Pellet stove for the house

[juddspaintballs]

I'm almost done building my house. I don't need a pellet stove for any reason and I'm purposely not installing it before the final inspection.

What my wife wants is a pellet stove on the first floor. The first floor is wide open and 36x36 with off-set stairs in the centerline and a small bathroom in one corner. There will be a ceiling fan. I'm thinking I want direct-vent style and something that I can push a button and it lights off instead of having to light the pellets myself. Since we're not lacking on heat sources and don't need this to really heat the house, it doesn't need to be very big. It'll be free-standing and sitting on a concrete floor. It doesn't need to have a big hopper or anything since it's mostly for the ambiance of having a fire at will. I'm not interested in an electric or propane version.

I have radiant heated floors via my outdoor wood boiler as the primary heat on the first floor, mini splits for the whole first floor as well. Second floor is forced air heat pump with a hot water coil tied into the air handler so I can use the outdoor wood boiler heat there. Additionally, I have a mini split head in the master bedroom on the second floor. The attic (insulated/drywalled) has one vent from the second floor's HVAC system and one mini split head as well. The house is well-insulated and in the eastern panhandle of WV.


Any suggestions?

 

[micromind]

My daughter and son-in-law have a pellet stove.....it has been nothing but trouble for the last 5 yers or so. If it isn't one component, it's another......or a couple more. I think I've replaced just about every part of it in the last few years yet it still fails on a regular basis.

The worst thing about it is it is fireplace insert so it's pretty much not possible to work on it unless it is pulled out a bit. Then lining up the exhaust piping is.....well.....a serious test of patience.........

 

[PCustoms]

Cheap units=less features and more likely to work on it

Expensive units=more features and unless you run premium pellets likely to work on it


I bought a midrange used one just over a year ago, rated for 25k BTU. It knocked the edge off in the basement garage but is too small for 1300sqft. This year it seems to be burning slow, either it's for an issue or the pellets (left from last year) for damp. I haven't had a chance to look into it.

If it was me, not needing primary heat from it I'd buy a higher end one from tractor supply. On thing you did not mention was appearance, if that is important you might need to go to a stove shop and spend more $$$.

Install will be easy, they all direct vent through a wall.

 

[billconner]

My brother had several and they seem to work fine and I do like the ambiance. You need to find the right dealer with a good showroom.

Are you looking for a specific model or at least brand suggestion?

 

[kmacht]

They are good for additional heat but are not known as something you sit arpund and enjoy like a fireplace. It sounds like a gas fireplace or a set of gas logs in a stove would suit your purpose better with less mess and less to break.

 

[PCustoms]

They are good for additional heat but are not known as something you sit arpund and enjoy like a fireplace. It sounds like a gas fireplace or a set of gas logs in a stove would suit your purpose better with less mess and less to break.

If suggest a nice wood stove, unfortunately the venting is a lot more involved

 

[Copymutt]

Might be ok, but they don't cut it in my world.
you're locked into a manufactured fuel that you don't control.
If the power is out they don't operate unless there is a battery back up Im not familiar with.
I’ll stay w/ a wood stove.

 

[PCustoms]

Might be ok, but they don't cut it in my world.
you're locked into a manufactured fuel that you don't control.
If the power is out they don't operate unless there is a battery back up Im not familiar with.
I’ll stay w/ a wood stove.

Not to derail the OP, but what are you burning over there? Around here it's unusual to burn softwood, but that seems normal in the west?

 

[billconner]

I'd look at Harman pellet stoves. Quite a few have built in batteries. Much less cleaning and maintenance than wood. About as easy as gas except adding pellets, and not that often.

 

[toyotadriver]

We had a pellet stove in the last house. We liked it overall. Pellet prices have skyrocketed. We were paying $160-180 per ton 8 years ago or so and now they are $375-400+ per ton. Very expensive way to heat now.



Nothing in this post should be misunderstood, interpreted, misinterpreted, or construed to be of a political nature.

 

[fitter30]

Using a decorative cast stove lp ventless for emergency heat ,when i just want fire. Only three items that use lp cook stove, cast stove and emergency generator 7k watts. Bought a used 500 gallon tank holds 400 ( has to have a name tag). Lasts 4-5 years.

 

[Copymutt]

Not to derail the OP, but what are you burning over there? Around here it's unusual to burn softwood, but that seems normal in the west?

Aspen, pine mostly. Occasionally Oak, Apple, Cedar.
Aspen has low BTU, but the chimney stays clean.
Cedar has the splitting advantage, just look crosseyed at it. Its bark holds sand which is tough on chains. Smells great.
Unlike back east most of the forests here are open to the public for firewood gathering. Fee is $20.00 for 2&1/2 cord.

 

[Crazyjake8493]

I've had two pellet stoves in my adult life, and grew up with one in the house as a kid. I'd never buy another one. If I wanted to do a bunch of extra work to heat, I'd burn wood. Cheaper and no parts to replace, just some chimney cleaning & maintenance.

 

[dcg9381]

My daughter and son-in-law have a pellet stove.....it has been nothing but trouble for the last 5 yers or so. If it isn't one component, it's another......or a couple more. I think I've replaced just about every part of it in the last few years yet it still fails on a regular basis.

Family installed one of these inserts as primary heat also.. Was not a cheap unit. Lots and lots of failures and very limited contractors to fix it. Last I saw, they'd removed all the pellets from the basement (hundreds of pounds). They gave up.

I was at a place in Arkansas a few weeks ago, it had a standard stove insert with a blower. Worked great to heat the entire house, but put off just enough smoke to bother my lungs. So I'm "mixed" on the whole idea...

My Trager (which is essentially a pellet stove) works great.. Dunno why it's so difficult to do one in the house correctly.

 

[juddspaintballs]

My daughter and son-in-law have a pellet stove.....it has been nothing but trouble for the last 5 yers or so. If it isn't one component, it's another......or a couple more. I think I've replaced just about every part of it in the last few years yet it still fails on a regular basis.

The worst thing about it is it is fireplace insert so it's pretty much not possible to work on it unless it is pulled out a bit. Then lining up the exhaust piping is.....well.....a serious test of patience.........

At our last house, the previous owners put a fireplace insert pellet stove in the basement. It was a Whitfield unit. I disliked that the slot you fed pellets into was so narrow and up against the bricks so it was difficult to fill and it was old enough it didn't have an auto ignition. Otherwise, it worked fine and was never an issue. We used it just for the ambiance once in a while because it wasn't a primary or even secondary source of heat at that house, either.

My brother had several and they seem to work fine and I do like the ambiance. You need to find the right dealer with a good showroom.

Are you looking for a specific model or at least brand suggestion?

I am not stuck on a specific brand or model. I know Harman is a good brand, and so are the other brands made by that manufacturer (Forge and Flame). My wife likes the Trekker, Castile, P43, Absolute 43, etc. styles from those brands. We're not really fans of the Outfitter or Allure type stoves. I'm not stuck on a F&F brand, but given with tax credit and their reputation, they're about the same price as a mid-level unit from another manufacturer.

They are good for additional heat but are not known as something you sit around and enjoy like a fireplace. It sounds like a gas fireplace or a set of gas logs in a stove would suit your purpose better with less mess and less to break.

I do not want a propane fire mostly because I'm not going to go through the trouble of running gas all the way around the house to where I want the stove.

If suggest a nice wood stove, unfortunately the venting is a lot more involved

I'm not having a wood stove in the house unless the world comes to an end. I bought an outdoor wood boiler all those years ago to keep the mess outside and not run the risk of a chimney fire in the house. My little Honda EU2200i can run the outdoor wood boiler and circulators to keep the heat on for hours at a time on just one gallon of gasoline.

Might be ok, but they don't cut it in my world.
you're locked into a manufactured fuel that you don't control.
If the power is out they don't operate unless there is a battery back up Im not familiar with.
I’ll stay w/ a wood stove.

Most pellet stoves can run 8+ hours on a single deep cycle battery and inverter. Harman brand even lists approved inverters for their stoves.

I have so many other sources of heat and four generators as well as I'll have a 24 kw automatic standby generator operational before my final inspection. I'm not trying to use the pellet stove to heat the house other than maybe take the edge off of the occasional late spring or early fall evening when the outdoor boiler isn't running.

 

[BigNuge]

I’ve been running pellets since 2005. I’ve had two stoves in that time, I run 4-5 ton through them a year. I absolutely love them compared to wood or gas. I ran wood for years, and was on the ***-busting end of splitting and stacking wood for family and friends for maaaaaany years….no thanks. Pellet stove needs cleaning once a week (because I’m OCD about the glass being clean), dump the ash bin 2-3 times a season.

Pellets give 1.5x the BTU (1 ton pellets vs. 1 cord wood), moving/stacking the fuel is about 100x easier and 1000x cleaner, stove makes a tiny fraction of the mess and maintenance (compared to wood), and the best part (as you’ve mentioned), they start and stop with a touch of a button. I went techy-geek with mine and bought some Zigbee relays and set them up to work with my Hue system. I start/stop my stove from anywhere, and can automate it so it fires up early in the AM so we have a toasty living room when we get up…though in the middle of the heating season the stove stays on 24/7.

I recommend Quadrafire. I have an older CB 1200 unit, it has been awesome. Definitely avoid the Lowe’s/Tractor Supply cheapies. Get one from a dealer that knows the unit and services the unit (and has parts). I have had 2 parts fail on mine in 12 years, and auger motor and an igniter.

Good luck!

 

[lzenglish]

We had a pellet stove in the last house. We liked it overall. Pellet prices have skyrocketed.

+1.... Around 400 dollars a Ton in my A.O. ! All Good Things Come to an End, Sooner Than Latter!

LZ

 

[sparky 1971]

I have two. One on the main level burns corn only and the basement is a multi fuel that I burn a mixture of corn and wood pellets in. The basement version is a US Steel, and while the price was right ($1000.00 new), it's a pig. Due to the 7' vertical rise on the exhaust, I can't get a good enough draft to burn straight corn, hence the wood pellets. There's a daily build up of soot on the door that needs vacuumed while being opened or it dumps on the floor and the glass needs wiped off daily or you can't see the fire. On top of that, even on the low setting I go through about 1-1/2 five gallon buckets of corn and a bag of pellets daily and it only has a 40 pound hopper meaning that it can only go about 16 hours without risking running out. my upstairs stove is a St. Croix Auburn and it's awesome but 20 years ago cost $3000.00, $4000.00 to buy one now. It has a 90 pound hopper and burns about a five gallon bucket of corn over a 24 hour period on the low setting. it's downfall is that it will only burn corn. I ran out of corn about five years ago and tried pellets, that was a mistake. Thank goodness it only has about six total feet of vent piping because the entire thing clogged with soot. There is a burn pot available for it to allow it to burn pellets, but then I can't burn corn and corn puts out a lot more heat

 

[billconner]

The new EPA rules will make burning either pellet and wood more difficult.

 

[lzenglish]

The new EPA rules will make burning either pellet and wood more difficult.

Yes, I Agree, "There is Always a New Rule" ! Advice:, Burn Lean, and Burn at Night. !

MY Rule, "Whatever it Takes to Keep on Keeping On" ! Pellets Burn Clean, and if they don't like it, they can come and get me.

LZ

 

[juddspaintballs]

@BigNuge and @sparky 1971 thanks for the feedback. I'm leaning strongly towards a Harman (same parent company as Quadrafire) P43 for the smaller size/capacity and long-lasting capability. The P43 has been around for ages and is highly recommended across the forums of the Internet. It's about $4000, or just over $2800 with the federal tax credit.

Harman P43 Pellet Stove

The P43 Pellet Stove packs advanced engineering in a small pellet stove package. Use this alternative heat source to embrace the power of the pellet.

forgenflame.com

 

[billconner]

Congrats! Install yourself or dealer/contractor?

 

[BigNuge]

@BigNuge and @sparky 1971 thanks for the feedback. I'm leaning strongly towards a Harman (same parent company as Quadrafire) P43 for the smaller size/capacity and long-lasting capability. The P43 has been around for ages and is highly recommended across the forums of the Internet. It's about $4000, or just over $2800 with the federal tax credit.

Harman P43 Pellet Stove

The P43 Pellet Stove packs advanced engineering in a small pellet stove package. Use this alternative heat source to embrace the power of the pellet.

forgenflame.com

Can’t go wrong with Harman! Hope the dealer is well established with a nice showroom and parts counter. Our local Harman dealer is where I get my pellets and and parts I need, great to do business with.

 

[juddspaintballs]

I built the house myself, so I think I can handle installing a pellet stove.

There are 4 Harman platinum dealers close to here.

 

[drmarkr]

We have a large Quadrafire insert. Installed it myself. It's been running for 7-8 years now, with zero issues, but I maintain/clean it properly (not difficult nor time consuming).

Our house is 3700sf, two stories, and it will heat all of it alone, except for the rooms over the 3 car garage at the opposite end of the LR where the fireplace sits. Of course, we live in Tucson, where our temps are not that cold. Regardless, we've only run the heat pump about 5-6 times over the time that we've had the pellet stove.

I buy a pallet of pellets about every 1.5 seasons (50 bags @ 40# each) which cost me about $6.50 per bag last year. I have not crunched hard numbers on how much this thing has saved in heating costs, but it has definitely saved. Finally, my wife loves having the warmth and ambiance of the fire in the living room.

The thing worked out so well that I found a smaller used unit on CL that I put in one of the rooms in my shop.

 

[toyotadriver]

We have a large Quadrafire insert. Installed it myself. It's been running for 7-8 years now, with zero issues, but I maintain/clean it properly (not difficult nor time consuming).

Our house is 3700sf, two stories, and it will heat all of it alone, except for the rooms over the 3 car garage at the opposite end of the LR where the fireplace sits. Of course, we live in Tucson, where our temps are not that cold. Regardless, we've only run the heat pump about 5-6 times over the time that we've had the pellet stove.

I buy a pallet of pellets about every 1.5 seasons (50 bags @ 40# each) which cost me about $6.50 per bag last year. I have not crunched hard numbers on how much this thing has saved in heating costs, but it has definitely saved. Finally, my wife loves having the warmth and ambiance of the fire in the living room.

The thing worked out so well that I found a smaller used unit on CL that I put in one of the rooms in my shop.

What are your electric rates per kWh?

I would be extremely surprised if pellets at $325 per ton are cheaper than a heat pump in an area like yours that doesn’t need a ton of heat.

If you post your electric numbers I can plug them into a heating cost calculator and tell you if you are saving or not.

Now the nice radiant heat…..that can be hard to put a price tag on!



Nothing in this post should be misunderstood, interpreted, misinterpreted, or construed to be of a political nature.

 

[JOE.G]

I have a Volgerzang that I bought for around $800 in 2014 from tractor supply. It heats my 2,800 SF 2 story house all winter long with no other help, It'll keep the house in the 70's even on the coldest days. I burn between 3 to 4 ton's a year.

The stove can be a pain to clean which I do about once a week which is a basic cleaning ( 10 Min )and about twice a season I do a major cleaning which I remove the exhaust motor and all.

I have replaced the auger twice and the exhaust blower once. I find the stove likes Barefoot pellets the best.

I recommend a pellet stove and if I have to replace it I may try a Harman, I hear they are easier to clean and do look nicer, I do like the auto start and the large hopper I have.

 

[danfromsyr]

we heat primarily with a pellet stove in an old Upstate NY farm house. *poorly insulated though working on that slowly
our Lopi firefox is from 1997
finally replaced the fans.. not a big task, not alot of $ either. fans, ignigtor or auger motor are all about $100ea easy to service and last ?? a decade or 2.
I've learned that the best cleaning is to use a leaf Vac/blower and **** it out the chimmney.
that gets it breathing right, like new again. a depth of cleaning and breathing (fires need to breathe) that I never accomplished via the internal access panels.

I **** out the internal ash about every 10days. when the firepot starts to build up too much anyways.
I vac out the chimney via leaf blower about 3times a season.
total use for us is 3 pallets so ~150 bags
I use a bucket vac for the internal ash, empty that about 3 times a season

I've heated with a woodstove for 30 of my 50 years.. and I love a wood heat
but I won't go back to the sourcing, processing, stacking and maintaining 18fc a season
I put 1 bag of pellets in a day, that's it.. ok well on high setting it's 10bags over 7days or sumsuch
our local CountryMax* stores offer a buy&hold program where I buy my 3tons at the beginning of the season and pick up however many bags I can. for us this has saved having to move and store the 150bags all at once..

we do have 2 Nat gas fireplaces in the house as back-up and ambiance at times..
and the plan is as I insulate the house to be able to go to a min-split system with the Nat gas stoves as back up

for us it works well still, been using this stove (bought used) for ~15yrs

 

[JOE.G]

Does anyone have a good You tube video on using a leaf blower for lean out? I have heard of it many times but never really found a good video on how to do it. Does it have to be a Elec one can I use a gas one?

 

[danfromsyr]

for 'my stove' I use a electric one I bought from craigslist for $5
look at the goodwill or yard sales in the fall etc..
anyways they're not expensive no matter and I'm not sure I'd want to run 'fly'ing ash through a gas unit.

do note that I vac the inside of the stove first.. just not the access panels

I unplug the diaphragm fan detector, or leave the front door slightly ajar.
I don't know if it would damage the fan detector otherwise
your unit may vary.

I remove the cap&extansion from my outside wall for ease of access.. I need a short step ladder to get up to mine.

I have a length of non-perforated corrugated drain pipe taped to the leaf blower outflow to get it more away from me and my bushes.

I generally ONLY DO THIS at NIGHT. so the neighbors don't get alarmed by a sudden cloud of 'smoke' from my house.
I TRY to do it on a windy night so the ash cloud dissipates quicker
I TRY to do it on a rainy night so the ash cloud settles quicker
I DON"T do it on fresh snow

your neighbors and hood may differ than mine..

then I fire up the leaf vac and hold the suction side up to the stove pipe.
I used to try to hold it sealed with a homebrew plastic flange adapter..
but the reality is so much volume that just holding it near the pipe will **** the ash out in a quick fashion..

if I only had access to the inside of the stove pipe (ie. it exits the roof)
I'd fabricate a coupling that'd allow the leaf vac to tie inbetween the stove and pipe.
but be warned, seal it very well (tape is a friend) as you DO NOT want pressurized stove ash leaking in the house.

 

[danfromsyr]

you really don't need to run it till it blows completely clear..

and as I'd mentioned I'd add a length of pipe to get it away from my white siding..

 

[JOE.G]

Okay so it needs to be an electric one? I don't own one so i am not sure exactly how the Gas and Elec ones differ in operation. I'll keep my eyes open for an electric unit. I live in the country no neighbors to worry about. To me in the above video it looks like the leaf blower yould be pushing into the stove instead of sucking, I guess when I have one in my hand i'll know better.

 

[JOE.G]

I am not sure why I am having such a hard time grasping this, Electric leaf blows **** as well as blow? I am watching videos but none seem to really explain it.

Anyone have a link to a blower they suggest that will work?

 

[82 Pace Car]

I have had a Harman P61 since 2010. We use it for the primary downstairs heat in an old farmhouse. The old part of the house isn't well insulated. If it goes zero or below I abandon he pellet stove and turn up the thermostat on the furnace.

It keeps the downstairs comfortable. I have a couple of small doorway fans to move the hot air around.

Knock on wood the only thing I have replaced in 13 years is an igniter. I clean it every week.

I have a backup generator that will run the stove if the power goes out. I know Trip Lite makes a surge protector with a battery backup that Harman suggests, but I don't remember the model number off the top of my head.

 

[JOE.G]

I ended up buying a Worx Brand Elec Blower/Vac and I will be trying this cleaning method out this week.

 

[JOE.G]

Well I gave it a try today, It seems to work well, I would like to get some sort of hose or something to get the ash to blow in a different direction, No matter which way I spin it it wasn't ideal. I took the side plates off when I was done and it did get most of the ash out but not all. I Did not pull exhaust motor off to check but I think I will still do my normal cleaning at the end of the season. I think I will be able to do it this way instead of tearing stove apart 2 or 3 times a year.

One thing I am not sure how to solve is it was pulling pellets though the auger/Hopper Got quiet a few into the burn pot area.
I did unhook the Vacuum switch.