Are all pellets the same? Check out our video testing 6 different types of wood pellets for heat to learn more! ua-cam.com/video/vuo5XbG6Qpw/v-deo.html
I have a Witfield that's was bought in 1995 I burn ever years as primary heat it holds 1 an half bags of hard wood pellets I get almost 2 days burn time the amazing thing about this stove I can still gets parts for it from the net
I also have Whitfield stove bought in 96. I have burned many tons of pellets. The only bad part of a pellet stove is cost of pellets. Back when I first had it pellets little over buck a bag. Now 6 a bag. Not cheap heat anymore.
We've been heating for 3 years.The main room will be mid 70s and the rest of the house is 70* Upstairs will be mid 60s to 67*. Ceiling fans cause too many issues with my stove.Its better to let it run continuously.Everything stays a constant, comfortable temperature.
Very interesting. I am heating an 1200 square foot space with 18 foot cathedral ceiling , reversed rotation fan, my pellet stove runs over 24 hours . I never lower the heat. 68 f turning you’re stove on and off you are using more pellets as you need to burn hotter to bring room up to temp.
Thanks for watching. I've often thought about doing a comparison between letting it burn and just turning it on and off as needed. I didn't track the use - but for about a month we burned it straight through winter. In addition to making WAY more ash -it seemed to burn through more pellets that way. But I suppose it would depend on multiple factors.
How much more CO2 does it put out than heating it with coal? Wood is a very high carbon fuel but with a much lower energy density, so the laws of physics dictate that it is far more polluting!
I have a Harmon Absolute-43 stove. My house is a Cape Cod style with 1500 sq. ft. My stove is basically the only source of heat, although I do have an air sourced heat pump for backup. We keep it at 70 degrees and have the remote themostat so it is easier to maintain accurate temperature control. In a 24 hour period I will burn anywhere from just under 40 lbs. on an average day to about 60 lbs. on a really cold day. I live in Nova Scotia so we do not get super cold like the mid-west but it is not exactly Florida.
Heyhey Chad That is interesting, I have used a pellet stove now for around 15 years, a Harman Advance in my previous house and now an Englander in our new place. We use ours 24/7 as our primary heat source and I will add a bag of pellets once per day so 40 lbs per day. Now we do not have the ability to get the hardwood pellets , ours are Fir pellets. Its hard to reason why there would be such a big difference unless its the shut down and start up time as you do it. I only shut mine down once a week for cleaning. Take care my friend
That's a pretty good burn time. Though I know the hours just fly by and it seems like it's time to "refuel". I remember using kerosene heaters and they would last about 8 hours or so. I remember constantly having to refuel and it was a lot of trouble bringing in a 5 gallon kerosene can. I think I'd rather carry the bag of pellets...lol. Thanks for sharing Chad! Alice is a cute kitty! 😊🐱
Thanks so much for your tests. I’m trying to determine how it will help heat my home which has a high efficiency heat pump. I my just stick with the Vermont Casting Vigilant wood stove in my basement. My monthly bill to hold my house at 73° is around $95.00. With pellets at $350.00 ton right now, while I’d enjoy the flames in my insert, I’d probably be losing money.
I don't know if anybody has told you this yet, however, I too also own the same stove as you my friend. There is a much easier way for you to determine how many pellets you go through and how much time. There is a setting on the harmon that a lot of people don't know exist. After you turn the stove on and the igniter ignites the pellets turn the igniter switch to manual. In other words, set the switch on the down position. This makes it so the stove will not shut down completely and it will do a slow burn when gets to room temperature. This way your house stays in a constant, slow burn and regulated heat distribution. Every time the stove shuts down it takes about 30 minutes like you said and then on top of that takes another 5 to 10 minutes to get going once again. Then you go to add reheating and warming all the walls, ceilings etc. That's before it even starts to keep the rooms nice and toasty into temperature. You probably are already know about this but I thought I throw it in there just in case you want to make another video down the road. Every time I use my Harman I leave the igniter on soon as it starts the pellets and I no there is a flame going. I then turn the igniter off, set her and forget her. I usually leave my stove on 24 hours in the winter 7 days a week and I only shut it down once a week for a good cleaning and once a month for a thorough cleaning. I average one bag to one and a half per day. And I live in northern New Hampshire. Gets pretty cold where I am. Great video
@@PurpleCollarLife you're welcome, I'm pretty sure after you do this you will wonder why you never knew it earlier. Just think of the life you're adding to your igniter. One more thing, do not forget to turn the igniter back on the up position after you turn off your stove. You will be standing there for an hour wondering why it's not igniting thinking it's broke. Little will you know it's just that switch was not turned back on to Auto before your next restart. I only tell you this because I did this myself the first time. LOL don't forget about this comment and reply back to me in the future I'm curious to what you think after you try this.
Thanks for watching, Jeremiah. If you haven't yet seen our pellet stove vs wood stove video - I compare the advantages to each. There are things I like about each heat source. ua-cam.com/video/1A-sBQGGvgA/v-deo.html
I had a woodstove for about six years. I switched over to a pellet stove four years ago, it was the best thing that I’ve ever done as far as heating goes.
I heat with a Senville Mini Split (heat pump) 24K BTU for an old 1,500 sq ft farmhouse in WI. A warm December I spent $160 for heat, Jan & Feb I'll spend $200/mo for electricity to heat, keeping the house very nice. No buying or hauling anything, turn it on and forget it. Cheaper and easier for me. When it gets below zero F this weekend, I'll fire up a diesel heater as the heat pump will give less heat. Same cost per day, back-up system. The diesel heater was $150. The heat pump will still provide heat down to -35F, I tested it for 5 years now.
@@PurpleCollarLife Yes, the 24K BTU uses about 2.4 kW/hour. A smaller home (or better insulated in a warmer climate) might get by with a 12K BTU which uses only 1kW/hour to heat. Or supplement when it gets really cold with a diesel heater, which is what I am setting up now for this weekend's colder weather. The Mini Splits will still produce heat at -30F, just less heat when you need more, which is why I switch to diesel under 0F.
Burn time for a bag of wood pellets depends on how high you have your stove st. We have a Napoleon NPS45. It has five levels for heat settings. On 2 it burns about 40 pounds 222-24 hours. Set it on 5 and goes through that bag in about 12-14 hours.
I have a 2700 sq ft 2-Story and I run my Castile Pellet Stove insert 24/7 and it take 24hrs to go through a 40# bag of pellets. I run it on low and found it was more efficient running 24/7 on low than running on medium and turning it on/off during waking hours. It heats our whole downstairs and obviously heat rises to the other rooms a little bit. Right now our house temperature is 74 degrees and when it drops to the low 30's it still stays at 69/70. The insert is designed for a 1400 sq ft home but I would never want a larger one. Also, our entry area, living Rm, and Dining Rm have 18' ceilings.
OMG I have to comment here. First off, I'm in Buf...GO BILLS!! And second, thank you for cleaning the glass in your vid. I swear the vast majority of UA-cam pellet or wood stove vids have terribly dirty glass. Takes all of 5 min to clean people. Smh....
Thanks for noting the clean glass! I always like it best when I have the glass clean. It doesn't take long and it looks so much more impressive. And yes - GO BILLS! I've been a Buffalo Bills fan for a long long time. My grandfather lived in Buffalo when I was a kid. And I also live near Jim Kelly's home town. So I was a fan of the "local guy" back in the 80s and 90s. The Steelers are my 2nd favorite NFL team, but that pre-season game last week was a painful one for me.
@PurpleCollarLife ehh...it's preseason, we will see what happens in a few weeks. Can't wait for the season to start. Your vid was great! I currently have a wood stove I bought new a few years ago. While I love the stove, it's such a mess and an overall pain! Going to be moving in a year or 2 and I'll definitely go the pellet route. I'm looking at a lopi deerfield pellet stove.
We ran an Englander for 15 years, and last year swapped it out with a Harmon P43. We're in a 17-1800 sqft cape. Our floor plan is not an open plan, room to room, and have standard 8' ceilings. At first I thought 2 bags a day? that's nuts. But the main reason for that, I think, is the room size and ceiling height. On normal days here (Maine) 10-20+ degrees, we go 18-22 hours continuous run, and stays about 70-72 degrees in our living room. Colder in furthest room (bedroom) about 66 degrees. The cycle temperature swing is minute, set at 70, it will cycle on at about 69 and run until a constant temp of about 71. The time it stays off is dependent mostly on heat loss. The colder it is outside, longer it stays running, severe cold, minus numbers, it may not cycle off at all. That's the key, long burn time, less hours because of constant burn. At -15 to -20, 8-10 hours, but the stove is designed to automatically change feed rate when it needs to because of demand. Demand being heat loss is greater the colder it gets. It took us a while, fiddling with the settings to try and stay comfy yet using pellets frugally. We go through about 4 tons/year. Oh, and this is in a house that has no heat source in the cellar and stays at about 45 degrees by mid winter. Stay warm everyone.
Thanks for sharing your experience! It's interesting how smart the stove is - feeding as much as it needs to in order to maintain the desired setpoint temperature. And you're 100% right that our tall cathedral ceilings hurt our pellet consumption. I've been up on a ladder before replacing a bulb in our ceiling lights and felt how warm it is 16 feet in the air compared to at floor level. There is certainly a lot of our heat that hangs out up at the ceiling. Thanks for watching and leaving a comment!
I have the cast iron version of your stove, the Absolute 43. I also have a Cape Cod style home in Nova Scotia. The lower level is open concept and the stove does a great job of heating the entire house. We use it as the sole source of heat but we have backup if needed. We use a bit less than a bag in 24 hours on the average day and perhaps a bag and a half in 24 hours on a really cold day.
Thanks! I have a heat pump for my upper floor, but the lower floor (600 sq ft) still has baseboard heaters. Debating between a minisplit and pellet stove, but wasn't sure how long a bag of pellets typically lasts.
Using the pellet stove in this big great-room space keeps the baseboard heaters from coming on. It’s a trade off - buying pellets to eliminate the need for the baseboard heat - but we like the heat better and the pellet stove provides a nice flame to enjoy.
We get our pellets from Agway, by the ton. They're also available at stores like Tractor Supply and Home Depot. As far as the C02 - I have no idea on that one. I've also never burned coal for heat. Great questions though. Maybe another viewer will see your question and know the answer. Thanks for watching!
Thanks for watching! We actually made a few pellet comparison videos: ua-cam.com/video/vuo5XbG6Qpw/v-deo.html&t ua-cam.com/video/o4zGvHMh8E8/v-deo.html&t
Good video Chad, I might have to come up your way and get some of those pellets to try for my stove. I let my pellet stove run all the time and get around 24 hours per bag sometimes less if it’s really cold outside and I do let my stove run all the time
24 hours per bag is great!! We really like the Agway pellets. I would have to empty the ash pan after 1/2-2/3 of a ton with some other brands. With the Agway premium hardwood pellets - I empty the ash pan and clean the stove out after each ton of pellets burned.
@@fractalofgod6324 here in our area it’s 50 bags per pallet at 40 pounds per bag and that lasts me about 50-60 days depending on the weather and a pallet of pellets costs less than $300 here so definitely cheaper than my propane alternative
We keep our house temperature around 62 to 66 during the winter using a wood stove in the basement, floor registers and fans. We have baseboard heaters, but we don't turn them on unless the house temperature drops below 56 (We have warm clothes and blankets!) We have cut our electric consumption by 75% with this method. We're considering a pellet stove to quickly heat up the main floor in the morning while we get the wood stove fired back up (We stoke it and damp it down at bedtime and still have good coals in the morning, but it takes about an hour to get it roaring again). Our questions are: 1. How long does it take the pellet stove to get hot enough to get ambient heat from the box so we could turn it off and sit near it? We're really looking to just take the chill off the main room in the morning until the wood stove gets hot enough to be stoked and damped down. I'm gone for about 6 hours a day, and would probably need to repeat the process when I get home. 2. Are there pellet stoves that load from the side or the front? We're thinking about removing our propane stove and putting a pellet stove in the space where the propane stove currently exists (a small build out so the front of the propane stove is flush with the wall) but loading the pellet stove from the back would impossible. 3. Does it take a lot of pellets to start, stop and then restart the pellet stove? We harvest wood for the wood stove from our land, so the only cost is labor... pellets look like they cost around $10/40lbs... We don't want to add a bunch of cost to our heating. Your thoughts?
Thanks for watching and asking the questions! 1. Pellet stoves produce heat pretty quickly. It takes ours about 5 minutes to ignite and start blowing heat. But when they stop feeding pellets, the heat slows down pretty quickly. It does take ours upwards of 20-30 minutes to fully shut down. You do get some heat during that time. 2. I've not seen any pellet stoves with different orientations. The ones I've experienced all have the hoppers at the back. That being said - they're not super deep. You can pour the pellets into the hopper easily from the side. 3. There have been studies and experiments to determine what is the duration that it makes sense to just leave the stove on, vs shutting it off and turning it back on a few hours later. Overnight for example - we've tried it both ways. In our experience, it's worth the pellet savings to shut it off about 30 minutes before bed time, and then turn it back on in the morning.
Good vid. Were heating in the woods with cordwood off the property. 4 cords a year in a forced air furnace. Produced off the property ourselves. Your setup doesent seep too bad. What percentage of your heat comes from the pellet burner?
Sometimes no thermostat is a good option. My Pelpro with s 40lb hopper can burn 18 to 22 constant hours set on low with the combustion fan and auger speeds tweaked just right. It'll keep my downstairs around 70, a little warmer if I use soft wood pellets.
Do you know what the temperature swing is from stove on and off ? If the room gets cold then when the stove comes back on it has to work harder to get back up to temperature, thermal mass, it’s not just the air that’s cold it’s the walls, floor, furniture etc. I’d be curious to see on a weekend if you run it 24 hrs and just drop the temp 5 degrees at night.
It’s pretty extreme. When the stove is turned off, The temperature drops to around 55 degrees F (where my electric heaters kick in). Then the stove heats the room back up to whatever temperature we set it at in about an hour or two.
Great video. I have a Harman as well. You are definitely trapping a lot of heat with the high ceilings. Reversing the fan helps and you may want to have 2 ceiling fans. I have found and jmo, maintaining the heat compared to shutting down at night and restarting it during the day could give you better performance. And, drastic temperature changes can cause drywall issues, cracking at the joints.. If, the room has drywall? I have the Harman Coal Stoker as well and retired it last year. I found with the coal stoker keeping the temp made it run better and run more efficiently. Thoughts?
Thanks for watching! I have tried burning the pellet stove through the night to compare maintaining the room heat with shutting it down. It just uses too much fuel when we're not in the room. And on week days when we're at work - we don't light the pellet stove in the morning either. So on some days, from bed time until we get home from work/school is about 15 hours of the day that we actually don't run the pellet stove and heat the room. Since our addition is about 10 years old (20x40 great room where the pellet stove is), we do have some drywall cracking. I suspect it's just from settling - but it certainly could be from the drywall temperature changes.
as long as the cat and the dog are content, everything else is a moot point:) On a serious note, would YOU recommend the pellet stove you are using?...The reason I ask is, I have had wood burning stoves (and I LOVE them) for 40+ years...I am no longer a young man and trying to find wood to cut and all the trials that go along with it are becoming more difficult with each passing year. I have been considering pellet stoves as an option...Your input would be very useful
I’ve been really happy with the Harman P68 pellet stove. It heats the large area nicely. We did a video comparing the wood stove and the pellet stove. You can get more information about the positives and negatives of the pellet stove in that video. ua-cam.com/video/1A-sBQGGvgA/v-deo.htmlsi=eo-L8opIVOHmNIat The biggest downsides to the pellet stove in our living area is the constant noise. The other down side (when compared to a wood stove) is that the repair costs are much higher on the pellet stove. We’ve had to replace the control board and some other items and they’re not cheap. But all-in-all, it’s still a stove I’d recommend.
@@jamesherman1350 No problem. Here's a detailed video I did about pellet stove vs wood stove - lots of great pellet stove info in this one too. : ua-cam.com/video/1A-sBQGGvgA/v-deo.html
We get ours at Agway - by the ton. But you can get them by the ton or by the bag a places like Home Depot, Tractor Supply, Rural King. Right now at the time of this comment, around here they go for about $4.99 a bag. But they're cheaper if you buy 50 bags at a time (1 ton).
Thanks - the price varies based on location, type of pellets, and how many you buy. When we made this video about a year ago, prices were less than they are today. Current pricing 1-14-24 is about $4.99 per bag if you buy them individually at a store like Tractor Supply. We buy them by the ton (50 bags), and they're a little cheaper that way. So the $/hr is going to depend on how you buy the pellets, and when/where.
It’s primarily heating an area that is a 20x40 space with cathedral 16’ tall ceilings, but also spilling into our kitchen space that is approximately 17x20 with 8’ ceiling. The area is new construction (about 12 years old) and has triple-pane glass windows and a sliding door. It’s a full wall of windows though - so that we can enjoy the beautiful nature behind the house. Thanks for watching!
Can someone suggest a reliable pellet source for tons. There's only one place in town to buy them (now that Walmart has obliterated competition) and sometimes they have them and sometimes they don't. They still sell pellet stoves though...
You are welcome! Thank you for taking the time to watch and leave a comment. Every time someone takes a few seconds to click the “like” button, leave a comment, and subscribe - our little channel gets a bit more recognition from UA-cam. :)
She's a funny one. If I'm sitting on the couch and she climbs up, she'll snuggle in and get really comfortable - then I feel bad when I have to get up and disturb her sleep.
Does anyone know where there is a pellet factory or the cheapest place to buy pellets in the south west Missouri instead of the big box stores like Menards? They are $5.49 a bag right now unless you buy a ton. I want to stock up and save money.
About $7.50 here in Upstate NY (in the country not the city lol) $6.50 if you buy a ton. I’ve heard of people getting pellet press machines and using free saw dust from cabinet shops and making their own pellets. If the price goes up anymore I may be looking into that myself.
This pellet stove is just used for heat. But I'm not sure if you're able to cook on them since the stove is designed with air baffles to blow the heat out away from the top of the stove.
Does anyone know why some pellets claim they are softwood yet are dark brown in color? Are they including bark in the mix? Does bark have more ash than wood?
I'm not a fan of the soft wood pellets. I think they make way more ash. You might be right about the bark- I'm not sure. Even hardwood pellets don't perform as well in our stove as pellets labeled "premium hardwood".
Wow that's very low I have a enviro efi2 and we get 24-28 hours with straight though burn 40lbs bag keeps are 1750sq house 74-76 degrees and we only burn it if it's 30 degrees or lower
So, this is more than $10/day to heat a big room during a mild winter day. This would be at least $600 per month for a house. Both our heat pump and wood stove less expensively than that. Particularly if the wood just costs a little bit of work.
That's true. Sometimes I question not putting in another wood stove in this location rather than the pellet stove. But it's nice not having all the dirt/mess of the firewood in our living area.
That's a very difficult question to answer. It depends on factors that vary from person to person. Variables include: size of the room your heating, your region/climate, your stove and stove efficiency, room size (sq. ft), room ceiling height, desired room temperature, and more. I typically plan on using 2ish tons for a winter. Around us, a ton of premium pellets costs over $300. So we spend around $600+ per winter for the pellets. But that is to heat our great room and kitchen, with a 16-foot cathedral ceiling.
You should try some better quality pellets, specifically softwood, you will get more BTU's and much less ash, i have a Harman P61A in nothern New England and heat a 1800 sq foot log home, i typically use 4 to 5 tons per heating season which usually is around 8 months, i clean my stove 3 times a season and generally keep our home at 75 degrees, i have a Honeywell Wifi thermostat that controls my stove.
Very interesting that you'd suggest soft wood. I always thought (and have read) that hardwood pellets are superior to softwood. That the hardwood pellets cost more because they burn longer. Though soft wood pellets may burn with less total ash per ton because the sap within the wood burns them more fully. Around here - I can't even find softwood pellets. I find it so interesting to see the differences in areas - I can't imagine having to heat a home 8 out of 12 months! Thanks for sharing your experience and letting us know about the softwood pellets. I'll be on the lookout for a bag to try!
@PurpleCollarLife People have been taught to believe that you can not burn softwood, yet, in Canada and Alaska that's all they burn, as far as pellets, softwood are superior to hardwood because the burn hotter and have less ash, if you can find them, Lacrete and Logik are the best I've seen so far. As far as burn time, I see no difference, but once I start my stove I usually put it in manual mode so it doesn't shut off, even if no heat is required it will still maintain a small fire.
Our pellet stove can be closer to the wall than our wood stove is. We buy our pellets by the ton (40 lb bags x 50 bags) and they are around $310 per ton right now. I think by the bag they are around $4.99 at Tractor Supply.
That would be interesting! But each person would need to create that comparison for themselves. It will vary based on location and time of year. For example, here as of 1-19-24, pellets are about $4.99 per bag/$239.50 per ton at Tractor Supply.
I have had my p68 since 2007 and have averaged here in NH during the winter 1 1/2 bags a day 24hrs when it's below 40 outside. Take that probe cut about 3" off the end step wires back about an inch. Go get some thermostat wire at Lowe's or home Depot the length where you want thermostat to be. Run wire along floor to where you want thermostat to hang on the wall. Get yourself an inexpensive digital thermostat like you have there in video cheap one is all you need. Now remove jumper in thermostat looks like a staple throw away. Connect the red wire from probe to red thermostat wire you got at Lowes. Now connect the remaining 2 wires one to R and one to W on thermostat. Hang thermostat on wall now it will run like a furnace. Paint wire to match the wall. The other end of wire at stove you will need to add female connectors like the original probe wire.Ohh set to auto on stove and fan auto and heat on thermostat.
Thanks for sharing your experience on fuel use and burn rate. And awesome to hear I could attach a digital thermostat. Excellent detail in your comment. I may give that a try in the future! Getting that wire into a different location might help with the stove kicking on and off throughout the day and being sometimes too hot or too cold.
@@PurpleCollarLife I ran my wire next to my chair where I want it 70 back in 2009. Works great. We burn 5 ton a year primary heat. Also you will need to set your temp knob higher that the temp you want so if you want it 70 on room thermostat make sure your stove one is set over 75.
Its not the burn time i worry about. Its the cost of the bag. When i started burning pellets they were 1.35 a bag. Now they 6.00 a bag. Not economical by any means. Cheaper than electric only heat but not by much.
I have actually considered turning the pellet stove off, and trying to determine if the increase in electric usage is less than the cost of the pellets.
Currently about $5 a bag if you buy them individually from a place like Tractor Supply. We buy ours in bulk - 50 bags at a time (1 ton). They're cheaper that way.
I have a wood stove, but wanted to know more about the pellet stove. Do you need a pipe the smoke outside like you do with the wood stove? I don't see a pipe unless it is in behind of the pellet stove. What happens when the electricity goes out?
Thanks for watching and asking the questions. The pellet stove does have an air intake, and an exhaust pipe located out the back, and through the wall to the outside. I like the nice clean look of it going behind the stove. As far as when the power goes out - that's a problem. Power is needed to run the auger, the air feed, and the blower. And when the power goes out unexpectedly when the stove is running, the pellets just smolder and smoke fills the stove and sometimes the room. I have our pellet stove connected to the generator for longer power outages. I also have a Jackery unit that I connect to it if the power goes out while it's running. Here's a video we did about pellet stove vs wood stove - it covers some of those topics. ua-cam.com/video/1A-sBQGGvgA/v-deo.html
nice video but I will stick with my split wood and wood chips I have heat with for 40 years now. a 7 gallon bucket of wood chips will last 2-8 hours depending on how high I run the stove. I have endless supply of both wood chips and firewood. easier to haul wood chips over firewood.lol
Wow, sounds really scientific. But the dust thing being a negative, I'm not sure it's more negative than wood debris, bugs , spiders and dirt tracked from wood, but I Guess that's based on the the same scientific standards. Depending on stove brand , outside temp and dwelling construction, science gets very complicated.
Thanks for watching. We do have those issues of the wood debris, bugs, spiders and dirt tracked in with our wood burning stove in the basement. So yes - there are definitely advantages and disadvantages of each heat type. Here's a video we made comparing the pellet stove to the wood stove: ua-cam.com/video/1A-sBQGGvgA/v-deo.html
Great question. It exhausts out the back, and through the wall. There's also an air inlet that comes in through the wall to the pellet stove. It gives it a nice clean look not having all the exhaust flue/chimney in the room. You can see it in this video: ua-cam.com/video/hdmiXSsfkiM/v-deo.html
12hrs/40lbs x 2 (for 24hrs) x $7.00/40lb bag x 30 days = $420/mth... Just to heat one room at about 30deg F outside? What you made of $ ?... I do my entire house for that, in winter at those temps with electric alone. Idgi.
Our bags around here don't cost $7.00 a bag. I actually just priced them earlier this week at about $4.50 a bag. And we don't burn 2 bags every day throughout the winter. But you're right - it is a big cost. This room where the pellet stove is has vaulted cathedral ceiling - about 16-feet tall, and the room is 20x40, and connects to the kitchen outside that 20x40 footprint. So the pellet stove heats a lot of square footage if you calculate the size, and room height.
It varies depending on brand, store you get them from, time of year, location, and how many you buy. We have an upcoming video about exactly this topic. Around here, as of today, they range from about $4.99 per bag to $8.00 per bag.
That is going to vary depending on how many you buy (individually vs by the pallet/ton), the time of year, the pellets you buy (brand/type), and where you get them. We currently buy them by the ton (50x40# bags) from Agway. But in our area, by the individual 40# bag, as of today, they are $4.99 at Tractor Supply.
That's true - but we really like that our great room has 3 walls of windows - we can see out and see deer, bear, turkey, squirrels, birds, fox, and all kinds of wildlife.
Thank you. This is very helpful. We are looking into pellet stove inserts. Since it uses electricity to burn, I wonder how much it impacts the electric bill for a 2,300 square foot home?
@user-bo4gw1xj4u good deal. They aren't that cheap where I live. Tractor supply cheapest here are 8.99. Bought a full pallet of 40 bags for $450 including delivery fee.
The answer to the title of this video depends completely on how hot you are running your stove. We have a Napoleon NPS45. Settings are 1 - 5. Running on 2 a bag of pellets lasts 24 hours. On 4 that gets shortened dramatically. The is no one answer to this question.
You said dust is a problem with pellets , you are not using a very good pellet then. i use a fir pellet and have no dust in the bag. the moisture is 6 per cent or less. what is the BTUs of your pellets? it should be the same as natural gas . remember you get what you pay for.
Great points. We did a pellet comparison test over the last few weeks. That video comes out on Saturday. Hope you can catch it. I discovered that some pellets have a listing of 8400 BTU, some have 8100 BTU, and some don't list the BTUs. Around here, they seem to be all mixed hardwood pellets.
We only burn hardwood pellets. Around here (northwest PA, in the heart of hardwood forests) hardwood pellets are all you can buy. The pellets from Agway’s are premium hardwood pellets.
Are all pellets the same? Check out our video testing 6 different types of wood pellets for heat to learn more! ua-cam.com/video/vuo5XbG6Qpw/v-deo.html
I have a Witfield that's was bought in 1995 I burn ever years as primary heat it holds 1 an half bags of hard wood pellets I get almost 2 days burn time the amazing thing about this stove I can still gets parts for it from the net
That sounds like a great pellet stove! Long life, still fixable with available parts, and really efficient!!
I also have Whitfield stove bought in 96. I have burned many tons of pellets. The only bad part of a pellet stove is cost of pellets. Back when I first had it pellets little over buck a bag. Now 6 a bag. Not cheap heat anymore.
We've been heating for 3 years.The main room will be mid 70s and the rest of the house is 70* Upstairs will be mid 60s to 67*. Ceiling fans cause too many issues with my stove.Its better to let it run continuously.Everything stays a constant, comfortable temperature.
Very interesting. I am heating an 1200 square foot space with 18 foot cathedral ceiling , reversed rotation fan, my pellet stove runs over 24 hours . I never lower the heat. 68 f turning you’re stove on and off you are using more pellets as you need to burn hotter to bring room up to temp.
Thanks for watching. I've often thought about doing a comparison between letting it burn and just turning it on and off as needed. I didn't track the use - but for about a month we burned it straight through winter. In addition to making WAY more ash -it seemed to burn through more pellets that way. But I suppose it would depend on multiple factors.
How much more CO2 does it put out than heating it with coal? Wood is a very high carbon fuel but with a much lower energy density, so the laws of physics dictate that it is far more polluting!
Same scenario for me. Identical. I sometimes can kill it for the nite in decently warm weather. Sunny days same deal.
I don't have a pellet stove bit this is good information for someone thinking of getting one
Thanks, Chris! Have a good weekend.
I have a Harmon Absolute-43 stove. My house is a Cape Cod style with 1500 sq. ft. My stove is basically the only source of heat, although I do have an air sourced heat pump for backup. We keep it at 70 degrees and have the remote themostat so it is easier to maintain accurate temperature control. In a 24 hour period I will burn anywhere from just under 40 lbs. on an average day to about 60 lbs. on a really cold day. I live in Nova Scotia so we do not get super cold like the mid-west but it is not exactly Florida.
Thanks for sharing!
Yikes, that's at least $200 a month. I thought these things were more cost effective than that.
@@imscanon Still cheaper than electric heat for most folks.
@@imscanon$200 per month to heat my 1300sf would be a great deal for me. I’m thinking about a pellet stove.
Heyhey Chad That is interesting, I have used a pellet stove now for around 15 years, a Harman Advance in my previous house and now an Englander in our new place. We use ours 24/7 as our primary heat source and I will add a bag of pellets once per day so 40 lbs per day. Now we do not have the ability to get the hardwood pellets , ours are Fir pellets. Its hard to reason why there would be such a big difference unless its the shut down and start up time as you do it. I only shut mine down once a week for cleaning. Take care my friend
That's awesome, Mike! That is really good performance. Maybe Jennifer and Mackenzie turn the stove way up when I'm away and burn more pellets. :)
I have had this stove since it came out and
,holy moly it works,I use clean burn pellets
It's a great way to heat!
That's a pretty good burn time. Though I know the hours just fly by and it seems like it's time to "refuel". I remember using kerosene heaters and they would last about 8 hours or so. I remember constantly having to refuel and it was a lot of trouble bringing in a 5 gallon kerosene can. I think I'd rather carry the bag of pellets...lol. Thanks for sharing Chad! Alice is a cute kitty! 😊🐱
Thanks, David! Heating certainly isn't cheap - whether it's with pellets, natural gas, electricity, LP gas, Kerosene or any other fuel type.
Thanks so much for your tests. I’m trying to determine how it will help heat my home which has a high efficiency heat pump. I my just stick with the Vermont Casting Vigilant wood stove in my basement. My monthly bill to hold my house at 73° is around $95.00. With pellets at $350.00 ton right now, while I’d enjoy the flames in my insert, I’d probably be losing money.
Thank you!
Jennifer likes the temperature at 74 degrees......BECAUSE!! 😄😄I love it! That was hilarious
I don't know if anybody has told you this yet, however, I too also own the same stove as you my friend.
There is a much easier way for you to determine how many pellets you go through and how much time. There is a setting on the harmon that a lot of people don't know exist. After you turn the stove on and the igniter ignites the pellets turn the igniter switch to manual. In other words, set the switch on the down position. This makes it so the stove will not shut down completely and it will do a slow burn when gets to room temperature. This way your house stays in a constant, slow burn and regulated heat distribution.
Every time the stove shuts down it takes about 30 minutes like you said and then on top of that takes another 5 to 10 minutes to get going once again. Then you go to add reheating and warming all the walls, ceilings etc. That's before it even starts to keep the rooms nice and toasty into temperature.
You probably are already know about this but I thought I throw it in there just in case you want to make another video down the road.
Every time I use my Harman I leave the igniter on soon as it starts the pellets and I no there is a flame going. I then turn the igniter off, set her and forget her.
I usually leave my stove on 24 hours in the winter 7 days a week and I only shut it down once a week for a good cleaning and once a month for a thorough cleaning. I average one bag to one and a half per day. And I live in northern New Hampshire. Gets pretty cold where I am. Great video
This is excellent information. I've never moved that igniter switch from Auto. I'll have to give your method a try! Thanks again!!
@@PurpleCollarLife you're welcome, I'm pretty sure after you do this you will wonder why you never knew it earlier. Just think of the life you're adding to your igniter. One more thing, do not forget to turn the igniter back on the up position after you turn off your stove. You will be standing there for an hour wondering why it's not igniting thinking it's broke. Little will you know it's just that switch was not turned back on to Auto before your next restart. I only tell you this because I did this myself the first time. LOL don't forget about this comment and reply back to me in the future I'm curious to what you think after you try this.
The best part of this commercial is the dog in background looking at guy with a " who the hell is he talking to now ??? " look an its face lol
Interesting I have always wondered about pellet stoves. Sure is easier than lugging firewood in!👍👍
Thanks for watching, Jeremiah. If you haven't yet seen our pellet stove vs wood stove video - I compare the advantages to each. There are things I like about each heat source. ua-cam.com/video/1A-sBQGGvgA/v-deo.html
Wood pellets are cleaner but wood is a lot better Same with burn time with wood
I had a woodstove for about six years. I switched over to a pellet stove four years ago, it was the best thing that I’ve ever done as far as heating goes.
Pellets are not cheap. 8 bucks a day for 1200 sq ft open plan house.
I heat with a Senville Mini Split (heat pump) 24K BTU for an old 1,500 sq ft farmhouse in WI. A warm December I spent $160 for heat, Jan & Feb I'll spend $200/mo for electricity to heat, keeping the house very nice. No buying or hauling anything, turn it on and forget it. Cheaper and easier for me. When it gets below zero F this weekend, I'll fire up a diesel heater as the heat pump will give less heat. Same cost per day, back-up system. The diesel heater was $150. The heat pump will still provide heat down to -35F, I tested it for 5 years now.
Thanks for the info. That sounds like a great solution! Does it run on electricity only? (we don't have natural gas).
@@PurpleCollarLife Yes, the 24K BTU uses about 2.4 kW/hour. A smaller home (or better insulated in a warmer climate) might get by with a 12K BTU which uses only 1kW/hour to heat. Or supplement when it gets really cold with a diesel heater, which is what I am setting up now for this weekend's
colder weather. The Mini Splits will still produce heat at -30F, just less heat when you need more, which is why I switch to diesel under 0F.
Burn time for a bag of wood pellets depends on how high you have your stove st. We have a Napoleon NPS45. It has five levels for heat settings. On 2 it burns about 40 pounds 222-24 hours. Set it on 5 and goes through that bag in about 12-14 hours.
Excellent point! We have our feed rate set to "2" on this Harman pellet stove.
I have a 2700 sq ft 2-Story and I run my Castile Pellet Stove insert 24/7 and it take 24hrs to go through a 40# bag of pellets. I run it on low and found it was more efficient running 24/7 on low than running on medium and turning it on/off during waking hours. It heats our whole downstairs and obviously heat rises to the other rooms a little bit. Right now our house temperature is 74 degrees and when it drops to the low 30's it still stays at 69/70. The insert is designed for a 1400 sq ft home but I would never want a larger one. Also, our entry area, living Rm, and Dining Rm have 18' ceilings.
Excellent comment. I've tried running solid vs turning it off and on also. Glad to hear that it works out good for you to run it straight through.
OMG I have to comment here. First off, I'm in Buf...GO BILLS!! And second, thank you for cleaning the glass in your vid. I swear the vast majority of UA-cam pellet or wood stove vids have terribly dirty glass. Takes all of 5 min to clean people. Smh....
Thanks for noting the clean glass! I always like it best when I have the glass clean. It doesn't take long and it looks so much more impressive.
And yes - GO BILLS! I've been a Buffalo Bills fan for a long long time. My grandfather lived in Buffalo when I was a kid. And I also live near Jim Kelly's home town. So I was a fan of the "local guy" back in the 80s and 90s. The Steelers are my 2nd favorite NFL team, but that pre-season game last week was a painful one for me.
@PurpleCollarLife ehh...it's preseason, we will see what happens in a few weeks. Can't wait for the season to start. Your vid was great! I currently have a wood stove I bought new a few years ago. While I love the stove, it's such a mess and an overall pain! Going to be moving in a year or 2 and I'll definitely go the pellet route. I'm looking at a lopi deerfield pellet stove.
The clean glass looks great and Let's Go Buffalo!
Harman’s don’t dirty up the glass as bad as cheaper grade pellet stoves.
We ran an Englander for 15 years, and last year swapped it out with a Harmon P43.
We're in a 17-1800 sqft cape. Our floor plan is not an open plan, room to room, and
have standard 8' ceilings. At first I thought 2 bags a day? that's nuts. But the main
reason for that, I think, is the room size and ceiling height. On normal days here (Maine)
10-20+ degrees, we go 18-22 hours continuous run, and stays about 70-72 degrees
in our living room. Colder in furthest room (bedroom) about 66 degrees. The cycle
temperature swing is minute, set at 70, it will cycle on at about 69 and run until a
constant temp of about 71. The time it stays off is dependent mostly on heat loss.
The colder it is outside, longer it stays running, severe cold, minus numbers, it may
not cycle off at all. That's the key, long burn time, less hours because of constant
burn. At -15 to -20, 8-10 hours, but the stove is designed to automatically change
feed rate when it needs to because of demand. Demand being heat loss is greater
the colder it gets. It took us a while, fiddling with the settings to try and stay comfy
yet using pellets frugally. We go through about 4 tons/year. Oh, and this is in a house
that has no heat source in the cellar and stays at about 45 degrees by mid winter.
Stay warm everyone.
Thanks for sharing your experience! It's interesting how smart the stove is - feeding as much as it needs to in order to maintain the desired setpoint temperature. And you're 100% right that our tall cathedral ceilings hurt our pellet consumption. I've been up on a ladder before replacing a bulb in our ceiling lights and felt how warm it is 16 feet in the air compared to at floor level. There is certainly a lot of our heat that hangs out up at the ceiling. Thanks for watching and leaving a comment!
I have the cast iron version of your stove, the Absolute 43. I also have a Cape Cod style home in Nova Scotia. The lower level is open concept and the stove does a great job of heating the entire house. We use it as the sole source of heat but we have backup if needed. We use a bit less than a bag in 24 hours on the average day and perhaps a bag and a half in 24 hours on a really cold day.
Thanks! I have a heat pump for my upper floor, but the lower floor (600 sq ft) still has baseboard heaters. Debating between a minisplit and pellet stove, but wasn't sure how long a bag of pellets typically lasts.
Using the pellet stove in this big great-room space keeps the baseboard heaters from coming on. It’s a trade off - buying pellets to eliminate the need for the baseboard heat - but we like the heat better and the pellet stove provides a nice flame to enjoy.
Ware do your wood pallets come from and how much more CO2 does that produce than burning coal?
We get our pellets from Agway, by the ton. They're also available at stores like Tractor Supply and Home Depot.
As far as the C02 - I have no idea on that one. I've also never burned coal for heat. Great questions though. Maybe another viewer will see your question and know the answer. Thanks for watching!
Thanks for telling me what pellets do the best
Thanks for watching! We actually made a few pellet comparison videos:
ua-cam.com/video/vuo5XbG6Qpw/v-deo.html&t
ua-cam.com/video/o4zGvHMh8E8/v-deo.html&t
Good video Chad, I might have to come up your way and get some of those pellets to try for my stove. I let my pellet stove run all the time and get around 24 hours per bag sometimes less if it’s really cold outside and I do let my stove run all the time
24 hours per bag is great!! We really like the Agway pellets. I would have to empty the ash pan after 1/2-2/3 of a ton with some other brands. With the Agway premium hardwood pellets - I empty the ash pan and clean the stove out after each ton of pellets burned.
So 24 hrs per bag and a tonne of pellets is 54 bags @ $500 hmmm doesn't work out cheaper than mains gas, certainly not in the UK anyway.
@@fractalofgod6324 here in our area it’s 50 bags per pallet at 40 pounds per bag and that lasts me about 50-60 days depending on the weather and a pallet of pellets costs less than $300 here so definitely cheaper than my propane alternative
@@DsHomestead cheapest pellets per tonne I've found here is £444 which works out about $470
@@DsHomestead I thought you said a bag per 24hrs
Three different blue Hoodies! Buffalo represent!
Go Bills!!
We keep our house temperature around 62 to 66 during the winter using a wood stove in the basement, floor registers and fans. We have baseboard heaters, but we don't turn them on unless the house temperature drops below 56 (We have warm clothes and blankets!) We have cut our electric consumption by 75% with this method. We're considering a pellet stove to quickly heat up the main floor in the morning while we get the wood stove fired back up (We stoke it and damp it down at bedtime and still have good coals in the morning, but it takes about an hour to get it roaring again). Our questions are:
1. How long does it take the pellet stove to get hot enough to get ambient heat from the box so we could turn it off and sit near it? We're really looking to just take the chill off the main room in the morning until the wood stove gets hot enough to be stoked and damped down. I'm gone for about 6 hours a day, and would probably need to repeat the process when I get home.
2. Are there pellet stoves that load from the side or the front? We're thinking about removing our propane stove and putting a pellet stove in the space where the propane stove currently exists (a small build out so the front of the propane stove is flush with the wall) but loading the pellet stove from the back would impossible.
3. Does it take a lot of pellets to start, stop and then restart the pellet stove? We harvest wood for the wood stove from our land, so the only cost is labor... pellets look like they cost around $10/40lbs... We don't want to add a bunch of cost to our heating. Your thoughts?
Thanks for watching and asking the questions!
1. Pellet stoves produce heat pretty quickly. It takes ours about 5 minutes to ignite and start blowing heat. But when they stop feeding pellets, the heat slows down pretty quickly. It does take ours upwards of 20-30 minutes to fully shut down. You do get some heat during that time.
2. I've not seen any pellet stoves with different orientations. The ones I've experienced all have the hoppers at the back. That being said - they're not super deep. You can pour the pellets into the hopper easily from the side.
3. There have been studies and experiments to determine what is the duration that it makes sense to just leave the stove on, vs shutting it off and turning it back on a few hours later. Overnight for example - we've tried it both ways. In our experience, it's worth the pellet savings to shut it off about 30 minutes before bed time, and then turn it back on in the morning.
Good vid. Were heating in the woods with cordwood off the property.
4 cords a year in a forced air furnace. Produced off the property ourselves.
Your setup doesent seep too bad. What percentage of your heat comes from the pellet burner?
Sometimes no thermostat is a good option. My Pelpro with s 40lb hopper can burn 18 to 22 constant hours set on low with the combustion fan and auger speeds tweaked just right. It'll keep my downstairs around 70, a little warmer if I use soft wood pellets.
Very interesting!
Do you know what the temperature swing is from stove on and off ? If the room gets cold then when the stove comes back on it has to work harder to get back up to temperature, thermal mass, it’s not just the air that’s cold it’s the walls, floor, furniture etc. I’d be curious to see on a weekend if you run it 24 hrs and just drop the temp 5 degrees at night.
It’s pretty extreme. When the stove is turned off, The temperature drops to around 55 degrees F (where my electric heaters kick in). Then the stove heats the room back up to whatever temperature we set it at in about an hour or two.
Great video. I have a Harman as well. You are definitely trapping a lot of heat with the high ceilings. Reversing the fan helps and you may want to have 2 ceiling fans. I have found and jmo, maintaining the heat compared to shutting down at night and restarting it during the day could give you better performance. And, drastic temperature changes can cause drywall issues, cracking at the joints.. If, the room has drywall? I have the Harman Coal Stoker as well and retired it last year. I found with the coal stoker keeping the temp made it run better and run more efficiently. Thoughts?
Thanks for watching! I have tried burning the pellet stove through the night to compare maintaining the room heat with shutting it down. It just uses too much fuel when we're not in the room. And on week days when we're at work - we don't light the pellet stove in the morning either. So on some days, from bed time until we get home from work/school is about 15 hours of the day that we actually don't run the pellet stove and heat the room.
Since our addition is about 10 years old (20x40 great room where the pellet stove is), we do have some drywall cracking. I suspect it's just from settling - but it certainly could be from the drywall temperature changes.
as long as the cat and the dog are content, everything else is a moot point:) On a serious note, would YOU recommend the pellet stove you are using?...The reason I ask is, I have had wood burning stoves (and I LOVE them) for 40+ years...I am no longer a young man and trying to find wood to cut and all the trials that go along with it are becoming more difficult with each passing year. I have been considering pellet stoves as an option...Your input would be very useful
I’ve been really happy with the Harman P68 pellet stove. It heats the large area nicely. We did a video comparing the wood stove and the pellet stove. You can get more information about the positives and negatives of the pellet stove in that video. ua-cam.com/video/1A-sBQGGvgA/v-deo.htmlsi=eo-L8opIVOHmNIat
The biggest downsides to the pellet stove in our living area is the constant noise. The other down side (when compared to a wood stove) is that the repair costs are much higher on the pellet stove. We’ve had to replace the control board and some other items and they’re not cheap. But all-in-all, it’s still a stove I’d recommend.
Interesting stuff Chad. Also, it's nice to know I'm not the only one with an animal that feels like they belong in the spotlight!
Alice is attention seeking for sure! Thanks for watching Chris.
I'm curious as to the cost per bag of pellets. I know brands will vary a bit, but a ball park would be nice to know.
We buy them by the ton - so the rate is less than buying them by each 40 lb bag. But right now, a bag of them at Tractor Supply (40#) is $4.99 each.
Thank you for the information. I'm in the very initial stages of research and this helps tremendously. @@PurpleCollarLife
@@jamesherman1350 No problem. Here's a detailed video I did about pellet stove vs wood stove - lots of great pellet stove info in this one too. : ua-cam.com/video/1A-sBQGGvgA/v-deo.html
Great that you told about your ceiling heights!
I'm debating between wood or pellet. Thks for a great video!
Glad it was helpful! Which way are you leaning? Pellet or wood?
@@PurpleCollarLife which ever is cheaper lol!
Plus one for my small house.
How much was the bag of pellets?
@@CrackerFL We buy them by the ton. 50 bags at a time.
Go wood !!
Depending on how cold I can get 24 hours out of Doug fir pellet (40lb bag)
Thanks, Daniel!
What is the price in comparising with wood..
How much is one lbs? And..
if you have a black window, you dont fire well..
The black windows happen over time - from startup and shut down of the stove when it's not burning hot.
What’s the temperature outside?
At the time of the video, it was in the 30s F.
What is the cost of the 40 lb bag and where can you buy them
We get ours at Agway - by the ton. But you can get them by the ton or by the bag a places like Home Depot, Tractor Supply, Rural King. Right now at the time of this comment, around here they go for about $4.99 a bag. But they're cheaper if you buy 50 bags at a time (1 ton).
Would be nice to know price of 40lb bag. lbs/hr or $/hr.
Thanks - the price varies based on location, type of pellets, and how many you buy. When we made this video about a year ago, prices were less than they are today. Current pricing 1-14-24 is about $4.99 per bag if you buy them individually at a store like Tractor Supply. We buy them by the ton (50 bags), and they're a little cheaper that way. So the $/hr is going to depend on how you buy the pellets, and when/where.
Can you use wood chips in this unit
No, pellets only in this one. Though I have heard some people have run corn.
You can increase the burn time by reducing the voltage to the auger motor. I can get a 24 hour burn at around 85VAC to the auger motor.
I'm not sure if that's good for the motor though? Is it?
about how big a area in sqft is this covering? and big windows or drafty areas?
It’s primarily heating an area that is a 20x40 space with cathedral 16’ tall ceilings, but also spilling into our kitchen space that is approximately 17x20 with 8’ ceiling. The area is new construction (about 12 years old) and has triple-pane glass windows and a sliding door. It’s a full wall of windows though - so that we can enjoy the beautiful nature behind the house. Thanks for watching!
Can someone suggest a reliable pellet source for tons. There's only one place in town to buy them (now that Walmart has obliterated competition) and sometimes they have them and sometimes they don't. They still sell pellet stoves though...
We get ours from Agway. But we've also purchased them at Tractor Supply or Home Depot when we're having trouble getting them elsewhere.
@@PurpleCollarLife thanks 👍
EXCELLENT video. Thank you.
You are welcome! Thank you for taking the time to watch and leave a comment. Every time someone takes a few seconds to click the “like” button, leave a comment, and subscribe - our little channel gets a bit more recognition from UA-cam. :)
Is that the only pellets you have tried in your stove
Great question! We have a video coming out on Saturday morning talking about exactly this topic.
Good Evening Sir, very nice pictures behind your Stove 👌👍😇 Outstanding results 👍😇👌 You have a big Alice Cat 👌😇👍 Cheers 👍👍😇😇👌👌🍻🍻
Thanks 👍. Alice has to be big enough that Olive isn't tempted to eat her! :)
Love the kitty! Mine does the same, always up on my lap
She's a funny one. If I'm sitting on the couch and she climbs up, she'll snuggle in and get really comfortable - then I feel bad when I have to get up and disturb her sleep.
I have burnt high quality pellets for years.. everything depends on barometric pressure in your home plus any draft in your home
Thanks!
Does anyone know where there is a pellet factory or the cheapest place to buy pellets in the south west Missouri instead of the big box stores like Menards? They are $5.49 a bag right now unless you buy a ton. I want to stock up and save money.
Interested in seeing if anyone has any ideas on this topic. Thanks for the comment!
About $7.50 here in Upstate NY (in the country not the city lol) $6.50 if you buy a ton. I’ve heard of people getting pellet press machines and using free saw dust from cabinet shops and making their own pellets. If the price goes up anymore I may be looking into that myself.
Thanks for the video. I bet you are making some great food on that stove.
This pellet stove is just used for heat. But I'm not sure if you're able to cook on them since the stove is designed with air baffles to blow the heat out away from the top of the stove.
Oh. I had a Vermont castings , could heat , and cook. It took wood.
you think itd be economical to grab a pelette mill and throw all your yard waste into it to fuel this?
I considered that - but I think I'd need a steady supply of waste that was clean, bug free, and able to be captured simply.
Best place to buy Agway Pellets by the pallet?
We buy all our Agway pellets by the pallet - directly from our local Agway store.
I live in Buffalo. Do you get your Agway Pellets in Alden?
I'm a big Buffalo fan - but we actually live in northwest PA. I get our pellets here in PA - Agway actually delivers them to us!
Does anyone know why some pellets claim they are softwood yet are dark brown in color? Are they including bark in the mix? Does bark have more ash than wood?
I'm not a fan of the soft wood pellets. I think they make way more ash. You might be right about the bark- I'm not sure. Even hardwood pellets don't perform as well in our stove as pellets labeled "premium hardwood".
Wow that's very low I have a enviro efi2 and we get 24-28 hours with straight though burn 40lbs bag keeps are 1750sq house 74-76 degrees and we only burn it if it's 30 degrees or lower
That's very impressive burn time! Thanks for sharing.
So, this is more than $10/day to heat a big room during a mild winter day. This would be at least $600 per month for a house. Both our heat pump and wood stove less expensively than that. Particularly if the wood just costs a little bit of work.
That's true. Sometimes I question not putting in another wood stove in this location rather than the pellet stove. But it's nice not having all the dirt/mess of the firewood in our living area.
How many bags per winter or how hooch does it cost for winter to heat?
That's a very difficult question to answer. It depends on factors that vary from person to person. Variables include: size of the room your heating, your region/climate, your stove and stove efficiency, room size (sq. ft), room ceiling height, desired room temperature, and more. I typically plan on using 2ish tons for a winter. Around us, a ton of premium pellets costs over $300. So we spend around $600+ per winter for the pellets. But that is to heat our great room and kitchen, with a 16-foot cathedral ceiling.
You should try some better quality pellets, specifically softwood, you will get more BTU's and much less ash, i have a Harman P61A in nothern New England and heat a 1800 sq foot log home, i typically use 4 to 5 tons per heating season which usually is around 8 months, i clean my stove 3 times a season and generally keep our home at 75 degrees, i have a Honeywell Wifi thermostat that controls my stove.
Very interesting that you'd suggest soft wood. I always thought (and have read) that hardwood pellets are superior to softwood. That the hardwood pellets cost more because they burn longer. Though soft wood pellets may burn with less total ash per ton because the sap within the wood burns them more fully. Around here - I can't even find softwood pellets.
I find it so interesting to see the differences in areas - I can't imagine having to heat a home 8 out of 12 months!
Thanks for sharing your experience and letting us know about the softwood pellets. I'll be on the lookout for a bag to try!
@PurpleCollarLife People have been taught to believe that you can not burn softwood, yet, in Canada and Alaska that's all they burn, as far as pellets, softwood are superior to hardwood because the burn hotter and have less ash, if you can find them, Lacrete and Logik are the best I've seen so far.
As far as burn time, I see no difference, but once I start my stove I usually put it in manual mode so it doesn't shut off, even if no heat is required it will still maintain a small fire.
good comments but realy what is the burn time on a bag,
Thanks for watching.
I noticed that it sits closer to the wall than a wood stove, sir and I was wondering the cost of a bag of pellets
Our pellet stove can be closer to the wall than our wood stove is. We buy our pellets by the ton (40 lb bags x 50 bags) and they are around $310 per ton right now. I think by the bag they are around $4.99 at Tractor Supply.
Pellet stove venting goes right through your side wall with 4" pipe, easy and inexpensive to install compared to wood stoves.
Is there a cost comparison between all available sources? Pellet vs. natural gas vs. lpg vs. electric ?
That would be interesting! But each person would need to create that comparison for themselves. It will vary based on location and time of year. For example, here as of 1-19-24, pellets are about $4.99 per bag/$239.50 per ton at Tractor Supply.
I do know using my pellet stove in Ohio saves me about $500 a year in propane and that is including cost of pellets, so it paid for itself in 3 years.
I have had my p68 since 2007 and have averaged here in NH during the winter 1 1/2 bags a day 24hrs when it's below 40 outside. Take that probe cut about 3" off the end step wires back about an inch. Go get some thermostat wire at Lowe's or home Depot the length where you want thermostat to be. Run wire along floor to where you want thermostat to hang on the wall. Get yourself an inexpensive digital thermostat like you have there in video cheap one is all you need. Now remove jumper in thermostat looks like a staple throw away. Connect the red wire from probe to red thermostat wire you got at Lowes. Now connect the remaining 2 wires one to R and one to W on thermostat. Hang thermostat on wall now it will run like a furnace. Paint wire to match the wall. The other end of wire at stove you will need to add female connectors like the original probe wire.Ohh set to auto on stove and fan auto and heat on thermostat.
Thanks for sharing your experience on fuel use and burn rate.
And awesome to hear I could attach a digital thermostat. Excellent detail in your comment. I may give that a try in the future! Getting that wire into a different location might help with the stove kicking on and off throughout the day and being sometimes too hot or too cold.
@@PurpleCollarLife I ran my wire next to my chair where I want it 70 back in 2009. Works great. We burn 5 ton a year primary heat. Also you will need to set your temp knob higher that the temp you want so if you want it 70 on room thermostat make sure your stove one is set over 75.
24-36 hours.....depending on how fast the feed auger is set.
Great point about the auger feeder!
My wood stove keeps the basement around 80 and the top floor 76.
Nice!
Where is the exhaust and intake?
The exhaust and intake are both out the back of the stove, straight through the wall and outside.
if no elec a person cannot have any heat from pellet stove as it turns on w elec
That's very true. We mention that in this video: ua-cam.com/video/1A-sBQGGvgA/v-deo.html
I got around 800 hundred square footage home. An use 1 bag every 24hr. Running on low
Thanks for sharing!
Its not the burn time i worry about. Its the cost of the bag. When i started burning pellets they were 1.35 a bag. Now they 6.00 a bag. Not economical by any means. Cheaper than electric only heat but not by much.
I have actually considered turning the pellet stove off, and trying to determine if the increase in electric usage is less than the cost of the pellets.
How long does a bag a pellets last for people that don't lounge in hoodies and toques?
That's a good question. I always say - too cold, put on another layer. :)
What's the cost of a bag of pellets
Currently about $5 a bag if you buy them individually from a place like Tractor Supply. We buy ours in bulk - 50 bags at a time (1 ton). They're cheaper that way.
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I've been a Bills fan since the 80's. Lots of great adventures!!
I have a wood stove, but wanted to know more about the pellet stove. Do you need a pipe the smoke outside like you do with the wood stove? I don't see a pipe unless it is in behind of the pellet stove. What happens when the electricity goes out?
Thanks for watching and asking the questions. The pellet stove does have an air intake, and an exhaust pipe located out the back, and through the wall to the outside. I like the nice clean look of it going behind the stove. As far as when the power goes out - that's a problem. Power is needed to run the auger, the air feed, and the blower. And when the power goes out unexpectedly when the stove is running, the pellets just smolder and smoke fills the stove and sometimes the room. I have our pellet stove connected to the generator for longer power outages. I also have a Jackery unit that I connect to it if the power goes out while it's running.
Here's a video we did about pellet stove vs wood stove - it covers some of those topics. ua-cam.com/video/1A-sBQGGvgA/v-deo.html
nice video but I will stick with my split wood and wood chips I have heat with for 40 years now. a 7 gallon bucket of wood chips will last 2-8 hours depending on how high I run the stove. I have endless supply of both wood chips and firewood. easier to haul wood chips over firewood.lol
Thanks!
Wow, sounds really scientific. But the dust thing being a negative, I'm not sure it's more negative than wood debris, bugs , spiders and dirt tracked from wood, but I Guess that's based on the the same scientific standards. Depending on stove brand , outside temp and dwelling construction, science gets very complicated.
Thanks for watching. We do have those issues of the wood debris, bugs, spiders and dirt tracked in with our wood burning stove in the basement. So yes - there are definitely advantages and disadvantages of each heat type. Here's a video we made comparing the pellet stove to the wood stove: ua-cam.com/video/1A-sBQGGvgA/v-deo.html
where is the exhaust?
Great question. It exhausts out the back, and through the wall. There's also an air inlet that comes in through the wall to the pellet stove. It gives it a nice clean look not having all the exhaust flue/chimney in the room. You can see it in this video: ua-cam.com/video/hdmiXSsfkiM/v-deo.html
Thanks for the video.
No problem. I'm glad it was helpful.
12hrs/40lbs x 2 (for 24hrs) x $7.00/40lb bag x 30 days = $420/mth... Just to heat one room at about 30deg F outside? What you made of $ ?... I do my entire house for that, in winter at those temps with electric alone. Idgi.
Our bags around here don't cost $7.00 a bag. I actually just priced them earlier this week at about $4.50 a bag. And we don't burn 2 bags every day throughout the winter. But you're right - it is a big cost. This room where the pellet stove is has vaulted cathedral ceiling - about 16-feet tall, and the room is 20x40, and connects to the kitchen outside that 20x40 footprint. So the pellet stove heats a lot of square footage if you calculate the size, and room height.
Good video !
Thanks!
My Quadrifire Pellet stove (3 speeds) burns a bag per 24 hour day on slow speed.
How much is a bag
It varies depending on brand, store you get them from, time of year, location, and how many you buy. We have an upcoming video about exactly this topic. Around here, as of today, they range from about $4.99 per bag to $8.00 per bag.
😮 A 40 pound bag for 12 hours? Nah, I’m good ☺️
There's definitely a cost. For us - it's still cheaper than our electric baseboard heat would be to heat this house.
8-12 hours??? Wow! It’s not even a full day of warmth!!!
That's true. We sometimes go through 1.5-2 bags per day on really cold days.
Your bag has 18kg.18x5=90kwh =9l Oil. In germany 1000kg pellets for 300-400€. 1l oil for 0.90€
In Ohio a 40 ib bag lasts about 20 hours for a 1600 Sq ft ranch home when outside temperature is around 20 degrees.
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Thank you! :) Go Buffalo!!
Bills Mafia!
Thanks for watching!
How much for a bag of pellets
That is going to vary depending on how many you buy (individually vs by the pallet/ton), the time of year, the pellets you buy (brand/type), and where you get them. We currently buy them by the ton (50x40# bags) from Agway. But in our area, by the individual 40# bag, as of today, they are $4.99 at Tractor Supply.
Something for the windows would help a lot.
That's true - but we really like that our great room has 3 walls of windows - we can see out and see deer, bear, turkey, squirrels, birds, fox, and all kinds of wildlife.
Thank you. This is very helpful. We are looking into pellet stove inserts. Since it uses electricity to burn, I wonder how much it impacts the electric bill for a 2,300 square foot home?
profit minded wood pellet distributors having you at a disadvantage would be my concern but nobody mentioned it in the comments.
That's true for sure. The price goes up every year.
Short anwser is 9 to 12 hours depending of the temperature. Here, I saved you 11 minutes.
You must work for Reader’s Digest. :)
I'm more concerned about cost per bag. Three years ago I was paying $6 per 40 lb bag. Now it's between $9-$10.
Bought nice hardwood pellets at Tractor Supply this year $4.99/ bag.
@user-bo4gw1xj4u good deal. They aren't that cheap where I live. Tractor supply cheapest here are 8.99. Bought a full pallet of 40 bags for $450 including delivery fee.
@@Nonameconservative Sounds high, check Lowes, Rural King, any other ag store.
Bag prices have gone crazy. I remember paying $2 per bag. I recently paid $8.00 per bag. OUCH!
We have a video coming out on Saturday, where we compare several brands of pellets. These Tractor Supply pellets are in the test.
The answer to the title of this video depends completely on how hot you are running your stove. We have a Napoleon NPS45. Settings are 1 - 5. Running on 2 a bag of pellets lasts 24 hours. On 4 that gets shortened dramatically. The is no one answer to this question.
we used a pellet stove as primary heat for years and we burned 24/7. we used about two ton of pellets per year
Thanks for sharing!
GO BILLS!
That loss to Philadelphia yesterday was a tough one to take.
You said dust is a problem with pellets , you are not using a very good pellet then. i use a fir pellet and have no dust in the bag. the moisture is 6 per cent or less. what is the BTUs of your pellets? it should be the same as natural gas . remember you get what you pay for.
Great points. We did a pellet comparison test over the last few weeks. That video comes out on Saturday. Hope you can catch it. I discovered that some pellets have a listing of 8400 BTU, some have 8100 BTU, and some don't list the BTUs. Around here, they seem to be all mixed hardwood pellets.
How many pounds was that again.....
40 lbs.
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Sunday Night Football this week!
Go Bills
Thanks for watching and leaving a comment! We'll enjoy this off week and then see the Chief's next week.
Nice
Thanks, Larry!
Let's go Buffalo...
Go Bills!
No 2 stoves will burn alike,outside temp and flu draft will dictate fuel usage.
Very true. Thanks for watching!
Use hardwood pellets, burn hotter last longer. You're not getting hardwood from away.
We only burn hardwood pellets. Around here (northwest PA, in the heart of hardwood forests) hardwood pellets are all you can buy. The pellets from Agway’s are premium hardwood pellets.