Mr. Heat Miser said:
P35i update! Today is January 29th, 2011 and I have been burning my P35i for nearly 3 months now, and I am loving it! So far I have reduced my oil usage by half, as compared to last year at this same time.
I have burned 39 bags of New England Wood Pellets so far this season, and I think the 2 tons I started with will be just about right to carry me through until spring.
Here's how I have been using my pellet insert to offset my oil usage. My house has a oil fired forced hot air furnace with 2 zones. We keep the downstairs zone set to 58 at night, so the furnace rarely comes on. The downstairs zone is programmed to jump up to 66 in the morning just before we get up. While the oil furnace is warming up the downstairs zone I give the pellet stove a quick cleaning each morning by scraping the burn pot, quickly brushing the heat exchanger with a small paint brush, cleaning the glass, and fill the stove with pellets. This takes about 15 minutes at most. Then I light the pellet stove at about 7:30am. By this time my programable thermostat sets the downstairs zone back down to 58 and the pellet stove maintains and heats the entire downstairs zone for the rest of the day until I shut it down at about 10:30pm. The oil furnace never fires again for the rest of the day. Even on the coldest days, I have not used more than 1 bag of pellets.
During the day, the upstairs zone is set at 58, and at night it goes up to 64 while we are up there sleeping. We use an electric blanket to warm up the bed, then shut it off before we fall asleep. This uses far less electricity than having the furnace set at a higher temp, which heats the entire zone.
Rarely will the heat come on in the upstairs zone during the day, and it only comes on a few times during the night while we are up there.
By shutting down my pellet stove at night and giving it that quick cleaning each morning, it keeps the stove very clean and burning efficiently. I have performed 2 full firebox cleanings so far (after every 15 bags or so) which takes about an hour and a half, and I empty the ash pan about once every week or week and a half as needed.
I have found the maintenance to be very easy so far, and don't mind it a bit. It is part of my morning routine now, and only takes a few minutes. By not letting the pellet stove run all night, I am not heating my downstairs when I am not in the space, and I make my supply of pellets last longer. With the oil heat set at 58 overnight, the furnace rarely comes on because the zone never cools below the set point. Yes, it is cool downstairs in the morning, but firing the oil for 15 minutes warms it up quickly. And no... it does not cost more to heat the downstairs zone up from 60 to 66 than it would if I left the thermostat set to 66 degrees all night.
Will make a final post at the end of the season to report total oil offset with my 2 tons of pellets and this method of using the pellet stove.