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 | candoarms
Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 1932 North Dakota 
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2007-10-10 146738
Yooperpete,
In the topic dealing with wood pellet prices, you mentioned that you once had a pellet-burning stove. Do you still have it? You seem to give it high marks.
Therefore, I'd like your opinion on the pellet stoves, along with any recommendations you might have in the way of manufacturers and model numbers.
I'm looking for a HIGH QUALITY pellet stove....no junk. This is an investment that I'm willing to spend a considerable amount of money on, and I don't want to buy the thing based on price, alone. In fact, the price of the stove is all but meaningless to me.
WANTED....A pellet stove that works well, is constructed better than the others, and has a proven track record.
Any suggestions?
Also...if there is a stove out there that I should stay away from, I want that information as well.
Many thanks to all who respond. Any and all comments are welcome.
Joel
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 | yooperpete
Join Date: Jan 2004 Posts: 1413 Northern Michigan
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2007-10-10 146746
I installed a Harman PF100 woodpellet furnace in my old farmhouse last year. It was a rental unit and recently sold it since I was having lots of trouble getting good renters that paid. It was a great selling feature!
My old farmhouse is your basic drafty 5 bedroom home that was heated with a Lennox high efficiency propane furnace. The duct runs are long and the cool air coming out of the furnace never gave it a warm feeling. During 2-3 months of the peak heating seasons, propane bills were about $750.00/month.
This woodpellet furnace connects to the normal furnace ductwork and has its own fan, but you also use the furnace fan to blow heat throughout the house. My renters absolutely loved it. It was warmer than ever before and about 1/4-1/3 the cost of heating with propane.
I originally had an AmazaBlaze corn stove that also attached to the furnace that just didn't work out. The corn stove was only 70,000 BTU where the pellet furnace is 100,000 BTU's. ....
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 | bunnspecial
Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 22 New York 
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2008-01-27 150790
I istalled a Harmon Accentra stove in an outbuilding this year and it works great. I have about 1000 square feet and only use it on the weekends to heat the space. Takes about one hour to get the room comfortable. I like the stove because it is totally automatic, from lighting and thermostatic control.
In my area, Long Island, pellets are about $6.00 a bag so consider that when deciding on a pellet stove. Two bags will last longer than the weekend.
The pellet stove is very clean, easy to install (no major chimney work required) and easy to maintain. I give the Harmon Accentra high marks. ....
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| candoarms
Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 1932 North Dakota
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2008-01-27 150796
Many thanks Folks.
I'm currently leaning toward a furnace, rather than a stove. The Harman PF100 is high on the list, as well as Bixby's UGLY BLACK BOX.....otherwise known as the UBB Model.
I'll stay clear of the Snyder furnaces, as they appear to be imported from China. Bixby stoves are made in Minnesota. The Harman PF100 is also U.S. made.
Propane is currently running me about 600 dollars per month. 3 tons of pellets would get me through the winter.....or nearly.....at a cost of 600 dollars for the entire heating season. At current fuel prices, a pellet furnace would pay for itself in less than a year.
Joel ....
Link: Compare Fuel Costs -- Adjust prices as needed
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| hardwood
Join Date: Dec 2002 Posts: 3583 iowa 
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2008-01-27 150812
Maybe just a bit of a spin off on the pellet stove subject. Can you burn the bagged wood pellets in an ordianry masonry fireplace? Reason I ask this is we recently bought a home that is heated with a conventional LP forced air furnace, but the home also has two brick fireplaces that appear to be in good shape and safe to use. I looked at the chart that Joel has and fiurewood is lower cost, but my wife nor I are physically able to cut or carry firewood into the house, where bagged wood pellets could be carried in a bucket at a time. This house was built in 1950 when heating effeciency wasn't a big deal but the fireplaces do have the air circulating systems to blow warm air out into the room built into them. Our main use would be for a backup system during a power outage. Now that I've wandered a couple miles away from my original question, will wood pellets burn in a fireplace or just smolder? Frank. ....
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| bunnspecial
Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 22 New York
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2008-01-27 150813
Pellets will burn in a regular fireplace but you probably burn a whole bag in a couple of hours. In a pellet stove, the pellets are metered with an augar and a fan "stokes" them to give off heat. ....
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| hardwood
Join Date: Dec 2002 Posts: 3583 iowa
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2008-01-27 150815
Bunnspecial; Thanks for the info on the wood pellets. I see them at the fleet store right by the door and lots of people are always loading them into their pickup or car trunk, but I've never saw them out of the bag. How big are they, like ice cube size? Are they compressed wood or just wood chips? How much does a bag of them weigh? Thanks. Frank. ....
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| bunnspecial
Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 22 New York
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2008-01-27 150816
The pellets are a manufactured product from hardwoods. They are small, kind of look like rabbit food. Each bag weighs 50#. A pellet stove insert would work great for you. ....
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 | DRankin
Join Date: Jan 2000 Posts: 5116 Northern Nevada
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2008-02-11 151240
I have zeroed in on a Harmon pellet fireplace insert to replace the old Earthstove wood burner.
I am getting tired of buying "guaranteed seasoned" firewood that won't burn. I have four cords of almond sitting in the yard right now that I can't use until next winter. PIA.
The Harmon insert isn't cheap, but when compared to $3.25/gallon propane it is a bargain.
Anybody wanna buy some firewood, cheap? ....
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 | DennisCTB
Join Date: Nov 1998 Posts: 2709 NorthWest NJ
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2008-02-14 151364
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I can burn the stuff I bought this year but I have to split it into smaller pieces and I have a hard time getting it to produce a stove temp of 375 degrees, whereas when I season it over the summer, I can get 500 degrees.
Do you deliver to NJ :) ....
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| DRankin
Join Date: Jan 2000 Posts: 5116 Northern Nevada
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2008-02-14 151368
Sorry Dennis, It just won't work. The postage stamps and address labels keep falling off. ....
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| DennisCTB
Join Date: Nov 1998 Posts: 2709 NorthWest NJ
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2008-02-22 151582
Mark,
What is your process for seasoning, and how do you sequence it into your stove?
Dennis ....
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 | harvey
Join Date: Sep 2000 Posts: 1550 Moravia, NY
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2008-02-22 151586
Dennis my $.02. Having grown up with wood sheds and today seeing rows stacked out in the weather with leaky tarps, tarped to the ground, no tarp etc.
I still gotta believe the best way to store wood is in a shed. Mine is open sided with 6' over hangs on the eves and 4' on the gables. Lots of air circulates. I put up wood late last fall and it is ready for the furnace now. Started the season with 2 year old dry wood.
We as I recall always/usually cut and burned the same season. Of course today I usually get logs a year in advance they sit in the weather and do soak up the rain so they are still wet when cut and split. ....
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 | Murf
Join Date: Dec 1999 Posts: 7249 Toronto Area, Ontario, Canada
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2008-02-22 151591
At home, because I burn in an airtight insert with a clear glass door, not a more industrial burner, I only burn wood that has been cut and split for 1+ full years.
I'm also lucky enough that I have a very generously sized 2 car garage attached to the house, it's big enough that I can stack 4 full (bush) cords of wood inside and still put 2 cars in no problem, although I rarely have more than 2.5 cords in there.
Since with a fire burning almost every day (when we're there) from 8am till 8pm we only go through a little under a full cord, I've always got lots of really dry wood on hand.
What I do is in the spring or summer, move the 'leftover' wood from the previous winters cord which was in a single straight row 5' high along one of two side walls to a small stack near the door, then put the 'fresh' wood in that location. Then that fall I burn the wood stacked against the opposite wall.
I never have a moisture or rotted wood problem since the garage is well-ventilated and the door is open a lot anyways.
At the farm the wood is all just stacked in boxes made from 1" x 3" on top of pallets. Those bins full of wood are stacked on the raised floor of a shed which has no walls, just a tin roof with wide overhangs like Harvey mentioned. As wood is required, it is moved, box at a time, by means of forks on FEL of a tractor to near the door or into the garage of whichever building needs the wood. Even there though the wood is always more than a year old before it's burnt.
Best of luck. ....
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