general overall attitude towards pellet stoves these days

[becasunshine]

,
Pellet stoves will never be mainstream because there is too much daily feeding and maintenance involved. Sure we few owners don`t mind but we are a minority .
Also pellet stoves are space heaters and they suck at heating a house evenly.
There`s nothing easier and safer ,or more efficient , comfortable , and quiet than a central heating system.

After using a Napoleon pellet stove every season since installation in September 2008, and finally getting this 1959 brick/block bungalow sealed up adequately and with enough attic insulation, I can tell you for certain that the pellet stove heats this house a lot more quietly - and, in some particular ways, a lot more evenly- than my modern natural gas furnace.

Our pellet stove is located in a corner at one end of the house. The gas furnace is in a corner at the other end. The HVAC thermostat is in between the two, in a hallway in the center of the house.

The kitchen and laundry room are at the opposite end of the house from the pellet stove. (The furnace is in the laundry room.) The laundry room has no HVAC vent in it. Because the laundry room has no vent, and because the laundry room and the kitchen are at the far end of the house from the pellet stove, that area can be a bit chilly when outside temps are in the teens or single digits. The pilot light in the gas water heater throws off enough heat to keep the laundry room at a reasonable temperature, however, and when the water heater fires up, there's that many more BTU's in the laundry room. I solve the kitchen temperature gradient issue by cooking dinner.

As far as noise, we are in a bit of a different situation than most because our pellet stove is not in the room in which we sit to watch t.v.- it's one room over. Convection currents carry the heat into our living room and the bedrooms easily enough, and we aren't trying to hear the t.v. over the stove's convection blower.

I am so accustomed to the nuanced white noise of the stove's fan in the other room, that low, quiet hum, and the ever so slightly present tinkle of pellets falling into the pot, that on the rare occasion when the gas furnace does fire up, it sounds like a jumbo jet landing in the house. If it fires up overnight or early in the morning it wakes us up.

As far as even heating, we are lucky in that regard. Air sealing this old house as best we could and adding insulation in the attic really helped us hang onto the BTU's produced by the stove. I won't argue at you for a minute about the fact that the kitchen end of the house is cooler than the stove end of the house- but I will point out that the stove is producing heat and dumping BTU's into the house continuously. The furnace fires up, blasts heat into the house, and then waits for the house to cool down, the thermostat to drop, and does it all over again. And we have the thermostat programmed to fire the furnace at a one degree lag- so it's not like we are letting the house cool down by two or three degrees before the furnace fires up again.

After 5.5 years with the pellet stove, I find that I notice the "blast heat/cool down" disparity in heating evenness more than I notice the temperature falling off in the kitchen.

But that's just me- YMMV.

P.S. As far as safety, I wouldn't necessarily rank my gas furnace as safer than my pellet stove. We keep both cleaned and in good repair. If my pellet stove goes bonkers, I can threaten it with the fire extinguisher. I can empty the fire extinguisher onto/into it. I can throw the fire extinguisher at the pellet stove, throw the cat out of the window, and head for the nearest doorway with The Hubs and the 80 lbs. dog in tow.

If the gas furnace, fed by the gas lines over which I have no control, goes bonkers, I doubt I'll even know what happened. Threatening the gas furnace with a fire extinguisher sounds like a quick study in futility to me...

 

[P38X2]

Well seeing you have more than enough customers, and as long as you're not burnt out on the trade so bad you need a change, I can offer the first 2 ideas that came to mind.

1) Hire a qualified assistant. Yes, I realize it's probably hard to find the right one, and one that's willing to work on a seasonal basis (I assume your workload lightens up significantly in the off season and pellet stoves is the only thing you do)

2) Learn to say "NO, I'm sorry." and tighten your radius of service. I know this is probably difficult as well, as you sell stoves. Plan to always service what you sell, and start using more discretion when taking service calls on stoves not sold by you. You bet it'll suck for the customer to hear you say, "sorry, I can't", but just briefly explain your situation and leave it at that. What else can you do?

Obviously there's more aspects than that, and you don't want someone opening up down the street with a bunch of vans with "Pellet Squad" plastered on the side.

Assuming you aren't on the cusp of financial disaster, is it really necessary?.....or worth it? To me, time with my daughter is THE most important thing. If my job was interfering with my life, and ultimately her life, I'd find a new job, downsize the house, cut spending wherever I could, etc. In other words, do whatever it took to find the balance.

Hopefully you don't take this post as being written in an obnoxiously cut and dried fashion. I'm just offering my $.02

On a side note, can you come fix my stove? There's no fire. I see what looks like a plug lying on the floor under the outlet. Is it supposed to be unplugged? Can you drive up here and look at it? Right now?

 

[smwilliamson]

Well seeing you have more than enough customers, and as long as you're not burnt out on the trade so bad you need a change, I can offer the first 2 ideas that came to mind.

1) Hire a qualified assistant. Yes, I realize it's probably hard to find the right one, and one that's willing to work on a seasonal basis (I assume your workload lightens up significantly in the off season and pellet stoves is the only thing you do)

2) Learn to say "NO, I'm sorry." and tighten your radius of service. I know this is probably difficult as well, as you sell stoves. Plan to always service what you sell, and start using more discretion when taking service calls on stoves not sold by you. You bet it'll suck for the customer to hear you say, "sorry, I can't", but just briefly explain your situation and leave it at that. What else can you do?

Obviously there's more aspects than that, and you don't want someone opening up down the street with a bunch of vans with "Pellet Squad" plastered on the side.

Assuming you aren't on the cusp of financial disaster, is it really necessary?.....or worth it? To me, time with my daughter is THE most important thing. If my job was interfering with my life, and ultimately her life, I'd find a new job, downsize the house, cut spending wherever I could, etc. In other words, do whatever it took to find the balance.

Hopefully you don't take this post as being written in an obnoxiously cut and dried fashion. I'm just offering my $.02

On a side note, can you come fix my stove? There's no fire. I see what looks like a plug lying on the floor under the outlet. Is it supposed to be unplugged? Can you drive up here and look at it? Right now?

Problem being is that I DID hire someone who actually does a very good job, perhaps too good.

I was talking to Mike Holton from the boards here (Englander) and I was talking about phone systems and that how every monday in Oct. we get like 300 calls. I was thinking that we may need to go for a calling service just to get rid of the voice mail and actually have people pick up the phone...problem as he stated..."whatever you do you have to have enough run way to take off!" I guess they went that route for awhile and the problem was that the phone service was too good at what they do. Every call got answered, problem was there wasn't enough time in the week to answer one day's worth of calls....the balance I need to find with the office is just because you can answer the phone everytime it rings still doesn't mean I have all the answers when it rings...aye aye aye. And it's not the number of calls or answers that really gets to me...it's the attitude of many who do call and have an attitide like because their stove is broken that somehow I'm the bad guy cause I haven't got there to fix it yet. I'll figure it out, spring will come soon. I will breathe again, see my wife and kids again, dream and such...

 

[MountainSean]

I understand exactly what you mean Scott. Only for me it is more of why can't we UPS things from Montana to Boston overnight for4 bucks or 2 day air for free like Amazon can...... I am really beginning to hate Amazon. Or that it is our fault that we don't know someone in the middle of Kansas who can come fix a stove on 20 minutes notice. At least 15 -20 phone calls a day for stupid stuff. Can I rant with you?
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Thank goodness it is January and things will start slowing down soon, I am ready for Summer to be here.

 

[becasunshine]

Problem being is that I DID hire someone who actually does a very good job, perhaps too good.

I was talking to Mike Holton from the boards here (Englander) and I was talking about phone systems and that how every monday in Oct. we get like 300 calls. I was thinking that we may need to go for a calling service just to get rid of the voice mail and actually have people pick up the phone...problem as he stated..."whatever you do you have to have enough run way to take off!" I guess they went that route for awhile and the problem was that the phone service was too good at what they do. Every call got answered, problem was there wasn't enough time in the week to answer one day's worth of calls....the balance I need to find with the office is just because you can answer the phone everytime it rings still doesn't mean I have all the answers when it rings...aye aye aye. And it's not the number of calls or answers that really gets to me...it's the attitude of many who do call and have an attitide like because their stove is broken that somehow I'm the bad guy cause I haven't got there to fix it yet. I'll figure it out, spring will come soon. I will breathe again, see my wife and kids again, dream and such...

Dude, I wish I lived in Massachusetts, cause I'd help you out with the calls.

I agree, it's an interesting interface between stove users and technical assistance, between consumers and stove shops, and between stoves and their owners. We went into owning/using a pellet stove with some once-removed family/friend experience with wood stoves. We knew that the word "stove" does not equal "set it and forget it." We realized that it was going to take time for us to learn how to use the thing (hey, every bag of pellets is a new experience!) and that it was going to be ongoing maintenance, and that we wanted to learn to do it ourselves if for no other reason than to save the money on that service call.

All that being said, even we required some hand-holding, and sometimes I *still* do. (Ask Mike Holton about the day that I couldn't get the vent pipes back together correctly, or look up the thread where I was trying to figure out what thing in there was the vacuum switch, etc. etc.)

And I don't think that any one person understands how much is being asked, collectively, from the guy answering the phone. There really aren't lot of people around who know how to trouble shoot these stoves, or who have the parts in stock, or who know enough to give you an ear and a hand over the phone when the stove is acting up and you don't know what's wrong. I've been guilty of bending an ear or two over the phone myself- and I *try* to be aware that I'm only one of a cast of thousands that's screaming for help at any given moment.

I don't know what the answer is. I do suspect that as long as there are central heating systems with remotely supplied or delivered fuel and automatic thermostats, those of us who are willing to take some hands on responsibility for our heat will be in the minority, and those who are trained enough to bail us out of the trouble we get ourselves in will be even fewer.

 

[becasunshine]

I understand exactly what you mean Scott. Only for me it is more of why can't we UPS things from Montana to Boston overnight for4 bucks or 2 day air for free like Amazon can...... I am really beginning to hate Amazon. Or that it is our fault that we don't know someone in the middle of Kansas who can come fix a stove on 20 minutes notice. At least 15 -20 phone calls a day for stupid stuff. Can I rant with you?
.
.
.
.
.
Thank goodness it is January and things will start slowing down soon, I am ready for Summer to be here.

We remain your biggest fans, Sean. Your magnet is on the fridge, and it's our first and only stop when we need parts. The shop from which we bought the stove doesn't carry parts, gaskets, etc. but YOU do, and for this, you are our hero.

 

[jdinny]

Wow!
I really feel bad for him.

 

[becasunshine]

^^ I've been That Person on the Phone, even up until this season- I'm embarrassed to admit it but it happened. And it was The Perfect Storm. It was right before a holiday, it was supposed to get *very* cold in the next couple of days, and for the first time since we've owned the stove, twisting off the vent diffuser outside twisted the pipe that threaded the thimble into the house.

And in the process of tromping in and out of the house in the cold rain trying to get that section of pipe threaded back on both ends, I managed to twist almost every piece of pipe loose and/or apart.

Did I mention that it was getting dark (days were short- on the other side of winter solstice) and it was cold? and windy? and beginning to rain? and I had an 80 lbs. Labbie demanding that I throw a stick for him every time I bent over to retrieve a piece of pipe?

After several tries I called my husband at work and asked if he could come home early to help me. No dice. He was on call and couldn't leave the office.

I almost cried. And I'm not a crier.

I made myself sloooow doooown and take it piece by piece... and that's when it seemed to me that two pieces of vent pipe were simply refusing to fit together properly anymore. It seemed like they should have slid together with the notches aligned, and then twisted to lock, but even with the notches properly aligned *I could not get them to fit.* I believe I started tugging on Mike Holton's ear right about then- WTH DOOD WHY WON'T THESE PIECES OF VENT PIPE FIT BACK TOGETHER?

I wondered if somehow they'd gotten heat warped out of shape.

So here I am with the stove's vent pipe in pieces, I need another set of hands outside to hold one end of pipe in place while someone inside tries to fit the pieces back together, The Hubs cannot come home, the Labbie has no thumbs and the cat is no help at all in these situations. If the stove isn't on and it's cold in the house, he's not speaking to me.

I was so frustrated I almost cried again.

And then I tried to find vent pipe- because I had myself convinced that somehow this vent pipe was warped out of shape and it was never, ever going back together.

Also, did I mention that the cat was NOT helpful?

That's when I found out that Big Box Stores? They carry 3" Duravent pipe but not 4" Duravent pipe and of course, we have 4" Duravent pipe.

And our regular stove store was closed for the holiday! It wasn't exactly the holiday yet, but they were already closed! And would remain closed! Until that holiday was good and over!

So yeah, by the time I talked to The Nice Person at the next stove shop, I WAS DONE STICK A FORK IN ME. And quite nearly in tears. So even though I wanted to fix my stove myself, I just wanted to get my hands on some blessed 4" Duravent pipe if I could, and I didn't want to wait several days through a real cold snap to do that if I could help it. I can come get the pipe. I can put in together myself. Eventually The Hubs will be home to help me. Or the Labbie will grow thumbs. Or the cat will get tired of being cold and he will pitch in. But you don't have to come to my house. JUST SELL ME THE #*%#&@#$( PIPE.

After I spoke with that shop and determined that I *could* get 4" pipe if necessary, I took one more whack at it.

Turns out that these pieces of pipe- I don't know if they are "warped" or not, but they don't automatically fit together at every notch. I think that they have sort of molded themselves into a particular shape- and not every set of notches fits together. You have to put them back exactly like they came apart, and that means trying to fit the notches together at various places.

Long story short, I finally did get the vent pipe back together, and The Hubs arrived home, and checked the deflector piece outside to make sure it was secure while I kept an eye and hands on the pieces inside to make sure they didn't turn again.

But I'm absolutely, positively *sure* that I was That Guy on the phone to the stove shop that day... That Guy, Nearly in Tears.

Sorry, Stove Shop. =(

 

[Lake Girl]

He just needed to vent to someone - expanding a business venture can be painful. Put your head down and keep on slogging through the mire

 

[boomhour]

I agree there were previous problems with Dell-Point and Europa 75 as there were definitely issues there and I feel for the people that own them. When the temperature drops to -35 as it is right now outside my door, there are definite concerns over the longevity of these stoves. Also, their website could use an update as I don't find it very user-friendly. After a lot of research, this is the stove that we decided to purchase. We are still in the "honeymoon stage" and have not had to replace anything yet, so have not had to "cross that bridge" of trying to buy parts or service for this stove. We are very happy that we do not burn wood at $90 dollars a face cord - things had to change, We now have a consistently even heat - no more getting up at 4 a.m. to load the wood stove or take out hot coals just to get more wood to fit. Your rants in your original posts are more than true to life and it is what helped persuade me to purchase this stove. I needed something that just plain works with green technology - not just pellets but electricity and being able to burn an alternative fuel source if the problems of supply reappear.

As far as owning a business, I had to deal with a major snowstorm on Christmas morning. I dealt with people that had major hills in their driveways first and left the ones with flat driveways last. I still managed to get a phone call as to why wasn't my driveway plowed first. I'll let you figure out how many degrees her driveway was. Later that winter, her husband apologized for her rant so, I can relate to your rant as to the question of why doesn't my stove work? Some are true to heart and others are just plain duh. As far as Wisconsin and most of the northern states to the west, including Lake Girl, do you really know what -40 and wind chills into the -50's is really like to be left with no heat because your pellet stove puked a fan or the electricity failed and you had to turn on your auxiliary heat? We had four major power spikes within half an hour with full interruptions. To protect the stove, I pulled the plug and ran on battery backup all night. I did not think twice about doing it as it has happened before while we were asleep and did not realize it until morning. I was glad I played it safe. I too am not feeling the love. And now I will get off my soapbox and return you to your regularly scheduled programming.

 

[Lake Girl]

Yes I do know what -40 with windchills of -50 are like. We had a 5 hour power outage with temps near -40 between Christmas and New Year's. Power crew figured the temp was the reason for line failure. Power interruptions are frequent here compared to most individuals because we have the distinction of being the longest run in Ontario. With electricity failure, there is no backup heat unless you have a wood stove or a generator.

 

[boomhour]

I may make -40 yet

 

[PassionForFire&Water]

Au contraire, I beg to differ. The Paromax line of pellet stoves, with the ash management system, and the Italian-made stoves, are what the new EPA ratings about to come online are all about. With gasification, these stoves are what other companies may have to look to, to comply with the new stove ratings down the road. Uncle Sam may not tell you that your stove is old-school, but your insurance company has the higher power, I believe.

Exceptions proof the rule. There probably are some pellet stoves I'm not aware of.
But by reading in the "pellet mill" time to time I'm sure there aren't many.

Not impressed with Italian pellet stove technology in general, au contraire ... .
The Verona-Italy show is coming up mid February, lets see what they came up with, besides "sexy" looking pellet stove models.
High end Italian cars, sure I take it .... pellet stoves I probably pass.
Italy is the land of fashion, not pellet stove in my humble opinion.

 

[PassionForFire&Water]

You sell pellet furnaces and heaters but do you own one? You have an interesting attitude for someone who sells pellet devices.

The last 5 years I had several hydronic pellet stoves in my shop. The hydronic part does make no difference in for the combustion concept.

They all "waste" to much fuel - wood pellets. Burn 2 bags of pellets and remove 1/4 bag of ashes next morning. Firepot full of clinckers.

The technology needs to be improved:
- automatic cleaning of fire pot
- combustion control via flame temperature sensor.

My general attitude about 95% (or probably more) of the pellet stoves out there: they are wood pellet guzzlers!
Just like our car industry: why it takes 20-30 years to make more efficient cars (MPG) ?

I hate to waste any energy resource, and wood pellets is a resource.

Look at the wood stoves, it took 20+ years and a Wood Stove Decathlon to come up with real clean burning and efficient wood stoves.

FYI: I have natural gas and an hydronic fireplace.
Even a top notch pellet boiler is difficult to justify when you have NG.

 

[Stevekng]

My general attitude about 95% (or probably more) of the pellet stoves out there: they are wood pellet guzzlers!
Just like our car industry: why it takes 20-30 years to make more efficient cars (MPG) ?

I hate to waste any energy resource, and wood pellets is a resource.

Look at the wood stoves, it took 20+ years and a Wood Stove Decathlon to come up with real clean burning and efficient wood stoves.

FYI: I have natural gas and an hydronic fireplace.
Even a top notch pellet boiler is difficult to justify when you have NG.

And yet you sell these units you call wasteful. Do you let your customers know about attitude? I can't imagine that you would sell very many units if you do. The dealer I bought my Castile from had the same attitude that you have but stopped selling them or servicing them, rather than conflicting himself. I respect him for that. But I bet there are people who miss his service; it was top notch. My Castile is 5 years old and has yet to need service or parts. His install was class A+.

 

[PassionForFire&Water]

And yet you sell these units you call wasteful. Do you let your customers know about attitude? I can't imagine that you would sell very many units if you do. The dealer I bought my Castile from had the same attitude that you have but stopped selling them or servicing them, rather than conflicting himself. I respect him for that. But I bet there are people who miss his service; it was top notch. My Castile is 5 years old and has yet to need service or parts. His install was class A+.

Thanks for pointing this out !
I indeed need to update our website, and take the Italian made decorative hydronic pellet boiler "off-line".
We only sell Windhager BioWIN pellet boilers

 

[Stevekng]

Thanks for pointing this out !
I indeed need to update our website, and take the Italian made decorative hydronic pellet boiler "off-line".
We only sell Windhager BioWIN pellet boilers

I think your posting signature needs updating too.

 

[Mt Bob]

"Burn 2 bags of pellets and remove 1/4 bag ashes?" Guess I have been doing something wrong all these years or he has never seen an austroflamm.

 

[MCPO]

After using a Napoleon pellet stove every season since installation in September 2008, and finally getting this 1959 brick/block bungalow sealed up adequately and with enough attic insulation, I can tell you for certain that the pellet stove heats this house a lot more quietly - and, in some particular ways, a lot more evenly- than my modern natural gas furnace.

Our pellet stove is located in a corner at one end of the house. The gas furnace is in a corner at the other end. The HVAC thermostat is in between the two, in a hallway in the center of the house.

The kitchen and laundry room are at the opposite end of the house from the pellet stove. (The furnace is in the laundry room.) The laundry room has no HVAC vent in it. Because the laundry room has no vent, and because the laundry room and the kitchen are at the far end of the house from the pellet stove, that area can be a bit chilly when outside temps are in the teens or single digits. The pilot light in the gas water heater throws off enough heat to keep the laundry room at a reasonable temperature, however, and when the water heater fires up, there's that many more BTU's in the laundry room. I solve the kitchen temperature gradient issue by cooking dinner.

As far as noise, we are in a bit of a different situation than most because our pellet stove is not in the room in which we sit to watch t.v.- it's one room over. Convection currents carry the heat into our living room and the bedrooms easily enough, and we aren't trying to hear the t.v. over the stove's convection blower.

I am so accustomed to the nuanced white noise of the stove's fan in the other room, that low, quiet hum, and the ever so slightly present tinkle of pellets falling into the pot, that on the rare occasion when the gas furnace does fire up, it sounds like a jumbo jet landing in the house. If it fires up overnight or early in the morning it wakes us up.

As far as even heating, we are lucky in that regard. Air sealing this old house as best we could and adding insulation in the attic really helped us hang onto the BTU's produced by the stove. I won't argue at you for a minute about the fact that the kitchen end of the house is cooler than the stove end of the house- but I will point out that the stove is producing heat and dumping BTU's into the house continuously. The furnace fires up, blasts heat into the house, and then waits for the house to cool down, the thermostat to drop, and does it all over again. And we have the thermostat programmed to fire the furnace at a one degree lag- so it's not like we are letting the house cool down by two or three degrees before the furnace fires up again.

After 5.5 years with the pellet stove, I find that I notice the "blast heat/cool down" disparity in heating evenness more than I notice the temperature falling off in the kitchen.

But that's just me- YMMV.

P.S. As far as safety, I wouldn't necessarily rank my gas furnace as safer than my pellet stove. We keep both cleaned and in good repair. If my pellet stove goes bonkers, I can threaten it with the fire extinguisher. I can empty the fire extinguisher onto/into it. I can throw the fire extinguisher at the pellet stove, throw the cat out of the window, and head for the nearest doorway with The Hubs and the 80 lbs. dog in tow.

If the gas furnace, fed by the gas lines over which I have no control, goes bonkers, I doubt I'll even know what happened. Threatening the gas furnace with a fire extinguisher sounds like a quick study in futility to me...

It`s not that your pellet stove is so particularly quiet , even heating, and safe, it`s your central heating system that is so sub par.

 

[PassionForFire&Water]

Hey Scott, sorry for de-railing your topic.
It obviously will take some more serious long-term education.

 

[MCPO]

Au contraire, I beg to differ. The Paromax line of pellet stoves, with the ash management system, and the Italian-made stoves, are what the new EPA ratings about to come online are all about. With gasification, these stoves are what other companies may have to look to, to comply with the new stove ratings down the road. Uncle Sam may not tell you that your stove is old-school, but your insurance company has the higher power, I believe.

I love the concept of the Paromax system and I truly believe this is the coming tech in all pellet stoves . But, from what I have read the Paromax reliability and service is a nightmare.
I suppose when it is embraced and employed by a better known pellet stove maker with reliable service and with available parts , it will take hold .

 

[IHATEPROPANE]

Problem being is that I DID hire someone who actually does a very good job, perhaps too good.

I was talking to Mike Holton from the boards here (Englander) and I was talking about phone systems and that how every monday in Oct. we get like 300 calls. I was thinking that we may need to go for a calling service just to get rid of the voice mail and actually have people pick up the phone...problem as he stated..."whatever you do you have to have enough run way to take off!" I guess they went that route for awhile and the problem was that the phone service was too good at what they do. Every call got answered, problem was there wasn't enough time in the week to answer one day's worth of calls....the balance I need to find with the office is just because you can answer the phone everytime it rings still doesn't mean I have all the answers when it rings...aye aye aye. And it's not the number of calls or answers that really gets to me...it's the attitude of many who do call and have an attitide like because their stove is broken that somehow I'm the bad guy cause I haven't got there to fix it yet. I'll figure it out, spring will come soon. I will breathe again, see my wife and kids again, dream and such...

Sorry to say this but you brought this all on yourself. You chose to be in this business, chose to expand within this business and knew before hand that these are the people you will be dealing with day in and day out.

This is the life of the majority of small business owners, ridiculous hours, no time for family or vacation. Eventually as you grow things will get better for you, but the people you service and their attitudes will not change. I wouldn't last a second dealing with them.

Perhaps you can reflect on the customers that really appreciate all your efforts and that will help you power through the tough times.

 

[tjnamtiw]

My emoticon lacked any expression and slightly aggrivated. I'm tired. Some of you who may have their own biz...or any teacher with 23 kids can relate....how many questions can you field in a day, in an hour, in a minute, in a second...and every day, every hour ,every minute, every second its the same one over and over and over again. My pellet stove is doing this, or doing that or not doing this but it never did that and why is doing this or that but not this.....I go home everyday completely exhausted. Seriously man....what's wrong with people....? THEY ARE SPACE HEATERS not MIRACLE WORKERS and they ain't the answer to not using the TSTAT. "I aint got no other heat", "Everyday you can't get here is one more day I'm spending money I shouldn't be" Seriously, this is what I deal with every day times 200.

I'm failing the entire world and industry because I stayed home an extra 15 minutes to put my kid on the buss or go home early to plow the driveway so my wife could get out and go grocery shopping. Yes, I'm talking about you the guy who's 26 year old stove you bought on CL for $350 that stopped working this afternoon and it's going to be minus 200 degrees tonight and your kids are sleeping at you mothers because I'm the jerk.

Thanks guys! I feel better now!

PERFECT reply! LOVE IT! We who try to help out those who come here asking the same questions over and over rather than take a minute to SEARCH for the answer, which is there! I can only imagine what service and sales people go through! I don't care what anyone says > they ARE space heaters in the true sense of the word, not the twisted 'my house is my space' sense. Anyone who relies solely on them for heat AND has no clue how to clean and repair them is crazy. IMHO of course! Good job.

 

[EastMtn]

To help with your rant Scott the problems don't end with the pellet stove industry. I work rotating 24hr shifts, and my customers are big companies and small city governments with sensitive electronic equipment who expect me to tell them before lightning strikes their area so they can be prepared. These entities ask the same questions that small business patrons ask. Working In Southern California as a lineman we had the $300K club. These were people who spent multiple days working without sleep on a regular basis. My wife doesn't see me sometimes for up to 6 days.

I echo what Lakegirl said. You are obviously doing a great job. Put your head down and keep moving forward, evaluate the efficiency of your business, and make changes where appropriate. Like P38X2 said raise your prices and say no more often. You can only do what you can do. Think of it as people trusting your expertise, diligence, and follow through so much that they flock to be your next customer. The wife and kids know what you are sacrificing to provide for their household. This is one of the consequences of success and will in time be balanced out.

All of you servicers out there are doing a great job. We as customers reward your service by lining your pockets with money and hopefully thank you's. Oh.... and we'll try not to call anymore when our stove won't heat because we didn't seat the plug fully in the unit.

 

[becasunshine]

It`s not that your pellet stove is so particularly quiet , even heating, and safe, it`s your central heating system that is so sub par.

I'm not an HVAC expert, but the furnace is a fairly modern, typical brand name gas furnace, and the ductwork is OK too. The thermostat is almost brand new and gives us a lot of flexibility, i.e. we can program it to turn on the heating/cooling plant at a specific temperature differential, and of course we can program it for temperature/times, etc.

The difference, IMHO, is that the furnace and the air handler reside in the conditioned living space with us. Noise is more of a factor if the furnace is sitting beside you in the house.

In our previous house, the gas furnaces were located in the attached garage and in the attic. I don't know why this furnace was installed in the laundry room instead of in the attic, but I'm pretty sure it sits on the footprint of the original unit. The attic holds duct work from the air handler and otherwise, I'm not sure why the furnace isn't up there.

Also, this house has brick/block/lathe/plaster walls with no insulation inside them. When it's very cold outside, we have conductive cold from the actual walls. I think this accentuates the whole "blast the heat/let it cool/blast it again" cycle from the furnace and the thermostat.

Keeping the walls continuously warm(ish) seems to work better.

As I said, YMMV.

Also, sorry for de-railing the thread as well. Back to the Original Thread, Already in Progress.