coal in and tape shut, less dirt. Top load stoves are awesome. |
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Breckwell 'Big E' since 2004
BTU: rated at 8200 to 55,000 1.5 to 5 lbs pellets / hour Use it to heat a 900 sq ft garage, moderately insulated (NE Ohio). Keep it on '1' or '2' (out of 5) depending on outside temps. Use about 1.5 tons / season. Would pobably use 3 to 4 tons per season to keep it warm enough to 'live' out there. Cheaper than propane! A lot cheaper! |
| I've got a Whitfield advantage II. it is a 48,000 btu model. Single level house at 1700 sg feet. Open floor plan except for bedrooms. I keep it on setting three and keeps the main part at 74 degrees. We like the bedrooms cold, so the cooler temps in the bedrooms don't bother us ( mid 60's). We also have a duel fuel HVAC system. Tstat is set for 66 degrees on main central heat. I can heat the house with a ton and a half of pellets on a average winter here in GA. |
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Quoted:
Quoted:
Harmann Accentra insert here. Plenty of heat for my small house, but next time I am going with a pea coal stove. Double the BTU, 2/3rds the price of pellets. I would be all in for coal, I have a flue issue I can not resolve due to code. Running a stainless ou the side would look terrible for my application. Agreed coal is king. I had it in my old house. I would go to Sams and buy 500 packs of paper grocery bags and load the coal in and tape shut, less dirt. Top load stoves are awesome. I have a Kozi KSH pellet stove. It usually takes about three tons to get through the winter. I usually set mine on low, put it on a thermostat and clean it out once every week. You might want to look into a coal stove if the power goes out where you live. Pellet stoves are great IF you live in an area that pretty much has continous power like town. If your house loses power on occasion during the winter, you need a coal stove. |
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Enviro M55 cast insert. 1400 sqft raised ranch. Did not use a thermostat last year and almost always had it on the low setting (#1 or 2 of 5). Burned about 3.5 tons and my house was always at least 60 degrees on #1 everywhere with ZERO use of the electric baseboard heating. House was built by the lowest bidder in 1968 so not much insulation and original windows and doors. The highest I put it on was #4 and within about 2 hours my living room was at 85 degrees near the stove. This year I have a thermostat that I will be installing to keep the temps level
I have no complaints and highly recommend the M55, they also make a free standing version. |
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I have an Englander 25-PDVC Pellet Stove. We cut our heating bill in half with it. We used to keep the house at 65f but now we can keep our place comfortably warm. I go with high end Bear Mountain Pellets as they burn cleaner and can get by on 1-1.5 tons of pellets for the winter. If I use Heaters or some other cheap brand It takes me 2-2.5 tons for the winter.
ETA. I have a power inverter to shut the stove down in case of a power outage and a generator to run the stove with if it's a long power outage. |
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Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
Harmann Accentra insert here. Plenty of heat for my small house, but next time I am going with a pea coal stove. Double the BTU, 2/3rds the price of pellets. I would be all in for coal, I have a flue issue I can not resolve due to code. Running a stainless ou the side would look terrible for my application. Agreed coal is king. I had it in my old house. I would go to Sams and buy 500 packs of paper grocery bags and load the coal in and tape shut, less dirt. Top load stoves are awesome. I have a Kozi KSH pellet stove. It usually takes about three tons to get through the winter. I usually set mine on low, put it on a thermostat and clean it out once every week. You might want to look into a coal stove if the power goes out where you live. Pellet stoves are great IF you live in an area that pretty much has continous power like town. If your house loses power on occasion during the winter, you need a coal stove. I have the entire house on a generator. Power goes out, generator come on. 
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