Total Pellet Usage is Ridiculous!

[bdud]

Previous year I used ~3.2 tons of pellets in an insert @ 72F, used a heat pump when above 30F outside, 590 gallons of oil for hot water and heating for basement, tv room and basement with a ~2,660ft colonial, 5 adults.
Fired up our new pellet boiler in October, supplies heat to whole house and hot water (use lots of that). The pellet insert stove is just used for a couple of hours in the morning and evening for the nice flames and supplement heat. The boiler has used 2.82 tons, maybe 0.2 tons in the stove and no oil or heat pump used at all.
We heat the house at 70 - 71F and myself and others often work from home and often kick up the temp during the week, when otherwise it goes to 65-68F, warmer and more consistent than the previous year.
So for us we are seeing maybe the same pellet usage as last year but a lot less electricity from not using the heat pump and humidifier and no oil usage.

 

[CBL]

Just about on par to burn 3.5T this year. This is keeping my 1700 sq foot home between 74-77 degrees, we use around 150-200 gallons of oil for hot water and heating the finished basement. I spent around $1000 on 4 tons of pellets before the season, I figure I used $875 of that. To burn oil with the temps I've been keeping I would have blown through at least $3000 in oil.

 

[TradEddie]

Why do you have to "baby sit" your insert??

I'm just a weekend warrior with wood burning. I'm away for 12 hours most weekdays, more if II try have a social life, and I'm paid well enough that I'm happy to let the propane furnace do the work 5 days a week. I've got enough "free" wood on my property to supply a cord or so each year, but not to burn 24/7. If I'm burning, I feel no need to babysit that insert more than fifteen or twenty minutes. Many here seem unwilling to leave the house with a stove burning, me I'd prefer to be somewhere else if the house does burn down...

TE

 

[tjnamtiw]

aww come on....you'll have a better nights sleep because of it !!

Its my understanding that its not necessarily about the BTU, it means if coal can be purchased under $370 per ton than its cheaper to use coal vs pellets @ $250 a ton. So coal would have to be $371 a ton for pellets to be the better VALUE @ $250 a ton.

I changed some wording in the OP.....

Yea, but electricity is a better deal at $0.64 per kwh????? That sure can't be right! No one's rate is that high. There's another thread about electric costs going right now.

 

[Ktm300]

I'm just a weekend warrior with wood burning. I'm away for 12 hours most weekdays, more if II try have a social life, and I'm paid well enough that I'm happy to let the propane furnace do the work 5 days a week. I've got enough "free" wood on my property to supply a cord or so each year, but not to burn 24/7. If I'm burning, I feel no need to babysit that insert more than fifteen or twenty minutes. Many here seem unwilling to leave the house with a stove burning, me I'd prefer to be somewhere else if the house does burn down...

TE

"Free" I like that. We live in a "free" country.

 

[wsar10]

Yea, but electricity is a better deal at $0.64 per kwh????? That sure can't be right! No one's rate is that high. There's another thread about electric costs going right now.

damn it will you just quit thinking about it
Your confusing both of us !!

But yeah, your correct I had the electric rate correct the first time, somebody just confused $ with cents so I changed it without really thinking about what I typed......
I changed it again !!

 

[tjnamtiw]

damn it will you just quit thinking about it
Your confusing both of us !!

But yeah, your correct I had the electric rate correct the first time, somebody just confused $ with cents so I changed it without really thinking about what I typed......
I changed it again !!

ha ha ha. One more beer and everything will be perfect

 

[Polar Bear]

ha ha ha. One more beer and everything will be perfect

He's right. It's all good.

 

[Snowy Rivers]

The thought of spending $1200 +++++ to heat my home for the winter is depressing to say the least.

We have 3 pellet stoves in our home, and run 2 of them on nut shells, which are a waste product.

Average cost to heat our 2300+ Sq Ft ranch style house has been about $100 for the entire heating season.

Back a few years, we used pellets exclusively and it took about 3 ton or so to gitterdone.

We currently purchase about 7800 pounds of shells through the fall/winter.
This also leaves enough to start the fall season and get us to late November, when the plant starts processing again.

At 1.5 cents a pound, this is just too good to pass up

Pellets cost about 12.5 cents a pound (or more)

Do look into alternative fuels.
Hazelnut shells
Walnut shells
Pecan shells
Various other things as well will run fine through a pellet stove.

The Harman stoves will digest shells very well

We are running 2 Whitfields as our main line stoves, and a Quadrafire 1000 as a backup.
Sadly, the Quad will not feed shells (Auger will not handle that material. The Quad uses an open spiral and not a true closed flight auger)

Pellet stoves are a way of life here at our house.

Snowy

 

[PoolGuyinCT]

My pellet consumption is up a big 30% this season.... But, we are worm & wife isn't fiddling with the oil t-stat.

Waking up to. 70degree house is wonderful. It has been a freezing azz winter, but early in the season I said "screw this we are going to be warm" and let the quad rip.

 

[wsar10]

The thought of spending $1200 +++++ to heat my home for the winter is depressing to say the least.

We have 3 pellet stoves in our home, and run 2 of them on nut shells, which are a waste product.

Average cost to heat our 2300+ Sq Ft ranch style house has been about $100 for the entire heating season.

Back a few years, we used pellets exclusively and it took about 3 ton or so to gitterdone.

We currently purchase about 7800 pounds of shells through the fall/winter.
This also leaves enough to start the fall season and get us to late November, when the plant starts processing again.

At 1.5 cents a pound, this is just too good to pass up

Pellets cost about 12.5 cents a pound (or more)

Do look into alternative fuels.
Hazelnut shells
Walnut shells
Pecan shells
Various other things as well will run fine through a pellet stove.

The Harman stoves will digest shells very well

We are running 2 Whitfields as our main line stoves, and a Quadrafire 1000 as a backup.
Sadly, the Quad will not feed shells (Auger will not handle that material. The Quad uses an open spiral and not a true closed flight auger)

Pellet stoves are a way of life here at our house.

Snowy

Can I burn such things in my Big-E ??
I have a venue for walnut shells, same place we get cocoa shells (for fertilizer and mulch)

and FWIW, it would cost allot more than $100 to heat if your moving 7000lbs of material But I get your point.

 

[bdaoust]

I burned about 3 1/2 tons, but also a tank of oil because a) weather was so cold I was worried about pipe freeze and b) I had the flu real bad and it took me out for over a week and I couldn't tend to the pellets.

Overall, about $1,500 to heat a 1,200 sqft not well insulated Cape.

 

[Fixedblade]

My Harman P68 burns thru a little over a ton per month during the VT heating season. That's to heat my 200+ year old 2800 square foot house. It is well insulated and the Harman is the sole source unless it gets REAL cold and I fire up the wood furnance or worst yet the oil furnace. That hasn't come on in 2 years..

 

[_CY_]

Wood is not free. There's also no such thing as a free lunch. It saves on a gym membership..and there's nothing like the smell of a 2 stroke in the morning.

wood I've been getting hauled to me is free .. but labor/saw/splitter processing wood is not ...
here in Tulsa we've got a free wood dump for the entire city. wood is free there for the hauling.
simply show up with your trailer for all the wood one desires to haul off for free.

 

[BrotherBart]

Trees? Oklahoma got trees?

BB - Native Texan that loves to pick on Okies.

 

[_CY_]

Oh no... Its frustrating to discuss this subject with a "wood burner" There seems to be some here who are able to harvest wood for "peanuts" Its been several years since I have burned wood, but I remember having to purchase ....Hi test fuel(anything less is risky) for my saw(stil 361) and my splitter (28 ton) and my truck(obviously reg fuel). This combined with chains, bar oil, 2 cycle oil, chain saw bar's, gloves, gator-aid...and other costs (time being a major contributor) I was un-able to avoid or exaggerate to the LOW side.
I have also in my wood burning career..(off and on I have burned wood 30+ years)... Add 1 new chimney(long time ago...forgot how much $$) 2 chimney fires (second cost me a SS liner $$$ ??) as well as the mess...

for me it's takes one major score per year. a 5ft DBH Oak takedown delivered to your house for free usually generates 3 to 4 cords of prime Oak. with my old JUCA insert that would be about one year's supply. now with Buck 91 that would be about two years of wood in one load.

taking my time with my son helping .. takes about a week on and off to cut/split/stack wood. actual hours spent would be closer to 2 full days for two or about 32 man hours. a small price to pay for in terms of labor for two years of heat.

I'm a chainsaw nut so have got way more saws then needed. so several thousand $$ invested in chainsaws and 35ton splitter. which I view as an investment for those pro-Stihl saws will always be worth about what I paid. same for 35ton splitter and rest of my tools. if you follow the rule of never paying more for a tool than you can reasonably hope to sell it for.

 

[_CY_]

Trees? Oklahoma got trees?

BB - Native Texan that loves to pick on Okies.

yup we've got big trees here in okie land ..City of Tulsa has been threatening to take away our free green waste dump. which would take away our free wood source