Wood Pellet stove or coal stove ?

[cork]

Looking for a supplemental heat source for my house. I have an electric heat pump as my primary heat source. Just looking for opinions.

 

[Junior Samples]

I have a wood burner that has oil drip I built, only takes a little wood to get going then i turn on the drip.

I built the drip pan from a dutch oven i got at garage sale, its not quite an good answer to your que but it kicks some heat for sure and one oil change lasts a long time

 

[stack1]

dutch oven

LOL!!! My wife hates it when I do that. :biggrin:

I have a heat pump also. I installed a wood burning stove last year. The heat pump doesn't cut it when it drops below freezing. I was thinking about getting a wood pellet basket to put in the stove instead of burning firewood once my supply is out.

 

[mscj]

My grandparents have a pellet stove--works pretty slick....automatically keeps the fire stoked by adding pellets according to how the controls are set. Plus, no bulky firewood to cart around-only 50+ pound bags of pellets. I'd get rid of my woodburning fp if I could swing the 3 grand they forked over .

 

[stack1]

Mscj, have you seen these pellet baskets?

Burn Wood Pellets .com | Heat Your Home With a Wood Pellet Basket in Your Wood Stove or Fireplace

How much are pellets?

 

[mscj]

Haven't seen the baskets before....I found some on Amazon for around $300--looks like that buys you a pallet of pellets :tongue: (shipping weight is 2000+ pounds). I was thinking my grandpa said he gave around the same $ for a pallet at Walmart near his home. Showed the wife that basket, we're going to look into it a little closer--been looking at wood burning inserts too, but they're a pretty penny too.

 

[stack1]

Keep the thread updated if you buy one of those baskets. I have enough firewood to last me all winter but I'm looking at getting one for next year.

 

[mscj]

Shot them an email last night with some questions....we'll see what happens. If I pick one up, I'll post back here.

 

[GNJimC]

Pellet/Corn Burner

Installed one in my old house 2 years ago. We replaced a wood burning stove that was there for looks/supplemental heat only. Corn burner was then main source of heat for entire house. I think my gas bill all winter was $100, and that was with water heater and stove etc. Problem was/is corn was $1.90 per bushel, now it is $4.00. I would use maybe 50# of corn in a day IF it ran all day. Only a handfull of times did it run all day and that was when the temp was below -15 for a long period of time. Also, there was not any draft issue like with a fireplace or woodstove. A fan blew hot air out and it drew the air it needed for the fire from the outside. It would burn both pellets and corn. Cost around $1600 installed. All in all even with the higher price of corn, it is a good deal.

 

[klrv6]

Wood furnace for me.

Add on Warm Air solid fuel Furnaces


I bought the 1500 for our 2400sqft house. Works awesome! 10 degrees out and inside it sits at 80 I get my wood throughout the year from a landscaping company that has to pay to get rid of downed trees. I'm burning almost all oak this year. I feel like I'm cheating the man every time I run the thing. Our house costs around $10 a day to heat when it's below freezing using gas.

 

[ronbuick]

We used wood heat for years in our fireplace insert and loved the wood heat,
but messy and as I got older became a hassel to go to the mtns. to get, about 4 yrs. ago installed a pellet stove, the guy that sized for our house
did a terrible job, way to small to get the job done, the cost of pellets have
really increased in price to about 200.00 a ton from 150.00 a ton 4 years
ago and they always run out before the season ends and no one around here has any which sucks, but we do have forced propane do get the chill off when I get home than fire off the pellet stove, coal, I would not even know where
to get it around here, but I do know that coal is MESSY and dirty.

Ron

 

[TT/Ameasap]

I have a wood stove in my 3k sq. ft. home in the basement. I also have passive solar throughout the south side. My heating bills are 80-100 a month in dead cold. I hate the mess that come along with wood, but you can get a lot of your wood free. My father just put a corn burner in his garage and is does an alright job (slow starting), but corn has gone up a bit.

Just my take on it. I never tried pellets because of the price. Call me cheap!

 

[gofstbuick]

We have a pellet stove. A ton of good quality pellets cost $250 and equates to a cord and a half of wood. The pellets burn about 90% complete. For three 40 lbs of pellets, I vacuum about a handful out of the stove burn area. Our house is currently at a cozy 74 degrees. Just remember that if you loose electricity, then no power to the pellet stove. Another alternative is a gas insert. In the Republic of California, some areas limit burning of wood and even EPA approved pellet stoves.

 

[GNBRETT]

So how often in the day will one have to place pellets in the stove? Is it cheaper then wood? If so by how much?

 

[TR Custom Parts]

I just put propane gas logs in my fireplace. Used the vented ones so most of the heat goes up the chimney. It does warm up the living room fairly decent, not the most efficient but it looks nice.:wink: Was going to the ventless ones but heard a lot of horror stories about health issues with them.

 

[gofstbuick]

So how often in the day will one have to place pellets in the stove? Is it cheaper then wood? If so by how much?

I use an upper midrange setting with thermostatic controls and a 40lbs bag of pellets last two-three days. I don't know if it is cheaper than wood, prices range from $200-$400/ton. I usually buy pellets in the late summer, early fall. This year I paid $250 for a ton and that equates to a cord and 1/2 of wood.