Pellet / Corn Stove

I am pretty close to making the decision to buy a stove that will burn wood pellets, corn, rice, wheat, rye, and perhaps some other stuff. It should pay for itself by next December, IF they burn as much fuel per day as advertised.

Are any of you using pellet and or multifuel stoves to heat your home and is the experience good or bad?

Thanks

My parents use a pellet stove. It heats their 2000 sq ft ranch very well.

The heat pools into the living room. Since there are no direct vents into the bedrooms, it takes time to get back there. When the bedrooms are warm, the living room is pretty much like a giant oven.

So, remember air circulation. Make sure your ceiling fans are on low to medium to help force the warm air into other parts of your house. It takes a little adjustment, but once you dial it in, the house warms pretty quickly.

Stove

I think you are making a good decision. I am a maintenance man and supervisor at a wood pellet mill that makes the pellets. We have one of the stoves as a testing unit and they do work as advertised. It is extremely warm and very efficient. Let me know how it works if you dont mind. What brand are you getting?

How much do those pellets cost, and how long will they burn? Trying to compare them to wood, coal, propane.

I ordered this stove today:
http://www.pinnaclecornstoves.com/Model 3000.htm

This guy had the best price ($1100.00) for a corn stove that was returned by a customer who could not find corn easily to burn. It has queen anne legs and his patented boost system. He says he builds them himself and each one is run for 1 hour in his shop before being shipped.

I did a lot of reasearch and came to the conclusion that I wanted the ability to burn multiple fuels and his stove can do that. For instance; I can buy 375 lbs of corn, bulk, for $42.00 and since it is agricultural, there is no sales tax. That comes to $4.48 for 40 lbs. Wood pellets cost in this area (Tractor Supply) are $6.41 for 40 lbs (5.99 + tax), but I think they give a $0.40 per bag break if you buy a ton.

From what I have read, most manufacturers say the stove burn a bag a day or a little over. Of course, this will vary in each home due to insulation, traffic in/out, etc.

I am looking for mine in about 10 days, so I will keep you posted.

I meant to add this link last night that allows you to compare various heating energy costs. And I forgot to mention that stoves with a heating efficiency of a minimum of 75% qualify for a 30% federal tax deduction.

i just cant see the value in it, a bag a day at bulk prices runs about 140 a month. that is assuming ethanol doesnt drive corn prices further up. (i dont know just speculating)but my overall electric bill for cooking and all barely tops that in the cold months. with a heat pump and no supplemental heat.
i also am ever so slightly concerned about pellet fuel availability in a poo hit the fan situation, or any other man made or natural disaster.
i do have a bit of experience with burning fuel for heat, for 8 years firewood was my only heat source. free was a great price!! so i am not opposed to it, the only reason we quit, is my wife had severe allergies with the smoke, when building a new house i could not afford to set up an out of house boiler system or other setup.and she said NO MORE FIREPLACE!!! atleast not yet.

soggysod

As a kid growing up on a farm in Mo. we burned corn cobs in our wood stove. They really put out a lot of heat, cost "free".

I did think of all of those things soggy. But my wife and I have both been laid off and we live in an older doublewide with a propane heating system. There is no way I can afford to put in a heat pump as I have turned totally against debt. The cost of propane for one year runs us about what the stove is costing. Plus, since we live near Savannah, the temperatures are moderate most of the time and I don't expect to burn more than a few bags a week, plus, that is only during our coldest months. Also, keep in mind that corn is priced per 56# bushel and pellets in a 30 or 40# bag. We also have a large feed mill nearby which will sell corn at bulk prices and the stove will also burn rye, wheat, and other small grains, as well as pellets, and it doesn't make smoke in the house. Plus, I don't have to own a splitter, maul, or chainsaw, construct something to keep the wood dry, and lug it in the house and large amounts of ashes out. These stoves also have a 0 clearance rating, so they don't take up much room.

For me the math, convenience, and versatility works in my favor.

So far, they don't tax you on what you save in monthly expenses!

Capt Quirk said:

How much do those pellets cost, and how long will they burn? Trying to compare them to wood, coal, propane.

Click to expand...

See my second post in the thread. I have the pellet and my corn costs there.

Plus, there is a 30% tax credit on the purchase of the stove.

Knotwild.. What is that in your profile pic??

Knot.... What is that in your profile pic...
I have been playing with the 50/50 mix of corn and wood pellets in my (70k btu wood fire place)..... It is taking 1.5 bags mixing a day...... at $3 a bu. for corn/$6 a bag wp still averaging $.60 an hour.... if all 3 heat pumps are running $.60 an hour....
BUT if the strips kick in 7kw each with tax/stuff... $2.10 an hour.... none would run solid of coarse.. except 20 degree nights...
I am in the hvac and spray insulation biz... so my home is maxed as far as efficiency...
Has anyone found wood pellets in bulk available in Georgia.....
If so I may look at installing a pellet boiler... for hot water and heat... any feed back on boilers?????

Knotwild said:

See my second post in the thread. I have the pellet and my corn costs there.

Plus, there is a 30% tax credit on the purchase of the stove.

Click to expand...

I have heard about that tax credit. Has anyone used it yet?

kenny mac said:

Knot.... What is that in your profile pic...
I have been playing with the 50/50 mix of corn and wood pellets in my (70k btu wood fire place)..... It is taking 1.5 bags mixing a day...... at $3 a bu. for corn/$6 a bag wp still averaging $.60 an hour.... if all 3 heat pumps are running $.60 an hour....
BUT if the strips kick in 7kw each with tax/stuff... $2.10 an hour.... none would run solid of coarse.. except 20 degree nights...
I am in the hvac and spray insulation biz... so my home is maxed as far as efficiency...
Has anyone found wood pellets in bulk available in Georgia.....
If so I may look at installing a pellet boiler... for hot water and heat... any feed back on boilers?????

Click to expand...

Kenny:
My avitar picture is my biodiesel processor. I know that one is paying off!

My line of thinking on the pellet/corn stove is that my house is completely unefficient with the propane heating. In past years the propane bill runs $1000 and that is with us being ultra coservative (we are out of the house all day). The house is a doublewide with windows that are more like screens and I don't have the money to remodel, build, or replace with a heat pump.

The big key here is how much is the stove going to burn. Now, if I were running it all day, every day, I could see a bag a day of corn. One selling point of this stove is that the guy has a patented add on that adds efficiency (85% total) and reduces consumption.

But, since we live near the coast and our temps are usually moderate, and because we aren't in the house all the time, I think this thing will pay off.

However, if I lived in northwest GA or somewhere that had cold temps 24/7 for weeks or months, I really don't think the stove would pay off.

I hope it will be in this week or next and I can give a "live" update.

please dont think i am criticizing the decision, i like it, i just couldnt justify it.
as far as not being able to afford hvac, i got my unit 2 ton trane split unit for 1200 and did all the work myself. watch craigslist, i see em WAY cheaper than that. I had a little help on hooking em up from a friend, but the duct work labor cost was nothing. that's barely more than what you paid for the pellet stove which in savannah i agree wouldnt get much use. keep in mind, a 12+ seer unit is going to be waaaayyyy cheaper than window units the 9 months your pellet stove sits unused.
for me the hvac was the more economical decision, and i am in the n ga mountains.
thanks for keeping us up on this project, its great to see what others are finding as i think this will be important to us all. with cap and trade looming, i might be giving away my trane and looking for a pellet stove!!!

also what is your take on the biodiesel, and how long have you been doing it?
that MIGHT be my next undertaking, my 90 mile a day commute could force it next time we see 5$ a gallon!


soggysod

soggysod said:

please dont think i am criticizing the decision, i like it, i just couldnt justify it.
as far as not being able to afford hvac, i got my unit 2 ton trane split unit for 1200 and did all the work myself. watch craigslist, i see em WAY cheaper than that. I had a little help on hooking em up from a friend, but the duct work labor cost was nothing. that's barely more than what you paid for the pellet stove which in savannah i agree wouldnt get much use. keep in mind, a 12+ seer unit is going to be waaaayyyy cheaper than window units the 9 months your pellet stove sits unused.
for me the hvac was the more economical decision, and i am in the n ga mountains.
thanks for keeping us up on this project, its great to see what others are finding as i think this will be important to us all. with cap and trade looming, i might be giving away my trane and looking for a pellet stove!!!

also what is your take on the biodiesel, and how long have you been doing it?
that MIGHT be my next undertaking, my 90 mile a day commute could force it next time we see 5$ a gallon!


soggysod

Click to expand...

I in no way thought you were criticizing, so don't give that a second though. When I originally posted this, I wanted the nays as well as yeas to help me make a decision. Plus we all are in different situations. I don't think a corn/pellet stove would be that economical where you have to run it 24/7, unless you had access to cheap corn (or were a farmer).

I actually thought about putting in a heat pump. But, as I mentioned in an earlier post, both my wife and I are unemployed right now and this house needs a ton of work, or removal and building a home. The central air works good, so we were searching for the cheapest way out. This seemed like the best avenue for us right now.

The biodiesel has been great for me and is running me about $1.25/gallon right now. I have been running it for 32,000 miles so far. If you do get interested, PM me and I will be more than happy to help you get started. If you can weld a little, you can build a processor like mine really cheap, so don't buy one. The two biggest things I think a potential biodieseler should consdier are:

Oil supply. The first thing is to be sure you can secure waste vegetable oil. It is not economical to purchase it from a pick up service.

Chemicals. You will need potassium hydroxide and methanol, so you need to be able to purchase these without a hassle.

Plus, in your area, you may need to blend with diesel in the coldest months unless you installed some type of heater to keep your fuel lines warm at night, or park the vehicle in a garage.

Personally, I like the biodiesel much better than running straight vegetable oil due to the cost of veggie kits and the time consumed in cleaning the oil up.

Merry Christmas