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Pellet Stoves Unavailable

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crunch
Join Date: Jan 2007
Posts: 271 Niagara County, NY
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2008-08-14          156105

So I went to check into pellet stoves at a place that installed a wood stove for me years ago. They run a great business and did a good job for me. They have been selling stoves for many years. I inquired into pellet stoves to offset my heating oil bill this year.

They told me they have no pellet stoves left - all sold out - and installations are booked through November. They are also sold out on pellets. They say if you can get pellets you may not get the stove and vice versa. People have come to them who bought tons of pellets early but there are no stoves left. They told me to come back after the new year but before April next year. And a fully installed stove will cost about $5,000 ($3,000 for the stove and $2,000 for installation, chimney stack lining, etc). Wow!

Yet I see pellet stoves still being sold in Northerntools.com, Ace hardware, etc. Are they not the brands that are "in demand" like Harmon P61? Should I be able to purchase and install my own pellet stove? Rather than spend $5,000 I might want to tackle that job.


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yooperpete
Join Date: Jan 2004
Posts: 1413 Northern Michigan
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2008-08-15          156112

I bought a PF-100 Harmon a couple years ago for my farm house rental. I was having trouble getting renters due to high heating costs with a normal furnace. My renters loved it and cut the fuel bills to about 1/4 to 1/3 that of propane while the house was much warmer.

I ended up selling the house last summer and the pellet furnace was the key selling point. They loved it as well.

I would suggest trying to find another dealer to determine if they have the same availability issues. I had about $5,000.00 into the package and it was well worth it. ....

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hardwood
Join Date: Dec 2002
Posts: 3583 iowa
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2008-08-15          156113

Crunch; I know very little about pellet stoves, but wouldn't the chimney liner be installed the same as a woodstove liner? If so I'd see no problem installing it yourself, just check your local codes before you start. Just a curiosity question, compared to oil or LP. With LP here at aprox. 2.15 and I don't know the cost of oil, but probably about the same as off road diesel what is the cost difference between those and pellets to heat a home? Frank. ....

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yooperpete
Join Date: Jan 2004
Posts: 1413 Northern Michigan
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2008-08-15          156114

In my case, I had your basic drafty 2 story 4 1/2 bedroom farmhouse with huge walkin closets in each bedroom. During the peak heating periods, we'd go through atleast one 400 gallon propane tank per month, while the house was never very warm.

The Harmon hooked into the forced air furnace and the furnace fan motor is constantly running. The pellet stove has a thermometer that calls for more or less heat or automatically shuts-off or "on" as was called for. About once a month you cleaned out an ash tray. A couple times a heating season you cleaned out the unit.

A side vent stainless steel stack was put in (stainless is expensive)but could have been also hooked up thru a normal chimney. ....

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bialecki
Join Date: Jan 2007
Posts: 60 Southern Connecticut
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2008-08-15          156116

It seems much of the Northeast is doing the same, shopping for a pellet stove. I went to numerous fireplace stores in Connecticut and all had the same story. All sold out until next April for the better quality pellet stoves and or inserts. I see the Napoleon pellet stoves are still available on the internet, however, I did not care for the overall quality of that stove as compared to the Quadra-Fire stoves. I ordered Quadra-Fire's top of the line pellet insert back in July from a dealer up in New Hampshire and his prices were over $1,000 less than any CT dealer (plus no sales tax in NH). So a trip up to NH in Jan/ Feb when the insert is slated to come in will be in-store. Until then I am preparing the chimney with the stainless steel liner etc. while the weather is nice.

I really feel for the elderly and I don't know how they are going to handle this coming winter, hope it is a mild one. ....

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hardwood
Join Date: Dec 2002
Posts: 3583 iowa
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2008-08-15          156117

Yoper; Both our homes are about the same size, aprox. 1450 sq. ft. Both are single story ranch, the farm home took 650 gal and the town home took about the same last winter season with no supplemental heat. Both are insulated to the max and we were comfortable, so I have nothing to complain about, I guess. A lady here in our town is aucttioning off her older two story next week, it took 1600 gal. of fuel oil last winter just to keep the downstairs warm. I'm too old to cut wood and know nothing ab out pellet stoves. Frank. ....

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hardwood
Join Date: Dec 2002
Posts: 3583 iowa
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2008-08-15          156118

Guess I forgot to mention that our home fuel is LP. The lady I mentioned that is auctioning off her home is elderly, getting by on social security, and would face a potential fuel oil bill of over 6,000.00 just for heat. I have an Aunt now living in an assisted living center who sold her home last fall for the same reason. Yes it's bad for all but especially hard on thne elderly. Frank. ....

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crunch
Join Date: Jan 2007
Posts: 271 Niagara County, NY
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2008-08-16          156133

My understanding is that you can heat a fair sized home when outdoor temperature is 0 degrees Farenheit with 2 bags of pellets - about $12. However when pellets become available again they will probably be more expensive.

I guess I will have to wait - I need to learn more about these anyway. Top feed is more reliable but requires higher consistency pellet size. Bottom feeders can support corn and rougher pellet size but may have other problems. By April who knows - maybe there will be some other new technology!! ....

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auerbach
Join Date: Sep 2007
Posts: 2168 West of Toronto
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2008-08-16          156136

Can they use wood-chipper chips? ....

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crunch
Join Date: Jan 2007
Posts: 271 Niagara County, NY
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2008-08-18          156155

Wood chipper chips? I don't think so but that would be great, wouldn't it? I get a pile of chips every now and then from the neighbors when they clean up some trees. Then I bring them back to whatever neighbors need them - and a few for myself.

The last time I did this one of the neighbors offered them to us, we said OK, the tree folks brought them to us in the middle of the day (I wasn't home) and they dumped each load in a different area of my lawn.

Needless to say I had lots of cleanup work. Then the neighbor who gave them to me decided the tree folks had brought too many to me and asked me to bucket about 10 loads back to him!! That one probably wasn't worth the work for me. ....

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kthompson
Join Date: Oct 2005
Posts: 5275 South Carolina
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2008-08-18          156159

Quote:
Originally Posted by auerbach | view 156136
Can they use wood-chipper chips?


Very much realize not comparing same furnaces but recently learned many of the tractor trailer load of chips here I thought were for paper production were fuel for their furnances. kt ....

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Murf
Join Date: Dec 1999
Posts: 7249 Toronto Area, Ontario, Canada
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2008-08-18          156161

There's lots of wood-burning appliances out there that will handle green or dry wood chips.

Just look for anything that is billed as a "multi-fuel" unit. Generally they will handle chips, bio-mass fuel pellets, corn (even wet) and pellets too.

Best of luck. ....

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