Total pellet usage in North PA - Southern NY?

[cjweaver13]

I'm just curious everybody's average pellet usage per season around Northern PA and Southern NY. We live about 30 minutes south of Binghamton on the mountain and this is our first year with a pellet stove and I'm trying to heat 100% with it without having to turn on the bedroom propane stove or electric baseboard with a Harman Accentra freestanding 40k BTU.

It's an older house that's not insulated the best and is about 1700sq/ft, but about 500 or so is an upstairs loft that's right above the stove so that takes care of itself. Last year with the propane stove it ran a good 5 degrees warmer than the rest of the house since the warm air rises into it. We keep the upstairs fan on and blowing down to keep the air moving off the ceiling back down. So about 1200sq/ft or so is the downstairs, and I already found I need a fan pointed out from the bedroom and master bath to bring the heat in there, but can keep it within a couple degree or less of the main area.

Having no idea how many tons to buy, and a somewhat limited storage area since there's no basement (2 car detached garage used for storage) we bought 4 tons to start with. It seems this might be in the ballpark depending on the winter and other factors, but I'm kind of suspecting we might end up needing an extra ton or 2 by February/March keeping the house between 68-70. So far I've been using room temp mode and manual ignition to keep constant radiant heat. These are the first properly cold days here (40 high and 25 low) and I'm using maybe about 1 to 1.5 bags a day and know it will get colder still.

 

[hinkle]

Just south of 80 near the Ohio boarder. We use 4 ton to heat our 900 sq ft cape cod, that has a basement with an insulated single garage door but no insulation in the unfinished ceiling. 900 does not include the unheated basement. When it gets cold we typically use an infrared heater to supplement.

The 2020/2021 season a friend gave us approximately 30 bags of pellets for helping them move, the new house did not have a stove, and we did not go through them all, after using the 4 ton we regularly buy. We were the work from home crowd so the stove was running non stop.

 

[ABusWrench]

I buy 6 ton a year. Have used 5 ton all the way to 6 1/2 ton in a year. Last year we had about 25 bags left from the year before, bought 5 ton, had 19 bags left as last winter was mild here. So 4 ton should be a good starting point. You'll know a lot more come spring.

 

[whit]

For a 500 sq ft wing in southern Vermont, about 2 tons has done it. So I'd second the rough guess of starting with 4 for a whole house. Also, buy now if you've space to store them. Price will be going up and availability down as the winter progresses, especially this year. In other words, if you've space for more than 4 tons and they'll stay dry, don't worry about having some left over for next year. They keep just fine.

 

[johneh]

That my friend is a loaded question!
That is like buying a new car and asking other
owners how much gas will I need over the next year
I use between 3 and 4 tons most years but over the last 22 years
I have used as many as 5 tons all depends on the winter
Buy 3 or 4 by spring you will have a pretty good idea
what you will need next winter.

 

[Montecarlossfan]

1400 sq feet , 4-5 tons here in CT , depends on how cold it is through the winter , I always buy more than I need as I can always burn it next year.

 

[tbear853]

I have used 3 tons in a year, even 4 tons but was cold winters. Normally, just about 2 to 3 tons a year. We just started it yesterday. My stove is much like an accentra, 40k, free standing. Last bunch of years, fill in with infared. Stove is in LR below loft. MBR is up here with loft. I very rarely run it over about 9 or 10 o;clock on dial, it'll run you out of the house.

 

[Copakekid]

I live in Eastern NY, in an old 2 story farm house, poorly insulated except for an addition built 25 years ago, with a stone foundation. Set the hot water heat to 62 upstairs and the pellet stove does the rest.

Usually go through 2 1/2 to 3 tons per year and that has been the average throughout the 12 years we have had our Harman P61A.

When the weather goes below freezing I usually shut down the stove and let the furnace run so I don't have water pipe problems. Depending on the weather the stove could be off for a couple of days or a week.

We bought 5 ton this year to have enough on hand. If we don't use them this year, we will use them next year.

 

[lowb35]

Western part of the NY Southern Tier here on the I-86 corridor. About half way between Binghamton and Jamestown. In an old 2300 sq ft farmhouse with insulated windows and foot thick walls, so it could be worse, but it’s still an old farmhouse. My husband worked in the Binghamton area until not that long ago and our climate is really similar to what you have there assuming you are in the hills to the south. This is our fourth winter here and our first home heating with pellets. I keep increasing my pellet buy every year but this year I got 5 tons and it’s looking like I may not be scrounging around at the tail end of the heating season like I have been. Last year we burned a little over 4 tons. The stove is our main source of heat. We have electric baseboards upstairs but we don’t use them that much unless there is a deep freeze. Our issue here isn’t so much that it gets really cold but more that the heating season can start as early as mid October and go as late as mid May. (Not uncommon to have snow as late as May 15). We have a Eco-Choice (Quad) CAB50.

 

[Tonyray]

I'm just curious everybody's average pellet usage per season around Northern PA and Southern NY. We live about 30 minutes south of Binghamton on the mountain and this is our first year with a pellet stove and I'm trying to heat 100% with it without having to turn on the bedroom propane stove or electric baseboard with a Harman Accentra freestanding 40k BTU.

It's an older house that's not insulated the best and is about 1700sq/ft, but about 500 or so is an upstairs loft that's right above the stove so that takes care of itself. Last year with the propane stove it ran a good 5 degrees warmer than the rest of the house since the warm air rises into it. We keep the upstairs fan on and blowing down to keep the air moving off the ceiling back down. So about 1200sq/ft or so is the downstairs, and I already found I need a fan pointed out from the bedroom and master bath to bring the heat in there, but can keep it within a couple degree or less of the main area.

Having no idea how many tons to buy, and a somewhat limited storage area since there's no basement (2 car detached garage used for storage) we bought 4 tons to start with. It seems this might be in the ballpark depending on the winter and other factors, but I'm kind of suspecting we might end up needing an extra ton or 2 by February/March keeping the house between 68-70. So far I've been using room temp mode and manual ignition to keep constant radiant heat. These are the first properly cold days here (40 high and 25 low) and I'm using maybe about 1 to 1.5 bags a day and know it will get colder still.

1600 sq 2 story 1920 house. Northwest of Phila,PA. Harman P61A. We heat 24/7 most of winter and use approximately 4 tons per season. Our downstairs we keep at 74. Our stove is directly across from 2nd floor stairs. We keep a small ceilingvfan at top of steps. ( key is to have it clockwise on lowest speed.) Keeps upstairs bedrooms ( 3) around 67 degrees. Any faster and u get a draft. House is poorly insulated but with the stove on most times doesn't matter. Continuous heat blowing. We also burn top softwoods which are much higher in Btu per hour than standard box store hardwoods. Also have never had to run the harman at full out throttle.