Re: Cord Wood Vs Pellets
[Re: uplandpointer]
#7462601
01/16/22 03:02 PM
01/16/22 03:02 PM
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Joined: Dec 2010
Posts: 34,928 Central, SD
Law Dog
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trapper
Joined: Dec 2010
Posts: 34,928
Central, SD
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Wood for me I’m to cheap to buy pellets when I can cut my own wood. What about a gas heater I would think that would be the best option and easiest if your buying your fuel source anyway.
Was born in a Big City Will die in the Country OK with that!
Jerry Herbst
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Re: Cord Wood Vs Pellets
[Re: uplandpointer]
#7462608
01/16/22 03:08 PM
01/16/22 03:08 PM
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Joined: Aug 2011
Posts: 527 Northern MN
atrapper
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trapper
Joined: Aug 2011
Posts: 527
Northern MN
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We have a pellet stove, it was in the house when we bought it. The downside I see in it is that, as stated above, it requires electricity so it can’t be used as a true backup, it doesn’t put out as much heat as a cordwood stove does, and I have to rely on someone else for the wood. Last year many stores had a limit on how many bags you could buy. Over the past 5 years, pellets have averaged $5.25/bag around here. The upside is that they’re darn convenient. Drop a bag of pellets in and push start. Very little ash, no mess with bark, sawdust, and constantly carrying wood in the house. One bag of pellets will run our stove around 15 hours but of course each stove will be different. We run our stove much like it sounds you would run yours; just when we’re home on the weekends and for a couple hours after work and before bed most nights. We go through around 40 bags of pellets a year. I will say that the pellet stove is much cheaper to run than the in floor electric heat we have in our living room and while the pellet stove runs, our propane furnace virtually never runs so the pellet stove offsets some propane cost as well. I’ve thought a lot about replacing the pellet stove with a cord wood stove. What it always comes down to for me is, what’s my time worth? I spend less than $250/year to use my pellet stove with my only time investment being a trip to the store. How much time would I spend cutting 5 or 6 cords of wood per year, chainsaw maintenance, gas, etc? Is the hassle worth it for $250?
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Re: Cord Wood Vs Pellets
[Re: uplandpointer]
#7462611
01/16/22 03:10 PM
01/16/22 03:10 PM
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Joined: Sep 2013
Posts: 18,625 Green County Wisconsin
GREENCOUNTYPETE
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trapper
Joined: Sep 2013
Posts: 18,625
Green County Wisconsin
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pellets were a good answer for my 80 year old aunt
no she couldn't really lift a 40 pound bag , she had a scissors in the garage she would slide a bag off the pile and then tip it into a pail , cut the top of the bag let half the bag empty into bucket carry that in then dump the rest of the bag in the bucket and carry that in.
it ran 6 1/2 days a week she turned it off when she went to church and cleaned it and fired it back up , the igniter lasted only a year or two then she had a little bottle of gel alcohal and a match and a hand full of pellets
it lasted about 8 years like that then really needed replacing or rebuild the auger was having issues it had 2 control boards
a wood stove you can basically keep rebuilding with new fire brick and door seals for a very very long time I got my wood stove in 2007 it had been a floor model for 4-5 years at the store. one partial and one full fire brick replacement in 15 years I can order the fire brick from Ace hardware and cut the few I need cut with a tile saw.
I should add her son in law had a country store and could get a semi load of pellets delivered to his doc and sold them to people but she would go through about ton and a half to 2 ton a year
I have a co-worker with a pellet stove he orders a pallet at a time which i think is 800 pounds if you order in pallet quantity the price gets a little better.
Last edited by GREENCOUNTYPETE; 01/16/22 03:12 PM.
America only has one issue, we have a Responsibility crisis and everything else stems from it.
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Re: Cord Wood Vs Pellets
[Re: uplandpointer]
#7462613
01/16/22 03:13 PM
01/16/22 03:13 PM
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Joined: Nov 2017
Posts: 11,298 Maine, Aroostook
Posco
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trapper
Joined: Nov 2017
Posts: 11,298
Maine, Aroostook
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I did a quick perusal and found this... 13.6 million BTUs per ton of wood pellets 25 million BTUs per ton of coal (I assume that's anthracite) 36.6 million BTUs per cord of 'live' oak. It dwindles considerably by species from there. I'm sure there are many variables. I have a wood pellet stove and it has been a decent heater chugging along for a decade pretty much trouble free. Coal is my preference, but snow has taken the metalbestos chimney off the house twice. I'll build a brick chimney next summer.
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Re: Cord Wood Vs Pellets
[Re: Dana I]
#7462619
01/16/22 03:15 PM
01/16/22 03:15 PM
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Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 20,087 SEPA
Lugnut
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trapper
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 20,087
SEPA
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Another thing to consider is availability of fuel. Cord wood is a primary product that makes it fairly readily available at consistent prices. Pellets are a byproduct of the sawmill industry. The sawdust they are made out of has many other uses. When sawmill production goes down or demand for the sawdust goes up, pellets can get difficult to source and price goes up. Very true. I remember a few years back a friend with a pellet stove was having a tough time finding them and they were very expensive due to the short supply. A rental property I remodeled a while back had a pellet stove. we used it to heat the place during the remodel. I was not impressed with the heat output. And, as said above, the need for electricity to run them would be a deal-breaker for me.
Eh...wot?
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Re: Cord Wood Vs Pellets
[Re: uplandpointer]
#7462621
01/16/22 03:16 PM
01/16/22 03:16 PM
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Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 20,087 SEPA
Lugnut
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trapper
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 20,087
SEPA
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Although think they make gravity-feed ones now?
Eh...wot?
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Re: Cord Wood Vs Pellets
[Re: uplandpointer]
#7462730
01/16/22 04:49 PM
01/16/22 04:49 PM
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Joined: Feb 2021
Posts: 2,365 Interior Alaska
Oh Snap
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trapper
Joined: Feb 2021
Posts: 2,365
Interior Alaska
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A backup generator can keep everything going during extended power outages for us towneys!
ALSO we can have fires all summer some years but don’t you dare fire your wood stove when the borough says the air is too bad or we will fine you! Not worth the hassle.
Last edited by Oh Snap; 01/16/22 05:14 PM.
I love the smell of burning spruce---I love the sound of a spring time goose---I love the feel of 40 below---from my trapline I will never go!
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Re: Cord Wood Vs Pellets
[Re: uplandpointer]
#7462739
01/16/22 05:00 PM
01/16/22 05:00 PM
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Joined: May 2011
Posts: 2,494 Garden,Michigan
Buck (Zandra)
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trapper
Joined: May 2011
Posts: 2,494
Garden,Michigan
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The biggest drawback to the pellet stove would be the electricity.We've had both wood and pellet stoves,in a turn of the century two story farmhouse.Cleaning the chimney after the woodstove was a real pain in the *+$#,with the pitch of our roof,I hate heights and the older I got the more I balked at doing it.This is the first pellet stove we've had ,but that stove,if cranked up to the high settings,will run you out of the kitchen where its located.Throwing heat out of it is no problem.Had it for 3 years now pretty much maintenance free,other than cleaning it once a week.With the stove pipe coming out of the wall about 4' off the ground cleaning it out won't be a problem and climbing the roof is a thing of the past.We buy our pellets a ton at a time delivered,for $300.Our winter hasn't been too bad so far,we had some left over from last season so we've had one delivery so far and one more load the end of February or so should do it for this winter.
Buck(formely known as Zandra)
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