How many quit their pellet stove?

[tlc1976]

Must be another NY thing. Yes even here there is minimum for free delivery,but you can buy less,and pay for delivery.And some places have pre-buy,where you purchase for future delivery. I see they have that back your way, but perhaps not in NY, I saw no listings there.

We have the lock in and prebuy. I never qualified because I didn’t have enough of a credit history. But the company had to break the lock in contract one year to survive, it was around that time when gas went to over $4 a gallon and propane shot up, a particularly cold year too IIRC. Biggest supplier in the area, they’ve been good to me.

When my furnace went bad in 2006 and I went to 100% wood, I never used a drop of propane for the next 10 years until I put in a new furnace and sold the house. Never owed a dime for the use of the tank or anything all that time. Nor did I have any fees when I transferred the account to the new house. Here I fill it every 2 years at summer prices so I’m already getting the best deal.

 

[bogieb]

(They charge more for propane the less you use. A lot more)
I have never heard of this.

I always pay more per gallon for propane than average price / gallon for those that use at least 1,000 gallons. Doesn't matter the provider I use (I've switched). Right now the average price in NH is $3.72/gal and I would not be surprised for my cost to be $5.50 or more/gal. I was paying over $5.50/gal winter of 2013-14 - and that was getting ~230 gal/month to run the boiler. Last spring, when prices were $3.53/gal, I paid $4.15/gal (which I thought was pretty darn reasonable because I usually pay a lot more than the average).

 

[Potluck_Crew]

In these parts right now, cheapest is natural gas (but that is in very few locations and not an option for me), then air source heat pump, then bagged pellets. bulk pellets are 4th, then it is oil, kerosene, cord wood, propane then electric resistance heat.

We are in the process of construction bulk pellet storage in our home. Sandri from Greenfield MA delivers bulk with a min of 3 tons. We live in Gardner. For us, that was the only choice. We should get it up and running next year. Tired of the hauling the pellet bags. Bulk is cheaper for us. But several schools nearby that Sandri delivers to, so I imagine that plays into the Gardner pricing.

 

[teucer]

I wish I'd have gone with a stoker coal stove in retrospect. We live in the Saudi Arabia of coal and coal will be a cheaper resource as compared to pellets going forward.

 

[Sm1ley]

I've sorta quit my Englander for my heat pump.

Lots of logic below:

When I bought my house 4 years ago, it just had electric baseboard heat and a 6" chimney for a wood burning stove without an appropriate hearth and the wood burning stove was gone. The cost to installing a boiler, radiator, and a gas line was $16k. Buying the pellet stove was $1.5k while legally installing a wood stove (adding the hearth was about $1.8k). The savings on the stove vs. electric heat had a calculated payback of 3 years.

At the time I didn't have access to a truck/trailer. It was easier to buy and get pellets delivered vs. spending my weekends borrowing gear to acquire firewood. My Englander runs on a programmable thermostat and keeps my house consistently warm.

7 months ago I put in a DIY Mr. Cool brand air to air heat pump because the swamp cooler was partially rotted out when I bought the house. Two summers ago I tried to make the swamp cooler last, I had Flex Sealed and replaced some of the rotted metal, but it was 2 years past its lifespan. Where I live, electric is $.11 kwh, I figured out that the heat pump makes sense down to approximately 15-ish degrees at night because I stay below the 50 kilowatts for the day, which is $5.50 as that near the cost of a single pellet bag, but I don't need to clean, a stove, load it, etc. It also stops producing lots of warmth below that.

Eventually, I'm going to DIY solar panels on my roof and have an electrician tie it into the panel. The payback for that install is 6 years due to the high solar score where I live. At that point, my electric bill moves to $35 for the service fee. With the heat pump it went from $70 to $140 or about $2.29 per day, significantly cheaper than running the stove.

For reference, I live at 6,000 feet in elevation in Western CO. Usually at night from December through February it is 15-20 at night and 35-40 during the day. I'm almost through the 14 bags of pellets I had, this year. Moving forward, I think I'm going to burn about .3 tons of pellets a year vs the 2.3 tons I was doing annually.

 

[Mr._Graybeard]

Around here, pellet prices have a fairly reliable dip around Feb. 1. I generally load up 4 tons in the fall on early-buy prices, $210/ton this season, and rebuild the stash when prices decline again. In the last couple weeks I picked up a few tons at $225 per. My old farmhouse eats about 7 tons a season, so I should be good into spring.

 

[Pete Zahria]

Around here, pellet prices have a fairly reliable dip around Feb. 1.

Not here..

 

[Mr._Graybeard]

Not here..

Maybe pellet sources play a role in that. I mostly buy big-box pellets, fairly local brands like Marth and Dejno. They're all hardwood; softwood pellets are pretty rare around here.

 

[rickwai]

Not here..

They are down to about $200/ton at the box stores here.

 

[shtrdave]

I have an Air to Air heat pump also, with the electric coil for auxiliary heat. My electric bill using it goes 250+ a month, without it 120 ish. The pellet stove just makes a warmer more comfortable heat. If I set my electric heat 70 it runs almost constantly and the air coming out of the vents is not something you want blowing on you. The pellet stove is more money to run probably but it is worth it for comfort to me. I liked my free standing propane stove but the cost was way over priced per month.

 

[apixaban]

I got my main floor pellet stove running about a week ago. I have missed being able to actually feel comfortable in the winter. It's amazing. My only issue with it is that the basement isn't heated by it, so I have to run the furnace sometimes manually (cranking the temp way up because the thermostat is a room away from stove). Either that or turn the stove off at night to make sure the furnace warms everything. I was considering placing a 2nd pellet stove in the basement on a thermostat so I didn't need to worry about it. When I checked the mail today I had a bill from the propane company for 496 gallons of propane at $4.19 per gallon. That covers my usage probably from Summer until January 24th, but I'm pretty sure I'll be ordering my second stove on Monday. $2000 bill for propane is... obnoxious.

 

[bogieb]

I got my main floor pellet stove running about a week ago. I have missed being able to actually feel comfortable in the winter. It's amazing. My only issue with it is that the basement isn't heated by it, so I have to run the furnace sometimes manually (cranking the temp way up because the thermostat is a room away from stove). Either that or turn the stove off at night to make sure the furnace warms everything. I was considering placing a 2nd pellet stove in the basement on a thermostat so I didn't need to worry about it. When I checked the mail today I had a bill from the propane company for 496 gallons of propane at $4.19 per gallon. That covers my usage probably from Summer until January 24th, but I'm pretty sure I'll be ordering my second stove on Monday. $2000 bill for propane is... obnoxious.

Yeah, a bill like that will make you rethink things.

 

[bogieb]

I've sorta quit my Englander for my heat pump.

Lots of logic below:

When I bought my house 4 years ago, it just had electric baseboard heat and a 6" chimney for a wood burning stove without an appropriate hearth and the wood burning stove was gone. The cost to installing a boiler, radiator, and a gas line was $16k. Buying the pellet stove was $1.5k while legally installing a wood stove (adding the hearth was about $1.8k). The savings on the stove vs. electric heat had a calculated payback of 3 years.

At the time I didn't have access to a truck/trailer. It was easier to buy and get pellets delivered vs. spending my weekends borrowing gear to acquire firewood. My Englander runs on a programmable thermostat and keeps my house consistently warm.

7 months ago I put in a DIY Mr. Cool brand air to air heat pump because the swamp cooler was partially rotted out when I bought the house. Two summers ago I tried to make the swamp cooler last, I had Flex Sealed and replaced some of the rotted metal, but it was 2 years past its lifespan. Where I live, electric is $.11 kwh, I figured out that the heat pump makes sense down to approximately 15-ish degrees at night because I stay below the 50 kilowatts for the day, which is $5.50 as that near the cost of a single pellet bag, but I don't need to clean, a stove, load it, etc. It also stops producing lots of warmth below that.

Eventually, I'm going to DIY solar panels on my roof and have an electrician tie it into the panel. The payback for that install is 6 years due to the high solar score where I live. At that point, my electric bill moves to $35 for the service fee. With the heat pump it went from $70 to $140 or about $2.29 per day, significantly cheaper than running the stove.

For reference, I live at 6,000 feet in elevation in Western CO. Usually at night from December through February it is 15-20 at night and 35-40 during the day. I'm almost through the 14 bags of pellets I had, this year. Moving forward, I think I'm going to burn about .3 tons of pellets a year vs the 2.3 tons I was doing annually.

I put a minisplit system on my main floor last summer. I have been using it when temps are about 20 and above, and the cost of running it is pretty much neck and neck with running the P43 (I run cheaper pellets). Technically I could run it down to 5*, but at lower temps I prefer the pellet stove.

I would love to go solar but from about mid November to mid January, it is pretty much terminally overcast, which means it wouldn't be useful during the heating season. Found this useful graph (almost at bottom of page) for my town which pretty much tells the story.

 

[stoveliker]

If there is yearly net metering, it would still be a good opportunity.

 

[Tiggar61]

That’s why I like my pellet stove 4 tons of pellets delivered for 1157.00 and heat is paid for the season. Only use oil for hot water a tank full lasts over a year.

 

[Tonyray]

That’s why I like my pellet stove 4 tons of pellets delivered for 1157.00 and heat is paid for the season. Only use oil for hot water a tank full lasts over a year.

Same here. 4 tons.. oil for hot water.

 

[mralias]

Been burning pellets for 15 years. This year paid $1400.00 for three tons of very good pellets. Monthly cost based on one bag per day average $297. Also had 4 mini-split heads with heat pump installed this year. Using those to heat the house monthly cost an additional $50 per month. Guess what my pellet stove is doing this year.

 

[Tonyray]

Been burning pellets for 15 years. This year paid $1400.00 for three tons of very good pellets. Monthly cost based on one bag per day average $297. Also had 4 mini-split heads with heat pump installed this year. Using those to heat the house monthly cost an additional $50 per month. Guess what my pellet stove is doing this year.

I pay around 300.00 ton for 4 tons yearly. Buy good softwoods..

 

[laynes69]

I always pay more per gallon for propane than average price / gallon for those that use at least 1,000 gallons. Doesn't matter the provider I use (I've switched). Right now the average price in NH is $3.72/gal and I would not be surprised for my cost to be $5.50 or more/gal. I was paying over $5.50/gal winter of 2013-14 - and that was getting ~230 gal/month to run the boiler. Last spring, when prices were $3.53/gal, I paid $4.15/gal (which I thought was pretty darn reasonable because I usually pay a lot more than the average).

View attachment 288670 View attachment 288671

I'm a wood burner and I was dealing with inflated LP pricing and fees. About 6 or so years ago I purchased a 500 gallon LP tank. It has been the best investment we've done. We pick our price and fill about every 4 to 5 years.

For all those who have been burning pellets for 10-15 years+, with the current advancement's in wood burning would you save over pellets? I'm just playing devils advocate, but there's no getting up at 2am or anything like that. We are at 99% wood now.

 

[bogieb]

I'm a wood burner and I was dealing with inflated LP pricing and fees. About 6 or so years ago I purchased a 500 gallon LP tank. It has been the best investment we've done. We pick our price and fill about every 4 to 5 years.

For all those who have been burning pellets for 10-15 years+, with the current advancement's in wood burning would you save over pellets? I'm just playing devils advocate, but there's no getting up at 2am or anything like that. We are at 99% wood now.

Average cost for cordwood around here is $355. Per MBTU, it is actually more expensive than propane, while pellets are only more expensive than natural gas or air source heat pumps. But that chart shows wood heat at 50% efficiency, so higher efficiency stoves would drop that number. Also, if you can get your wood for free, that is a game changer.

 

[bogieb]

If there is yearly net metering, it would still be a good opportunity.

Well, my average bill is $75 at 381 kwh. Most companies won't even talk to you unless you average at least $100/month.

 

[rickwai]

I pay around 300.00 ton for 4 tons yearly. Buy good softwoods..

Man, you guys get skinned on pellets out east. In season highest here in Central OH is $250-260/ Ton. You can get Somersets preseason and others around now for $200/ton.

 

[stoveliker]

Well, my average bill is $75 at 381 kwh. Most companies won't even talk to you unless you average at least $100/month.

I used 11 kWh per day on average when installed.

 

[laynes69]

Average cost for cordwood around here is $355. Per MBTU, it is actually more expensive than propane, while pellets are only more expensive than natural gas or air source heat pumps. But that chart shows wood heat at 50% efficiency, so higher efficiency stoves would drop that number. Also, if you can get your wood for free, that is a game changer.

Free can be objective......tractors, splitters, saws...etc. However the equipment to maintain a property in the country. Around here a cord of wood can be obtained for around 125. Propane we paid 1.30 a gallon at the highest (we own our tank). Not sure the price of pellets, but cordwood in other areas/states is ridiculous! So I guess if I had to pay the prices of cordwood...I'd seek out alternatives.

 

[shtrdave]

Cord wood here seems to run 250 give or take from what I have seen. I don't look at it to much, pellets for me were 240 plus 30 per for delivery. 810 for my 3 tons delivered and stacked.
They brought propane for the stove last week 4.84 a gallon.
If I could get it for 1.30/gallon I would be putting the propane stove back in I think. It was ventless no messing with it other than dusting it now and then. I would probably find one with a blower of some sort on it if I were buying.