# Wood Pellet Stoves



## Marre (Dec 7, 2008)

Any wood pellet stove owners? We installed one this year and so far so good. Had a few problems but they are getting worked out.

We are using it mostly for upstairs heat and our lower level has remained at 58 degrees. But the whole upstairs is 68-70 degrees.

Just wondering what everyone else thought of these.


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## Nevada (Sep 9, 2004)

I like the idea of it, but I'm off grid and the blower draws too much. 

I have a few neighbors who have pellet stoves. Some have complained about the cost of pellets going up.


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## wendle (Feb 22, 2006)

I have a multi-fuel burner. I started out burning mostly corn, but the prices went up, so went to all pellets. If there is a power outage of course no heat, and yes they do draw more power. Mine has an auger, agitator, and blower to run. You have to buy the fuel at whatever the cost. Still it was much cheaper than using propane. Last year I used the pellet burner along with solar heat which worked real well. On my quest to be more self sufficient and able to have heat in the event of power outages, I purchased a used outdoor boiler. I like it a lot better than the pellet burner. It uses less power, I can run it off my solar panels, and have plenty of wood around to cut for fuel.


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## unioncreek (Jun 18, 2002)

We have a Quadra Fire Santa Fe model, it will burn pellets or wheat/corn. We had an older stove before so this is a replacements. It has a thermostat which is nice and produces very little ash. We get together with the neighbors and buy a semi load of pellets each year, which save use approx. $50/ton. 

Bobg


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## jBlaze (Dec 26, 2007)

The idea of burning food for heat just seems wrong.
~
I would love to get a pellet stove though.


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## hacon1 (Feb 4, 2008)

I got one last year and absolutly love it. I bartered for corn and blended it with the wood pellets. It saved me about $1,000 on my heating bill and as of right now, it has already paid for itself.

Corn burns at a hotter BTU and is much more efficient. Right now, in my area, corn is cheaper than the pellets and I have a mill 2 blocks from my home so I am a very happy camper riht now!


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## Explorer (Dec 2, 2003)

Nevada said:


> I like the idea of it, but I'm off grid and the blower draws too much.
> 
> I have a few neighbors who have pellet stoves. Some have complained about the cost of pellets going up.


I have mine connected to solar. The stove uses about 100 watts when running. The big power user is the igniter. I have installed a switch on mine to disable if I am short of power and then I manually light.


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## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

How much are pellets?

We just had a story in our local paper about a start-up company making pellets. They said the demand is untouchable right now.

Prairie grass can be pelletized too. It has the same btu per pound as wood. I wonder about the power it takes to pelletize though.


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## artificer (Feb 26, 2007)

From a quick check of mills, it seems they use around 5.5kW (motor) to make up to 100kg/hr. That ends up being 55 w/kg, 187btu/kg, or 85btu/lb. At 6800btu/lb for red oak (according to http://www.chimneysweeponline.com/howood.htm) its a fairly small percentage.

Michael

http://yankeepelletmill.com/Work.html

http://makepellets.com/index.html


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## Nevada (Sep 9, 2004)

fishhead said:


> How much are pellets?


Around here they're $6 to $7 for a 40 pound bag.


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## Nevada (Sep 9, 2004)

Explorer said:


> I have mine connected to solar. The stove uses about 100 watts when running.


That's not really that bad. I'll look around.


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## unioncreek (Jun 18, 2002)

fishhead said:


> I wonder about the power it takes to pelletize though.


The wood pellets that we buy are made with an alfalfa pellet mill. They grind the wood up and then steam the sawdust and run it through the mill. They don't use any of the binders that a lot of other pellet companies do. We paid $190/ton and that included the cost of the semi to haul them.

Bob


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## Marre (Dec 7, 2008)

Our pellets run between 4-5 dollars per bag, and that is for a medium grade pellet. At this point we are trying different ones to check the burn quality.

Our dealer offers a buyers club price for spring time purchases, which is a big savings.

All in all, so far the stove is great. Gives the house a homey feel when it is running.


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## Gary in ohio (May 11, 2002)

ON the door of every place I know selling wood pellets. WOOD PELLETS are in short supply this year. May not get next order.


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