[Pesqueeb]

Anybody use one as their primary heat source? Our furnace developed a fairly substantial crack in the heat exchanger last winter (hellooo carbon monoxide!). Since it was pretty much the end of heating season we decided to leave it over the summer and save up cash to pay for a new one this winter. We’ve started to consider just buying a pellet insert and putting it where the “fire place” is in the living room and seeing if we can heat the whole house with it instead of a new furnace. Operational cost of a pellet stove vs. furnace seems to be pretty substantial. Anybody try this with any success? FWIW the house is a 2 story aprox 1400 sq. ft. and winters here can be kind of rough. Nights with wind chills at or below zero are not all that uncommon, and days with similar temps aren’t all that strange either. Also most pellet stoves and new furnaces qualify for some pretty substantial tax credits untill the end of the year, up to 1500 bucks IIRC.

And yes I recognize that at some point well have to replace the furnace any way, but if we can get away with a pellet stove we won’t replace the furnace until we want to move.

 

[kickstand]

pellett availability can be a pain in the ass where I live.

No matter what kind of alternative heat source you have, a furnace as a back up to that is damn near mandatory.

What if you want to go away for the night? Who will load the pellets? what if you run out of pellets on sunday at 8pm?

If its not able to heat the home are you prepared to get a new furnace installed during peak furnace installation time?

 

[bizutch]

Anybody use one as their primary heat source? Our furnace developed a fairly substantial crack in the heat exchanger last winter (hellooo carbon monoxide!). Since it was pretty much the end of heating season we decided to leave it over the summer and save up cash to pay for a new one this winter. We’ve started to consider just buying a pellet insert and putting it where the “fire place” is in the living room and seeing if we can heat the whole house with it instead of a new furnace. Operational cost of a pellet stove vs. furnace seems to be pretty substantial. Anybody try this with any success? FWIW the house is a 2 story aprox 1400 sq. ft. and winters here can be kind of rough. Nights with wind chills at or below zero are not all that uncommon, and days with similar temps aren’t all that strange either. Also most pellet stoves and new furnaces qualify for some pretty substantial tax credits untill the end of the year, up to 1500 bucks IIRC.

And yes I recognize that at some point well have to replace the furnace any way, but if we can get away with a pellet stove we won’t replace the furnace until we want to move.

there may also be a rebate or grant through your electric company to replace the unit with something modern and efficient to offset cost. Plus, there are Energy Star qualified lenders who give silly low rates to finance part of all of the upgrade price.

You need to call multiple HVAC companies b/c depending on the brand they carry, you may get one company with a monster rebate, which is what happened with Trane last fall. HUGE rebates on Energy Star models in a certain range.

 

[Pesqueeb]

pellett availability can be a pain in the ass where I live.

No matter what kind of alternative heat source you have, a furnace as a back up to that is damn near mandatory.

What if you want to go away for the night? Who will load the pellets? what if you run out of pellets on sunday at 8pm?

If its not able to heat the home are you prepared to get a new furnace installed during peak furnace installation time?

I would buy pellets by the ton and keep them in the shed so I'm not too worried about running out on a sunday. I figure a back up is kind of pointless unless were talking about a mechanical failure of the pellet stove. If we lose power the furnace isn't going to work anyway. We didn't have a backup when the furnace crapped out this spring. What I hadn't thought about though is being away and I'm glad you brought that up. I'm an airline employee, its not all that unusual for us to take off for a weekend or more, God knows it gets cold enough for pipes to freeze without a furnace. I think that right there might kill the pellet stove idea.

there may also be a rebate or grant through your electric company to replace the unit with something modern and efficient to offset cost. Plus, there are Energy Star qualified lenders who give silly low rates to finance part of all of the upgrade price.

You need to call multiple HVAC companies b/c depending on the brand they carry, you may get one company with a monster rebate, which is what happened with Trane last fall. HUGE rebates on Energy Star models in a certain range.

Trane is currently offering up to 1000 instant rebate or zero percent for 36 months, on top of the 1500 in Obama bucks. Weve got a couple grand put away so I would probably take the 1000 off. I need to check the local utilities. I noticed the other day Costco had some Trane units and some sort of installation/purchase program I'll have to check on.

 

[TheTruth]

simple is best. I say give it a try.

 

[Colonel Angus]

I use a pellet stove as the primary heat source for a 2,100 square foot 2-story house. It works, but just barely. It would work a lot better if my house were tighter - I have some older windows and sliding doors that are pretty leaky. It has a thermostat and an ignitor, so I can set it to turn itself on if the house gets too cold while I'm gone. And the hopper holds 50 lbs of pellets, enough to run for 10 to 20 hours depending on the heat setting.

 

[TheTruth]

I use a pellet stove as the primary heat source for a 2,100 square foot 2-story house. It works, but just barely. It would work a lot better if my house were tighter - I have some older windows and sliding doors that are pretty leaky. It has a thermostat and an ignitor, so I can set it to turn itself on if the house gets too cold while I'm gone. And the hopper holds 50 lbs of pellets, enough to run for 10 to 20 hours depending on the heat setting.

After reading that, I think a wood burning stove would be better.

 

[moff_quigley]

We use a wood burning stove insert in our fireplace and our house sounds comparable to yours. Unfortunately the fireplace is upstairs so it can get chilly in the basement. If the stove was downstairs I feel pretty confident that I could heat the house all winter with just the stove. That said I can get the upstairs so warm it is almost intolerable. I typically let the fire die overnight so the gas furnace or heat pump kicks in depending on the outside temp.

 

[Arkayne]

I miss psp.

What are these pellets you speak of. Made of?

 

[TheTruth]

I miss psp.

What are these pellets you speak of. Made of?

PSP would talk about shooting pellets. Not burning them.

 

[Pesqueeb]

What are these pellets you speak of. Made of?

Compressed wood pellets, made mostly from wood shavings, sawdust or discards at various wood using facilities. Or they can be various left over agricultural products such as walnut husks, corn cobs, etc.

 

[buildyourown]

Double check that a pellet stove qualifies for the fed credit. I know some states will give you a credit under bio-fuels.
Also, it's 30% up to $1500. ie, you need to spend $5k to get your $1500.
There may be some rebates from you local utility. I know I got an extra $250 plus about $1k manufacturer rebate for buying in July. (slow season)

I went for the fancy gas furnace. A pellet stove may be nice in a living room, but I bet you'll get real tired of buying and moving and storing bags of pellets.

Edit: Before you go Costco, get some local mom & pop quotes. This is the kind of thing where a small family owned business can be very competitive and will work hard to make you happy. I like Costco, but you know they are going to contract out the install and those guys aren't really going to care if you're happy or not. I'm pretty picky about who works on my house.

 

[kickstand]

I would buy pellets by the ton and keep them in the shed so I'm not too worried about running out on a sunday. I figure a back up is kind of pointless unless were talking about a mechanical failure of the pellet stove. If we lose power the furnace isn't going to work anyway. We didn't have a backup when the furnace crapped out this spring. What I hadn't thought about though is being away and I'm glad you brought that up. I'm an airline employee, its not all that unusual for us to take off for a weekend or more, God knows it gets cold enough for pipes to freeze without a furnace. I think that right there might kill the pellet stove idea.



.

I didn't mean as a back up when power goes out, I meant to help heat the house as well. My father heats with wood burners, but they only heat about 3/4 of the house, so he also runs his furnace to keep his office warm and a few other rooms, it still saves him a boat load in utilities to have the woodburners going though.

Would this pellet stove be plumbed into your existing HVAC ducting or would it be like a stand alone wood burner in a single room?

If the first is the case you will not need a back up, if the second is the case a back up or auxillary heat source (like a standard furnace) would be nice for the rooms not directly adjacent to the pellet stove.