So, we've been heating our tiny house (1100 sq ft) with propane heat for 5 years and have contemplated switching to pellets.

Any of you have pellet heat? What do you think of it? I see a lot of them for sale on craigslist so I wonder if they are crap or what the deal is? The heating store we went to allege that we can cut our propane bills nearly in half. If that is true, I am having a hard time not buying one.

Used, new, or avoid?

Anyone??

if your electricity goes off, you've got no pellet stove heat. just ask my sister who owns one. plus, real men don't have pellets.

Buy a sweater.

Fish on...

Todd

I have pellet stove in our lower level that we use to heat our bar / rec room area, so it isn't used all the time. That said, #1 if power goes out it will actually run off of a car battery, so there are models out there that will run when power goes out. My biggest problem with the pellet stoves now is how much the cost off pellets has gone up the past few years. they heat well, burn pretty clean are pretty simple to maintain, and if you buy the pellets by the ton you can save some $$$ that way, but I still don't know how cost effective they would be to use as a primary heat heat source. We rely on our wood stove when it gets cold ( Dec / Jan / Feb ) and heat pump the rest off the time .

I highly recommend getting a Harem. My wood stove really puts out the heat but nothing like a Harem would.

Stay gas

Had a furnace and another free standing / they are a pain in the ass and pellet cost will keep going as wood waste is headed to co generation.

Stay gas or go heat pump. Mitsubishi does a duct less one and works great for small homes. Best bet really and it will qualify for the energy credit stuff.

Don't know about pellet it stoves but it would seem that, for 1100 sq feet, it would take a while for the change to pay for itself? I suppose it might depend on how much you are actually paying in a given year.

If you don't already have a programable thermostat, that will give you a far better ROI.

If you do end up getting a pellet stove, be sure to check out how loud the auger is that feeds the pellets. My uncle has one that is a nice stove but I find the regular noise of pellets being fed to be kind of annoying.

-AP

We bought a wood stove last year, cut our gas heating bill in half. Also took advantage of the $1500 tax break for buying a high efficency stove, never regretted it.

Although after a few days of cutting/splitting wood my back will tell you otherwise.

I mostly heat with a wood stove as I have electic baseboard heat. I mostly use cut offs from work. 16" pieces of kiln dried wood like cherry, maple, white oak and walnut. If you saw some of what I stuff into the stove you would crap your pants, to me it's all BTU's.

They've started that here too although I've never heard of anyone getting busted. Really PO's me though as it's the coldest days of the year when they put on the burn ban. And I'm getting tired of processing firewood every year but the gas company want's $17K just to bring the line 400 feet and that doesn't count to the house and add a fireplace or stove and installation. You'd think to encourage clean air it'd be a lot cheaper to convert to gas.

Next time you are coming to Seattle get ahold of me.

Cool stuff, AM.

Pellet stoves are great, but. I think they will have a hard time competing with propane. Yes it will save money on propane but you will have to spend that is in pellets.

We just bought a ton of pellets to heat the shop. $225 pretax/50=$4.50 bag, if you get 1 bag per day , 30x4.50=$135, will you save $135 a month even if you don't use the propane?

But now if you would like to just add the feel of wood heat which is hard to beat after cold hard day of winter fishing. Then it is a good option, easier to deal with then wood.



I was looking at installing a A/C heat pump unit 3 ton system, the salemans told me that the cost $3500 would pay for itself with the saving in Natural gas in 5 years. HMMMM that is $700 a year saving in NG. I DON"T EVEN SPEND 700 AYEAR NOW, FOR 1800 sqft. And that did even include the increase in electrical.

So becareful of salesman.

When I moved into my current house there was a wood stove, a pellet stove and electric furnace. I tested each one to see how well it would heat the house and what the cost was.

Depending on the temperature I would burn 1-2 bags of pellets per day, when I looked at the electricity to do the same thing it was less money or about even. I don't pay for wood, so it started out with an advantage, but you do need to include the cost of cutting and the sore back from splitting.

I looked at a heat pump too, but what I found was the fastest payback, lowest up front cost and easiest thing to do was add insulation and weather stripping (did the windows the year before). There is also a tax break on adding insulation, so it worked out well.

The insulation does double duty by keeping you warm in the winter and cool in the summer, plus the house is quieter and its a one time cost that requires no maintenance.

After adding the insulation I use the electric furnace much more because the wood stove puts out too much heat if I use good seasoned dry wood unless its below freezing.

The pellet stove is sitting in the shop with stuff stacked on it, its free for the taking.

When I first moved in I needed to run the two stoves to keep the house warm and then the heat was spotty, or use the electric heat which would run almost all the time to keep us warm.

Now the electric heat doesn't run until the temps drop into the mid 50s, and then only for a short time in the morning. I don't use the wood stove until its in the 30s, if it climbs to the 40's during the day the wood stove is too much.

Think about the future. All counties in Washington and the state are looking at carbon emission tax for your homes. They are currently creating a database to be able to apply average carbon loads for homes. If you use gas of any sort gas you will pay more tax and you will also pay a tax for chimneys. I believe that studies show that electric baseboard heating is the most efficient form of home heating available because you can set your house up in zones to manage the usage/cost.

WTF?!?

Have you ever HAD baseboard heat??

I've been in and/or around the heating stove business for over twenty years, my in-laws own a company who sells 'em like crazy.....DON'T buy a pellet stove. The fuel cost is high, if pellets get wet in storage they break down and can't be used, the stoves themselves have a habit of breaking down as there are a lot of moving parts that have to work right. They heat more like a furnace than a wood stove or gas stove, no radiant heat. Too many problems.