Pellet stoves are amazimg!

[machsnell]

I finally got spray foam insulation done. I love it.

I bought a used Harman p61 pellet stove two years ago. I have been waiting to finish electric and lighting and air lines before closing up the walls with foam.

The day after I got the foam I hooked up the pellet stove.

I have had wood stoves but never a pellet stove. HOLY JESUS! So much heat. So easy it makes me mad now every time I lug firewood in and feed my stove in the house.

They really are incredible. It keeps my garage warm and toasty and I only have plywood on the 3 garage door cutouts!

Just dump in a bag of pellets and it's good for 12to 24 hours depending on how much you are heating. It has a thermostat and it cam turn off and auto reignite and throttle down on its own. And it's fascinating to watch it fire up.

Now the kids will stay in the shop and play all night while I work. It's awesome.



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[larry4406]

Very nice stove and insulation!

Where is the flue in the first picture? Looks like the parts are still on the bench. Does it vent out the back? Surfed the manual and the flue looks like its low on the back side.

What happens to the stove on loss of power?

 

[Musicinabottle]

They're okay. We had an early Quadrafire, and it really was a piece of ****. We had a shelf in the basement with motors ( had something like 6 motors in it) thermocouples, motherboards, burn pots and igniters. Can't tell you how many times we woke up at XXXX hour of the morning to seeing your breath in the house and a red light on in the stove controller because it didn't catch right. I wound up dropping our pellet stove over the front porch handrail. Still have to be around to feed them, and when we had one of them in our house years ago, it went through 3 to 4 bags a day! This of course when it was 35 below zero and not so good insulation....... log house. Now we have wood stove just like we had in the house when I was a kid in the 1970s.

 

[Brand X]

Quadrafire Is not anything like a Austroflamm pellet stove. Quadrafire makes a nice wood stove though.. I have a Quadrafire wood stove in the house, a Austroflamm pellet stove in the shop..I would have zero issues having my Austroflamm in my house ,but I would have one with the Quadrafire wood stove in the shop.The Pellet stove has made it since 1992 without repairs..

 

[lakeroadster]

Reoriented photos..

____________________________________________
We have a Pacific Energy wood stove in our home... it's super efficient, we just love it. We live in a National Forest.. so wood is everywhere.

But the prepper in me sees the benefit of a wood stove as: When the power goes out you have heat. That and I love a wood fire.

But I don't get the reasoning behind pellet stoves though? You have all the inconvenience of a wood stove, but none of the benefit?

You're still lugging around wood (pellets), are at the mercy of the folks that make the pellets, and if you lose electric power the stove doesn't work? Might as well have a propane tank out back and be at the mercy of the propane guy? That gets the device off the floor and out of your way.. and you can shut one valve and turn off the threat of an open flame (very important in a garage / shop installation).

What am I missing?

 

[ambenz]

I'm not a fan.
I see no reason for one of these over a wood burning stove and I sure don't need the trouble of a wood stove....Load in cart, unload cart, load in truck, unload truck, load in storage device, unload in storage device, carry bag to stove, open bag, potential spill, unload into stove an hour or so in advance before working in garage, heat garage long after you're done out there, pray for no electrical faults. Repeat weekly, IF pellets available and roads are clear. ....

Ya, natural gas for the win! Clean once a season, can run constantly and "never" run out of fuel!
Easy pleasy.
That is a nice stove and if I didn't have natural gas, I might consider that option!
Love the blown in insulation too, very nice!

 

[lakeroadster]

Ya, natural gas for the win! Clean once a season, can run constantly and "never" run out of fuel!

Never run out of fuel?
When the power goes out most natural gas devices no longer work.

We have natural gas here too.. but also have a wood stove.

 

[mrobins297aaa]

there's lots of reasons to have a pellet stove, but the biggest reason by far is saving money.

years ago when I first got mine my yearly propane bill was getting upwards of $5400.
It cut my annual heating cost to just around $3000

It's also nice to have a backup heat source, 6 years ago when my propane house furnace took a **** in January, I used the pellet stove to heat the house while I took a week replacing the furnace.

 

[Farmall450]

I've never smelled a pellet stove burning.
Do they smell of cedar and Mesquite or do they smell like a brush fire?

The former.

 

[lakeroadster]

Apples to apples, fireplace to fireplace, old ones light by hand, newer ones have battery powered ignitors.

Apples to apples ... until the gas supply runs out. Then you freeze.

 

[theoldwizard1]

I agree with the title, but ...

You need to know the source of your pellets. They need to be DRY, HARDWOOD !

If you are going to use a pellet stove continuously during the cold weather, you should try and find a manufacturer that you can buy from DIRECT. Cut out the middle man ! Because you will be buying in large quantities, dry storage is a must !

 

[PugetDude]

I had a pellet stove in my shop about 20 years ago. Don't remember the brand; (Bought it from Ziegler Lumber in Spokane) but it was a noisy, inefficient POS. No thermostat, went through pellets like **** through a goose. Had to drag home 2000# pallet-loads of pellets, unload, carry, and stack the 40# bags of pellets into the garage, then do it again when it was time to re-fill the stove. I always managed to dump a quarter of the bag behind the stove when filling the hopper- which only lasted 8 hours, so it wouldn't heat the shop overnight. I realize technology has evolved, but what a pain in the *** that pellet stove was.

Pellet smokers are another story though- The Traeger turns out some amazing tri-tips...mmmmm

 

[mrobins297aaa]

I agree with the title, but ...

You need to know the source of your pellets. They need to be DRY, HARDWOOD !

If you are going to use a pellet stove continuously during the cold weather, you should try and find a manufacturer that you can buy from DIRECT. Cut out the middle man ! Because you will be buying in large quantities, dry storage is a must !

this^, I won't buy my pellets from any place that stores them outside. Even though they are wrapped in plastic any moisture that gets to them and they swell up and turn to mush. And you don't find that out until you open the bags.

 

[red94chev]

Bought my first house about 5 months ago and it came with a nice Harman P61-2 pellet stove. Auto ignite, just set the temp and leave it alone. I love it so far, the home also has a heat pump which has been eating electricity the last month (been in the teens and 20's temp wise) but I imagine it would be much worse without the pellet stove running.

 

[Kaizen]

Op I imagine if you put a little electric heater out there it would be warm with that foam. Jealous

Pellet stoves imo are good if oil gets expensive. I got one when it was over three bucks a gallon and it saved me money. However my englander stove cost 1000 new I think and I’ve since then replaced four or five items for about 1200. Parts are expensive considering.
And mine runs one bag every twelve hours even at its lowest setting. Do the math. Two bags a day is 60 a month. A ton is 275 approx. not much saving for all the hauling and loading and ash cleaning. My old house was still cold as I had to put it at one end. Nice to have as alternative but caution if trying to save money. I would haul split and load real wood without issue if I got it for free.
Also I have not found any unbiased data that hardwood or these premium bags make any difference. Softwood vs hardwood makes sense in log form where hardwood is denser so usually burns longer AND sold by volume so same price as softwood. Pellets are mostly sawdust and compressed so doesn’t matter.


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[machsnell]

Very nice stove and insulation!

Where is the flue in the first picture? Looks like the parts are still on the bench. Does it vent out the back? Surfed the manual and the flue looks like its low on the back side.

What happens to the stove on loss of power?

Pipe goes straight out the back. I have yet to connect the t and cleanout and then more vertical pipe to a cover.

It has been wet with snow or rain or I water behind it and only run when I am there.

But....with a 3 foot straight pipe put the back I have seen maybe 5 embers. It's amazing. And those burn out within 2 feet of the pipe.

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[machsnell]

Reoriented photos..

____________________________________________
We have a Pacific Energy wood stove in our home... it's super efficient, we just love it. We live in a National Forest.. so wood is everywhere.

But the prepper in me sees the benefit of a wood stove as: When the power goes out you have heat. That and I love a wood fire.

But I don't get the reasoning behind pellet stoves though? You have all the inconvenience of a wood stove, but none of the benefit?

You're still lugging around wood (pellets), are at the mercy of the folks that make the pellets, and if you lose electric power the stove doesn't work? Might as well have a propane tank out back and be at the mercy of the propane guy? That gets the device off the floor and out of your way.. and you can shut one valve and turn off the threat of an open flame (very important in a garage / shop installation).

What am I missing?

Thanks for pics and to each his own eh?

I have a wood stove in the house. And I love (d) having a fire. I burn around the clock from October to march if it 50 or below.

Taking a bag of pellets and dumping them in is a lot less work than my wood stove.

Power out your screwed. But I ain't working in the garage without power anyway so who cares.

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[machsnell]

Ya, natural gas for the win! Clean once a season, can run constantly and "never" run out of fuel!
Easy pleasy.
That is a nice stove and if I didn't have natural gas, I might consider that option!
Love the blown in insulation too, very nice!

If I had gas I would do that for sure. I do love seeing fire tho.



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[machsnell]

I agree with the title, but ...

You need to know the source of your pellets. They need to be DRY, HARDWOOD !

If you are going to use a pellet stove continuously during the cold weather, you should try and find a manufacturer that you can buy from DIRECT. Cut out the middle man ! Because you will be buying in large quantities, dry storage is a must !

Got it. I bought these pellets 2 years ago with the stove. I was surprised they were still good. I have had them inside tho


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[coldh2o]

Just like any other piece of equipment, usefulness and satisfaction is very situational.

We put in a pellet stove at our cottage. It's essentially a three season building (although we may give a weekend a shot this winter), but insulated. Water access only (or across the ice in the winter). When we arrive on a dark, cold spring/fall Friday night, the last thing I want to do is go to a woodpile, chop kindling, load the stove, find a lighter, etc. etc. Not to mention the felling, splitting, transporting, stacking of firewood through the summer - I have way more important cottage-y type things to do.

Turn the stove on, and away it goes. We get 24 hours of thermostatically controlled heat out of one 40 lb bag of pellets for $5.99.

Do some research on hardwood v. softwood pellets - they provide the same heat output in a pellet stove. The difference in heat value between hardwood and softwood logs is related to density of the material. Once you compress sawdust into a pellet, be it hardwood or softwood, you get the same density and heat value.

 

[machsnell]

Op I imagine if you put a little electric heater out there it would be warm with that foam. Jealous

Pellet stoves imo are good if oil gets expensive. I got one when it was over three bucks a gallon and it saved me money. However my englander stove cost 1000 new I think and I’ve since then replaced four or five items for about 1200. Parts are expensive considering.
And mine runs one bag every twelve hours even at its lowest setting. Do the math. Two bags a day is 60 a month. A ton is 275 approx. not much saving for all the hauling and loading and ash cleaning. My old house was still cold as I had to put it at one end. Nice to have as alternative but caution if trying to save money. I would haul split and load real wood without issue if I got it for free.
Also I have not found any unbiased data that hardwood or these premium bags make any difference. Softwood vs hardwood makes sense in log form where hardwood is denser so usually burns longer AND sold by volume so same price as softwood. Pellets are mostly sawdust and compressed so doesn’t matter.


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I have a mini split also in there. It should keep the temps fine on its own but i got the stove before I knew my buddy could hook me with a sweet deal on a fujitsu.

Either way I just like having and seeing fire. It makes me happy and pellets have been less work than wood and I have all the free wood I want. Still have to cut and split and haul.

Also the ash from the pellet stove is nothing. Scrape burn pot and the ash pan looks like it has a sprinkling of dust in it from the first 8 bags.

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[JOE.G]

I have a pellet stove and I really like it, Heats my 2,600 sq ft home with out and issue, the problem I have now is that after having my roof deck spray foamed this year I have to actually open windows a bit upstairs to release some of the heat. I may upgrade to a stove that will totally shut it self down when it gets to temp and restart on it's own like my buddy has. Mine will turn itself to it's lowest setting when it reaches temp but not all the way off.

As far as storing, I put 4 ton in my basement and I leave 2 ton on my front and rear porch or just off the porch and I have ever only had one bad bag of pellets.

 

[Kaizen]

I have a mini split also in there. It should keep the temps fine on its own but i got the stove before I knew my buddy could hook me with a sweet deal on a fujitsu.

Either way I just like having and seeing fire. It makes me happy and pellets have been less work than wood and I have all the free wood I want. Still have to cut and split and haul.

Also the ash from the pellet stove is nothing. Scrape burn pot and the ash pan looks like it has a sprinkling of dust in it from the first 8 bags.

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No replacing the caveman feel of a fire. Can’t wait to see this palace completed


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[Crazyjake8493]

Nice stove! I have a wood stove and I'm looking to sell it this summer and replace it with a pellet stove or natural gas heater. The wood stove is too much work, and I'm sick of spending more time messing with the fire than actually working.

 

[wirt]

This is our fifth winter heating our home with our pellet stove, and the benefits far outweigh the negatives IMO. For years I had a wood burning stove and the work involved with heating our home with that compared to pellets is pretty significant. Just cleaning out the stove every morning was such a pain in the ***, and of course if you weren't there to feed the stove it would eventually die and then of course the furnace would run negating the cost benefit of the stove.
My pellet stove runs off of a thermostat, it turns on and off by itself and also turns up the heat higher if it needs to. And yes, you do have to carry the 40lb. Bags, but at least it's only once a day at most, how many trips do you have to make lugging firewood? Not sure how it was gen years ago but my stove turns a 40lb. Bag of pellets into about a cup of ash, much easier to dump the ash pan every three days then the daily cleaning of the old wood stove.
When we were in the below zero temps last week I burned a bag a day but when it's normal winter temps of 30's and 20's at night a bag will generally last about 1 1/2 to 2 days and so on. So when it's in the 50s or higher we hardly use any pellets at all.
I've had to replace the igniter on our stove once, it was a $50 part and a ten minute job, knock on wood it's the only thing we've had to replace so far.

Now out in my garage I have propane, would have gone pellet but didn't want to give up the floor space.

To the OP, a call to the insurance company might be worthy.

 

[wirt]

My pics are ALWAYS sideways on this forum. Ugh.

 

[machsnell]

No replacing the caveman feel of a fire. Can’t wait to see this palace completed


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Cheers. Me either. It's been tooooo long

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[McFarmer]

Corn is getting cheap enough. Many of those stoves can burn corn.

 

[machsnell]

This is our fifth winter heating our home with our pellet stove, and the benefits far outweigh the negatives IMO. For years I had a wood burning stove and the work involved with heating our home with that compared to pellets is pretty significant. Just cleaning out the stove every morning was such a pain in the ***, and of course if you weren't there to feed the stove it would eventually die and then of course the furnace would run negating the cost benefit of the stove.
My pellet stove runs off of a thermostat, it turns on and off by itself and also turns up the heat higher if it needs to. And yes, you do have to carry the 40lb. Bags, but at least it's only once a day at most, how many trips do you have to make lugging firewood? Not sure how it was gen years ago but my stove turns a 40lb. Bag of pellets into about a cup of ash, much easier to dump the ash pan every three days then the daily cleaning of the old wood stove.
When we were in the below zero temps last week I burned a bag a day but when it's normal winter temps of 30's and 20's at night a bag will generally last about 1 1/2 to 2 days and so on. So when it's in the 50s or higher we hardly use any pellets at all.
I've had to replace the igniter on our stove once, it was a $50 part and a ten minute job, knock on wood it's the only thing we've had to replace so far.

Now out in my garage I have propane, would have gone pellet but didn't want to give up the floor space.

To the OP, a call to the insurance company might be worthy.

Couldn't agree more. Cleaning and lugging wood versus hardly ever cleaning and carrying 40 pound bags. No comparison and I was a wood stove guy.

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[larry4406]

How do these respond to loss of electrical power while burning?

I have a wood stove, charge it 3 times a day, clean ashes once every 7-10 days. Been running near non stop for about 2 months now.

 

[Ji m]

How do these respond to loss of electrical power while burning?

I have a wood stove, charge it 3 times a day, clean ashes once every 7-10 days. Been running near non stop for about 2 months now.

My pellet stove backs up with smoke if the power goes out.
I grab a car battery &120v converter out of the garage so it will keep running
while I set up the generator.

I use a pellet stove as back up heat, for when we lose power, or when I want to get the house HOT!

It's also great for drying off gloves/hats boots and pants after a day of shoveling.

 

[ambenz]

Never run out of fuel?
When the power goes out most natural gas devices no longer work.

We have natural gas here too.. but also have a wood stove.

I have a natural gas convection heater...but always have a generator at the ready to run the house furnace during emergencies!

 

[wirt]

How do these respond to loss of electrical power while burning?

I have a wood stove, charge it 3 times a day, clean ashes once every 7-10 days. Been running near non stop for about 2 months now.

Ours has a built in battery backup, I unplugged the stove once to see how long it would last and it stayed on for about three hours. Anything after that my generator would be running.

 

[mx500]

How do these respond to loss of electrical power while burning?

I have a wood stove, charge it 3 times a day, clean ashes once every 7-10 days. Been running near non stop for about 2 months now.

I lost power once, and was a little nervous how the stove would act. (harman accentra), but it was fine. You can run them off battery back up if needed.
They do provide a consistent thermostat heat, but its nowhere near a hot wood stove, like i have in my barn. My Harman will heat my whole house here in michigan, but it would run out pellets around 12 hrs, I'm guessing depending on the temp outside. I don't run it full time.

 

[mx500]

What i like about them. turn it on and walk away, go to work, etc.
I bought a used HARMAN ACCENTRA about 5 years ago, for $1700 when a new one was $3800. I have not had one issue.
Mine is in the basement, and it keeps it toasty. even at its lowest setting on idle, it will keep the basement warm. I also hang the kids gloves and ski gear nearby to dry out faster.
Pellets are $4.00 bag here in west michigan.
or $175 ton.
Propane is $1.89 gallon.
Its probably a wash for me, as i believe I'm only using 2 gallon of propane per day.
I could go either way with a wood stove vs pellet stove, but i don't have to worry about a chimney fire with pellet, and the ins company don't care. I got turned down for a wood stove in barn..

 

[larry4406]

Honestly the power dependency scares me. If no one is home does the battery backup automatically kick in? My wood stove will hold coals for 10-12 hours + so one better have a good battery plan. Not sure how fast the pellets burn out nor how big the lit pellet pile is. Maybe it burns out quick.

Our wood stove runs unattended for long periods. Load it before going to bed. Load up the wood stove in the morning before we go to work. Wife loads the stove again mid-day. Load it again at bed time.

 

[mrobins297aaa]

Corn is getting cheap enough. Many of those stoves can burn corn.

I started out 9 years ago burning corn with my stove, that's when I was buying corn for around $140-150 a ton, two tons a month 12/13 tons a year burning 24-7, but when corn prices went thru the roof I switched over to pellets and got spoiled.
I have the USSC 6300 stove it's really called a multi fuel furnace. It has separate computer menu's for corn or pellets, heck It'll burn dog and cat food (dry food) as long as it's about the same size as corn or pellets.

The only nice thing about corn is the delivery. I had a plywood bin in my garage and I'd have the local elevator deliver and auger in 2 tons at a time. Done no handling. But corn is much more work to burn, you can't even start it by it self, you need to start the fire with pellets and then feed the corn. It's more messy and provides a lot more ash than pellets........and sometimes the fire just goes out...........that never happens with pellets.

 

[yeldogt]

Guess I'm lazy .. I had one in my PA log cabin. When I was able to get propane delivered -- out it went. The pellets are a pain (easier vs wood -yeas) ..... can't imagine the work to heat with wood.

 

[mrobins297aaa]

my stove works fine with my Generac 7500

 

[Highbeam]

I have a woodstove in the house for 100% of the heat and one in my 1800 SF shop. The house stove is a nice catalytic model that burns one load per day 95% of the time and burning PNW woods I made it past Christmas before emptying ash. Get a good modern stove, it makes all the difference.

In the shop I have a cheap non-catalytic stove that I run really hard whenever I want heat. It takes a lot of effort and time to use it but that stove really makes time in the shop pleasant. Burning is a hobby itself. The trouble is, I need to be there to stoke it and adjust the damper, etc. until it's working. A nice pellet stove can be turned on manually or with a thermostat, even with wifi, and just do the work. They are quite expensive to buy and require replacement parts but the convenience is hard to ignore.

The Harman line has an excellent reputation. The P61a is the one I would want. They also make a European looking model that holds 120# of pellets.