Our new pellet stove was installed this morning.

[old mark]

Started burning at about 12:30, and now, at 2:41, thw whole 3 storey house is warmer than with the gas furnace. we bought 2 tons of wood pellets on Saturday. Very early to predict how it will go, but it is very nasty outside today, rain all night and all day, to turn to freezing rain and snow overnight. Just a small flame area in the stove is heating the entire house, and takes the dampness right out of the air.

I wanted one of these for years, and I'm very glad we were able to get one - they are selling out in many areas, and prices will go up in January.

Sorry to rave.

mark

:-)

[NMDemDist2]

1. nice!

I wish my house was a little bigger and I'd still have one. there was one installed when we bought the house, but it was HUGH!!111! so we sold it back to the old owners.

I had several of the econoHeaters but they all cracked when we took them off the walls to paint this week, so we're gonna get a couple oil filled radiators I guess

[old mark]

2. Been pretty cold and wet this weekend, but this little stove

has done a fine job. We shut down the gas furnace after the first day.
A few adjustments and a learning curve, but I think we got the hang of it and is somehow more pleasant than the old heat, if that makes sense.

Got an Enviro Empress (Black enamel)

mark

[conscious evolution]

3. Can you use wood chips in those?

Or do you have to use specially made pellets?

If you can use woodchips you might be able to get freebies from tree surgeons.They usually have to pay to dispose of them in many areas and are glad to give them away.

[murray hill farm]

4. What do the wood pellets cost?

How does it compare to buyng wood? If you have a pellet stove, could you use wood in a pinch? Are the pellets easy to get locally?

[sandnsea]

5. A friend has a pellet stove

They've had it for years, have a 2 story home. They love it. I think he's even replaced an older one. He's got some kind of hopper system for it so it automatically loads pellets. Hope you have a toasty holiday!

[old mark]

6. Been away for a while, but I'm back again....

Pellets only in most pellet stoves. There are 2 blowers in it, one forcing the exhaust gas up the chimney pipe, the other circulating the gasses released by burning pellets into a re-burner. There are almost NO solid waste products leaving the stove, and only a powder fly ash remaining after the burning is complete. The stove has a bin incorporated and has a screw conveyor that supplies a few pellets at a time to the burning chamber - the flame is very small compared to wood stoves, but the heat output is great and waste and polution minimal.

Wood pellets are processed sawdust from wood industry sources, compressed into small dry hard pellets that look like rabbit food.

The ones I have seen come in 40 pound yeavy plastic bags, and sell for about $5 to $6 a bag. We got 2 tons in December - 100 bags - at around $575. We will probably need maybe 30 more bags till heating season is over, and can either get them from our supplier or from various outdoor/garden places, even Walmart ($5.75 per bag.)

We have had very cold weather so far this winter - many zero or below days - and we are using a little over 1 bag per day.
have to clean out tha stove every 3 or 4 days, takes all of 10 minutes.

We are using the gas furnace as a backup - have the thermostat set to kick in if the basement temp gets too low to avoud freezing pipes - and it has been working sporadically maybe 12 hours total since mid December.

Very happy with this little stove.

mark

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

7. The pellets should be much cheaper around May-June I heard

[old mark]

8. Update: We used the pellet stove every day last month -

January - through some very cold weather, single digit and sub zero days and nights, and snow and ice storms. We used the gas furnace only as a backup, with the thermostat set at 64.
Our bill for gas used in January ws $52.
Gas heat normally runs between $12-$18 per day.
The pellet stove used slightly over 1 bag per day, maybe $6.50 maximum.

Now with moderating temps, cost of pellets is down to $5.70 per day or less.
We have used the gas maybe one full day so far in February.

mark

[NMDemDist2]

9. sounds great. does the house have hot and cold 'spots' or is the

fan/blower effective to keep the house fairly consistent? do you have ceiling fans you use with it?

:hi:

[old mark]

10. We had a ceiling fan installed and forgot to use it till last week.

The house does have cold spots, but most of the time they are not as cold as when we were using the gas furnace. The stove heat feels different - very comfortable. It spreads even up to my studio on the third floor.
Only negative is that is sometimes goes out when set on low heat settings - we are still learning the quirks of the thing.

We have really enjoyed it so far and we are really pleased and amazed by it.

mark

[old mark]

11. Pellet stove update for 2009: We started the stove on October 13th,

using it as needed in the mornings to take the dampness and chill out of the air. We have used no other heat this fall so far. The eemp outside right now is 28 degrees, with a 15 mph wind, and I'm sitting comfortably in my living room wearing a short sleeved tee shirt,sweat pants and sandals. The pellet stove warms the entire house, even the basement is warmer than I had expected, and I have no fear of freezing pipes. We changed brands of pellets, are using about 1 bag(40 lbs)per day in the recent colder weather, cost of $5.95 a bag at the local Lowe's.

Our house is more comfortable withe the pellet stove than it ever was with the gas furnace.

FWIW, we started the gas furnace back in October just to make sure it was working well, ran it for about 1 hour, turned the thermostat down to 0 ever since. (Got a gas bill for $3.50)

It is avery pleasant, comforting heat, requiring little work to maintain it, but saving money and very green in comparison to anything else we ever used.
We have used our enviro stove all last winter, and so far this year, and we love it.


mark

[lizziegrace]

12. Self-delete