cac4 said:
Wet1 said:
The only way you might actually save some money is if you don't heat the remote areas in the house as much and use the stove as the main source of heat in the main living area(s)... this way you are using less total energy to 'heat' the house.
I think thats the whole point. btu x efficiency vs. btu x efficiency when comparing oil FURNACES to pellet STOVES is not a fair comparison. Its the "stove vs. furnace" thing that makes the difference. This is something that the "pellets ain't much of a bargain" camp leaves out of the equation.
All things being equal....well, thats another point. they almost never ARE equal.
So, let me give you my rationale for why I think pellets are still a bargain, in MY house.
I have a oil forced hot air furnace. NG is not an option. Water is already being handled by electricity. The furnace is "80% efficient", but that is calculated by measuring the exhaust temp. The air that actually flows into my living space? I don't think I'm getting anywhere close to 80% of the btu's in that oil into my living room.
The "irl" friends I have that have been long-time pellet burners have told me what they actually use for pellets in a season. Their houses are similar in size to mine...one is a little bigger. Neither are well insulated. One has a huge open cathedral ceiling. The other has lots of small rooms. They use 4 to 4.5 tons a year. My house is smaller, low ceilings, 6" of insulation, double pane glass, etc, etc. its "new, and tight". It also has a very open floor plan. all in all, "optimal" setup for a pellet stove. I should use significantly less pellets than my friends...how much? we won't know for sure until next spring, but I suspect it'll be 3 to 3.5 tons. But the "btu math" says I'll need 4.5 tons to replace my average 600 gallons of oil.
In the long run, I think it'll be cheaper "per btu", as well, even though it may not be right this minute, but you have to also consider the overall efficiency of the method of heating, not just the cost per btu.
I agree you most certainly have to consider the efficiency of both. Very seldom can we exactly compare apples to apples, but we can make good rough estimations to try making reasonable decisions. It sounds like you have a fairly inefficient oil burner so it might be a little cheaper to burn pellets in your case, but I'm not sure you'll be saving as much as you might think.
You also have to look at the big picture. My guess is when using your stove, you'll probably have warm and cold spots throughout the house that you wouldn't otherwise have with your central heating system. You'll also probably use more electricity running the stove and fans to move the air (I know I do) vs. what you'd use with your central heating system. Let's not forget the cost and depreciation of the stove itself as a supplemental heat source. Then you have the hassle of storing / feeding the pellets throughout the season, which is basically a non-issue with oil. Oh, don't forget the weekly stove cleaning... When you add it all up, you MIGHT save a few dollars, but at what cost? Is it all worth it to POSSIBLY save one or two hundred dollars a year??? Now if you're burning pellets for another reason (other than to save money), that's another story.
Don't get me wrong, I've been burning pellets since 2000, but when oil or "X" is cheap (like it is today), I'll be the first to tell you burning pellets is sometimes more hassle than it's worth for the few cents you might be saving.
My pellets cost me $205/ton delivered to my house this season. That's fairly cheap by today's standards. I would save a few dollars compared to burning oil at today's prices, but maybe not enough to make it worth the hassle.
OTOH, my NG rates are so low it's almost silly to burn ANY pellets, even at $205/ton. In oil terms / dollars, the first 30CCF of NG I burn (at 85% efficiency), which is about the equivalent to 22 gal. of oil, cost me about $30/month (that's about $1.36/gal in oil $). Anything more than this per month cost me an additional $0.53/gal. when convert into oil $. Hardly makes any sense to light a fire! But I will continue to burn a little here and there as I like the fire(s).
At the end of the day, when mainstream energy is cheap, there certainly isn't much money to be saved burning pellets when you add up ALL the expenses AND inconveniences... Especially when folks are paying top dollar for pellets.
JMHO.
