?? About Pellet Stoves -- are they really worth the cost

[jmsaj]

With the cash price of oil currently close to $4, we are thinking of purchasing a pellet stove but I am not that up on them. How much does the electricity cost to run. Any info would be greatly appreciated, It is such a large purchase that I would like some input first. Thanks

 

[Jeanne B]

I know nothing about pellet stoves but DH has a friend who just got rid of theirs because it put too much moisture into their home, I don't know if that's typical or not with a pellet stove.

 

[HeatherC]

I recently did a post on pellet stoves ....check the search for it. Got a lot of positive responses from people.

We are actually having someone come out Friday morning to tell us where the best place would be to do put it in our house. We are, in fact, purchasing two. One for our unheated finished basement and one for the main floor.

I would suggest visiting a place that has them set up and you can see how they operate. We were very impressed when we saw how much heat they really produce.

What they told us is that there is work involved in them. So if you are looking to just turn the thing on and expect it to be problem free, you might be disappointed. But they also said that if you take the time to learn how to use them properly, you will be able to heat your house much cheaper and probably keep it warmer than you would otherwise.

It is an expensive purchase, but I just called our oil company last week and they quoted me $4.09 a gallon!!!!! if I wanted to fill my tank. We contracted this past winter for $2.79 a gallon. So that is quite a jump...and it is May not October. Can't imagine what the price might be then.

We estimated it will take about 2 -3 years to pay for itself.

Good luck!

 

[tink2dw]

I heard on the Ed Begley jr Living With Ed show that Pellet stoves gave off Deadly flumes. That aren't good for families.

 

[mom2twinz3]

I heard on the Ed Begley jr Living With Ed show that Pellet stoves gave off Deadly flumes. That aren't good for families.

That simply isn't true. They burn very clean. I never smell anything coming from ours and I do from our wood insert. Oil furnaces can give off carbon monoxide. I would feel much safer with my pellet stove than burning oil.

Pellet stoves are wonderful. They should be on clearance now, too.

Mary

 

[TomD]

Best pellet stove on the market is a Harmon. and yes they are worth the cost. I have propane heat and it cost my almost $3000 to heat my house this past winter.(heat was on 64 from Nov 1-April 1) My 2 best friends have Harmon Pellet stoves and it cost them $1200 to heat their houses. Needless to say I am in the process of buying one.

 

[jdes88]

pellet stoves are JUNK!!! Get a real woodstove---with a pellet stove you'll constantly be repairing it!

 

[LuckyMamaInDE]

Anyone have a pellet insert for a fireplace?

 

[ILoveDisney&Cruising]

We LOVED our Harman pellet stove at our old house .... planning on putting one in our new house!

 

[EthansMom]

We're in the process of buying a woodstove insert for our house. It's going to cost about $3500 (installed) for a top-of-the-line model that will heat our 1800 sq ft house. At $4+ per gallon for oil, we estimate that it will pay for itself in 2-3 years. We have a wooded lot, so we don't have to figure in the cost of fuel.

 

[amsyw]

We figured up the cost and ours was costing us much more than we could heat our home with electric. I know that is different from the gas cost, so it may be cheaper for you than using your gas furnace. But we did a cost comparison with the electric using the pellet stove and not using the stove (2 different winters) and our electric usage was about the same. So spending the $ on the pellets was actually too much money. You also need to consider the cleanup and repair. We did have to call a repairman out to work on ours. The stove has to be cleaned out every 2-3 days and it has to be cooled down completely. Also our put out ALOT of dust. I was dusting every 2-3 days just to try to keep it under control.

that being said... I LOVED the heat it put out but HATED the care it took to keep it running. We have went back to heating via the electric furnance. We still have ours (its an insert in our fireplace) and if it ever gets to the place we cant afford electric heat we may have to look at using it again.

Just do your research before buying. ie... what pellets cost in your area, what it cost to run (electricity) etc.

hth

 

[DisFlan]

Our neighbor has one. They like it, but you become dependent on the price and supply of pellets. A couple of years ago during a really bad winter, pellets became scarce and the price jumped up. And as someone else noted, they take a little more effort than a fireplace.

We have a wood fireplace insert - and we use it for a lot of our heating. We live in a forest, so wood is pretty cheap around here. But if we have trouble getting cut wood delivered for some reason, we just go down the hill behind our house and get our own. (There's always at least one tree that's dead or dying. We don't cut live trees.) Can't get cheaper than free.

DisFlan

 

[heartbeeps]

pellet & wood stove NOT recommended for folks with breathing problems (i.e., asthma). We currently have a wood stove which we cannot use b'c of my asthma and it was not nice and cozy in our house this past winter using oil heat! We're thinking maybe I could get away with burning coal next winter!

 

[MinnieVanMom]

We are debating going from propane heat to a wood stove. We just can't afford the propane any longer but getting wood is nothing but hard work for free heat.

 

[jmsaj]

We figured up the cost and ours was costing us much more than we could heat our home with electric. I know that is different from the gas cost, so it may be cheaper for you than using your gas furnace. But we did a cost comparison with the electric using the pellet stove and not using the stove (2 different winters) and our electric usage was about the same. So spending the $ on the pellets was actually too much money.

Just do your research before buying. ie... what pellets cost in your area, what it cost to run (electricity) etc.

hth

Thanks for all the info. My DH was telling me the same thing about the cost not being much different based on how much pellets cost (which he insists will rise in cost due to demand), upkeep of the stove- (if it needs to be serviced then my savings are out the window), the price of the stove. I am thinking that as much as it sounds like a great idea; and I also need to keep in mind that I will still need oil for hot water that I may just have to bite the bullet and find the cheapest cost of oil in the area. Will just find other ways to trim the budget. Maybe I will just get some new replacement windows which I know I am losing alot of heat out of. Thanks again for all your info.

 

[graygables]

We've looked into both pellet and wood inserts for our fireplace and just can't get the math to add up. We also believe that the cost of wood/pellets will rise as people balk at the higher gas/oil prices which will minimize the savings.

This last year, we bought electric oil-filled portable radiators and turned our thermostat WAY down (60). At the lowest settings, they did a wonderful job of keeping the rooms warm, so we are adding more to our arsenal this year. Radiant heat is very efficient and is a more comfortable heat. Ours are similar to this: http://www.air-n-water.com/product/NX2.html. If we are not using a room, we can roll it to where we are and just close that room off. Our electric bill didn't go up at all that we could tell.

 

[swea_pea1]

Honestly, I've never heard of a pellet stove so I had to google it. It doesn't look right for our family.

I did have a guy out today to give me an estimate on a heat pump. The oil is just too expensive and I don't see it ever going down. Luckily, my house is set up to easily install the heat pump and we should get back the cost of it in a couple of years.

Now what do I do with the whole tank of oil I have outside? We're on an automatic refill plan and they've already topped it off to be ready for next fall.

 

[mom2twinz3]

We're in the process of buying a woodstove insert for our house. It's going to cost about $3500 (installed) for a top-of-the-line model that will heat our 1800 sq ft house. At $4+ per gallon for oil, we estimate that it will pay for itself in 2-3 years. We have a wooded lot, so we don't have to figure in the cost of fuel.

We have one of these too and it also works very nicely. We just use the pellet stove when the temp is above 30 degrees and use both when it is below 30 degrees. We also have a wooded lot, but I can tell you that it does require a fair amount of work to cut and split the wood. It's worth it though.

Mary

 

[rlnlandal]

We have a pellet stove, we bought it August of 2006, and it's wonderful. We live in Maine, and have approx 2000 square foot house, and it cost us 1300 to heat for the season keeping the house between 75 and 80. It has been a wonderful thing when our neighbors are spending 4000-4500 on oil.

 

[DisFlan]

We have a pellet stove, we bought it August of 2006, and it's wonderful. We live in Maine, and have approx 2000 square foot house, and it cost us 1300 to heat for the season keeping the house between 75 and 80. It has been a wonderful thing when our neighbors are spending 4000-4500 on oil.

Yikes, I didn't realize how well off we are for the cost of heating! $4-5K for the season?? Wow. We're on Rural Electric with an all electric home of about 2000 sq. ft. It costs us about $150-175 a month in deep winter to heat WITHOUT the fireplace insert. With it, the cost runs $80-100, tops. Cooling in summer runs the bill a little higher. Closer to $150-175 a month. (We also have a heat pump, which seems to save quite a bit, too.)

Our bill includes everything - heating/cooling, lights, cooking, laundry, fridge, fans, electronics, hot water (2 water heaters), etc. Our electricity cost for the WHOLE house last year was just under $2000 - for the year. It'll be a little more this year - costs went up 2.5%, which isn't bad compared to everything else. But everyone around here is really carping about it.

I think we'll stay right where we are. I'm also beginning to understand why we're getting a lot of retirees moving into our area. The winters here can occassionally be bad and the summers are hot, but it probably looks dirt cheap to live here compared to where they're moving from.


DisFlan