Wood Burner going Pellet I think

[bags]

Highbeam,
I looked at them some more and they are really cool. There are many more BTU's to stretch out and use with the gasification instead of them rolling up the flue. The stated long burn times are basically idling "low burn" per the manufacturer. I could see 30 hrs in the shoulder season but 12 hrs like you stated in the cold is more of a true number. No one is getting 30 to 40 or 50 hour averages on a regular basis all year long. Wonder what the average burn on the King model is in real world consistent times? Do you think those guys are seeing 24 hrs on a daily basis in the cold, cold? That would be awesome hitting average burn time numbers like that. How many BK owners do you know of here approximately?

Still what the BK does do is leaps and bounds above the rest from what little I've read so far. Is there any different maintenance or special stuff you need to do running one? Just clean the ash like "typical" stoves? What about not fully seasoned wood? I know that's not ideal burning in any wood burner but what happens if you do happen to? Does the catalytic require special treatment?

Sorry for the barrage of questions but like I said I am very curious here. Also I do like these pellet stoves for the ease but I will always have some type of wood burner ready to go because I know I always have wood to burn. I also like having options. If they start jacking up pellets to ridiculous prices then I will burn wood.

 

[Tonyray]

I know nothing about wood stoves other than someone needs to get up before dawn and add wood to keep Big fire going.
Reason I went with pellets to not have to worry bout it for at least 14 hrs or more with a bag thrown in.

 

[tjnamtiw]

I was reading the literature too, bags,and they quote a btu/hr figure that you can get consistently for 8 or 9 hours in most cases. Those numbers seem high enough to keep your house plenty warm and require 2-3 loadings per day. I think that the one big advantage the BK's have apparently are humungous burn chambers that hold a LOT of wood to give those burn times coupled with the claimed higher efficiency. I had a catalytic converter type wood insert before I switched out to pellets and you had to get the stove up to a certain temperature before engaging the converter into the exhaust. If it wasn't hot enough or fell below a certain temp, the converter stopped working and plugged up. I wonder if and how they solved that problem.

 

[F4jock]

Though I have an unlimited supply of free wood and coal is cheap around here I'll never burn anything other than pellets because no wood or coal stove has the flexibility of my Harman.

 

[bags]

Though I have an unlimited supply of free wood and coal is cheap around here I'll never burn anything other than pellets because no wood or coal stove has the flexibility of my Harman.

BINGO!
I am thrilled with how much easier burning pellets has made my winters. Night and day. I keep my wood inside a barn and it is about 30 yards away from a rear door I go out. The OWB is next to the barn and not far. It was a drag after you get all cozy on the couch and then have to gear up and go out in the cold to load a wheel barrow and then throw it in the OWB. Easy in wood burning terms and no dragging messy stuff into the house but can not be compared to the 20 or 30 seconds it takes to cut open a bag and dump one wearing shorts and flip flops. Like being at the beach comparatively speaking.

 

[F4jock]

BINGO!
I am thrilled with how much easier burning pellets has made my winters. Night and day. I keep my wood inside a barn and it is about 30 yards away from a rear door I go out. The OWB is next to the barn and not far. It was a drag after you get all cozy on the couch and then have to gear up and go out in the cold to load a wheel barrow and then throw it in the OWB. Easy in wood burning terms and no dragging messy stuff into the house but can not be compared to the 20 or 30 seconds it takes to cut open a bag and dump one wearing shorts and flip flops. Like being at the beach comparatively speaking.

And the maintenence is so much less. . . .

 

[SKOAL MAN]

Though I have an unlimited supply of free wood and coal is cheap around here I'll never burn anything other than pellets because no wood or coal stove has the flexibility of my Harman.

You will be wishing your harmen was flexible enough to burn wood when pellets are $10 a bag.

 

[SKOAL MAN]

And the maintenence is so much less. . . .

How is the maintenance so much less? I load my pellet stove twice a day, I loaded my reburn wood stove 2-3 times a day. I clean my pellet vent 2-3 times per season, cleaned wood stove chimney once at the start of each season. I empty ash out of my pellet stove a couple times a week, my wood stove was once a week. Take apart a wood stove and vacuum never? Change gaskets,auger motor,fan, combustion fan! I don't understand how this is less maintenance! The wood stove usually got fired up in late October and never shut down until the end of March.

 

[F4jock]

You will be wishing your harmen was flexible enough to burn wood when pellets are $10 a bag.

Nope. And if pellets go to ten a bag I'll burn oil.

 

[F4jock]

How is the maintenance so much less? I load my pellet stove twice a day, I loaded my reburn wood stove 2-3 times a day. I clean my pellet vent 2-3 times per season, cleaned wood stove chimney once at the start of each season. I empty ash out of my pellet stove a couple times a week, my wood stove was once a week. Take apart a wood stove and vacuum never? Change gaskets,auger motor,fan, combustion fan! I don't understand how this is less maintenance! The wood stove usually got fired up in late October and never shut down until the end of March.

Apparently your pellet burner isn't a Harman.

 

[SmokeEater]

I have burned wood for a long time. You can have at it. Tons of work and I have done it both ways with stoves and a boiler. Went with a Woodmaster 5500 OWB ten years ago because I wanted to load it once or twice a day instead of a non-stop around the clock wood chucking operation required with wood stoves. I have many friends that also burn wood with many different stoves. Same non-stop wood processing and wood chucking around the clock.

Burning with an indoor stove is not a load it once or twice a day proposition. No way in hell. I'd like to see that magical stove! Did it come with a unicorn? ...............................

...................It was a no brainer and a back saver here. Not to mention how much time it has freed up. Read up a bunch and research as to which stove and price point works best for you. I am very happy with my choices.

I burn more pellets in my boiler than the average pellet stove owner, cuz I'm heating the entire 3000 sq ft. with the pellets. So I burn about 3 bags per day in this mid 20 degree weather. Keeping the main floor at 71 and the cellar at 75. I only scrape and vacuum the pot once a week. I've emptied the ash pan twice this fall. This Harman is a very low maintenance. I might have spent 15 minutes scraping and vacuuming the pot, emptying the ash pan and cleaning the glass (small area of glass on this model).

 

[SKOAL MAN]

Apparently your pellet burner isn't a Harman.

Sorry I forgot, the mythical Harman only burns a bag of pellets a week an has the self cleaning option.

 

[F4jock]

Sorry I forgot, the mythical Harman only burns a bag of pellets a week an has the self cleaning option.

Whatever. See the post above. You wanna cut, split and stack God bless. Not my cuppa. Had a wood burner. Never again!

 

[bags]

How is the maintenance so much less? I load my pellet stove twice a day, I loaded my reburn wood stove 2-3 times a day. I clean my pellet vent 2-3 times per season, cleaned wood stove chimney once at the start of each season. I empty ash out of my pellet stove a couple times a week, my wood stove was once a week. Take apart a wood stove and vacuum never? Change gaskets,auger motor,fan, combustion fan! I don't understand how this is less maintenance! The wood stove usually got fired up in late October and never shut down until the end of March.

Skoal Man,
My friend that is not where the work lies buddy. It's in the CSS. Getting and processing wood. It's humping and carrying all the wood. Firewood is much more work than a 40lb. bag. Even if you hump and stack your tons. My pellets I touch once. Grab it and into the hopper it goes. I guess you could also count grabbing the empty bag and tossing it into the trash too to be technical. I still have a wood burning insert and another small stove in a hobby area too. Along with the OWB.

I have heated with wood only for many years and this winter is the easiest I have had for almost two decades. Cutting and processing wood you can also throw in maintenance time and such in for the chainsaws, chain sharpening and so forth too. All in all no matter how you cut it wood is much more work than pellets overall.

 

[NHcpa]

Since I have both pellet and wood, nothing beats the convenience of flipping a switch for pellet. HOWEVER, the pellet sux miles over in the cleaning department and nothing heats like a wood stove cranking away. Oil is the easiest of both and if prices continue to decline, will be using more of!

 

[bags]

Also keep in mind I have reduced my wood handling much more than most. CSS, gather and into the dump truck it goes. Dump truck backs into a barn and dumps it into a pile. The next time it's touched is when it gets chucked in for the burn. Most people handle their wood much more than me. I save that for the wife.

 

[BrotherBart]

I always love how the cord wood versus pellet discussions assume cutting and splitting the wood. Two tons of split Oak delivered and dumped is around the same price as going and hauling a ton of pellets home.

 

[Highbeam]

Highbeam,
I looked at them some more and they are really cool. There are many more BTU's to stretch out and use with the gasification instead of them rolling up the flue. The stated long burn times are basically idling "low burn" per the manufacturer. I could see 30 hrs in the shoulder season but 12 hrs like you stated in the cold is more of a true number. No one is getting 30 to 40 or 50 hour averages on a regular basis all year long. Wonder what the average burn on the King model is in real world consistent times? Do you think those guys are seeing 24 hrs on a daily basis in the cold, cold? That would be awesome hitting average burn time numbers like that. How many BK owners do you know of here approximately?

Still what the BK does do is leaps and bounds above the rest from what little I've read so far. Is there any different maintenance or special stuff you need to do running one? Just clean the ash like "typical" stoves? What about not fully seasoned wood? I know that's not ideal burning in any wood burner but what happens if you do happen to? Does the catalytic require special treatment?

Sorry for the barrage of questions but like I said I am very curious here. Also I do like these pellet stoves for the ease but I will always have some type of wood burner ready to go because I know I always have wood to burn. I also like having options. If they start jacking up pellets to ridiculous prices then I will burn wood.

Low burn on a woodstove is plenty of heat to keep a regular house warm in regular winter. A couple of weeks per year, I need to drop to 12 hour partial loads, since more heat is needed than a 24 horu burn cycle can provide. This is the small princess model in a regular 1700 SF home. Idle on a woodstove is quite a bit of heat, the pellet stoves can idle much lower. One loading per day whether it needs it or not is more typical though to be fair I live in a climate that doesn't freeze as hard as some folks in the east.

On a king, 24 hours would be easy. That's like a 50% burn rate. Check over on the woodheat page if you're interested. A BK is about as close as you can get to a pellet stove. It is silent, efficient, clean burning, cheap firewood.

Just clean the ash. The cat has a 10 year warranty but I have been hearing that folks like to change them before failure at 3-5 years of age. You shouldn't burn green wood or trash, just like any woodstove. I use the same wood in my englander nc30 as I do in my catalytic BK. The BK cats don't plug up. This is not some VC product or other off-brand.

The benefit of a pellet over a BK is no firewood processing. The pellet is more expensive to run, louder, but is automatic like a furnace.

 

[Highbeam]

I always love how the cord wood versus pellet discussions assume cutting and splitting the wood. Two tons of split Oak delivered and dumped is around the same price as going and hauling a ton of pellets home.

That's a regional thing. Not so in my area. 200$ per ton of doug fir pellets.

Still, the price of pellets should be compared to the price of finished and ready to burn firewood. Not logs or some other lesser form of raw wood.

 

[BrotherBart]

That's a regional thing. Not so in my area. 200$ per ton of doug fir pellets.

How much for a cord of split Doug Fir delivered? Bone dry it is 3,000 pounds a cord.

 

[NHcpa]

$175 mixed hardwood for me - cut, split, delivered. I stack where dropped. I will say though (on the pellet side), 4 tons delivered inside and placed exactly in my garage, 15 mins...and the best part, I just watched.

 

[bags]

I always love how the cord wood versus pellet discussions assume cutting and splitting the wood. Two tons of split Oak delivered and dumped is around the same price as going and hauling a ton of pellets home.

Good point Brother Bart. I am referencing myself and how I do wood vs. pellets. A 40lb bag is still easier than putting wood onto a cart or 5 gallon buckets handling it twice before it's making heat if both are paid for. If I paid for wood it would cost me more than pellets in my situation. 12 cords vs. 6 tons. Half as much. I bought 8 tons just because and I think my 6 ton pellet figure is max but so is the 12 cords possibly. I usually go thru 8-10 cords minimum during a mild winter and it will likely be 5 tons of pellets.

IF you do your own wood it is much more work. Agree? Hardly anyone makes their own pellets. More likely do their own wood too vs. paying for it. It's fair to say quite a few buy wood but the majority process at least a decent amount of their own. Yes, again assumptions but pretty realistic. Do you buy wood? I have but it's been a small overall percentage of what I've burned. Sometimes I'd rather buy wood than spend a weekend doing wood.

 

[BrotherBart]

I have whacked my own trees for 40 years. But getting a few cord of split wood dumped is getting more attractive all the time. Last three ton of pellets I bought were no fun unloading from the truck, hauling around to the basement door and jackassing them into the basement. The wood shed is right by the breezeway.

There is no perfect solution. Well, hitting the lottery and turning up the thermostat but...

Folks just need to do whatever trips their trigger.

 

[bags]

Cord wood (hardwood mix) goes for $225 to $300 per cord and most charge additional for delivery with throw off and more again to stack. Then you are dealing with "seasoned" wood cut in the spring or early summer usually so add another plus to the pellets in that regard. Even the crappy pellets. I paid $224 for my pellets and handled one of the 8 tons. The other 7 were piggy back forked to where they live until hopper time. Handled once.

If I had the "seasoned" wood delivered and paid for it I would still handle wood more than pellets. So would most others so another plus for pellets. Don't get me wrong here fellas I am a big advocate for wood burning and you can bet your rumps I will chuck wood before getting ***** by the local utility company gladly. BUT if you think heating with wood is less handling and overall work than pellets I think it's time to do some reassessment. Speaking from my own personal experience. That is also citing the easiest possible ways to use wood.

The maintenance part largely depends on which stove you are running too. Overall my P68 is not much more than a wood stove. Again.......MY situation.

 

[bags]

I have whacked my own trees for 40 years. But getting a few cord of split wood dumped is getting more attractive all the time[/quote}

I know exactly what you are saying. You have double my tree whacking time too. Bottom line we are all tight wads and / or working stiffs pissing up a rope. Just in different ways. At least we have wised up enough to realize the rope option is better than the wind option and it's not dripping off our chins. We are smart dummys, Sir! It still beats taking a good screwing from the man IMO.

Lottery spells warm climate and waves here. At least for Jan and Feb.