I finally took the plunge... New Pellet Stove

[candelbc]

Well, after about 2 years of research, shopping, and debating, I finally decided to break down and pay the good money for a Pellet Heating Stove. I own an "Antique" of a house at 160 years old. Even though it has a brand new basement, my house is far from efficient with the heating.

The basement right now does not have any heating, so it is virtually un-useable in the Winter months. Which in Wisconsin, is far too long...

So, today I bought a Harman Accentra free standing Pellet Stove. It should heat the entire house on one bag a day, but we still plan to heat with our Natural gas furnace as well.

Anyone else had a good, fair, or negative experience with using Pellets to heat your house?

I feel pretty happy with my decision so far. Low maintenance, Lower cost, and much more warmth for my family..

-Brad

 

[allenfr]

Welcome to a warm house !

We bought a Harmon three heating seasons ago, and have been smiling about the purchase ever since ! Our P68 heats the whole house easily. During the coldest days, usually in January, we burn two bags, basically filling the hopper once each day. Nice even heat. The best advice I can think of is too learn how to do the easy weekly cleaning. It makes all the difference in producing steady even heat.

Well, after about 2 years of research, shopping, and debating, I finally decided to break down and pay the good money for a Pellet Heating Stove. I own an "Antique" of a house at 160 years old. Even though it has a brand new basement, my house is far from efficient with the heating.

The basement right now does not have any heating, so it is virtually un-useable in the Winter months. Which in Wisconsin, is far too long...

So, today I bought a Harman Accentra free standing Pellet Stove. It should heat the entire house on one bag a day, but we still plan to heat with our Natural gas furnace as well.

I feel pretty happy with my decision so far. Low maintenance, Lower cost, and much more warmth for my family..

-Brad

 

[In the Kitchen]

Supply

What do you 'fill the hopper' with? May be dumb ques tion but I want to know. Sounds like it has approval of allenfr who is happy with it. thanks for your time.

 

[allenfr]

The Hopper

The 'hopper' on the pellet stove is where the pellets are put. And the pellets look a lot like rabbit food, little compressed wood pellets. They feed into a burn area where the flames from the burning pellets are blown against a heat exchanger, just a rippled section of metal, and that heat is blown into the house.

 

[candelbc]

We bought a Harmon three heating seasons ago, and have been smiling about the purchase ever since ! Our P68 heats the whole house easily. During the coldest days, usually in January, we burn two bags, basically filling the hopper once each day. Nice even heat. The best advice I can think of is too learn how to do the easy weekly cleaning. It makes all the difference in producing steady even heat.

That's awesome to hear.. I am fairly confident with my decision. The biggest reason we got it was because we used to use a Programmable thermostat to lower the heat while we were both working. Now that Sarah is staying home with Caleb every day, we knew that Natural Gas heat was going to put us in a hurt for our Energy bill.. With this, I figure I will have it paid off in less than 3 years..

I have taken note of your weekly cleaning suggestion. I can't wait to give it a try..

-Brad

 

[justplainbill]

I assume you have a masonry chimney. Will the stove handle pea coal?

 

[candelbc]

I assume you have a masonry chimney. Will the stove handle pea coal?

Actually, the stove uses a high efficiency double walled exhaust piping. According to local code, it just needs to be 3 foot higher than ground level.

As for pea coal, I do not think so.. I haven't looked into it, but so far, Pellets are far more available for me here in Wisconsin...

-Brad

 

[candelbc]

Update - 12/11/07

The installers came today and did an excellent job installing the stove. They walked through the entire process of maintenance, using, and filling. It has been running for roughly 1.5 hours right now, and it has done an amazing job warming the basement. I couldn't be more satisfied.

I am going to hold off doing anything to circulate the warmth to the other areas in the house until I get the cement and my woodworking tools a little warmer. Once I get a handle on how well it heats the house just from the natural rise of heat, then I will look at where I can better move the heat.

I thought I would update everyone. Give me some more time and I'll try to remember to do another update.

So far, so good!

-Brad

 

[pacanis]

Glad you like it. My sister and BIL had one years ago and got rid of it. I'm sure they've improved a lot, especially when you described your flue.
Around here a lot of folks have those outside wood furnaces that produce hot water for heat. The guy across from me buys logs by the truckload. The same kind of logging trucks you see heading to the papermills. It takes him a few weeks to get it all cut into logs, then he still has to split and season it. I think pellets are the way to go if they're making them that efficient.
I'm fortunate enough to have a gas well on my property.