Trying to figure out how much money Pellet stove will save

[Owen1508]

I read at the lowest setting min pallets use is 1 bag a day. .

A low setting on most pellet stoves is 1 lb/hr. that would be 24 lbs. a day. Although that is not a good way to figure if you will save money. Use the BTU calculator, but sometimes the saving doesn't pay.

Math is our friend... Here's one calculator from Efficiency Maine and another from this site (just click on the words).

 

[Deromax]

Wines and liquors are sold by our monopoly state-run stores at inflated price by clerks paid like 23$ an hour. Not counting various taxes. I'm pretty sure we have the most expensive alchool in north america!

But we disgress!

 

[canuck_22]

Wines and liquors are sold by our monopoly state-run stores at inflated price by clerks paid like 23$ an hour. Not counting various taxes. I'm pretty sure we have the most expensive alchool in north america!

But we disgress!

Case of 24 Stella in Ont is $48, Costco on the Que. side $28

 

[hyfire]

Pellets have cut my heating costs in half. The warm glow of the fire in a corner of my living room is a nice bonus.

This is impossible what are your comparing it to?

 

[TimfromMA]

This is impossible what are your comparing it to?

We were using 900 gallons of oil per year compared with 300 now. Our savings are the cost of 600 gallons of oil compared with 3.5 tons of pellets.

 

[hyfire]

How much are you paying per gallon of oil and per bag of pellets?

 

[TimfromMA]

Oil is a bit cheaper this year and we went to a higher end pellet so our savings percentage has declined but I won't know just how much until we see how many pellets I use this year. Last year, however, I paid $300 per ton for pellets and $3.60 per gallon for oil.

 

[canuck_22]

We were using 900 gallons of oil per year compared with 300 now. Our savings are the cost of 600 gallons of oil compared with 3.5 tons of pellets.

600 USG here in Ontario is $2796, 3.5 tons of pellets is $1088, therefore a difference of $1708

But as you are still burning 300 USG, that here is worth $1397, net diff is $311.

Am I correct here?

 

[hyfire]

lets do some math, 1 gal oil =140k but approx. 140,000/3.60= 38888 btu per dollar. one ton pellets at $300 a ton is $6 a bag 1 bag=320000 BTU( 8000 btu/lb x 40 lbs) so 320000 btu/6= 53,333 btu per dollar.

53333/38888= 1.37 or 37% more heat for the same cost. Based on 100% efficiency of both methods.

 

[Boomer Sailor]

Here in Ontario I'm at $4200 for the year, I'll have to wait a full season before I can make the determination. It will cost me $900 for 3 tons of pellets, how much I use versus how much I lower my bill, wait and see.

I have a totally electric house as well (electric baseboard heat, electric stove, clothes dryer and water heater) - about 2,300 sq. ft. and whereas my 'balanced' electric bill would be $400/month! (non-heat = $125/month base amount for daily usage) In other words, ~ $3,300 for HEAT. I didn't have a full heating season with my pellets this past year, but I expect to burn 4 tons of pellets or so.

 

[hyfire]

I have a totally electric house as well (electric baseboard heat, electric stove, clothes dryer and water heater) - about 2,300 sq. ft. and whereas my 'balanced' electric bill would be $400/month! (non-heat = $125/month base amount for daily usage) In other words, ~ $3,300 for HEAT. I didn't have a full heating season with my pellets this past year, but I expect to burn 4 tons of pellets or so.

I would dump the electric heat totally and insulate the place and go with a few ducltess split heat pumps and the pellet stove.......

 

[pastera]

This is impossible what are your comparing it to?

Not impossible
My older boiler is only 83% efficient on the burner, adding in delivery efficiency and the total efficiency is in the low 70's

Between wood and pellets, I am using zero oil and heating the house to 68-70 versus 60-62 using 1000 gallons/year.

 

[Boomer Sailor]

I personally enjoy watching the stove more than a heat duct

PRICELESS!! With all the back and forth on this site about good pellets/cheap pellets, good stove/bad stoves, same for wood stoves, coal stoves, etc... the one thing 99.99% of us have in common - we can sit, watch, enjoy, love and never get tired from having a fire all day long for several months at a time. Plus after a few months hiatus (April/May - September/October) we are all not so secretly waiting and wanting to watch that fire going all over again!

 

[Boomer Sailor]

I would dump the electric heat totally and insulate the place and go with a few ducltess split heat pumps and the pellet stove.......

My house is VERY well insulated - we here in Connecticut also pay ~ $0.10 - $0.12/kW, so the intention here is to stop using electricity for heat! As for converting to oil, well, that nowadays is more expensive than electric with a much great price volatility. (Last month on the news... Connecticut Light & Power was asking for a rate increase of about 7%+ or so...)

 

[TimfromMA]

600 USG here in Ontario is $2796, 3.5 tons of pellets is $1088, therefore a difference of $1708

But as you are still burning 300 USG, that here is worth $1397, net diff is $311.

Am I correct here?

I was using 900 gallons, now 300. 600 gallons less overall.

 

[Tonyray]

2,000 yr Heating bill before Pellet Stove.
1,000 yr for Pellets last year and noticably warmer since not running thermostat at 67 degrees to save Oil.
besides, we like the Constant heat as opposed to cooling down of the baseboard heat before furnace would fire up again.
Regardless of all the figuring out and calculating going on here, don't think anyone is getting rid of the pellet stove anytime soon../

 

[alternativeheat]

2,000 yr Heating bill before Pellet Stove.
1,000 yr for Pellets last year and noticably warmer since not running thermostat at 67 degrees to save Oil.
besides, we like the Constant heat as opposed to cooling down of the baseboard heat before furnace would fire up again.
Regardless of all the figuring out and calculating going on here, don't think anyone is getting rid of the pellet stove anytime soon../

No we will keep ours for sure ! Like you we are warmer by a large amount for less money. I don't think we are seeing your difference or Tims but it is a difference and it is warmer in the house.

 

[canuck_22]

I am confident we will do well also, between the stove, the heat pump and the hrv with the output in the same room as the stove we should be able to move the hot air around. The Convectairs will be set at 60 strictly as a fail safe.

 

[alternativeheat]

I am confident we will do well also, between the stove, the heat pump and the hrv with the output in the same room as the stove we should be able to move the hot air around. The Convectairs will be set at 60 strictly as a fail safe.

Our P61 heats the whole house. When we had my self built coal stove in the same spot which had no blower on it that did not heat everything. Not in the early hours of the am as it approached tending time or on a blustering single digit day. But I did not turn the Main heating system down at all. Because if or when it ran it was not on long or very often and the house stayed way more comfortable. We saved a lot of oil over the years and stayed warm. In fact often I turned the temp up not down from where I ran it with no stove going. To turn the heat down you freeze your butt off in our house if the stove isn't quite cutting it. I live on my house to be comfortable living. If I wanted to be uncomfortable I'd live in a tent.

 

[Phoenix Hatchling]

My house is VERY well insulated - we here in Connecticut also pay ~ $0.10 - $0.12/kW, so the intention here is to stop using electricity for heat! As for converting to oil, well, that nowadays is more expensive than electric with a much great price volatility. (Last month on the news... Connecticut Light & Power was asking for a rate increase of about 7%+ or so...)

Actually CLPs rate for delivery of electric equals our monthly usage. Huge price and I'm hearing increases of 25% for delivery alone! These rates I hear people quoting here are only a pipe dream for us!

 

[hyfire]

WIth all these hyrdo rates going up the only way is to go with the heat pump, and a pellet stove when that can't keep up anymore...

 

[Boomer Sailor]

Actually CLPs rate for delivery of electric equals our monthly usage. Huge price and I'm hearing increases of 25% for delivery alone! These rates I hear people quoting here are only a pipe dream for us!

OMG yes I know - how true!

 

[Boomer Sailor]

WIth all these hyrdo rates going up the only way is to go with the heat pump, and a pellet stove when that can't keep up anymore...

True, if we lived were you do, a pellet stove could never keep up. However, much further south in balmy Connecticut a good pellet stove can do just fine

 

[thundercracker]

Oil is a bit cheaper this year and we went to a higher end pellet so our savings percentage has declined but I won't know just how much until we see how many pellets I use this year. Last year, however, I paid $300 per ton for pellets and $3.60 per gallon for oil.

great forum and thread. i'm on the fence about getting a pellet stove. live in greater boston area, on a street where there is zero chance ever of getting a gas line in. Oil last year run me about $550/mth, for my 2000 sq ft. house(2 floors, colonial). Oil is at $3.50/gal right now. I'm thinking if i get a pellet stove insert (have a fireplace already) i would mainly use it to make the main floor comfortable 70 degrees. I would still have to use oil to heat the 2nd floor, although during the daytime, i wouldn't keep 2nd floor that warm. (have 2 babies at home all day)

i'd like to hear some more real-life stories of:
a) people who still use oil to heat a 2nd floor, like i would and how much oil would they use from say October - April

my concerns with a pellet stove include:
- possible rising cost of pellets
- availabilty of pellets (wasnt there a shortage last year)?



thanks again.

 

[TimfromMA]

great forum and thread. i'm on the fence about getting a pellet stove. live in greater boston area, on a street where there is zero chance ever of getting a gas line in. Oil last year run me about $550/mth, for my 2000 sq ft. house(2 floors, colonial). Oil is at $3.50/gal right now. I'm thinking if i get a pellet stove insert (have a fireplace already) i would mainly use it to make the main floor comfortable 70 degrees. I would still have to use oil to heat the 2nd floor, although during the daytime, i wouldn't keep 2nd floor that warm. (have 2 babies at home all day)

i'd like to hear some more real-life stories of:
a) people who still use oil to heat a 2nd floor, like i would and how much oil would they use from say October - April

my concerns with a pellet stove include:
- possible rising cost of pellets
- availabilty of pellets (wasnt there a shortage last year)?



thanks again.

I may have said this before but I don't feel like reading the whole thread to remind myself so here goes again.

I have 2 floors and my pellet stove is upstairs on our main level. We keep the oil thermostat downstairs set at 50. Our upper level is approximately 1800 sqft. Before pellets, we used to use about 900 gallons of heating oil per year. After pellets, oil consumption dropped to 300 gallons. Most of that oil use is for hot water and a tiny amount of heat downstairs. We use 3.5 tons of pellets per year so our savings is the cost difference between 600 gallons of oil and 3.5 tons of pellets.

As far as the cost of pellets rising, they are. Most areas seem to be seeing about a $20 per ton rise in price over last year but it's still quite a bit cheaper than oil.

Shortages are a real possibility. If you have the means to do so, you can shield yourself from shortages by buying all your pellets for next season in the Spring which is usually when local dealers offer discounts.