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

[mavslab]

For those that leave it on all the time - I am asking because my dh is a worry wart - is it safe then? No worry of fires or anything??? Man I have lived here four years with that thing. Ours can hold a bag at a time as well. Thanks all for your imput I am so glad I found this thread!

Ours has some type of a heat sensor built in, so it knows if it is too hot, and will shut itself off if it is. It's never done that. As long as you keep it properly cleaned, it is safe. We have our chimney cleaned (ours is a fireplace insert) every other year, and we pull the insert itself out once a year and clean that as well, clean the pipe elbow, etc.

I'll take 1/2 your heat savings in commissions

 

[Jeanne B]

I stopped at a store yesterday that sells the Harman pellet stoves, I thought the price was reasonable ($1900 for one and $2900 for the other one that was self-igniting) but they said venting and installation would be about $1000 which I thought was ridiculously high, that's half to a third of the price of the stove!!

As anyone here installed one themselves?

They also sell a Harman pellet furnace, I haven't read anything about the furnaces to know whether or not that would be a better option. We have an oil furnace now which needs to major work or replacement so we're trying to come up with the best option.

 

[4Seasons]

For those of you who already have a pellet stove in your house, where is it located so that it heats the entire house? My dh wants to get one this fall, but we have a rambler and I'm wondering how in the heck the heat will distribute thru the house? The options for where we can install one are very limited (and it can't be center of the house). I don't mind it being a little cooler in the bedrooms but I'm wondering if anyone has a problem with the heat being unevenly distributed.

 

[mavslab]

Ours is a fireplace insert. We have a colonial, and our fireplace is in our formal living room, which is also where our stairs are. The heat easily goes upstairs and keeps the bedrooms warm. It also goes into the kitchen and dining rooms fine as well. The farthest room downstairs is the family room which was an addition to the house, it is on a concrete slab and is next to the garage. This room also stays plenty warm in the winter, but is a tiny bit cooler than the rest of the house. The heat from the pellet stove has to travel through the living room, hallway, and kitchen and then go through one doorway in order to get into the family room which is 25 ft long, so I'd say it does a pretty good job.

 

[First timer]

Ours is a fireplace insert. We have a colonial, and our fireplace is in our formal living room, which is also where our stairs are. The heat easily goes upstairs and keeps the bedrooms warm. It also goes into the kitchen and dining rooms fine as well. The farthest room downstairs is the family room which was an addition to the house, it is on a concrete slab and is next to the garage. This room also stays plenty warm in the winter, but is a tiny bit cooler than the rest of the house. The heat from the pellet stove has to travel through the living room, hallway, and kitchen and then go through one doorway in order to get into the family room which is 25 ft long, so I'd say it does a pretty good job.

That is good to hear. We will have ours as a fireplace insert as well in the living room. The stairs are right off the LR and we were hoping that it would keep the upstairs warm as well. I understand that some have heating ducts that pull the hot air to other rooms but we are not prepared to go that route as yet.

 

[onecutemoocow]

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!

This is soooooo true!!! My aunt has two pellet stoves one in a family room and one in the basement. They have caused her to have sooo many asthma attacks! She is alway complaining about the pellets getting stuck and when they get stuck, the stove smokes like crazy, its horrible! Plus last winter their pellet stove in the basement caught on fire while they were not home. They had it sent back to the company and come to find out it was a faulty stove. I dont think she would ever do it again.

 

[HeatherC]

From everything I have heard and read about pellet stoves, it seems that the majority of problems people may have are due to "operator error". If someone is looking to plug it in and go, that's not the thing for you.

I liken it to opening the flue on your chimney....if you don't clean it and maintain it and operate your fireplace or woodstove properly, that will back up and cause smoke in your house too.

We've also had several people tell us that they actually burn better and cleaner if you run them 24/7. Guess we'll see this winter.

 

[jakenjess]

Ours is a fireplace insert. We have a colonial, and our fireplace is in our formal living room, which is also where our stairs are. The heat easily goes upstairs and keeps the bedrooms warm. It also goes into the kitchen and dining rooms fine as well. The farthest room downstairs is the family room which was an addition to the house, it is on a concrete slab and is next to the garage. This room also stays plenty warm in the winter, but is a tiny bit cooler than the rest of the house. The heat from the pellet stove has to travel through the living room, hallway, and kitchen and then go through one doorway in order to get into the family room which is 25 ft long, so I'd say it does a pretty good job.

Could you tell me which brand you have? We're in the process of buying one but haven't decided which one. Harmon is supposed to be good but seems to be quite a bit more expensive. Out setup sounds very similar to yours. Thanks!

 

[mavslab]

Could you tell me which brand you have?

We have a Breckwell, but again, we bought it 10 years ago. We have never had any problems with it, expect having to replace the auger motor this year, which DH did himself (the part was $100 I think?). It's been a great stove.

ETA: We bought ours at the BigE (are you familiar with that?) and we bought from Green Mountain Stove Company. HTH

 

[VWLMember]

I run mine 24/7 and only shut it off to clean it. Ours is also a fireplace insert and is in the family room on the first floor. We have a contemporary colonial and although the stairs are not close to the insert the heat still makes it upstairs no problem.

Pay for the Harmon they are worth it. The cheap stoves are the ones that break easily and have smoking problems. Harmon covers theirs for five years. the cheap manufacturers usually only give one year.

 

[mom2twinz3]

I run mine 24/7 and only shut it off to clean it. Ours is also a fireplace insert and is in the family room on the first floor. We have a contemporary colonial and although the stairs are not close to the insert the heat still makes it upstairs no problem.

Pay for the Harmon they are worth it. The cheap stoves are the ones that break easily and have smoking problems. Harmon covers theirs for five years. the cheap manufacturers usually only give one year.

Northern Tools has one on sale with a 5-year warranty for $1599. It's a Drolet. The item # is 158971-1816.

Mary

 

[First timer]

We are having ours installed today. We will be kicking that bad boy up this evening.

It has actually been quite chilly in the evenings and early morning.