Currently burning pellets only saves $25-$30 per month in the NE - Why bother?

[warmncozy]

I love reading all these comments. They're exactly what I tell people when they ask me why I have a pellet stove.

One that I'd like to add is that it's warmest where we spend most of our time. We have the stove in our 20' x 22' family room that was tough to heat without the other rooms getting really warm. Now it's the warmest room with the others being cooler. It also saves us quite a bit in the fall and spring when you just want to take the chill out without heating the whole house.

 

[mike56]

My house has electric heat and a un-vented propane fireplace, i used the propane fireplace last year to heat the house, main living area average was 70, other rooms were 65 to 68 used only 10 gallons of propane per week but propane is such a dirty fuel and unvented propane gas is unhealthy, this year installed a pellet stove average pellets used so far 1 bag every 3 to 5 days only running stove at night and morning for a couple of hours depending on outside temp but inside temp is now 74 to 78 main areas, other rooms 70 to 72 I'll take the warmer temps any day, there is nothing like a pellet stove for giving safe comfortable heat and yes i am saving money and not giving it to people outside of this country, I second the statement everyone loves a fire.

 

[ducker]

I love reading all these comments. They're exactly what I tell people when they ask me why I have a pellet stove.

One that I'd like to add is that it's warmest where we spend most of our time. We have the stove in our 20' x 22' family room that was tough to heat without the other rooms getting really warm. Now it's the warmest room with the others being cooler. It also saves us quite a bit in the fall and spring when you just want to take the chill out without heating the whole house.

Exactly Nights have been dipping down in to the 30's and we haven't turned our furnace on once yet.

Although I am burning pellets at a slow rate, I would rather keep house comfortable and not have to kick on the furnace.

We have a single heat zone; so we usually keep our thermostat set to around 64 or so. With the Pellet stove we can make the family room where we spend most of our time quite comfortable (70+), and never have the furnace kick on.

I know that the difference between pellets and gas is small, but I feel I can control my comfort level and fuel consumption better with the pellet stove.

 

[jtakeman]

Well seeing I have an all electric shack and the back just can't put up with wood anymore? I am a happy pellet burning fool! But I can guarantee I save more then $30 bucks a month! Putting my water heater on a timer saved that much!

 

[Pellet-King]

Jay, let's talk about the timer....PM me

 

[magsf11]

the first full year i had the stove i compared what peoples gas bills were for the same size house to what i paid for the pellets to see if I was ahead. I am still on budget billing with the gas co, I never took myself off of it and I like the set price every month. What is nice is when the 1 or 2 bills that come in the dead of winter that say $0 when others are paying $300-400 for a home that is 68 deg and mine is at 74 deg. I paid 580 fro 3 ton this yr and it come out to be around 94 per month. so I believe that I am saving a good penny by burning the pellets, no more cold house or wife.

 

[cac4]

btu for btu, there isn't a huge difference...but that doesn't reflect reality in many cases. Central heat is inefficient at delivering heat to the living spaces...there are losses there that aren't accounted for in most of those calculators.

You have to look at your oil consumption before pellet stoves, and compare to your actual pellet consumption after.

I used to burn about 600 gallons per year of oil. by BTU calculation, that should equate to 4.5 tons of pellets. I've yet to burn more than 3 tons of pellets in a season.
The reason is that the pellet stove is 100% efficient in terms of delivery. ALL of the useable heat is delivered into my living room. (with my oil furnace, lots is lost to the basement, through leaky ducts, radiation losses, and so forth, as welling as heating areas where I am not).
So I'm using less btu's...by a LOT.

works out to about $1000/year, for me.

 

[Shortstuff]

To the original poster, I can agree with your numbers and minimal savings and you have to do what really works for you.

Like everyone else, I am saving some money (fuel oil vs. pellets) but there are quite a few other things I look at too. First, I don't have to rely on fuel oil delivery. I have a 250 gallon tank and used to have to get about 200 gallons every 5 weeks during the winter months so basically I was always at the mercy of the oil companies, never 100% sure that they would deliver and not knowing what the price would be on delivery day. I've got 4 tons of pellets already bought and paid for in my cellar which I already know will be more than enough than the nastiest winter mother nature can throw at me, so one less thing to worry about - fuel for heat.

I'm not 100% sure where my oil is coming from but I'm pretty sure it's the middle east. I do not want to spend one more penny of my hard earned money on middle east oil (enough said). And more important, I would MUCH rather spend my money on pellets made right here in North America.

My carbon footprint has decreased considerably and anything that helps me do that, is a good thing.

I clean my stove every 3 days and it only takes me about 10 minutes. Once every 2 weeks I dig a little deeper and it takes me 15.

My oil burner provided heat via Burnham cast iron baseboard (which currently costs almost $30.00 per foot) so I know that it always provided good and consistent heat. But I have to say that we actually like the heat that the pellet stove provides even better, not to mention the subtle sounds, smell and visual effect of a fire burning in the house.

I no longer have to pay a supposed oil service technician to come out once a year at a cost of $260.00 to screw me with his inadequate and feeble attempts at annual burner maintenance (that's another story).

It also feels good to know that if my pellet stove craps out, I still have a backup heat source.

It'll be 2 or 3 more years before my pellet stove pays for itself, but we are enjoying every minute of it.

 

[tinkabranc]

In the last couple of years, based on those calculators my monetary savings has become quite a bit slimmer
as my furnace is NG. However, if that was my ONLY reason for burning pellets my stoves would be plant
stands right about now.

 

[captkirk5858]

This Thread Grew some Legs...

I am Weaning myself off Kero.... I am Cutting My LP bill down by the 100's each winter month. (125 a quater to 300 a month) suplemental heat

the WIFE bought 125 gal of kero for $388 Hope its the last.

I have 4 1/2 ton put away. 2 more to go

I think it will save me ALOT more than 40 a month...

 

[NotMyJob]

We like burning pellets and I don't mind cleaning the stove, I really hate cleaning and servicing the oil burner. nasty job... So even if we break even, were still gonna burn pellets. Besides everyone likes standing or sitting near the stove!

 

[hoverfly]

Food for thought..........Think of this,The dollar is projected to fall another 20 percent in the next few years, Libya wold like to see oil around the 100 dollar mark to compensate for the cost of food and lost value of the dollar. Oil has been above the 80 dollar per barrel mark and as high as 84 today. If pellets manufactures and sellers don't get to greedy and hold around 250 dollars a ton more people Will buy more pellets. However if pellets stay in step with the rise of oil, people will stay with oil.

 

[Nicholas440]

I would say that you do what you feel is best for your situation. If you feel its not worth the $20 a month or so, then hang on to your pellets, until you think its more economical to use them, they wont spoil or go bad if you have them covered.

I have natural gas, and its very cheap here, but if I were using oil, and the oil was cheap I would cover my pellets and save them for when oil goes up and we all know it will go up again.

 

[treehackers]

I would say that you do what you feel is best for your situation. If you feel its not worth the $20 a month or so, then hang on to your pellets, until you think its more economical to use them, they wont spoil or go bad if you have them covered.

I have natural gas, and its very cheap here, but if I were using oil, and the oil was cheap I would cover my pellets and save them for when oil goes up and we all know it will go up again.

Well, oil in general sucks but it's not TOO bad now - now. The oil tank is full but we all know what can happen to the price of a barrel so I think I will hoard my 5 1/2 tons of pellets in the garage. 5 1/2 tons is exactly what I go through a year. I still need oil for hot water until I figure out a way to run it differently. Gas is not available here. I don't like propane, which is also expensive here. The only other thing left is electric which here in MA are some of the highest rates in the country.

Maybe I'll install one of these....

 

[treehackers]

I would say that you do what you feel is best for your situation. If you feel its not worth the $20 a month or so, then hang on to your pellets, until you think its more economical to use them, they wont spoil or go bad if you have them covered.

I have natural gas, and its very cheap here, but if I were using oil, and the oil was cheap I would cover my pellets and save them for when oil goes up and we all know it will go up again.

Well, oil in general sucks but it's not TOO bad now - now. The oil tank is full but we all know what can happen to the price of a barrel so I think I will hoard my 5 1/2 tons of pellets in the garage. 5 1/2 tons is exactly what I go through a year. I still need oil for hot water until I figure out a way to run it differently. Gas is not available here. I don't like propane, which is also expensive here. The only other thing left is electric which here in MA are some of the highest rates in the country.

I also just installed a wood insert in my fireplace last year - that's been getting a LOT of use.

Maybe I'll install one of these....

 

[curtthegreat]

As far as it being work, I don't consider it that at all. It's just part of winter living, like moving snow or scraing windows. I like the fact that there is something to do in the winter besides sit on my rear and stare at nothing (tv). All summer I am outdoors past dark doing something, so this helps kill time in the winter. Besides that, if I sit too long the wife will find one of her chores for me to do, so when I'm cleaning the stove, she thinks I busy and responsible... What a great tool.

 

[mark d fellows]

Oil comes from people from the middle east who want to kill us, or at least destroy our civilization.

Pellets come from sawdust from trees in the USA, at plants making them in the USA, by USA owned companies.

Plus, the stove makes the house nicer and warmer than the heat pump.

 

[rowerwet]

Oil comes from people from the middle east who want to kill us, or at least destroy our civilization.

Pellets come from sawdust from trees in the USA, at plants making them in the USA, by USA owned companies.

Plus, the stove makes the house nicer and warmer than the heat pump.

most "foreign" oil comes from Canada and Mexico in the US.

the biggest reason I like pellets is my wife is happy to know the fire is not in the house, a happy wife is great!
I prefer to know my heat money is keeping people closer to home employed, ME and NH, though two tons are from NC.
I also like knowing my heat is here and paid for.
I can't imagine electric heat, we get quite a few power outages here.

 

[trogers]

t's always interesting to see references to the fact (and, I realize that it is fact) that most oil consumed in the USA is provided by Canada and Mexico to a lesser extent. I always ask the follow-up question..."So, do you know that the oil in your tank comes from the USA or Canada?". I was an oil customer for years and asked countless dealers if they could guarantee that their product was in fact from North America...they could not. The way I look at it is that I know without a doubt that my pellets come from either the USA or Canada (Canada this year) so I don't have to worry about buying from a country that doesn't like us, which is a personal issue for me that factors into my buying decisions.

Here are MY reasons for heating with pellets:

1. North American product
2. Minimal carbon footprint compared to fossil fuel
3. Much cheaper than LP, which is what my back up system is.
4. My entire season's fuel is in my garage! There is just something comforting about that.
5. My wife LOVES the heat it provides... which makes my life much happier. Wait, this point should be moved to #1!

Get off the roller-coaster...heat with pellets!

 

[yknotcarpentry]

Well, that is about $2,400 over 5 years, all things staying stable. the only thing is, it won't. How many times have we hit the panic button in the past few years every time big oil starts putting on the squeeze. I just love watching the market, making my purchases when I think it is the best time, and then just thumb my nose at them when they start jerking our oil chain. If I could, I would buy more pellets and put them in the upper level of my 24x 32 garage where it is very dry, even hot during the summer. Just can't imagine hauling them up and down the stairs. I really like my stove. Keeps me warm and doesn't give me any lip! I used to heat with wood, but that isn't practical for me now. Good part is that my son has my old stove and he is heating his house with it. Gave him my chain saw also!
I, too, don't have much belief in global warming, but having lived in LA, I am very familiar with smog. Here in the northeast, we get a lot of acid rain. Take a ride in a helicopter and see what it has done to the forest. Both are byproducts of fossil fuels. So yes, I'll burn pellets. It is better for me and better for all that is around me.

first I would like to respond to the post by saying I like the fact it is supporting local businesses (or more defined anyway) and the heat is much better.

Now, to the quoted post that claims not to believe in global warming as a few other posts in this thread claim as well....your next statement refers to your helicopter rides and you see how our forests are being damaged due to smog and acid rain caused by burning fossil fuels.....you claim both of these effect our forrests but at the same time will have no impact on the climate???? I am not sure I understand this theory.. please enlighten me..

 

[Amaralluis]

While I dont believe in " Global Warming" or climate change ( mlimate is alway in flux), I want to be a bit more envromentaly green. I also would rather my heating CASH go into a Americans hands than some oil country that hates us ! Sometimes the best option isnt the easiest.

Canada doesnt hate the US?

 

[slls]

True, most all the gasoline and HHO in NE comes out of St John NB, Irving refinery.

 

[jtakeman]

I had no problem buying a stove built in Canada or my pickup for that matter. I really enjoy the pellets I get that are made in Canada. ;-)

 

[JBlank912]

I burned over 1000gallons of oil my last year on all oil. When my oil went to over $4.00 a galon, I got the pellet stove. ROI-broke even within 2 years including the cost of pellets, stove and install. Plus I set the Pellet room to 74deg when we're in it. Nice and toasty. the room has a cathedral ceiling and with the oil set it to 68. Last year I used under 400gallons for the year (I use oil for my hot water) and 3-4 tons of pellets. I dropped my oil contract now since I don't rely as much on the furnace I can live with a day or 2 of down time. I couldn't use a wood stove because of my wife's asthma. The pellets have no affect on her. besides, the thought of chopping and hauling wood vs. a bag of pellets, I'll keep the pellets.