Going back to wood

[BrianN]

We bought our house last year and it came with a "top of the line" Harman, pellet insert. For 4 months we were told how great the pellet stove is, how warm, clean and inexpensive it is to heat the house.
Well, we ordered 4 tons of pellets ($700), 200 bags, then had to find a place to store them. This place has to be absolutely dry.
Anyways, the cold weather showed up and this stove can't even keep the house at 20C, and it is running constantly 24 hours a day, plus, we have a base board heater on.
So, the wife and I have decided that in the spring time, we will be installing a wood stove. This will mean doing a bit of renovation (okay, and little more than a bit ) but, that's okay. I was born and raised on wood heat, and to me, nothing beats it.

 

['bert]

You have made a great choice and found the best place on the web to start your research. Welcome aboard.

 

[David Tackett]

No heat like fire heat.

 

[BIGDADDY]

Do you know what stoves you have a preference for? Are you going to start getting wood or buy some now so its well seasoned for when you'll burn it next year?

 

[BrianN]

I haven't looked at stoves in depth yet. I have went to the local stove shop here and seen what they have. I live in a small town, and only have one store to shop at, so, that makes it easier. They seem to carry, or can get what I want.
My last house had a blaze king stove, we really loved it, so, may go with that again.
We do have to do some renovating, taking out our pellet stove insert, framing in an alcove and getting the stove and piping installed.
We will be getting some wood in the spring, as soon as the snow melts. I am sure that it will burn well enough next year, but, will be getting enough for (I hope) 2 - 3 years so it gets better with each year.

 

[BIGDADDY]

I heard BK are really great. I think that would be a great choice.

 

[bogydave]

I haven't looked at stoves in depth yet. I have went to the local stove shop here and seen what they have. I live in a small town, and only have one store to shop at, so, that makes it easier. They seem to carry, or can get what I want.
My last house had a blaze king stove, we really loved it, so, may go with that again.
We do have to do some renovating, taking out our pellet stove insert, framing in an alcove and getting the stove and piping installed.
We will be getting some wood in the spring, as soon as the snow melts. I am sure that it will burn well enough next year, but, will be getting enough for (I hope) 2 - 3 years so it gets better with each year.

Like my BK.
It likes really dry wood,

A summer of Cut/Split & Stacked wood should be good to go. No Oak in your area
Spruce here burns good with a summer to dry, 2 year+ seasoned birch my favorite.

How much wood you think you'll need for a years burning?
What wood types in your area?

 

[Swedishchef]

Welcome to the "dark side".

As per others comments: start cutting, splitting and stacking wood ASAP. No matter what kind of stove you end up getting they all like dry wood. Hardwood should be seasoned at least 2 years.

When I arrived on this forum I had a hard time believing this theory but from experience I can tell you one thing: it is true.

Where in nothern BC do you live? PG?

Andrew

 

[Sprinter]

What size and style house do you have to heat? Well insulated? What is the winter climate like? I'm guessing cold, but if you're on the coast, it may be pretty moderate. These factors may have played a role in why the pellet stove wasn't adequate, and even a good wood stove will have to be properly sized. If you go to cordwood, do you have adequate space for several cords of wood to be seasoning?

Also, you may want to consider keeping the pellet stove and installing a separate wood stove, if that's feasible. Some members here do just that. One notable member has three stoves.

In any case, you'll find the answers here, for sure.

 

[clemsonfor]

Id sell the pellet to help fund the new purchase

 

[Backwoods Savage]

I haven't looked at stoves in depth yet. I have went to the local stove shop here and seen what they have. I live in a small town, and only have one store to shop at, so, that makes it easier. They seem to carry, or can get what I want.
My last house had a blaze king stove, we really loved it, so, may go with that again.
We do have to do some renovating, taking out our pellet stove insert, framing in an alcove and getting the stove and piping installed.
We will be getting some wood in the spring, as soon as the snow melts. I am sure that it will burn well enough next year, but, will be getting enough for (I hope) 2 - 3 years so it gets better with each year.

No need to stick with just that one dealer. Consider buying direct too. That is what we did and have never been sorry. Not many stove shops in our area either and we went up to 80 miles looking. The most disgusting thing we found was that none of them seemed to know squat. Just wanted to sell you a stove. However, they did have a line of talk and newcomers to wood burning could easily be swayed into buying simply because they did not know the right questions to ask. They just took as gospel what the salesman was saying. Lucky are the folks who have had good experiences with local stove shops and installers. We've simply heard too many horror stories.

 

[My Oslo heats my home]

As others have said, welcome back to the dark side...i have always been a wood burner and have no intentions of the pellet stove unless there is a gun to my head. Anyways, since you were born and raised on wood heat you probably know the drill on converting back to wood. Dry firewood, Dry firewood oh and did I say DRY firewood>????

 

[Sprinter]

As others have said, welcome back to the dark side...i have always been a wood burner and have no intentions of the pellet stove unless there is a gun to my head. Anyways, since you were born and raised on wood heat you probably know the drill on converting back to wood. Dry firewood, Dry firewood oh and did I say DRY firewood>????

Good post, but let's not forget to mention that it's important to use dry wood, too.

 

[Beer Belly]

Good post, but let's not forget to mention that it's important to use dry wood, too.

ahem.....correction....Seasoned Firewood ....any wood could be dry

 

[Beer Belly]

Just think, we just got hit with a storm....a lot of people without power, and temps are dropping this week...Pellet Stove no good....Woodstove warm.....and, try to find free Pellets on someone's lawn

 

[Swedishchef]

There are pros and cons to both sources of heating. At my grandmother's place they were using $8000 of oil a year. They installed an Enviro Maxx in a small room next door to the furnace and setup the air intake for the furnace from that room with a thermostat upstairs. They buy 3 tons of pellets a year and cut back their oil consumption to $1000 (they have an oil fired hot water heater).

Yes without electricity it doesn't work but that rarely happens where they live. My uncle who moved there to help keep the house after he retired doesn't have the ability to cut/split wood and keep the stove running at a constant temperature like a pellet stove. Not to mention storage of pellets is a lot easier/cleaner than wood.

However I love wood heat and would never give it up

Andrew

 

[BIGDADDY]

I think there may be battery backups for pellet stoves. I know a friend of mine has a coal stoker with battery backup for power outages

 

[Sprinter]

I think there may be battery backups for pellet stoves. I know a friend of mine has a coal stoker with battery backup for power outages

That would take a lot of battery, though. If a pellet stove requires, for example, 400 watts on 120 vac, then a battery/inverter setup would draw maybe 40 amps of battery current accounting for inefficiencies. One typical deep cycle battery would only last a few hours on that. We've had power outages lasting a week in this region, so for us, a small inverter generator is necessary for important devices.

Having said that, off-gridders have some pretty sophisticated battery/inverter/solar systems and maybe a solar system would work if you have enough daylight and panels to keep batteries charged. You could probably get by with a small 1000 watt system or less for the stove, refrigerators and freezers, TV, computer and lights in a pinch although you may have to rotate the devices every couple hours with a small system.

 

[BIGDADDY]

That would take a lot of battery, though. If a pellet stove requires, for example, 400 watts on 120 vac, then a battery/inverter setup would draw maybe 40 amps of battery current accounting for inefficiencies. One typical deep cycle battery would only last a few hours on that. We've had power outages lasting a week in this region, so for us, a small inverter generator is necessary for important devices.

Having said that, off-gridders have some pretty sophisticated battery/inverter/solar systems and maybe a solar system would work if you have enough daylight and panels to keep batteries charged. You could probably get by with a small 1000 watt system or less for the stove, refrigerators and freezers, TV, computer and lights in a pinch although you may have to rotate the devices every couple hours with a small system.

Here is something I found on line
Battery Back-up for Harman Pellet Stove

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Product ID: 3-20-512
Your Price: $639.00
Qty:
Availability: This item is temporarily out of stock and is coming shortly.
Add to Wish ListAdd to cart
Product Description
Specifications
Customer Testimonials
This Battery Backup Fits most Harman Pellet Stoves including:
Accentra Pellet Stove
Advance Pellet Stove
P38+ Pellet Stove
P43 Pellet Stove
P68 Pellet Stove
PC45 Pellet/Corn Stove
XXV Pellet Stove
Other Compatible Stoves:
Super Magnum Coal Stoker
DVC-500 Coal Stove
VF-3000 Coal Boiler
*Other models besides the ones listed may operate properly with the Surefire 512H. See stove install manual for more information.

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[weatherguy]

If you buy your wood in the spring it may be ready depending on the species, soft maple, ash or softwoods may be ok but a lot of hardwood will need more time to burn properly in these new epa stoves.

 

[eclecticcottage]

I think there may be battery backups for pellet stoves. I know a friend of mine has a coal stoker with battery backup for power outages

The Thelin Parlour comes with a backup trickle charged battery. No idea how long it would run off it for though.

 

[BIGDADDY]

The Thelin Parlour comes with a backup trickle charged battery. No idea how long it would run off it for though.

Their web page says 2-3 hours on the battery, not too good if your power is out for a day or more. You can get a larger battery but they don't give details on length of operation.

The Tiburon Pellet Stove comes with an internal battery as standard equipment. This battery will allow your stove to operate for 2-3 hours, long enough for most power outages. A larger battery can be used in conjunction with the internal battery for use during longer outages. The battery relay system knows which battery is providing power and does not run the batteries in parallel. Once power resumes the stove will trickle charge the larger external battery first. To charge the internal battery the external battery and cables must be removed from the stove.
The battery will not start the stove automatically. During power failures the stove must be started manually.

 

[Sprinter]

Their web page says 2-3 hours on the battery, not too good if your power is out for a day or more. You can get a larger battery but they don't give details on length of operation.

The Tiburon Pellet Stove comes with an internal battery as standard equipment. This battery will allow your stove to operate for 2-3 hours, long enough for most power outages. A larger battery can be used in conjunction with the internal battery for use during longer outages. The battery relay system knows which battery is providing power and does not run the batteries in parallel. Once power resumes the stove will trickle charge the larger external battery first. To charge the internal battery the external battery and cables must be removed from the stove.
The battery will not start the stove automatically. During power failures the stove must be started manually.

Literature says power consumption is only 35 watts. Way less than I thought most stoves operated on. That makes it much more battery friendly. Sounds like the companies are trying hard to address that issue.

 

[eclecticcottage]

Their web page says 2-3 hours on the battery, not too good if your power is out for a day or more. You can get a larger battery but they don't give details on length of operation.

The Tiburon Pellet Stove comes with an internal battery as standard equipment. This battery will allow your stove to operate for 2-3 hours, long enough for most power outages. A larger battery can be used in conjunction with the internal battery for use during longer outages. The battery relay system knows which battery is providing power and does not run the batteries in parallel. Once power resumes the stove will trickle charge the larger external battery first. To charge the internal battery the external battery and cables must be removed from the stove.
The battery will not start the stove automatically. During power failures the stove must be started manually.

I don't see anything on the Parlour's run time on the battery...hm.

 

[BrianN]

bogydave -Fir, Spruce and Cedar are the woods around here. There are plenty of areas where we can get wood here. Mostly the old logging cuts. Lots of wood that has been down for a year or two. Will probably need a few cords. Am hoping to have about 5 by the end of the summer stored away and ready.

Swedishchef - Vanderhoof. About an hour from PG.

Sprinter - We have an 1800sqft, 2 story. According to an energy audit, our house is 78% ??? No idea what that really means, apparently is supposed to be good. We will be getting another audit done, and see any recommendations to improve the efficiency.
We have long, cold winters. Right now, we are sitting around -17C. Not uncommon to mid -20sC. Along with the cold, we have about a foot of snow that fell the past 2 days.
We will definitely find space for the wood. Am looking at making space for up to 5 cords.
I find that the pellet stove will work fine up to about -5C, after that, it is on constantly, full blast and still getting the room up to 19C with the help or base boards. Man, my hydro bill is going to skyrocket here. I am considering putting the pellet stove in the garage to keep that a little warmer. Depending on the cost to install it there.

Backwoods savage - That is just the one dealer in town. They seem knowledgeable, and not there just to sell a stove. They did install the pellet stove here 4 years ago. I will be looking at shops in the larger city about an hour away, just for pricing, but, I will buy and get them installed here. I like to support local small business. Plus, if I ever have a problem, they will know who I am.