# I am marginally disapointed in pellet stoves at the moment.



## MountainStoveGuy (Sep 24, 2009)

Its to soon to really say its time to pull the plug, but i dont think convection heat holds a candle to a real wood stove that offers both convection and radiant heat. My stove really cranks out the hot air, but the back of the house stays almost too cold to be comfortable, and this is just the shoulder season. I do not see any way in hell that 50k btu pellet stove is going to outproduce the 80k woodstove. This is interesting. It goes to show that a showroom display burning does not give a you a real world feel for what it will do in your home. I already miss the radient heat from my woodstove  :bug:


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## derrickp (Sep 24, 2009)

Not being a smart ass or anything but what made you think 50 would outproduce 80? Edit: nevermind isee your sig and post count and figure this must be a joke.


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## MountainStoveGuy (Sep 24, 2009)

because the 50 is constant. the 80 is on a curve. the 80 will average out to 50 over the burn cycle if i keep up on it.


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## MCPO (Sep 24, 2009)

MountainStoveGuy said:
			
		

> Its to soon to really say its time to pull the plug, but i dont think convection heat holds a candle to a real wood stove that offers both convection and radiant heat. My stove really cranks out the hot air, but the back of the house stays almost too cold to be comfortable, and this is just the shoulder season. I do not see any way in hell that 50k btu pellet stove is going to outproduce the 80k woodstove. This is interesting. It goes to show that a showroom display burning does not give a you a real world feel for what it will do in your home. I already miss the radient heat from my woodstove  :bug:



Well, It is very different and I can see where you are coming from.
 I kinda like the pellets for cleanliness and ease of use but I`ve not been overly impressed either.
 The rising cost of pellets in my neighborhood took the wind out of the sails.  So for now I`ll use em just for the finished basement.
 Oh, I do love the near instant control of heat with pellets. The wood stove burned hotter n hell sometimes and I found myself babysitting it.


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## MountainStoveGuy (Sep 24, 2009)

I LOVE the convenience, i love the lack of mess, i love the easy storage of fuel. Im with you all the way on that.


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## WoodPorn (Sep 24, 2009)

derrickp said:
			
		

> Not being a smart ass or anything but what made you think 50 would outproduce 80? Edit: nevermind isee your sig and post count and figure this must be a joke.



Ditto,................ I hope it's a joke with those credentials


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## MountainStoveGuy (Sep 24, 2009)

LOL wern. Do you know how wood stoves are rated? They are rated in MAX btu.s They put out zero when cold, and max when fully loaded burning hot as possible. Take a 12 hour cycle, average that out and tell me what you get. My math tells me that is 50/hour average. 
1=0
2=40
3=70
4=80
5=80
6=70
7=70
6=60
7=50
8=40
9=30
10=20
11=10
12=0.

This is how i burned my wood stove. I work and sleep, no time to keep the fire going at max potential. Post something constructive and prove me wrong, instead of insulting me. For people that have moved from wood to pellet, i do not think my findings to be that uncommon.

I have burned both. The pellet stove has not shown me anything to write home about as far as its heating capacity, and pure convection does not heat as well as a mix of convection and radiant.


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## MountainStoveGuy (Sep 24, 2009)

true pook, i dont get much heat off the glass. not enough surface area and not hot enough to equate to a wood stoves surface area for radiant heating.


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## BrotherBart (Sep 24, 2009)

Come back from the Dark Side young Skywalker  :lol:


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## MCPO (Sep 24, 2009)

Geesus, did Pook change his ID again?


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## MountainStoveGuy (Sep 24, 2009)

BrotherBart said:
			
		

> Come back from the Dark Side young Skywalker  :lol:



im not jumping ship this soon, just my initial observations in mild weather (30*+) with no furnace on. Its not going to go anywhere this season, i have three tons to burn, but once there gone, some lucky buyer will get a deal on CL.


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## tinkabranc (Sep 24, 2009)

Just curious....
How much area are you trying to heat with the stove?  

Even though there is no radiant heat, the XXV can melt your eyeballs
if you stand too close.


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## MountainStoveGuy (Sep 24, 2009)

tinkabranc said:
			
		

> Just curious....
> How much area are you trying to heat with the stove?
> 
> Even though there is no radiant heat, the XXV can melt your eyeballs
> if you stand too close.



My main level of my house is 25x50. The footprint is basic, the 25x25 is the main room the stove is in, the back of the house is 25x25 where the bedrooms are. The main room has vaulted ceilings that opens up to a 25x25 loft. 

This is not a review of the XXV, i think the stove is doing exactly what it is supposed to do. It WILL melt my eyeballs, just not heat my house like the wood stove did. I think its a function of the different types of heat, and how the heat is delivered more then the unit i picked.


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## BrotherBart (Sep 24, 2009)

Yeah I burned two bags in my new pellet puppy and put it back on the pallet in the basement to await when I am too broken down to hump cord wood. It should do OK then. We aren't on a mountain side in Colorado.


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## MountainStoveGuy (Sep 24, 2009)

Im not that old, but too broken to process the wood off of my nightmare of a lot. If i have to go back to wood. I will be buying it split and delivered. For now, i guess i will charge up the furnace to help assist the pellet stove.


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## amick780 (Sep 24, 2009)

This is just what I have found...but I find in order to get any amount of heat throughout the whole house my pellet stove has to stay running for a full day. The quick burns this time of the year are a hard gauge. I find my XXV does heat my whole house though. Its a 2900 sq/ft colonial. Somewhat open floor plan....no vaulted ceilings to steal my heat.


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## MountainStoveGuy (Sep 24, 2009)

ya, hard maple does not exist in this part of the country at that rate lol. The best price for hardwood in this area is usally oak block for 300/cord.


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## MountainStoveGuy (Sep 24, 2009)

amick780 said:
			
		

> This is just what I have found...but I find in order to get any amount of heat throughout the whole house my pellet stove has to stay running for a full day. The quick burns this time of the year are a hard gauge. I find my XXV does heat my whole house though. Its a 2900 sq/ft colonial. Somewhat open floor plan....no vaulted ceilings to steal my heat.



great info, my stove has been going pretty much all the time. (im on my 11th bag since i started up the stove) I think i will have to crank up the stove to 75* and see what happens. Im wincing at the amount of pellets i will need. I thought 3 tons would do it. There is no way thats going to happen.


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## amick780 (Sep 24, 2009)

Check to see if the switch on the inside of the control box (black toggle switch in side where the control panel closes into) is on high. It controls the convection blower. Just wondering if you are using room temp or stove temp. I use room temp set on 68-70 and I adjust the room temp setting (low - high) depending on the heat I need. I too the first year I bought my stove did the 3 ton pellet suprise...... 4.5 tons gets it done.


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## MountainStoveGuy (Sep 24, 2009)

I have the toggle switch set to high, and the room temp set to 70(ish). Last night i moved it up to 74, the rooms in the back where a tolerable temp, still woke up with a ton of blankets on. I drained half the hopper last night. The living room is warm, its just a different kind of warm i was expecting.


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## MountainStoveGuy (Sep 24, 2009)

I guess i should put this another way. I do not see any difference in the feel of the heat then what my furnace produces. The main difference being that the house is uneven (expected) where the furnace is even throughout. My furnance will cost me about $1500-$2000/ year to heat my entire home depending on how cold it is. If i have to burn 5 tons to keep my  house marginally warm, that will cost me $1250 worth of pellets. If i have to use the furnace and pellets.. then who knows if i actually saved a dime. If i do save money, its only because the rooms are cold vs the house being even.


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## WoodPorn (Sep 24, 2009)

MountainStoveGuy said:
			
		

> LOL wern. Do you know how wood stoves are rated? They are rated in MAX btu.s They put out zero when cold, and max when fully loaded burning hot as possible. Take a 12 hour cycle, average that out and tell me what you get. My math tells me that is 50/hour average.
> 1=0
> 2=40
> 3=70
> ...



First off, Nothing was meant to be insulting, but since you are taking the defence; I would think your "certification" and heating experience (common sense) would have tipped you off to the fact that pellet stoves do not throw the radiant heat as wood stoves do. I would think that a dealer for Regency, Harman, Hearthstone, MORSO, Eco Teck, Kingsman, Marquis, Enviro Fire, Morso, Pacific Energy Hampton and Valor would know the difference. So take my comments as you may, but try to lighten up.


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## mjbrown (Sep 24, 2009)

MountainStoveGuy said:
			
		

> tinkabranc said:
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MSG,

 do you utilize the loft area? do you have a ceiling fan for that vaulted ceiling? not trying to be a smart butt here... just asking. i have 1100 sq ft(yes, half of what you have), and i keep the ceiling fan in the living poom pushing down, and the one in the dining room pulling up, and it seems to move my heat around quite well...but then again, i am not heating alot of vaulted space either. just a suggestion.


mike


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## MountainStoveGuy (Sep 24, 2009)

the wood stove space heater made my house more comfortable. the pellet stove is more like a furnace. pook your a smart ass.


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## MountainStoveGuy (Sep 24, 2009)

Werm said:
			
		

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tryin' to lighten up . I knew the stove was not a radiant heater, im just surprised that i do not like convection heat! I got from your comment that i was a moron for not knowing that woodstoves put out constant heat, and they dont. I misunderstood your post, you misunderstood mine.


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## MountainStoveGuy (Sep 24, 2009)

mjbrown65 said:
			
		

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I do have the fan on reverse, and low speed. I have burned pellet stoves in the shop for years and years, its very very  surprising to me that i do not like it in my home.


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## CrappieKeith (Sep 24, 2009)

While I'm still laughing with you guys.....what about a furnace....sure there's no asthetic value but I'm not hearing about that bottle of wine a bear rug and the wife.
what I am hearing is that the whole home is not being heated evenly.
A wood furnace would do that without the aide of your liquid fuel furnace.

As to your btu list.....curve....
I have a BJ90 heating a 1400 s/f home in northern Mn.
I load it 4 pieces 10"-12" round 2 foot long of ash...twice a day and it runs 24/7 in 20 below keeping my home 74 degrees.

Just something to think about.
Stoves do not hook to ducting and can not do what a "good" furnace can do.
A furnace has way more heat exchange surface area with a fan & limit switch cycling a blower. Add in a barometric draft regulator set to .03" W.C. and an afterburn loaded with thermal mass.....stoves may have there place in some home layouts and or mild climates,but not in cold country.


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## MountainStoveGuy (Sep 24, 2009)

The whole home is being heated less evenly then the woodstove did. With the woodstove, the main room was toasty with radiant heat, and the warm air from the main room made it back to the bedrooms better. The current pellet stove feels like furnace heat in the main room, with cold rooms everywhere else.


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## MountainStoveGuy (Sep 24, 2009)

Ghettontheball said:
			
		

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pook, im sittin on about 5% relative humidity year round lol. I live in a high desert.


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## BrotherBart (Sep 24, 2009)

Glad you didn't buy that bazillion dollar pellet stove  you originally had your eye on.  :ahhh: 

And I really don't think a ton a month would be excessive pellet consumption in your climate and in that house. Which would put you lugging bags and feeding the stove the same number of times a day that you had to feed the Mansfield. You remember the Mansfield don't ya? The one ya sold! Dummy.  :lol:


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## MountainStoveGuy (Sep 24, 2009)

Yep. I am not going to confirm im a complete dummy yet, i was going to upgrade to the EQ anyway. For the price i got the XXV for, it was a worthy experiment. Harman has a fanstastic burn credit for employees this year.  I am not hanging up the towel yet, and i will give honest reports through out the season. I will be using this stove this season, or until i run out of pellets. I just have this sinking feeling that once it gets to 30* below, there is no way this stove is going to keep up like the woodstove did. Time will tell!

What does not work for me does not mean it will not work for you readers. I live in a super cold high altitude climate. The house is well insulated, but on the dark side of a mountain. I thought my BTU math meant something.


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## freeburn (Sep 24, 2009)

Did you put an OAK on your stove? Maybe your pellets are crap too???


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## stoveguy2esw (Sep 24, 2009)

here's a theory , not sure how much impact it has on your situation bro , but here it is.

in a higher altitude low humidity situation , radient heat (which heats up not only the air but the surrounding surfaces) is going to do what its going to do heat said surfaces. convective heat is supplying heat to the air , not to the surfaces , now since you are high and dry so to speak , there is less "air" going through the stove into the room , even the humidity in the air gets heated to some extent. so convection without as much substance to "convect" means a lesser  transfer of energy per BTU released due to the method of transfer.

make sense????

if im right , you would realise much more result from the radience of a woodstove and less from strictly convective heat , therefore the lesser performance. just a stab in the dark mind you , but it makes sense to me  though i havent studied it out fully.


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## MountainStoveGuy (Sep 24, 2009)

stoveguy2esw said:
			
		

> here's a theory , not sure how much impact it has on your situation bro , but here it is.
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> in a higher altitude low humidity situation , radient heat (which heats up not only the air but the surrounding surfaces) is going to do what its going to do heat said surfaces. convective heat is supplying heat to the air , not to the surfaces , now since you are high and dry so to speak , there is less "air" going through the stove into the room , even the humidity in the air gets heated to some extent. so convection without as much substance to "convect" means a lesser  transfer of energy per BTU released due to the method of transfer.
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That is really really really good. I tell you i learn something new here everyday. I have never tried to heat in a humid environment, so i would have no basis to compare to. It is so dry where i live, you can leave a bag of potato chips on the counter open, for two weeks, and they do not get stale. Dont ask me how i know  :roll: You add that to the altitude, (9000+ feet) and that could be a bad combination for a pure convection stove.


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## MountainStoveGuy (Sep 24, 2009)

jburner said:
			
		

> Did you put an OAK on your stove? Maybe your pellets are crap too???



No on the OAK, im burning rocky mountains.


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## stoveguy2esw (Sep 24, 2009)

MountainStoveGuy said:
			
		

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give the credit to POOK , had he not started on that tangent about mold bringing you to mention the "high desert" thing , i wouldnt have thought about it that way, theory was strictly off the top of my head , i dunno if someone has published similar though i might look around for it sometime.  guess you caught the gist of what i was thinking anyway. BTW im flattered by your reply.i consider you to be a very smart guy, so im taking that as a complement if ya dont mind ;-)


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## MountainStoveGuy (Sep 24, 2009)

i would give pook way more credit if i could understand what he says. I totally do not see the correlation between the mold comment and yours. I am sure there is allot of good info encrypted in his posts. Thanks pook!

I appreciate your kind comments, thank you very much!

edit: now i have gone back and read pooks post, i do understand it now.. sort of.


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## tinkabranc (Sep 24, 2009)

MountainStoveGuy said:
			
		

> i would give pook way more credit if i could understand what he says. I totally do not see the correlation between the mold comment and yours. I am sure there is allot of good info encrypted in his posts. Thanks pook!
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> I appreciate your kind comments, thank you very much!



Glad I am not the only one that has no idea what Pook is saying half the time. 
No offense Pook.. ;-)


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## jtakeman (Sep 24, 2009)

I wonder if you added a little humidity. Would it seem warmer to you? On the real muggy days the humidity is up. and it always seems warmer than the day before with no humidity

I had a water pot on both my wood stove and Now my pellet stove. I don't like the dry heat. 

Just a poke at it.

jay


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## stoveguy2esw (Sep 24, 2009)

Ghettontheball said:
			
		

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his model is not as good a radiator as the pdvc due to the pdvc having a lot of the firebox exposed to outside, its still a great stove though more of a "true convective" design so your stove having that one sheet of steel between the fire and the room gives off more radience. also , you are in a more humid more air dense area than he is so there is more "stuff" coming out the vent at your house than his. the more density in the air the more transfer you get due to more molecules to reatain and carry heat, simply more molecular surface area in denser air. at least thats the gist of my thought on it. as for spec's i'll check again , but remember corie is a busy lad with a lot on his plate, he likely has forgotten my request.


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## Todd (Sep 24, 2009)

Maybe try a coal stove next? Then you can give us the run down on all three.


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## stoveguy2esw (Sep 24, 2009)

jtakeman said:
			
		

> I wonder if you added a little humidity. Would it seem warmer to you? On the real muggy days the humidity is up. and it always seems warmer than the day before with no humidity
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might have some merit though not a long term solution i expect would take a ton of water addition to bring up the humidity enough on a constant basis to make it practical in the long haul.

i'll tell ya what would be EXTEREMLY interesting , that would be to have 2 people who have this model MSG being one , and someone who is at a lower altitude  and a more humid climate, to record stack temps. if im right MSG should have higher stack temps at due to "refusal of heat" at a lower temp than in  the other climate. or the heat exchanger would be hotter  due to lower absorbtion rate. would make for a hell of an experiment!


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## amick780 (Sep 24, 2009)

I am just glad I am not at 9000 feet....too much trouble. But the skiing is good.


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## Vermont-XXV (Sep 24, 2009)

MountainStoveGuy,

I stopped heating with wood several years ago, here in Vermont, for some of the same reasons you did.  So far we are enjoying our XXV.  I 've never really liked the hot water baseboard heat.  Sometimes very expensive and if it's warm enough to watch tv in the living room wearing normal clothes it's too hot to sleep in the bedrooms.  So this is my first season with a pellet stove.  I have the same stove you have and about the same quantity of pellets.  I will follow your pellet career with interest.
best of luck,
clifford


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## jtakeman (Sep 24, 2009)

stoveguy2esw said:
			
		

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Interesting! It would be a real world test and compare. Wonder if heat exchanger config would help any?


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## tinkabranc (Sep 24, 2009)

I think Mike is onto something with the humidity level.  
It would be an interesting experiment for sure.


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## MountainStoveGuy (Sep 24, 2009)

Mike: I have a flue probe thermometer. I will install and post the temps. That will be interesting. 

Todd: Cant burn coal here, its a illegal fuel here.

Amik: Skiing is the only thing 9000' has going for it. Well, the 40*/70* summers are a bonus too. To bad they only last about 6 weeks.

Vermont: I want to like this stove to. I just need to be warm. I will post as the year goes along, hopefully things will change, but based on the science presented here, this might be the wrong stove for me. I might need a pellet stove that has a 500* top surface.

This thread has been great.  Thanks to all the posters.


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## stoveguy2esw (Sep 24, 2009)

jtakeman said:
			
		

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not sure , harman has a great system to transfer heat its just the substance its being "transferred to" that makes the difference here. the heat is being released by combustion, the heat exchanger is getting hot. the loss is going to be in one of just a couple places , by eliminating possibilities we find the truth in the "leftover" as S. Holmes was supposed to have deduced , by eliminating all that it isnt, what it is will be  the only thing left. or somthing like that  , anyway , if the stack temps are not higher  in the high altitude  than low , and the heat exchanger is the same as well , the only thing left is simply that the thinner air simply cannot absorb and thus carry the energy into the room. or, that it can but being of lesser substance cannot contain it or prevent its dissipation. remember heat (as with any form of energy) cannot be destroyed ,only dissipated.  good thing im sipping John Jamison tonite , the cheap stuff wouldnt leave me this lucid  %-P


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## MountainStoveGuy (Sep 25, 2009)

Consider that the Mansfield (80k but's) heated my house, and that i would even consider next time to bump up to the EQ (100k+ Btu's) and not even worry about over heating my self. I only need to heat about 1500 square feet on two levels. This would explain why the radiant heat does so much for me and the convection does not. I think the amount of convection off the Mansfield was greater then what i am getting out of the pellet stove, plus i had the radiant to boot. If the air has a hard time saturating it self with warm air, then this would be a fundamental issue with a pure convection stove. This is going to change how i do things in the shop for my high altitude clients.


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## jtakeman (Sep 25, 2009)

stoveguy2esw said:
			
		

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Real world test would have to have close to exact installs to call this. The only different factor should be the low humidity. Maybe MSG should post the details on his setup/install. Maybe more heat could be extracted with a smaller dia flue?? Isn't there an altitude factor on that??


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## stoveguy2esw (Sep 25, 2009)

Ghettontheball said:
			
		

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exactly right in one part , molecular agitation , or retainment and release of energy , the difference is the delivery system , pellets pound for pound contain the same base storage of energy as log wood does roughly 8500 BTu per LB remember pellets are still just wood so the same thermal energy released from consuming a 1 lb block of wood is released by consuming 1 lb of wood pellets. the diference with pellet stoves is the energy is channeled and released under different methods than wood (or log) stoves utilize. the more surface area that comes close enough to the radient heat inside the exchangers of a pelet stove , the more heat is absorbed per cubic measure of air then moved into the open airspace of the room. with a log stove , the whole skin of the stove is the heat exchanger  so more molecules come into contact or close proximity to absorb heat  also the heat exchangers in a pellet stove are internal for the most part so radience is trapped somewhat by the outer shell of the stove with wood it transfers through directly into a room which is why if you think about it , a wall protector works as it does , and why you have to keep an opening at the bottom, heat radiates onto the wall surface transfers through and into the airspace , but the resulting updraft from the heated air in the space allows heat to be carried out the top and the resulting vacuum pulls more cold air in to absorb the "next " heat in a constant moving current.    

and to think i used to hate physics  somewhere out there my high school teacher is smiling


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## MountainStoveGuy (Sep 25, 2009)

Thats a idea too. I have my stove hooked to my class A chimney using the top vent kit i bought from harman. So 6" all the way up!


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## slow-al (Sep 25, 2009)

Being a dealer what reports have you gotten from customers? Or do you mostly sell conventional wood stoves?

Do you have a humidifier? Reports I've been told by users is the cold water type are more effective than the heated style.


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## stoveguy2esw (Sep 25, 2009)

yes evaporation is a cooling function , however you have to have a change in the relative humidity within the heated space without sending the heated air through the heat exchanger area to cause a heat loss in that case due to dissipation into the cooler moister air which is able to absorb it, the humidity though sparse is a constant fire creates moisture but its within a sealed system in both cases so it doesnt come into play, still at the molecular level water molecules have heat retention capability just as oxygen and other gasses do , if the stove were "sweating" it would lower its internal temperature but this would not dissipate heat except into the surrounding air , which is convection in itself in a way so not real heat loss would occur within the air in an enclosed space.


man what a great thread though


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## Corey (Sep 25, 2009)

You brought up an interesting point initially  - a constant 50K btu pellet stove vs a variable 80K btu wood stove.  But what temperature are wood stoves btu output actually rated at?  Though I don't know about a wood stove as a whole, generally radiated energy increases as the fourth power of temperature.  Consequently - if a wood stove is rated 80k btu at say 500F surface temp and you run it at 600F, you don't necessarily get a simple linear increase in output, but could be something moderately higher.  You may have been burning you 80k wood stove at 100-120k btu or more.

Assuming roughly equal efficiency, I'd expect you should burn roughly equal pounds of pellets or wood - does that look like it will be the case?


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## BJN644 (Sep 25, 2009)

Being a dealer, any way you could try a P68 out? I think the P series throw more radiant heat than the XXV. Just a thought.


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## DeePee (Sep 25, 2009)

Psychrometric Chart @ 7500ft

Psychrometric Chart @ Sea Level

Interesting lecture about enthalpy.


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## stoveguy2esw (Sep 25, 2009)

DeePee said:
			
		

> Psychrometric Chart @ 7500ft
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> Psychrometric Chart @ Sea Level
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> Interesting lecture about enthalpy.



peeked at the links , i'll look at them in depth when i have a while to devote to it , the lecture looks like  a good one in a quick peek , but its an hour long , will have to wait  maybe if its dead at work i can take a peek. thanks for the links though its interesting stuff


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## iceman (Sep 25, 2009)

i have/had pellet stoves ... trying to heat a house the rule for me is 1 ton a month dec -feb ..  march-april 1 ton +-
sept-nov 1 ton+-  so if its a mild winter 4 tons cold winter 5-6...  thats why i stopped using them as much ... for all the work vs saving money it was better to run my furnace...... once you go over 1.5 a day you need to weigh out which is cheaper...  also i DONT USE ROOM TEMP SETTING..   why?  because sometimes its hard for air to move and the room the stove is in might be 75 but down the hall could be 60...  so i  leave it at 1 setting all the time that would keep the area warm AND  i knew how much pellet consumption....  also when temp goes up to 50 during the day it is still running because its going down to 30 at night... its easier to open a window in one room than try to raise the temp up in a whole house....
you will need more than 3 tons ......
also a 6 inch pipe might be to big ...  it will burn very good but ps require pressure and if not enough back pressure all your heat will go up faster thus ot giving off more in the room.....  i always thought stoves never wanted to more than a 4 inch...  but i am not sure...


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## MountainStoveGuy (Sep 25, 2009)

guys and gals. just got home from the one hour commute. The posts are fantastic. I am going to go through each one, look at the links, and get back to you guys in the morning. This is really really helpful. Thanks to all that have replied.  Cozy's engineering analysis is something i am going to have to look at. Dee Pee's links look very interesting. ICe, thanks for the insite on usage. I think i am way way off. As a dealer i hear very few complaints, but most peeps that buy pellet stoves have always had pellet, and vice versa. As for now. Im completely exhausted and the three year old wants to "hang out" as she puts it. 

A very sincere thanks to all.

-MSG


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## MountainStoveGuy (Sep 25, 2009)

also, any one want to decipher those charts for me? Ironic, i sold solar to the company that produced those charts lol.


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## rowerwet (Sep 25, 2009)

this thread makes me real glad my pellet stove uses hot water and baseboards to evenly heat the whole house.


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## Delta-T (Sep 25, 2009)

MSG- I have one suggestion....stop using "room temp". Use "stove temp" mode, put the knob to 3.5 and wait a few hours. I would have told you right from the get go that you'll likely use 4 tons. Apples to apples you are not going to get 80K BTU from a 50K btu max appliance, this we can all agree to. Chances are, the XXV doesn't beleive you are even asking for 50K unless you put that sucker on stove temp and turn the knob to 7. YOu can check you exhaust temp with the DDM and with the fuzzy logic in the brain it should never let itself become inefficient. YOu may have excessive draft, but I assume, because you are a dealer , that you have set the minimum draft and that it is acceptable.   There is a 3 week learning curve in my opinion, even if you have boat loads of knowledge (which I know you do). Its the actual application of that knowledge, in real world, that takes time IMHO. The laws of entropy are extremely complex and are hard to try to decifer, but in the end, I think you just aren't conveying to the machine what you'd like, in a language that it can understand. If you are in room temp the stove attempts to heat until the room temp probe is satisfied, that is all. It cares not for your bedroom of your pantry, just the probe. Stove temp will dictate to the stove to burn pellets at a constant rate, and therefore constant even output of heat. You should find this more to your liking. One you have established a stabile temp and your house becomes a thermal mass, you can then switch to the room temp if you so desire and hopefully you will find that it is also, more to your liking. I'm a huge fan of the stove temp, and very rarely (read never, unless told to do so) use the room temp mode. ONce you estabnlish what setting (1-7) works best, you may only need to tweak it slightly during different times of the day, or very different outside temps. PS- Make sure your feed adjuster is set to 4-4.5, no joke.


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## MountainStoveGuy (Sep 25, 2009)

Delta, i agree completley.  I have set the minimum draft set, and i will run it in stove mode. (at least at night). Like i said in the beginning, i am not writing this stove off just yet, just expressing my first impressions and how they apply to my application. I am very glad i have installed this unit. It will make me a better hearth professional. Most of the people i have worked with in the past in the shops never had any appliance that they have tried first hand. First hand knowledge is key.

Right now i have the feed set to 4.0 and the stove set to stove mode. Im pretty toasty this morning. THe stove ran out of pellets overnight, DOH!


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## Dougsey (Sep 25, 2009)

Waiting for BTU to tell us why this stove is not producing enough heat....


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## CarbonNeutral (Sep 25, 2009)

While your year round humidity (and shoulder season humidity), will be much lower than ours here in the NE, I would bet we're similar in the really cold periods.

EDIT: Nope, I'm wrong - on a relative humidity scale you are still much drier in winter even given similar temps (looking at Denver): http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/us-outdoor-design-temperature-humidity-d_296.html

Interesting the relative humidity in winter and summer is not much different here - certainly you can feel the difference between the absolute humidity


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## Clay H (Sep 25, 2009)

subscribing.....


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## CarbonNeutral (Sep 25, 2009)

CarbonNeutral said:
			
		

> While your year round humidity (and shoulder season humidity), will be much lower than ours here in the NE, I would bet we're similar in the really cold periods.
> 
> EDIT: Nope, I'm wrong - on a relative humidity scale you are still much drier in winter even given similar temps (looking at Denver): http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/us-outdoor-design-temperature-humidity-d_296.html
> 
> Interesting the relative humidity in winter and summer is not much different here - certainly you can feel the difference between the absolute humidity



Ah, but hang on, (arguing with myself again) we're concerned about indoor humidity, so given the lack of available water in the air and the higher temperatures inside (borne out by the way my wood doors on my entertainment center shrink), then maybe the relative humidities inside our houses in the coldest months are similar, or similar enough....


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## MountainStoveGuy (Sep 25, 2009)

It is dry enough here that food does not go stale, it will eventually just pertrify. Mold? No way, mildew? no way. When it snows, the snow is so dry that it floats around like dust. We average around 15-20 inches a year of moisture, and that includes the 140+ inches or so of snow. Not sure how that works out. I have never used convection heat, but it does make sense that with less humidity, you will have less "mass" in the air to hold heat. This is making alot of sense now. Actually i just looked it up. 

    Jan    Feb    Mar    Apr    May    Jun    Jul    Aug    Sep    Oct    Nov    Dec    Annual
Average Max. Temperature (F)     34.3     36.5     40.7     49.2     59.1     69.6     75.3     72.8     65.9     56.0     42.9     36.4     53.2
Average Min. Temperature (F)     13.7     15.3     18.2     24.1     32.3     39.7     44.5     43.3     36.9     29.3     21.0     15.8     27.8
Average Total Precipitation (in.)     1.12     0.96     1.81     2.35     2.69     2.16     2.34     2.09     1.52     1.24     1.28     1.22     20.79
Average Total SnowFall (in.)     19.1     14.8     27.2     22.4     9.4     1.4     0.0     0.0     3.2     9.5     16.7     16.2     140.1
Average Snow Depth (in.)     3     3     4     3     0     0     0     0     0     0     2     3     1


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## CarbonNeutral (Sep 25, 2009)

MountainStoveGuy said:
			
		

> It is dry enough here that food does not go stale, it will eventually just pertrify. Mold? No way, mildew? no way. When it snows, the snow is so dry that it floats around like dust. We average around 15-20 inches a year of moisture, and that includes the 140+ inches or so of snow. Not sure how that works out. I have never used convection heat, but it does make sense that with less humidity, you will have less "mass" in the air to hold heat. This is making alot of sense now. Actually i just looked it up.
> 
> Jan    Feb    Mar    Apr    May    Jun    Jul    Aug    Sep    Oct    Nov    Dec    Annual
> Average Max. Temperature (F)     34.3     36.5     40.7     49.2     59.1     69.6     75.3     72.8     65.9     56.0     42.9     36.4     53.2
> ...



It's the reason that many people die in deserts due to cold rather than heat - no moisture to maintain temperature when the sun goes down


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## tinkabranc (Sep 25, 2009)

MountainStoveGuy said:
			
		

> It is dry enough here that food does not go stale, it will eventually just pertrify. Mold? No way, mildew? no way. ......



Sounds like a whole different world there compared to here.  
I still can't get over the fact your chips don't go stale  :lol:


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## MountainStoveGuy (Sep 25, 2009)

I am originally from galveston island. I know humidity. You leave chips out for a hour down there they are disgusting.

This altitude makes cooking interesting too. Water boils at like 198* so things take alot longer to cook. Lots of weird things go on at 9000'.


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## MountainStoveGuy (Sep 25, 2009)

there is no OAK, not yet. That might make a diff, but i am pretty convinced that radiant heat works better in altitude and dry climate then convection.


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## Delta-T (Sep 25, 2009)

i was also going to mention the altitude and pressure differential. Even if you could maintain a higher humidity, say, similar to the NE, water gets to boiling and doesn't get hotter unless pressurized. Boiling at less than 212 is freaky, its giving my the willies right now, LOL.

Sure theres enough O2 at that height to burn pellets? (thats a joke)


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## Clay H (Sep 25, 2009)

I think the simple solutions is you replaced a large stove with a smaller one...40% smaller.


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## Delta-T (Sep 25, 2009)

pressure cooker allows water to reach temps higher than 212, hence faster cooking, and some extra penetration never hurts. (ummm, in retrospect, that sounds a bit  crass, don't it?).


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## Delta-T (Sep 25, 2009)

Ghettontheball said:
			
		

> Delta-T said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



I think you may be on to something here Pook. MSG needs to seal up the house good and tight. Pump a couple hundred pounds of air into it and then we'll see some real energy savings.

<awaits MSG statistical report from pressurized house experiment using XXV, with OAK of course, otherwise you lose all that pressure>


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## Clay H (Sep 25, 2009)

Ghettontheball said:
			
		

> Delta-T said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Mr Pot, meet Mr. Kettle... LOL


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## Delta-T (Sep 25, 2009)

Clay H said:
			
		

> Ghettontheball said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



<raises hand quickly> Can I be Mr. Pot??


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## MountainStoveGuy (Sep 25, 2009)

Clay H said:
			
		

> I think the simple solutions is you replaced a large stove with a smaller one...40% smaller.



Clay, not sure if there is any solution, i dont like the type of heat a pellet stove produces thats all. My Hearthstone Heritage which is the same rating did great in this house. I upgraded to the Mansfield for more capacity not more heat.  However, as i sit here on my day off my living room is nice and warm. The stove has not shut down once.


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## MountainStoveGuy (Sep 25, 2009)

Ghettontheball said:
			
		

> MountainStoveGuy said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Nope. I dont expect the pellet to shut down either.


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## MountainStoveGuy (Sep 25, 2009)

Heater is on north end. The wood stove would have blown me out by now if i had kept it going all day. Its 52* right now. On a day like today, i would have started it in the morning and let it go out, then had a evening fire to keep the house warm until morning. With the pellet stove, it just never seems as warm. I have burned through most of a full hopper so far today, and its only 52*.

The traeger is chewing up some nice cherry pellets too..


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## MountainStoveGuy (Sep 25, 2009)

north end was not a problem with the wood stove. Im not going to put a pellet stove in the bathroom on the south end lol. The north end is my living room.


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## DeePee (Sep 25, 2009)

Ghettontheball said:
			
		

> energy savings result foremost from how the house feels & not the actual temp



The 'genius' part was unnecessary, however you are otherwise pulling on the right thread.


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## lessoil (Sep 26, 2009)

MountainStoveGuy said:
			
		

> tinkabranc said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Had a few questions:
1) Total sq ft of your house is around 1250, correct?
2) Have you ever heated with oil 100% for one Winter? If so, how many gallons did you burn?
3) Should you have over-sized your pellet stove a bit??

I guess I am curious how well your house is insulated.
Also wonder how the vaulted ceilings come into play.

Our Cape is 24X32 and we went with the P61. We used 900 gal/yr before the pellet stove install last Fall. (Heat/Hot Water)
Our oil usage went from 900 to 500 gal the first year. Used between 3.5 and 4 tons.
We did have the living room/kitchen area at 78 to keep the upstairs at 64. (When it was -25) Our insulation is not where it should be.
****We found that the heat circulated the best with all fans off except for the one in the stove****

Thanks for listening and I am interested in hearing more about your set up!
Going to be 28 here tonight. Stove is ready to go!


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## MountainStoveGuy (Sep 26, 2009)

My house is in the neighborhood of 1700 square feet. The stove is oversized per my caclulation/experence based on previous appliances.
We do not have fuel oil here in colorado.

House is very well insulated, 2x6 walls, blown celulose insulation, tyvek wrapped etc. I built my house about 6 years ago. Vaulted ceilings always come into play for sure. Radiant heat felt allot nicer in my home, and did a better job of heating then the pure convection stove i have now. 

My only other heat source is electricity, which currently is around the $30/million btu range.


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## lessoil (Sep 26, 2009)

Thanks!
We have 1536 sq ft (First and second floor)
2x4 walls and tar paper between the plywood and wood clapboards.
House was built in 1968.

Your house should heat with 4 candles!!

I spent 1 year at Lowry AFB '75-'76 in Denver.
I really liked Colorado!
Our oldest lives in Denver now.

Have a warm Winter and Good Luck with the stove!


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## MountainStoveGuy (Sep 26, 2009)

My house would heat with candles if i didn't live on the dark side of the moon. 

where abouts is your oldest?


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## amick780 (Sep 26, 2009)

Man this thread has become a runaway freight train....we all just want him to like is stove.


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## stoveguy2esw (Sep 26, 2009)

Ghettontheball said:
			
		

> i wrote what i thought were good logical arguments for the pstove vs HOLTON but the objective bottom line is how many btu were delivered by either & the weight/cost. & no pstove oak definitely changes the contest ithinx.
> get a propeller hat & run it in reverse, maybe?



some arguements were pretty good ones pook. bear in mind im not competing but trying to help , in this case figuring out why such an excellent stove as MSG has installed isnt getting the job done. keep tossin the theories out there buddy, makes me think. even when we disagree im still thinking about how you arrived at your theory,   ask one of my techs if you ever call in to my shop what my favorite aphorism is  "the path to true intelligence is knowing that you dont know" im an "info whore" i'll take it from anyone. think on this, the reason for listening to a theory even if you disagree with it , you research why you disagree to rebutt right? so in researching , you learn , sometimes you might even find yourself wrong, i have. i have even been heard or seen admitting that i was wrong. its a win either way, because i will have learned somthing.  i might pick on you sometimes, but dont think i do not respect you, you are wierd , but not dumb by any means.


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## imacman (Sep 26, 2009)

stoveguy2esw said:
			
		

> ..........you are wierd , but not dumb by any means.


   :lol:


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## Havlat24 (Sep 26, 2009)

I think anyone comparing and expecting the heat from a pellet stove to be close or better than that of a wood stove is in for a shock.  

No way, no how.


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## yknotcarpentry (Sep 26, 2009)

In retrospect, where I agree the heat from the wood stove is more intense I have found that the heat from my pellet stove is more efficient. I had a woodstove in the same room where the pellet stove sits today. When we used to burn wood, that room would get up to 90 plus degrees, and with a fan blowing out of that room it would heat some of the house. I was surprised that with the pellet stove the same room would never really reach more than 80* but the rest of the house was warmer even in rooms that the wood stove never reached???? my Oil consumption was lower with pellets too   ie 2yrs ago  3 cords wood 1400g oil, last year 4 ton pellets 500 gal oil


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## Havlat24 (Sep 26, 2009)

I've never had a wood stove replaced for a pellet stove..... different houses had different appliances....   I cannot compare like some can I suppose.


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## tonyd (Sep 26, 2009)

What sold me on the pellet stove was, a friend of mine that has enough hard wood cut and stacked for 10 yrs and burned his stove 24/7 bought a pellet stove and he said it was the best thing he has ever done.And he is very frugal with his money.


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## Vermont-XXV (Sep 26, 2009)

Harman "strongly recommends" an OAK and you don't have one.

35 Degrees this am in central Vermont.  I couldn't stand within 3 feet of the front of my XXV and stay there.  The sides of the stove were too hot to press hard on.  I think the radiant heat works fine and the blown heat (using energex) is very hot.

Maybe the OAK really does help.   Do you recommend it to your customers?

best wishes for hot tushies!!

clifford

FYI  Humidity in house was 50 - 60 percent


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## amick780 (Sep 26, 2009)

I agree with Clifford (Vermont XXV) was thinking about this last night. My stove like his is very hot on the sides, and if I put my hands near the convection blower, its extremely hot. Maybe there is some validity to an OAK.


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## jtakeman (Sep 26, 2009)

MSG I feel you pain! I had a 70K BTU wood stove. Doing all the math and asking several stove and HVAC guys. They recommended a 45K to 50K BTU pellets stove. 

1st I replaced it with a 44K BTU Quad. House never felt as warm as the wood stove but heat was more consistent(and I didn't have to load the wood in early am.) We ran that stove for 9 years or so and only suffered on the extremely cold days. I would have to fire up the wood stove to help out the pellet stove.

My second stove was a 55K BTU Breckwell bigE and it just didn't perform the same as the Quad. We felt cold even on the 30º days. We only ran this stove for 1 1/2 years and could not stand it.( still trying to sell this one)

My 3rd stove(present) is a 60K BTU Enviro Omega. This stove was the ticket. We feel very close to the warmth as the old smoke bellowing wood burner. And I am using less pellets with this stove too. Due to a better designed heat exchanger. More heat in house-less heat out the flue.

My suggestions would be to add an OAK and reduce the size of your flue to 3 inches if you can or 4 inches max!(6 inches is to large for high altitude). If no change? Then you might want to get some more BTU's from a larger stove! Slide a P68 or an Enviro Omega in there! Bet you'd feel warmer then. 

just my 2
jay


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## iceman (Sep 26, 2009)

yknotcarpentry said:
			
		

> In retrospect, where I agree the heat from the wood stove is more intense I have found that the heat from my pellet stove is more efficient. I had a woodstove in the same room where the pellet stove sits today. When we used to burn wood, that room would get up to 90 plus degrees, and with a fan blowing out of that room it would heat some of the house. I was surprised that with the pellet stove the same room would never really reach more than 80* but the rest of the house was warmer even in rooms that the wood stove never reached???? my Oil consumption was lower with pellets too   ie 2yrs ago  3 cords wood 1400g oil, last year 4 ton pellets 500 gal oil



many pellet companies claim 1 ton of pellets is 1.24-1.5 cords of wood
if you go high that would be 6+ cords of wood which would cut more out of the 1400g....    
also it would depend on what kind of wood stove you were running...... an old smoke dragon or a new epa


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## iceman (Sep 26, 2009)

people, people   check out my sig... I burn it all!
I can tell you this...

there are ways to "tweak"  pellet stoves, furnaces, wood stoves, etc to perform better... every situation is different
it all comes down to personal preference...but 
if you wanna save the environment and are more eco then burn pellets or wood (with newer stoves)
if you wanna save money then use your furnace.... todays "new" furnaces are gonna get better eff than most if not all stoves (aka space heaters)
I have owned a total of 3 pellet stoves.....  i am partial to harman... but none of them "throw" heat like my woodstove.. and its an insert so imagine if it was freestanding!

HOWEVER, NONE OF THEM HEAT MY WHOLE HOUSE LIKE MY FURNACE!........  with the woodstove you have the famous "curve" of heat, with the pellet stove you have constant heat but ask yourself how long does it take for heat coming outta a pellet stove at say 80 degrees to heat 2000 sq ft?  vs 175 coming off a wood stove???(these are just estimates)
and as always... the insulation , the combustion air  all have something to with our systems......and how they perform
many people including me want/wanted to heat with pellets so badly that we lost in math except the eco friendly... all the money we spent on stoves could've been offset by upgrading our furnaces(some of us)...  for me my furnace runs between 85-88 percent ......   factor that vs price of pellets 250-300 a ton its cheaper to pay for oil.... to those that run 2 stoves... its cheaper to buy oil/lp/nat gas  (for most)..... I wanted to save money , so i went with wood...  it cost me about 2-400 a year with wood... i still get 1 or 2 tons as i have a pellets stove where electric heat is so you know pellets are cheaper...  but if i dont have company it goes no higher than 2.5 with the feed at 3.5  (feed rate depends on the pellets you are using... you can go slower if you are using a good hardwood pellet(2.5-3)  but softwood i wouldnt rec less than 3 sometimes 4-4.5 (but rarely)

MSG, you can  try all the things possible to try , but if you are used to the "heat" coming off of a stove.... you will never find that intensity off of a pellet stove... simply because of the "curve"  ... check that the only way to come close is to turn it all the way up!... also i believe your stove is made outta cast right?
you could try a p61/8 those are straight steel... you might have better luck


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## jtakeman (Sep 30, 2009)

MSG,

Just curious on how your making out with the stove?

Hopefully its keeping you warm enough too!

jay


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## buildingmaint (Oct 1, 2009)

jtakeman said:
			
		

> MSG I feel you pain! I had a 70K BTU wood stove. Doing all the math and asking several stove and HVAC guys. They recommended a 45K to 50K BTU pellets stove.
> 
> 1st I replaced it with a 44K BTU Quad. House never felt as warm as the wood stove but heat was more consistent(and I didn't have to load the wood in early am.) We ran that stove for 9 years or so and only suffered on the extremely cold days. I would have to fire up the wood stove to help out the pellet stove.
> 
> ...



How come you can't sell your BIG E , I'm sure some one would buy it for the right price .


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## jtakeman (Oct 1, 2009)

buildingmaint said:
			
		

> jtakeman said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Hey buildingmaint, How have you been?

Actually It is technically sold(under deposit). I guess it just needed to get a little colder. I had it in the locals for 1k for the first week, Dropped it to $950 and took the 1st $850 offer! Now the phone has been ringing off the wall. Stove is very close to new. I only ran about 3 tons thru it. It will be a good stove for him. He has much less (1600sgft) to heat and a tight house with new windows.

I just needed the right person to come along. I guess I'm a little inpatient.

I'm happy now(check my sig) And I told him all about this forum. Plus all the great people we have hear. So he knows were to get support.

Take care.
jay


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## smoke show (Oct 1, 2009)

big e @ the box stores around here sell for $950 brand new(on sale)


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## jtakeman (Oct 1, 2009)

no pane said:
			
		

> big e @ the box stores around here sell for $950 brand new(on sale)



Yeh yeh yeh, There $1600 to $1800 here new, Refurbs on ebay for $1250 or so. The guy that put a deposit on it was all over looking at the bigE's. Cheapest he found in Mass was $1595.00. He was going to buy that one but found mine just in time! He was happy to get it for $850. 

All that matters is he bought it and is happy. Kind of like selling a car these days you get what you can get!

jay


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## smoke show (Oct 1, 2009)

http://www.fleetfarm.com/mff/browse...0000000003067&categoryId=00249&navAction=jump


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## jtakeman (Oct 1, 2009)

no pane said:
			
		

> http://www.fleetfarm.com/mff/browse/productDetail.jsp?productId=0000000003067&categoryId=00249&navAction=jump



Plus 189.95 to ship or drive to Wisconsin. Don't think thats worth it!

Keep trying. Your in a totally different area and Market. Your pellets are going for $150 to $200/ ton. Ours is $100 plus more.

Apples and Oranges man!

jay


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## smoke show (Oct 1, 2009)

didn't mean to offend
please accept apology


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## jtakeman (Oct 1, 2009)

no pane said:
			
		

> didn't mean to offend
> please accept apology



No need to apologize, No offence taken. Just explaining the fact's. Everything seems to be over priced here!

Not mad. Maybe just a little jealous! But you could send me some cheap prices. I only wish I could get things as cheap as you!

jay


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## Jabberwocky (Oct 2, 2009)

MountainStoveGuy said:
			
		

> LOL wern. Do you know how wood stoves are rated? They are rated in MAX btu.s They put out zero when cold, and max when fully loaded burning hot as possible. Take a 12 hour cycle, average that out and tell me what you get. My math tells me that is 50/hour average.
> 1=0
> 2=40
> 3=70
> ...



I need to see more trigonometric equations and some heavy mutlivariant calculus showing how I'm losing money burning pellets .. then I know we'll have a hum dinger.


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## stoveguy2esw (Oct 2, 2009)

honestly , i burned a 2000 ft rated cat stove for over a decade in my house, i needed it back when we bought th eplace , little insulation , single pane windows and leaks galore, i swittched to pellet cause my spouse couldnt build a fire in a woodstove with a gallon of napalm and a gun to her head, so i bit the bullet and went to pellet , it does a great job but then im not having to push the stove at all in my house now , (added insulation , working on window replacements currently. i like the pellet stove for its versatility i can control the heat output easier than i could with the woodstove. 

i still stick to my theory about altitude affecting realized heat output differential between radient and convective heat sources though.


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## slls (Oct 2, 2009)

stoveguy2esw said:
			
		

> honestly , i burned a 2000 ft rated cat stove for over a decade in my house, i needed it back when we bought th eplace , little insulation , single pane windows and leaks galore, i swittched to pellet cause my spouse couldnt build a fire in a woodstove with a gallon of napalm and a gun to her head, so i bit the bullet and went to pellet , it does a great job but then im not having to push the stove at all in my house now , (added insulation , working on window replacements currently. i like the pellet stove for its versatility i can control the heat output easier than i could with the woodstove.
> 
> i still stick to my theory about altitude affecting realized heat output differential between radient and convective heat sources though.



With my stove set at 70 F, the room the thermostat is in, never goes over 73 F, very efficient on pellet use.


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## iceman (Oct 3, 2009)

looks like MSG left us for dead!!


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## jtakeman (Oct 3, 2009)

iceman said:
			
		

> looks like MSG left us for dead!!



Yep, He's probably dragged out the XXV and Stuffed in a monster wood burner!


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## Bkins (Oct 13, 2009)

Bump back to the top.

MSG,

Are your impressions the same after buring the Harman for a while?

Bkins


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## rbcss (Oct 14, 2009)

I agree, the wood fire will out do pellets. I went to pellets last year because the wood was getting to much to deal with. cutting and splitting stacking. I burned wood for 24 years but getting up in years it was getting tough to deal with. I had a hearth attack a couple off years backs and my wife shoulders are bothering her the kids are not around anymore burning wood was getting hard to deal with. the pellet stove works well with the low temp is at 15 degrees or higher anything below 15 the stove struggled. i didn't turn my furnace on until later in the season. if the outside temp was 15 or above my house stayed at 70 but if the weather outside got below 15 the temp inside was th the low to mid 60's. 
there is less work and mess with the pellet stove, but this year will be the tell tail if I keep it or not. i would like to keep it but I'm not going to be cold.
I know what to expect with wood but I don't want to make another big investment and tring a coal stove.


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## Vermont-XXV (Oct 23, 2009)

Mountain Stove Guy,

Wondering how you're making out with your pellet stove these days?

I finally got around to measuring the heat output.  The air coming out of the top vent to warm the room is 260 degrees and when I turned the thermostadt down,the blower quieted and the stove heat went to 300 degrees on the top vent in front.  That's with an OAK, temp outside 28 degrees and room humidity 60 percent.  Burning Energex softgwood, out of Canada.

Looks like you have more weather than we do here.  Still peak leaf, not stick season yet.  Hope you're warm.

clifford


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## MountainStoveGuy (Oct 26, 2009)

The stove is doing exactly what it is supposed to do. It has been cold for weeks now and my furnace is still turned off at the breaker. I have changed some of my burning habits and i run the stove 24/7 in stove mode. The bedrooms are a little chilly (to be expected) but overall the stove is doing great. The stove so far has proven very dependable and easy to clean. I have burned about a half a ton so far. I should have updated this earlier, but my hearth.com time has been severely cut by my work load. Sorry to keep ya hanging!
-msg


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