# How much does it cost you run your pellet stove?



## hyfire (Oct 26, 2013)

Has anyone figured out how much it costs to run your pellet stove compared, to nat gas, oil, electricity, or just plain wood.  Does anyone have the current prices of each, maybe I can do the math for you.


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## DoWnAqT (Oct 26, 2013)

I know that an oil tank filled in NH right now is about $800 dollars. Propane is about the same as that. Cord of wood is about $250 and same for a ton of pellets. 

I know the grand total for me and my pf100 running will be about $1800. Thats including one tank of propane for hot water, electricity for running the stove, and the costs of pellets. I'm not figuring the cost of the stove though. Also, If I was to run propane, it would be about $1200 more for the season.


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## hyfire (Oct 26, 2013)

How big of an oil tank are we talking about. Thanks for your input.


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## DoWnAqT (Oct 26, 2013)

hyfire said:


> How big of an oil tank are we talking about. Thanks for your input.



Sorry, a 250 gallon tank. And the average price for oil is about $3.50 a gallon. Propane is about $2.20...

I was actually wrong with my propane numbers. It would cost me $3200 to heat with propane this year.


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## reallyte (Oct 26, 2013)

This all really depends on prices in your area. Each stoves uses different amounts of electricity and ppl use different priced pellets. I advise you price fuels in your area to get an estimate.

My estimate is 1600+$oil at 62deg or max 900$pellets with house at 75deg. Easy choice for me.


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## Mike D (Oct 26, 2013)

Nothing scientific here, but off the cuff if I assumed 125 gallons of oil per month (heat &HW) @ $3.50/gal (both estimates probably low) that would be $2,625 for six months, November through April.  I will probably use ~$800-$1,000 in pellets and $425 for HW for those 6 months.  So I will save around $1,000 - $1,200 hearing with my pellet stove.  One of the best investments I've ever made.


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## mikkeeh (Oct 26, 2013)

Im sure the dollar figures aren't right.....but here's btu's for comparison.

Premium wood pellets 13.6 million Btu/ton $40/ton
Propane 71,000 Btu/gal $0.22/gal
Fuel oil #2 115,000 Btu/gal $0.34/gal
Fuel oil #6 124,000 Btu/gal $0.37/gal
Seasoned firewood 15.3 million Btu/cord $46/cord
Ovendried switchgrass 14.4 million Btu/ton $37/ton
Bituminous coal 26 million Btu/ton $78/ton
Shelled corn @15% MC 314,000 Btu/bushel $0.94/bushel


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## Bioburner (Oct 26, 2013)

Someone found the forest fuels calculator. Numbers adjusted for efficiency. I know propain is around 90k plus btu per gallon.


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## Former Farmer (Oct 26, 2013)

I have propane besides pellet heat.  It is a wash for me this year.  

Pellets were 191 per ton and propane was $1.35 per gallon.  Pellets are $14.21 per MBTU and propane is $15.60 per MBTU, but I use more electricity using pellets versus propane and we also keep the house warmer.


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## Bioburner (Oct 26, 2013)

When did you get your gas? I haven't seen that cheap for along time. Shortage in state because of all the corn needing drying.


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## Former Farmer (Oct 26, 2013)

End of August.  I own my own 1000 gal tank.  Cash price.


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## Bioburner (Oct 26, 2013)

Last fill was 2 years ago for 1.65, 120 gallons. Still have 60 percent of a 250 gallon tank. Used about 5 percent last year to run the pilot light. This is the second season with Harman setup. Might get charged for tank rent if we don't use some more gas next year. If they do we will have them pull the tank and setup the 100lb tanks.


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## bbfarm (Oct 26, 2013)

Where do you get propane Former Farmer?  I am also in northeast WI.  My friend is getting hers for $1.59 a gallon and I thought that was cheap.

We don't have propane we have fuel oil. But if our furnace ever needs replacing we are going propane

This is our third winter with the pellet stove

We buy 1 ton of pellet for $225 and that lasts a month keeping thermostat at 75 degrees

It would be over $400 a month to heat with fuel oil keeping the thermostat on 62 - 65 degrees


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## Mpodesta (Oct 27, 2013)

No fancy calculations or hard numbers.

Got my stove end of February , was paying about 600$ in oil to heat the house for the month.  With the stove in and t-stat set to 75, I spent roughly 150-175$ in pellets and another 125-150$ for oil (hot water) for the month. This was me buying crappy box store pellets (I ended up buying 15 bags of Barefoots at the end of the season to try out a good pellet)

This year I placed a bulk order of 6tons of orfords hardwoods at 239$ ton (269$ was the per ton price originally). With the bulk savings and a pellet that pumps way more btu, I should be saving even way more this year.

House was built in 1870 (grandparents home), no instillation, about 1400 sqF, drafty as all hell


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## Pellet-King (Oct 27, 2013)

$600 a month for oil, hope you have a good job paying 100k!, I burn maybe 3 tons @$600ish and my stove uses 75 watts of juice to run


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## hyfire (Oct 27, 2013)

Wow 6 tons...why did you go with the hardwoods compared to the softs?


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## Mpodesta (Oct 27, 2013)

noooooope! but the misses does  gotta love them nurses

Love my grandparents house, grew up here, but the winter heating was murderous, hence the switch to pellets


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## Mpodesta (Oct 27, 2013)

hyfire said:


> Wow 6 tons...why did you go with the hardwoods compared to the softs?




the 6tons was a shot from the hip, I have nothing to really base my number of pellets needed of off, so I went with what my neighbor was doing as far as quantity (similar house in size and built around the same time). If I have left overs, I have a 25x40 shop space thats dry and has plenty of storage space.

When looking at hard vs soft, My house losses heat very quickly, so having a hardwood that burned abit longer made sense to me?(I could be way off on this, first full year with a stove, so im just doing alot of guessing)


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## Bioburner (Oct 27, 2013)

Relating hard verse soft woods in a pellet stove are not like a log burning stove. Harman has ESP that senses temp. Auger controls feed rate. Not a damper choking a fire to control heat and burn rate.


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## RKS130 (Oct 27, 2013)

hyfire said:


> Has anyone figured out how much it costs to run your pellet stove compared, to nat gas, oil, electricity, or just plain wood.  Does anyone have the current prices of each, maybe I can do the math for you.




I have no idea how much electricity to run my stove is, but on pure fuel costs we did the following calculation.  We used to burn an average of 900 gallons of oil per year for heat.  At an average cost right now of about $3.75/gal that would be $3,375.00 for the season.  My 4 tons of pellets were $209/ton + 3% tax + $65.00 delivery fee.  That comes out to $926.00.  I know I will bring home every stray bag of pellets I see that I want to try, but I am not counting that.  So, I figure I am saving just under $2,500 on fuel this year - our third year with pellets.


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## iceguy4 (Oct 27, 2013)

wow I had a nice post typed...something ate it..   My house is MUCH warmer...Wife is much happier...I'm saving lots of $$$...I guess if you want to know how much you save, you will have to compare via formulas like ...one ton pellets= 125 gal heating oil.  Its my guess most here keep their houses much warmer when burning "cheaper " fuel.   Also, I recommend a heat pump hot water heater for summer use.   The energy guide on my AO Smith 60 gallon says $201.00/ year!


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## iceguy4 (Oct 27, 2013)

RKS130 said:


> I have no idea how much electricity to run my stove is, but on pure fuel costs we did the following calculation.  We used to burn an average of 900 gallons of oil per year for heat.  At an average cost right now of about $3.75/gal that would be $3,375.00 for the season.  My 4 tons of pellets were $209/ton + 3% tax + $65.00 delivery fee.  That comes out to $926.00.  I know I will bring home every stray bag of pellets I see that I want to try, but I am not counting that.  So, I figure I am saving just under $2,500 on fuel this year - our third year with pellets.


   Why do you pay tax?


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## Vinelife (Oct 27, 2013)

Propane around here is like 2.5 a gallon.. much better to burn pellets...


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## Former Farmer (Oct 27, 2013)

bbfarm, check your inbox.


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## bbfarm (Oct 27, 2013)

Inbox checked. 

Interesting. Our farmhouse was built in 1870 also but it is insulated well


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## RKS130 (Oct 28, 2013)

iceguy4 said:


> Why do you pay tax?



The short answer is because the ruling class says we have to.  Here in New York State it is up to each county to decide if it wants to tax home heating fuel.  I live in Westchester County where they have decided to take another 3% out of our pocket on heating cost.  By the way, they charge the full 7.25% sales tax on the delivery fee.  I forgot to add tax to the cost of oil, so my savings are actuallyt a bit greater than I described.


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## briansol (Oct 28, 2013)

my stove draws 45 watts for fans, and another 50 for aurger turn running on medium.  so it probably averages out to 65 ish watts average draw.  Ignitor of course uses 500+ but its only for a few min.


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## Tedinski (Oct 28, 2013)

I figured the cost of the electricity on my unit right now (It will go up as it cycles more & more, due to cold weather).
I'm spending approximately 30 cents per DAY on electricity for the pellet stove.  That's less than 10 dollars a month!    If the unit is running 24/7, it should be about 18 dollars per month.
Not bad!


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## Tedinski (Oct 28, 2013)

P.S.     Those numbers are for running the unit on HIGH.   50% cycle time right now in not-too-cold weather, and 100% "on" sometime in maybe February.
Fact is, I've never run the unit on high yet!  I don't know how much power the CAB50 uses on low, but I have a meter coming to give me exact numbers.


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## Mpodesta (Oct 28, 2013)

Tedinski said:


> P.S.     Those numbers are for running the unit on HIGH.   50% cycle time right now in not-too-cold weather, and 100% "on" sometime in maybe February.
> Fact is, I've never run the unit on high yet!  I don't know how much power the CAB50 uses on low, but I have a meter coming to give me exact numbers.



Let us know how it turns out. I'd be interested in knowing seeing as we have the same unit (other than aesthetics )


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## Tedinski (Oct 28, 2013)

Mpodesta said:


> Let us know how it turns out. I'd be interested in knowing seeing as we have the same unit (other than aesthetics )


 
I'll post the wattage used on low, medium & high  along with kWh expected per month, then the total cost for each
Now that the weather is getting cold I'm sure my stove will cycle a bit more.   So far, I've only run it on low, and it heats the house nicely.  I figure the cycle time is about 50/50 on low.


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## Mpodesta (Oct 28, 2013)

Tedinski said:


> I'll post the wattage used on low, medium & high  along with kWh expected per month, then the total cost for each
> Now that the weather is getting cold I'm sure my stove will cycle a bit more.   So far, I've only run it on low, and it heats the house nicely.  I figure the cycle time is about 50/50 on low.




I'm on high (to help move the heat into the kitchen and up stairs) and on about  75% of the time (T-stat set to 72 right now). My heat loss is attributed to major drafts that im tackling 1 by 1


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## Tedinski (Oct 28, 2013)

Mpodesta said:


> I'm on high (to help move the heat into the kitchen and up stairs) and on about  75% of the time (T-stat set to 72 right now). My heat loss is attributed to major drafts that im tackling 1 by 1


 I think cutting drafts is the #1 way to cut heating costs!   Insulation helps a lot  BUT   If you add up all those leaky doors, windows, the fireplace flue that doesn't close all the way with the damper, the old basement coal chute that was never sealed up properly...    it all could add up to a 3 foot square hole in the house!
I have a friend that had a energy study done to his house.  They put a fan in the door, seal everything up & check the pressure inside vs. outside the house.  they can tell you exactly how bit a "hole" everything adds up to!   Kinda neat.


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## BBennett (Oct 29, 2013)

thermostat stays 71 deg, avg about 4-5 ton a year. live in a 1800 sq ft cape. good insulation except the floors above the basement. so roughly $1100 a yr. (averaging $220 a ton ) 
haven't filled the oil tank since installing the pellet stoves. have used about 1/3 rd of a tank of oil in 3 yrs. the best year I had heating with oil Forced air was over 2K.


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## whit (Oct 29, 2013)

My impression, from comparing the winter before I got the pellet stove to the one after, is that it's costing $10-15 a month in electricity, @ 17 cents/kwh.


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## Tedinski (Oct 29, 2013)

whit said:


> My impression, from comparing the winter before I got the pellet stove to the one after, is that it's costing $10-15 a month in electricity, @ 17 cents/kwh.


 You pay 17 cents a kWh?    Youch!
I looked mine up... 8.05 cents per kWh with Penelec.


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## hyfire (Oct 29, 2013)

If you  buy pellets at $5 a bag with 8400 bth rating , it works out to 5 cent kwh, equivalent in heat if you had electric heat.


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