Wood Pellet Stove

For various reasons I am thinking of switching from burning wood to wood pellets. I burn wood just in my shop which is insulated. It is 30'x 45' with a 10' ceiling, with a 20'x 30' cold storage area. I also have a skid loader to unload pallets, so labor moving bags would be minimal. Any pro's or con's on pellet stove's or burning pellet's would be appreciated. Thank you.

Myself and a friend took a good look at the Harman P series, P38 maybe, there was a model 43 or bigger that would have been ideal for both our homes. There is a dealer over in Bennington VT, he has another one, but would like one of these Harman's. They appear to be viable for a good heat source, the maintenance and operating aspect of it is nothing that would concern me, I am led to believe that the type of pellets that are used are key to its performance. Premium,hardwood or what ever it is. I could do same here, land pallets on my front porch and keep a bin or 2 inside, given all that its better than oil, especially if you are home to tend to it, but it seems that these are thermostatically operated and can operate remotely with no problems, I do stand to be corrected. You can pay as you go as well, but I am not sure about availability of the pellets and if there are or could be shortages.

You would have to do like we did and see them demonstrated, I've done that twice now.

I've been burning pellets for about 3 years now in my home; about 2300 sq ft with basement.

The stove is in the basement which is poorly insulated to say the least. The brick chimney runs up through the house and is exposed in several rooms, both upstairs and on the first floor.

I burn wood and coal in my uninsulated shop.

The pellet stoves main function is to heat the basement and help the heat pump. I always say it won't heat the house, but it will maintain temperature very well.

Pros
1. Easy to light, fires right up, putting out good heat in 10 mins.
2. Pellets are easy for me to store in my coal celler.
3. Very little cleanout; maybe once a week burning non-stop. Very little ash.
4. "Cleaner" than wood/coal. Less mess.
5. Less chance of creosote buildup; my opinion.
6. Maintains temp very well once heated up and burning; I feel mine puts out much more heat if I just leave it going as opposed to turning it on/off.
7. It has overfire protection
8. Only have to load pellets 1-2 times per day.

Cons
1. BIG ONE - I have to heave bags of pellets into the coal celler through the chute. Moving a ton, 40 lbs at a time gets old.
2. Pellets aren't cheap, haven't calculated if I'm saving anything or not. I buy them by the ton for about $200. Electric heat pump is expensive though.
3. Quality of pellets can vary drastically. You want them very dry.
4. Won't run without electricity. Has to run the augers and blower. Moving a coal stove into a basement by yourself during an ice storm SUCKS.
5. Pellets tend to get everywhere; you lose some every time you open a bag. I haven't lost a 24" log yet.
6. Not thermostatically controlled; my model anyway. You set an auger speed and blower speed. Thats it.

I could probably keep going, but I hope that helps some. I don't regret buying mine one bit for that drafty basement.

For you shop, you insulation will help a lot. I would make sure if you proceed with getting a pellet stove make sure it is sized to you square footage and don't expect more out of it than it is designed to do. You can't just stoke them up like you can an old coal burner.

EDIT...Just wanted to add that the best pellets I've found are mode by Somerset, locally hear in KY. They are made from the waste from hardwood furniture and cabinetry.

I have had mine for a few winters now.
It is the best steady heat that I know of, constant feed rate, Mine runs 12 hours per day. The only down side of pellets is that you need a 120VAC supply to keep it running. I have mine on the main floor of a ranch home, when it is below zero it is 70f in my house with the pellet burner running.
Harman, US Stove, Whitfield, Lopi, all good, You should pay about $2,000 for a pellet stove.
Best advice is clean it daily, it only takes 2 minutes with a vacuum. I load 1 bag of pellets per day. I do NOT burn corn due to moisture. Corn I think is about $12 per hundred weight. Corn use to be $8 per hundred.
Pellets have remained $190 to $220 per ton.
Natural gas and Pellet fuel is about the same on the cost side, but the pellets give a steady even heat.

have a harmon XXV, pellet stove in the house, i burn between a bag to two bags a day depending on temperature outside, stove has it's own thermostat which is nice, doesn't give as much heat as our old wood stove (blaze king), but it is much cleaner in the house. Pellets cost me about 300 a ton, i think i'd buy a stove with an option for burning corn, pellets are probably cleaner burning, but cost more sometimes, but for the last few years have been cheaper than corn... The biggest downside to a pelletstove is the power requirement... we run ours through an inverter if the power goes out, but if your power supply is not as reliable as you'd like, maybe a wood stove is better.

For a shop as you describe, with I am assuming overhead door/s, you will be asking a lot from a pellet stove. "Harman Stoves" builds the best ones, best conversion of heat and largest BTU output in the industry, P 68 model. Prepare to burn 40# of wood pellets every 8 hrs you run the stove at Max. The P68 has a thermostat control, so you can set it at whatever temp you want, and it will maintain it. I have a P61 in my cellar which will keep the house confortable if the power goes out. It has battery/inverter backup.
I still am able to cut firewood to fuel my Royall wood boiler, so the Harmen doesn't run much since I retired and can stoke the boiler thru the day, rather than being gon from the house from 7:00am-6m daily.
My last job I had, was a factory trained installer and service tech for the largest Harman dealer in NY. located in Johnstown, NY.
Loren, the Acg.

I have had a Breckwell stove heating my 875 sqft ranch for 4 years now. It's in the basement so we are actually heating about 1200 sq ft with it. Pellets are in the cold side of the basement. I have LP, but only use it once or twice a season.

Pellets slide down the ramps into the basement. My wife and I put a ton in the other day in about 20 minutes. I usually burn about 3 tons a season, but it's been colder this year!!! We bought an extra ton just in case. We keep it about 63 degrees, don't really like it hot. The pellet stove gives a very nice even heat. We really like it. Maintenance is quick and easy. Not a fire and forget, but not nearly the mess of a wood stove.

In the picture you can see a bin of pellets on the left. We dump a bag or two into the bin and use a grain scoop to fill the stove. It's a lot easier than dumping a bag.

Stumpy

one option look up pellet baskets theres a guy shows how to make one on ytube.you can try before buying there simple and fit into a wood stove

Harman PC45 is a multi-Fuel stoker. Pellets, grain and unofficially coal.

that list matches mine.

I'd only add that getting one with a 300lb capacity hopper was a good move for me.

Lugging bags of pellets isn't as annoying if you do it 7 at a time, 7 times less often.

You can still do one a day if you really want to keep topping it off - but more likely you'll appreciate not having to worry about it for a week +/-.

We've had an Englander multi fuel stove for 4 1/2 winters now. It's been great up until this year. Starting to give me trouble. Burnt mostly pellets in it. Next one I'm getting is a harman p68. You might not need one that big. They're not cheap, but I know a guy that's had one 7 years without any trouble. He has to clean his less often than I do too. Just a better design. We had an add on wood burner before this and this is much better. The wife can monitor it without worry, and there's no mess like I had in my basement.

I have a LDJ Amazing Heat furnace that will burn corn, pellets, cherry pits. It has a 700lb bin that sets next to the furnace and augers in to the fire pot. I check on it twice a day but only fill the bin once a week. You clean the ashes out just like a wood stove, ash pan under the fire pot slides out,dump, slide back in. 165,000 btu varible output, dials you adjust to get the heat you want then runs of your thermostat. Biggest drawback is takes up some space in the basement. It is not the same type of heat as a wood stove though (can't beat wood heat in my opinion)

I just installed a pellet stove in my garage this fall. It is 24 x 36 with 10 ft ceiling. Three overhead doors. It is insulated. I have a us stove multi fuel stove with 52000 btu capacity. It is doing a pretty fair job at keeping the temp at 50 to 60 degrees on a medium setting. The most important item I have is the quality of the pellets. That affects the heat and ash. The 100 percent hardwood product burns cleaner and has the least ash content. You will get more heat per pound.

I like mine, going on 11 years now, burn about 200 bags a season. Cost is around 4 bucks a bag. Nice steady heat. House is rather hard to heat. It started as a log cabin, has had 4 additions built. Because of the shape of the house it has poor circulation. nat gas fireplace at opposite end keeps that area warm. I can back truck to within a few feet of the 3 season porch. By removing the tailgate can reach them all without climbing into truck to throw an extra time. Stack in porch, then it is only about 15 feet to the stove. This model doesn't have ash pan. Scoop from fire pot to side each time I add a bag. After about 10 bags have to shut down & vacuum out. Easy to light a fire, a handful of pellets, 10-15 seconds with the propane torch, in 10 minutes it is hot enough for fan to cut in.
Willie

My house has a Harmon P38 that was in it when we bought it. The prev. home owner didn't keep it clean so it didn't work good until I read the book and gave it a good cleaning.

I scrape the fire pot daily, and after every ton I clean out the ashes. I use my shop vac once it's cool (doesn't have glowing embers like a wood stove would). About 2-3 years ago I had to replace the blower that forces the hot air through the stove, and I just bought a spare this last week to keep on the shelf in case (or when) this one goes out. It's made by Dayton so it's a Grainger blower, and I found a replacement on amazon for $75 + shipping. First one was cheaper, but both are cheaper than the $225 that Harmon wants for the exact same thing.

I burn 4-6 ton per season, and can (could, depending on next years price) get them for under $200/ton. The window seems to be getting covered in ash much quicker now, so I'm thinking I may need to replace the seals on it.

Overall, it's MUCH cheaper than the oil furnace in the basement. I watch the sales and buy pellets when it's on sale. Last 2 years I bought from Menards when they had their 11% rebate going. This year that rebate plus $30 bought me an air compressor so I'm happy on 2 fronts.

Donovan from Wisconsin

Have a pellet stove for about 6 years now. Brokd down on me at the moment, I have to go through it and find the problem if can't will have somebody in to fix it.
I would go through 3 tons of pellets a season and about $1000.00 worth of oil, needed that in real cold weather, in Canada here. Saved me at least $1000.00 a year over just using oil. Am on propane this year and its been some killer bills comming in.
I do really like the pellet stove.
Here is a great site to go to for information on about any type of stove no matter what you burn. Great info, a great fourn to ask questions and get answers if any problems. Take a look through it and see what you think.
Heating fourn

I have one in my daughters house trailer. Use about $1200.00 in pellets per year. Otherwise it would be $2-3K of oil. Only downside is the noise of the auger and fan and that she isn't great about cleaning it, despite the special ash vac I bought her.

we've had a whitfield (by Lennox) for about 11 seasons or so now. Like it and haven't had much trouble other than a new room blower and ignitor last year.

We burn 1-2 tons per year depending on season and price of nat gas. Pellets are higher than nat gas so we don't heat the whole house with it. A few years ago when nat gas went thru the roof we did heat the whole house with it.

check out the fuel price calculator at the pellet fuel institute web site. you can enter the prices of a few different fuel types and see what it would cost to heat with it. Lowest prices here this year has been $188/ton +tax. first few years we had it pellets were $150/ton.

If i was farming i'd look at a muli-fuel stove. I've burned corn/pellet mix with mine but even with corn prices falling pellets are still less $.

Similar experiences to those noted. Have a 1700 sq. foot ranch home and when I finished the basement (prob 1200 sq. ft) put in a Harman XXV to heat that. Used to only use in on weekends when I would spend time in the basement. With the propane issues, I've been running this thing non stop, burning about 1.5 bags a day and it's been keeping the basement hot (obviously) but has also kept the upstairs at 65-67. I have only heard the furnace kick in twice since I began running this 24/7 and that was a night it was 25 below air temps and when I shut it down for cleaning. Saving me money right now, hope the price of pellets don't go up too hight this spring...

What about using hardwood compressed bricks? Same idea as pellets, but in brick form. You can use your existing stove.

This is the first year I have been using them and I love them. 1 pallet equals roughly 1 cord or wood (in cost and generating heat). They are clean to handle, clean to burn and generate good heat.

Tractor Supply sells packs of 3 or 6. You can always try them out before you buy.



http://www.external_link.com/en/store/eco-bricksreg;-fuel-blocks-pack-of-3

[i:654c4848f0]5. Pellets tend to get everywhere; you lose some every time you open a bag. I haven"t lost a 24" log yet.[/i:654c4848f0]

Yeah, but when you "find" one with the snowblower it can ruin your whole day. My sons black lab/mutts seem to think the woodpile is a toy pile, and just drop them where ever when they get done playing.