Wood stove, finally!

[Ken B 3,189]

A pellet stove in the house and another in the shed. In the house I put a box fan on the floor at the far end of the hallway on low, blowing towards the living room where the stove is, and that warms that end of the house well.

How much do you spend a year on pellets?

[rydogg 186]

I am trying out a pellet stove but I don't like it as much as I liked my woodstove I could heat my shop to 75 degrees in about half an hour with the woodstove but it took hours with the corn furnace and it's a 75,000 btu whole home heating model not the small single room type, it stands 4 feet tall by 3 feet deep, holds over 200 lbs of corn/pellets and has it's own furnace type blower fan.  Auger feed rate is from 2lbs per hours up to 9lbs and it can be fine tuned to do even more if needed.  I am running a mix of pellets and corn now to see if it will heat up quicker.  I am thinking it's time to warm up the chainsaws and get the splitter prepped for some work.

[Theswampthing 8]

Just wrestled this sucker down my chimney. I thought it was gonna be tough, but it went down fairly easy for being 26'. I predict a fire in the stove this weekend. I am excited!

[roscoemi 245]

Ken, I burn an average of 2 1/2 tons of pellets every heating season with good ones( you really don't want the bad ones) at $180 a ton for 50 40lb bags, about a bag a day. I'll burn what I need in the shed when I want to work out there, I leave it running for a few days to get it warm and dry and keep the ammo reloader limber.

 As Rydogg may be finding out, there are good pellets and bad ones. A buddy and I got a deal on 6 ton last year from the manufacturer that is local to us, and if you burned them all at the same time you might boil a cup of water.   Junk to put it nicely. TSC usually has the best ones at the best price here.

 My stove stays on the lowest fan and feed speeds and keeps the house at 80 if the outside temp is above 20. On a rare occation have I turned it any higher.

[Wheel-N-It 2,976]

I've been around wood stoves all my life, and could not imagine living through a winter without one. In the next week or two some guys from the local wood stove company will be replacing the 30 year old flue on my Buckstove with some fresh stainless steel insulated type. I'm very excited about that, and having it done before the winter cold weather hits here in NC.

[Fun Engineer 859]

Hey Russ how are you and porkchop doing? Your probably out plowing this morning

 

I too use a pellet stove in a 1300 sq ft house.  I run about 2 tons a year. I don't run it at night anymore as if we lose power the fan doesn't evacuate the smoke and it backs up into the house.  Same for if we leave the house for any length of time. We lost power earlier this week while we were home. It took me less than 8 minutes to haul the generator out and switch over and we still had smoke in the house.  This is the only drawback to a pellet stove in my mind.  I like the fact that I don't spend weeks cutting, hauling, splitting and stacking firewood (although I enjoy a little of this). I can handle 40 pound bags and they don't track in snow, ice, bark or bugs.

 

I agree you need to buy the best pellets out there. I bought a ton of a different brand last year and they were junk.  Too much sawdust.  I also tried a couple of bags of pine pellets.  Don't waste your money on them. Premium hardwood is the way to go.

 

I use a  small fan mounted in the corner of a hallway to push the heat to the back bedrooms. The living room with the stove stays about 70 and the back bedrooms are 65.  We keep the propane furnace set at 67 so when the stove is shut down the house is still comfortable.

Edited November 23, 2013 by Fun Engineer

[roscoemi 245]

Hey Dave, we're doin great! I do have to tell you that the Ranger will get a makeover this spring. I was going to leave it as is, but Chop loves it and will probably keep it for his kids.

No plowing for us yet. The deal I got was from a furniture manufacturer right by you, can't remember the name. They grind their scrap and drops them make pellets out of it. They also drop tote's off at wood shops all over northern Michigan to collect their scrap for free and turn it into pellets. These provided almost no heat. The worst ones are the guys who add molasis to the mix to speed up the process, these smoke like your burning tires and gunk up the stove.

 Mine stays on 24/7 right now, we really don't have power problems here. I like the heat without the work or mess of wood, and I have 3 kids to bring in a bag from the shed as needed.   The cost over the heating season is cheaper than natural gas, way better than propane, and there is no drafts from a furnace running.

[Ed Kennell 41,788]

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1385154916.696446.jpg

Just wrestled this sucker down my chimney. I thought it was gonna be tough, but it went down fairly easy for being 26'. I predict a fire in the stove this weekend. I am excited!

What's the diameter of your liner?  Wonder how difficult that will be to clean ? I clean my masonry chimney every 6-8 weeks when burning the airtight stove. Usually get a coal bucket of creosote each time. Most of it coming from the 8" metal stove pipe between the stove and chimney.  I burn mostly locust with some red oak and cherry mixed in with the stove vents closed. When burning harder woods ie. hickory, I need to open the vents slightly to keep a good burn.  Any other wood burners have ideas on maintenance.   I have had a chimney fire, that's why I keep the pipe clean and vents closed to keep the flame out of the pipe .     Any other thoughts or ideas?     Be careful ...be safe 

[AMC RULES 37,196]

I thought I've read that pellet stoves had a battery back up option...

for the occasional power black out.   

[Theswampthing 8]

My liner is a 5.5" Dia because my tile flue had too many ugly mortar joints for a 6. It should be just as easy as a regular rigid liner of pipe.

I am not too sure about your problem, but I know you should not be getting that much creosote that often. Sounds like you're stove is having a hard time but ing that wood, too.

How long is your chimney and how dry is your wood?

[Ed Kennell 41,788]

I have ~10 cord of wood drying under roof, and I use ~3cord/year, so it has dried for 3-4 years.  I do burn with very little air, so that is probably why I get the creosote. I may try burning a little hotter with more air and see if that helps.   I have ~40" of 8" pipe into a 22'  X  7"X11"   flue lined brick chimney.     It draws like a forge if I open the stove vents.

[Ed Kennell 41,788]

I thought I've read that pellet stoves had a battery back up option...

for the occasional power black out.   

My neighbor has a corn stove. I'll have to ask him if he has Batt. B-up.

[rydogg 186]

I am trying out a pellet stove but I don't like it as much as I liked my woodstove I could heat my shop to 75 degrees in about half an hour with the woodstove but it took hours with the corn furnace and it's a 75,000 btu whole home heating model not the small single room type, it stands 4 feet tall by 3 feet deep, holds over 200 lbs of corn/pellets and has it's own furnace type blower fan.  Auger feed rate is from 2lbs per hours up to 9lbs and it can be fine tuned to do even more if needed.  I am running a mix of pellets and corn now to see if it will heat up quicker.  I am thinking it's time to warm up the chainsaws and get the splitter prepped for some work.

Well I tried this thing for a couple days adjusted it every way possible ran a few different pellets through it but still could not get the heat that I get from my woodstove so I sold it today and I am going back to the woodstove and a nice warm shop.

[timo4352 147]

I just came in from the cold and reloaded the coal stove. It sounds crazy but you can tell the difference when burning coal. It's such a nice even heat, and a load burns for up to 12 hours. I love it.

[Jim_M 179]

I have ~10 cord of wood drying under roof, and I use ~3cord/year, so it has dried for 3-4 years.  I do burn with very little air, so that is probably why I get the creosote. I may try burning a little hotter with more air and see if that helps.   I have ~40" of 8" pipe into a 22'  X  7"X11"   flue lined brick chimney.     It draws like a forge if I open the stove vents.

You need to open the draft controls and let it burn hot for up to 30 minutes every time you load up the stove, depending on how big you split your wood. You have to have to burn the moisture out of the wood and have some heat go up the chimney to keep the creosote from forming in the chimney. A good rule of thumb is, if it still looks like wood it's too soon to shut the air off.

 I heat my house with 2 wood burners, one on the south end of the house and one on the north end, I clean my chimneys once a year and don't get a 2 gallon bucket of creosote from both chimneys combined. I burn only hardwoods, mostly hickory and ash plus a little bit of maple and elm early in the season when it doesn't take much heat.

Edited November 26, 2013 by Jim_M

[Ed Kennell 41,788]

Thanks Jim,   I'll give that a try.  Ed

[rydogg 186]

 

I have ~10 cord of wood drying under roof, and I use ~3cord/year, so it has dried for 3-4 years.  I do burn with very little air, so that is probably why I get the creosote. I may try burning a little hotter with more air and see if that helps.   I have ~40" of 8" pipe into a 22'  X  7"X11"   flue lined brick chimney.     It draws like a forge if I open the stove vents.

You need to open the draft controls and let it burn hot for up to 30 minutes every time you load up the stove, depending on how big you split your wood. You have to have to burn the moisture out of the wood and have some heat go up the chimney to keep the creosote from forming in the chimney. A good rule of thumb is, if it still looks like wood it's too soon to shut the air off.

 I heat my house with 2 wood burners, one on the south end of the house and one on the north end, I clean my chimneys once a year and don't get a 2 gallon bucket of creosote from both chimneys combined. I burn only hardwoods, mostly hickory and ash plus a little bit of maple and elm early in the season when it doesn't take much heat.

 

Jim is exactly right....I use a flue temp gauge so when I start a fire I let it go into "overburn" which is anything over 600 degrees (according to my gauge) that will clear the chimney of any build up from my previous fire I then reduce my draft to bring my flue temp down to around 400 degrees that is where my wood stove heats the best if it's extremely cold outside I will keep it around 500 degrees.  My temp gauge is just a magnetic style so probably not extremely accurate but close enough.  I used to choke my stoves airflow when I was done in the shop but learned pretty quickly that I was just causing a huge buildup of creosote.  I'm putting the wood stove back into service today and can't wait to get a good burn going later.

[Ken B 3,189]

Has anyone tried the firewood blocks they sell that are supposed to burn hotter and last longer than wood? I'd be interested in them if they get me thru a real cold night without having to wake up at 4 in the morning to reload. I should have listened to that little voice in my head that kept telling me to buy the next size bigger stove. When I had the guy out to my house to give me recommendations and an estimate I asked him twice if I should go the next size bigger (because of that little voice) and he told me I'd be fine. The stove is doing fine but it could be a little better at night. I burn only hardwoods, mostly red oak and a little ash, its all been seasoned under cover for over a yr.

[Theswampthing 8]

Little break in fire today. Loving it.