Only thing I know about pellet stoves is they have this real little one at this resturaunt we frequent. In the winter time it will heat the front half, about 1000-1100 sqft enough that it will run you out of there.
People who own the place swear by it. Cut their heating into a little over half of what they were paying.
I have a smallish wood stove in the dining room. In the joined dining/living room we get about 10 degree's of heat if it burns all day. Not much help in the upstairs so I run a electric heating blanket and maybe an electric heater.
If I start it when I get home at 5 I get about 2 degree's an hour up to about 7 degrees, and thats with fans running to move air. I'm installing a ceiling fan to move more air for next year.
Worth every penny I think but I dont know much about pellets. I know I'll burn at least a full cord this year. And I hear its going to be hard to find someone with wood small enough for my stove, its less than 24 inches deep which is the standard for this area..
I wont be turning the heat above 65 degree's this year..
Welcome to the club...friend just got one Saturday and I plan on doing so in the next couple of weeks myself. I'll be learning alot and sharing what I pick up if you like...
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You may look into a stove that can burn both pellets and corn. It will give you some options as to what fuel you can burn.
I've had some experience burning corn in one of these before, it did produce quite a bit of heat. I didn't realize there were actually devices designed for it though
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Welcome to the club...friend just got one Saturday and I plan on doing so in the next couple of weeks myself. I'll be learning alot and sharing what I pick up if you like...
Couple friends got Breckwells after stating that they seem to use the same crap as everyone else, and the parts are available online. Breckwell Hearth products
Looking at the Enviro's Pellet Freestanding Stoves they are pretty damned nice, but pricey. This is where I'd like to end up.
Depending what you need BTUwise (seriously, calculators are helpful but you'll end up talking to someone about your specific situation that will be much more helpful). You can get them as low as 10-15k BTU to 70k BTU. Do note that the heat from these guys is not as radiant as an old cast iron woodstove. It's radiant somewhat, but mostly circulating...so you've still gotta get them in an area with airflow. Im planning on tossing mine in the empty basement and leaving the door open.
Depending on your living sitch and code you can go with a power vent exhaust (easy, but can be loud, and costs $ to run) a regular chimney, or if you have a fireplace/chimney you can sleeve the chimney and toss a pellet-insert stove into the FP.
The key things you want to make sure of is that it has:
-electric ignition
-thermostat inputs/control
-a hopper that holds at LEAST 40#, but the bigger the better.
-Ash pan (one that can be removed and cleaned while the unit is running) Dual ash pans are really cool, but a little on the excessive side.
-parts availability, or is at least a known name.
Pellets and the quality thereof can greatly affect the amount and frequency of maintenance you need to do. That said I'm told a ton of marginal grade pellets (midway between low ash and the regular) is about 250$ a ton right now. Thats a palletfull of ~40 x 50# bags mind ya.
Depending on how much you fire it up, you can toast through two bags of pellets a day and keep all the candles in your house pooled. A sane person in a 2000sf reasonably insulated house with a good latent distribution system can do a bag a day and keep things warm. For me, I'm looking at buying 4 tons of pellets off the bat.
I might be buying as early as Wednesday of this week. I'll let you know how it goes.
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Nice, thanks for the info I'll check out that place in Amherst within the next week or so.
I was warned the cost of the one my friend bought was $3500 for the stove, and the same price for the pellets by the ton.
My house is a little under 2k sq/ft if I remember correctly, airflow for the majority should be alright for the heat to do the living room, kitchen, bathroom and all the bedrooms, not sure it will travel to the family room and deff not the entertainment room below in the basement.
Looking into exhaust options as it is going in a room in the front of the house so I'd like to hide the exhaust as much as possible without a fire hazzard.
Room in the front of the house eh? - your best bet is probably through the ceiling (if your going for cosmetic pleasantries and have the space and skills to do it the right way and this includes some flooring underneath it too). Hopefully you can find a sneaky place to powervent it though because a nice chimney (well the pipe I mean) would cost some serious dough.
The entertainment room...well they do sell smaller units too . It's funny I have 3 motorcycles in my garage and was reading hearth.com where some folks have 3-4 stoves all over their houses and I'm thinking 'these people are nuts' .
Im just glad I can stick mine in the basement where no one will see it, only it's glow coming up the stairs, like that movie the Burbs
I read some evil things about the Breckwell but I also read evil things about alot of the other ones too....dig hard enough and you'll find some idiot that's had a problem with them all. I just wish I knew WHO the person was that owned it...rather than just some jerky over the internet who feels like complaining . So far Im leaning towards the 'big-e' unless the enviro dealer wants to stuff dollar bills in my pockets. Quadrafire and Harman look nice, but after studying these things in detail Im really not sure how you can justify being double or triple the cost of your competitor in that sort of market. I've got an eye for detail, and I agree there are differences, but the biggest one I can tell is Harman has an exclusive branding agreement - they seem to be like the Arai of pellet stoves, making sure each customer gets a free pelletcolonoscopy with purchase, or maybe there is a mail order bride hiding in the ash pan, who knows? I probably won't find out.
I did like one of the models I saw that had a 310# hopper though...dude thats a week of midwinter heating, nuts. Granted it will probably take some time to get used to feeding the thing every day or two. The ones Im looking at are all 140# and up though.
Yeah so progress...will let you know.
I also need to look into install work for one of these. I've never put in a woodstove, and I will be damn suprised if I find out Hammer hasn't either
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I know yours is going in a basement, but here is the install in my living room.
notice the heat proof material on the walls. Also a tile floor. Mine is a small wood stove, but still gets REALLY HOT. I cant touch anything near it on a weekend day where I'm feeding it non-stop.
For once you have tasted flight you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skywards, for there you have been and there you will long to return.
---Leonardo Da Vinci
I know yours is going in a basement, but here is the install in my living room.
notice the heat proof material on the walls. Also a tile floor. Mine is a small wood stove, but still gets REALLY HOT. I cant touch anything near it on a weekend day where I'm feeding it non-stop.
Yeah, thats the nice thing about the pellets, self feeding and the heat is constantly (being pushed) through a heat exchanger so the radiant is minimal. I definitely prefer the warmth of a woodstove though...but I know I don't have time for it.
Did you just cut a piece of plywood and lay it on the floor with the tile, or did ou actually redo the floor there?
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Yeah, thats the nice thing about the pellets, self feeding and the heat is constantly (being pushed) through a heat exchanger so the radiant is minimal. I definitely prefer the warmth of a woodstove though...but I know I don't have time for it.
Did you just cut a piece of plywood and lay it on the floor with the tile, or did ou actually redo the floor there?
yes certainly a bonus of pellets. Do you get the pretty fire and smell with a pellet? I've never used one.
I just saw the stove when moving in and went "Hey cool! lets get some wood!"
Honestly the house is a rental, I have no control over it. which sucks cause I'd make ALOT of changes. For the end of winter through spring I burnt construction debris from my parents home and what was left over from tree trimming. I'll be ordering a cord of wood come fall.
The curved hearth looks good, but is a bear to deal with if trying to block it off. With the dog and anyone with kids would want to put a fence around the stove which is hard with the curved floor.
We have oil heat so I'm going to work really hard this winter too take the edge off with the wood. I've already taught the wife how to build and maintain a fire.
My flat out dream is to have a nice big garage with a wood / pellet stove. I'd like to get into winter projects on cars that I could then turn for profit. I dont smoke cigars in the house, but would love to have a little man cave to combine all my hobbies. (Cigars, cars, bikes, loafing around) So a heated garage is a dream.
Room in the front of the house eh? - your best bet is probably through the ceiling (if your going for cosmetic pleasantries and have the space and skills to do it the right way and this includes some flooring underneath it too). Hopefully you can find a sneaky place to powervent it though because a nice chimney (well the pipe I mean) would cost some serious dough.
The room is in the front of the house, the vent will be going out the side, I was a little unclear about that detail. Looking into powerventing as there is a bush outside the corner of the house that it is going so the bush will hide then vent.
No time slots this weekend to look going to try and go see them and talk to a "pro" at a store next weekend.
I've been looking online at the Breckwells, forget the model at the moment since work is crazy, but wanted to make time for a quick post
My flat out dream is to have a nice big garage with a wood / pellet stove. I'd like to get into winter projects on cars that I could then turn for profit. I dont smoke cigars in the house, but would love to have a little man cave to combine all my hobbies. (Cigars, cars, bikes, loafing around) So a heated garage is a dream.
Thats against code to put a wood stove in a garage around here
So I visited a couple places this weekend, the place with the Harman & Enviro stoves is closed this week, so I saw a couple other brands Greenfire and Avalon. I havent come across either of these in my research they are on the high side or the price scale at least based on what I'd expect to pay but they seemed nice. I couldnt tell how much noise they make while running since it was in the store but the controls were pretty cut and dry and they started one up for me so I saw how all that worked.
Going to dig a little deeper to try and find some reviews on them. Dont think I'll cut any checks until I can check out the other place next week.
Granted it makes the same sound as my kat eating dry food, but damn if this thing doesen't heat you up.
No results to speak of yet, I turned it on a few hours ago and have just left it running. I can tell you I'll be putting one in the living room for sure, just one that isn't so much of an eyesore...not that 55kbtu of pellet heater is an eyesore but.
(photos were taken with unit on 2/5 setting, thus the tiny fire)
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Best part I love, unit has 5 settings but it strictly advises against operating it on setting 5 for more than a few hours or "metal parts may fatigue or warp" gee, thanks for not just giving it 4 settings.
I'll take photos of the venting and answer questions tomorrow if you like.
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Originally Posted by Hammer
. It's funny I have 3 motorcycles in my garage and was reading hearth.com where some folks have 3-4 stoves all over their houses and I'm thinking 'these people are nuts' 
. 
. So far Im leaning towards the 'big-e' unless the enviro dealer wants to stuff dollar bills in my pockets. Quadrafire and Harman look nice, but after studying these things in detail Im really not sure how you can justify being double or triple the cost of your competitor in that sort of market. I've got an eye for detail, and I agree there are differences, but the biggest one I can tell is Harman has an exclusive branding agreement - they seem to be like the Arai of pellet stoves, making sure each customer gets a free pelletcolonoscopy with purchase, or maybe there is a mail order bride hiding in the ash pan, who knows? I probably won't find out. 
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