Wood vs Pellet heat ???

[TnAndy]

My BIL purchases a pellet stove a couple years ago;not happy with it.$260/ton for "good pellets",40# bags that he can handle but my sister can't.He was burning 4 tons a year;no real cost savings over oil.
You have to shut down every two days to clean;no power ,no heat.
His brother spent a lot of money putting in a coal furnace;just about the same situation.
They just don't make sense to me.

Exactly...

The advantage of wood is normally you have the fuel on your place or can get it cheap/free locally.

To me, if you have to buy pellets, why not just propane/nat gas or fuel oil. Less handling, no ash, less maintenance.

 

[Creamer]

Exactly...

The advantage of wood is normally you have the fuel on your place or can get it cheap/free locally.

To me, if you have to buy pellets, why not just propane/nat gas or fuel oil. Less handling, no ash, less maintenance.

The only reason is that a few years ago propane got very high and many had to find an alternative.

The best reason for a corn stove is the cost - less than half the $260/ton for wood pellets. Of course around here corn is cheap and in ready supply.

 

[sixdogs]

As a side note, can you have a wood stove fire and every now and then toss in a couple of scoops of pellets?

Why would you? Pellets are expensive and wood is cheap. I don稚 think pellet stoves are cheaper than gas but that痴 another issue.

Already have wood stove plumbed into fireplace, have free supply of cabinet hardwood cut offs and almost free supply of around 20 bags of wood pellets from a neighbor that quit using them.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Already have wood stove plumbed into fireplace, have free supply of cabinet hardwood cut offs and almost free supply of around 20 bags of wood pellets from a neighbor that quit using them.

Then i would throw them in to use them, just wouldnt buy them for a woodstove.

Last house was all elecric, but came with a tiny decorative woodstove in FR. I put in a larger woodstove and kept it going 24/7. I still have the woodstove, but never built chimney for it in my new house (20 yrs old now). I had to buy firewood then, at over $100 cord 20 yrs ago. Probably double that now.

 

[Dutch445]

I was going to try coal but the dealer threw a BIG caution into that idea. Coal puts out enough "vapors & ash" that it will turn everything in the house sooty black.

I don't know were he got that from, I burn coal in a Hitzer insert, that is hard coal anthracite, coal does need air from under the fire and can be difficult to get started,
I lite mine off in mid Nov and it hasn't gone out since then. I get almost no vapors in the house and no soot. The ash does have a lot of fines that are very light and will
dust up the garage if I'm not carefull.[/QUOTE]

another coal burner here, have had 2 stoves in 2 different houses. first house was a hand fired, like a wood stove, not dependent on electricity, gave off tons
of heat, and never soot or fumes in the house. ash can be present from emptying the ash pan, but both my stoves are/were in the basement with exterior doors so
ash never makes it upstairs.
current stove is an Alaska Stoker, runs just like a pellet stove , except no auto start on this one. (power went out 2 times already this winter) is dependent on
electricity, although it's just a couple of small fans so not a lot of power required.

both stoves were very economical to heat with, and the current stoker runs longer in the season because it's easier to idle down in moderate weather (40's 50's)
the old handfired didn't like that warm of weather

 

[deserteagle71]

I was going to try coal but the dealer threw a BIG caution into that idea. Coal puts out enough "vapors & ash" that it will turn everything in the house sooty black.

I grew up in northeastern Pennsylvania. Coal was plentiful and relatively cheap so that's what we heated with. NO problems with "vapors and ash" or black soot...only problem was making sure the air was turned down enough once the coal got going, else the top of the stove would turn a bright cherry red.

I've been seriously thinking about going to a pellet stove myself, after a lifetime of heating with wood. Where I live, finding firewood is more and more difficult every year. For several years I'd been buying my firewood from the Burns, Oregon area. Used to be a bunch of people selling firewood there but now its down to one. With all the huge forest fires we've had in the recent past there are huge areas of standing dead trees just begging to be cut but they are mostly on "public" land controlled by the federal government and the feds aren't giving out permits for the burned areas. They say the dead trees are for the woodpeckers, owls, etc. So eventually another fire comes through and those dry, dead trees become standing torches - or they fall over and rot.

 

[Creamer]

I grew up in northeastern Pennsylvania. Coal was plentiful and relatively cheap so that's what we heated with. NO problems with "vapors and ash" or black soot...only problem was making sure the air was turned down enough once the coal got going, else the top of the stove would turn a bright cherry red.

I've been seriously thinking about going to a pellet stove myself, after a lifetime of heating with wood. Where I live, finding firewood is more and more difficult every year. For several years I'd been buying my firewood from the Burns, Oregon area. Used to be a bunch of people selling firewood there but now its down to one. With all the huge forest fires we've had in the recent past there are huge areas of standing dead trees just begging to be cut but they are mostly on "public" land controlled by the federal government and the feds aren't giving out permits for the burned areas. They say the dead trees are for the woodpeckers, owls, etc. So eventually another fire comes through and those dry, dead trees become standing torches - or they fall over and rot.
View attachment 534589

The logic of government - gotta love it!

 

[Oaktree]

another coal burner here, have had 2 stoves in 2 different houses.

Curiously, where is coal sold these days?

Where I live, finding firewood is more and more difficult every year. For several years I'd been buying my firewood from the Burns, Oregon area. Used to be a bunch of people selling firewood there but now its down to one. With all the huge forest fires we've had in the recent past there are huge areas of standing dead trees just begging to be cut but they are mostly on "public" land controlled by the federal government and the feds aren't giving out permits for the burned areas. They say the dead trees are for the woodpeckers, owls, etc. So eventually another fire comes through and those dry, dead trees become standing torches - or they fall over and rot.

Wood permits on national forest land seems to be on a district-by-district basis. Here in N.H. they offer permits allowing you to take wood from the White Mountain NF, but it must be dead and down. No felling of trees.
I used to go in after there'd been a logging operation and get the slash. Some pretty good sized stuff there sometimes. Hasn't been much logging operation near enough to make it worthwhile in the last 5-6 years though...most loggers now chip all the slash. There are 3 wood-chip power plants within 20 miles of here so there's a constant market for them. Good for them, not so good for those of us who used to get cheap firewood.

 

[LouNY]

I paid $240 / ton this year, for Lehigh got a discount as I got 3 tons for me and 3 tons for my brother from a dealer in Granville, NY
Blashak is listed for $280 / ton
Reading for $270 / ton from a dealer outside of Saratoga.

 

[Deere Dude]

Around here they sell 6x6 and 8x8 or 6x8 cutoffs. They are oak and dried dice. They sell that for $15-18 for a payloader heaping bucket full. Nice, clean and solid. Easy to handle and stack. Most pieces are from a foot to 2.5 feet long. We use them for camping quite often.

 

[Dutch445]

Curiously, where is coal sold these days?



Wood permits on national forest land seems to be on a district-by-district basis. Here in N.H. they offer permits allowing you to take wood from the White Mountain NF, but it must be dead and down. No felling of trees.
I used to go in after there'd been a logging operation and get the slash. Some pretty good sized stuff there sometimes. Hasn't been much logging operation near enough to make it worthwhile in the last 5-6 years though...most loggers now chip all the slash. There are 3 wood-chip power plants within 20 miles of here so there's a constant market for them. Good for them, not so good for those of us who used to get cheap firewood.

i bet we have a dozen or more coal distributors within a 20 mile radius here, quite common, many pellet dealers handle coal also.
some TSC stores carry coal now, can be purchased by the bag or pallet

i have a local distributor bring my seasons worth in Nov, usually 3 pallets, they unload with the fork truck(just like Lowes)
and put a couple pallets in my garage and another one by my basement door where i stack a ton for immediate usage,
i pay extra for delivery, and the pre poly bagged stuff, approx 275 per ton.
in my previous house, i went and bagged my own in this cold barn, loaded a truck and trailer
with bags, then took them home and unloaded them (2 ton or so at a time). guess i'm getting old!

 

[Creamer]

i bet we have a dozen or more coal distributors within a 20 mile radius here, quite common, many pellet dealers handle coal also.
some TSC stores carry coal now, can be purchased by the bag or pallet

i have a local distributor bring my seasons worth in Nov, usually 3 pallets, they unload with the fork truck(just like Lowes)
and put a couple pallets in my garage and another one by my basement door where i stack a ton for immediate usage,
i pay extra for delivery, and the pre poly bagged stuff, approx 275 per ton.
in my previous house, i went and bagged my own in this cold barn, loaded a truck and trailer
with bags, then took them home and unloaded them (2 ton or so at a time). guess i'm getting old!

Not around my area. Nobody sells it unless I get up into the Amish area and then I know of one place that does - I imagine if there is one there is more.

 

[goeduck]

Some folks burn cherry pits too, they actually burn quite well...

SR

I do not think I could eat enough cherries

 

[ruffdog]

Many things like nut hulls, corn cobs, dried dung....about anything can be burned.

 

[sixdogs]

[ cob.QUOTE=ruffdog;4958677]Many things like nut hulls, corn cobs, dried dung....about anything can be burned.[/QUOTE]

A few years ago I read that you can burn dried sweet corn right on the cob. I tried some and it burned just like firewood.

 

[90cummins]

I started with Wood the late 70s lot of work but we were warm.
Moved to another house & brought our wood hot air furnace with us.
Logistics of getting wood in were better (easier).
Jumped on coal stove bandwagon because the coal could be delivered bulk into the cellar.
Major pain lots of dust & frequent cleanings.
Sold and bought a pellet stove worked ok & pellets were reasonable for the first few years but price went up considerably and still required frequent cleaning & 40lb bags felt like 55lbs after 10 years.
Had back surgery 2 years ago at 60 years old & couldn稚 lift bags for that winter.
A Vermont Castings reliance stove was given to us so we sold the pellet stove and still use the wood furnace as our primary heat. We have Oil hot air as backup.
My current opinion is this.
After many years I finally developed a good system for handling the wood minimizing handling.
Wife & I can throw in & stack 5 cord in 3 hours and we use the gas stove on occasion.
Key to cost effective heating with propane is to own your own tank which allows considerable savings in cost/gallon.
Example if renting a 100 gallon tank cost per gallon is $4.00 plus if you own you tank it is $2.49.
If you gave a 500 gallon tank the cost is $1.75 gallon.
Bottom line wood beats pellets.
Would burn more gas if I had a larger tank b
90cummins

 

[Thomas]

Again thanks for imput. :thumbsup:

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Wood doesnt beat pellets if you have to buy wood.

Last year i burned just over a ton of pellets, $250. A cord of split wood delivered cost that much here. Pellets so much easier to store and handle, take up much less space, cleaner, less time. Even my wife can carry 40# bag. Or, you open a bag and carry it in smaller buckets.
I have done both wood and pellets. I would use wood IF i had my own supply of wood. (and a chimney for my woodstove).

 

[ruffdog]

Like we said before....everybody's situation is different. What works for one is too expensive or unobtainable for others.

 

[Ken45101]

We have a Harmon pellet stove. Absolutely flawless and maintenance is easy. No more wood stoves for us.

I think my dog also approves

View attachment 534444

SOME Harman stoves are easy to clean (I've been told). Others are a bear. I have heard of one person that replaced his Harman Advance with a different model Harman just because of the difficult cleaning.

Also, Harman's warranty depends totally on your local dealer. If your dealer doesn't want to be bothered, you have zero warranty. Calling Harman only results in being told to talk to your dealer.