Help! Need to buy first stove!!

[lessoil]

Welcome!!
We have a 24'X32' Cape with stove installed in the Livingroom.
Although the house needs insulation wook, we have reduced our
oil usage by 54% (From 925 to 425 gal) are warmer and will save
around $1000 this coming Winter.
Good Luck with your search! You came to the right place
to get your questions answered.

Interesting side note... 1 ton of pellets = 120 gal of heating oil.

I'm not sure how many tons lessoil burned last year but if he burned 4 tons that's equal to 480 gallons of oil. He went from burning 925 gals to 425, saving 500 gal.

Neat little savings calculator... (broken link removed to http://www.maineenergysystems.com/userfiles/files/PelletsPropaneOil.swf)

Some other facts...

For heating, one ton of
wood pellets equals…
• 120 gallons of heating oil
• 170 gallons of propane
• 16,000 ft3 of natural gas
• 4,775 kilowatt hours (kWh)
electricity

Paying $200/ton for pellets
is the same as paying…
• $1.67 per gallon for heating oil
• $1.18 per gallon for propane
• $12.50 per (1,000 ft3) for natural gas
• $0.04 per kWh for electricity

Yup!
between 3.5 and 4 tons

 

[DRINKSFORALL]

Concerning the flooring underneath the future stove: Can i use some left over ceramic stone bathroom tile (appx 1/4 to 3/8 inch thick) glued to some subflooring and just grout?? The floor right now is typical hardwood. And, is additional wall material (fire retardent) necessary w/ pellet stoves??

You've all been great up to this point!!

 

[smwilliamson]

Concerning the flooring underneath the future stove: Can i use some left over ceramic stone bathroom tile (appx 1/4 to 3/8 inch thick) glued to some subflooring and just grout?? The floor right now is typical hardwood. And, is additional wall material (fire retardent) necessary w/ pellet stoves??

You've all been great up to this point!!

That stove I believe is going to call for an R value of 2.24 or less, ceramikc tile alone will not be enough, toss down some 3/8 durock then tile over and you'll be good to go.

 

[save$]

If you are serious about wanting to save a lot of money on heating your home, you will want to do a complete review of how well your home is insulated. Windows, doors, sills, and roofs are areas that need a lot of attention. You can find several DYI sites on how to conduct an audit in your home. Every effort you spend improving your insulation will come back to you in $ saved over and over. If you do install that pellet stove, make sure to use and outside air kit. I didn't at first, but learned my lesson and now am impressed with the difference. I would also encourage you to follow the installation instructions and not get "creative". The next most important expectation is your commitment to your unit's maintenance. The entire system requires a lot of attention to being kept clean. They just won't run right if dirty. Multi fuel units will give you more options, but here in New England, practical alternative fuels to wood pellets don't seem to be available at this time.
I heat my entire raised ranch with one pellet stove. (5-6 tons of pellets). Yes the furnace kicks in once in a while in the extreme cold, but we use less than a tank of oil each year, and that includes oil for our separate oil fired hot water heater. We seldom get cooler than 74 F. in any of our "opened" rooms.
It seemed an odd lesson to learn, but heating with a pellet stove succeeds best when you understand that heating a room is dependent on your getting the cool air back to the stove. I run a small fan at the bottom of the stairways that moves air toward the stove. That little fan and 4 ceiling fans made a huge difference in our comfort level.
Good luck and welcome to the forum.