Pellet heads!! What's up today?

B
Glad you got it sorted out.....
Replacing stoves gets $$$$$$$$ and a lot of work.
Good thing to sort out issues before the nasty weather sets in.....
Our humidity in the summer here is low enough that we don't cap the vents and such and issues are rare after the summer hiatus...
Last spring I did not even clean the stoves.....Just shut them off.....The recent startup on the stoves was a normal "Add pellets to lite" TORCH in the pot for 30 seconds and shut the door and turn on the fuel feed.

Have a great early fire season....

 

It's heating season where is everyone at, hope all are safe and healthy. I got my stash, stove and vent is cleaned and new door gaskets. Still running on baseboard heat for now with the cool nights and mornings.

 

It's getting close to where I'll need my thimble. Is Selkirk and duravent that same brand or type of pipe?

I found this online at Walmart of all places. Looks like it's on sale. I'll probably get this one.

 

They are different companies, but for the thimble, I would think that they should be interchangeable.

 

Got down to 40• overnight down here in the Piedmont of NC. The heat is ON.

 

Finally we got the shells unloaded on Tuesday and yesterday we scurried back to the plant and grabbed another load.
Weather was great too....So load two is sitting in the barn ready to unload.

We are a few barrels shy of enough to unload so the load can just sit in the barn for now....

Today we will probably run Munchy and fill up the barrels in the basement again.

We have used about 1-1/2 barrels from the stuff we did earlier this month.

Weather has not been cold....Cool nights and upper 40's to low 50's and close to 60 F during the day.....

The stoves were off yesterday for a while....Today looks like a sunny day....We shall see if we can shut down.....

I need to service the little stove anyway.....Good time to shut down and while the stove cools off we can run munchy

 

Dry weather today....Mostly cloudy though.
We ran 2 barrels through Munchy ...Just got the tools put away a bit ago.....
So we need one more empty barrel and we can unload the dumpster.....

The 4 barrels in the basement are full to the brim now....
If the weather stays moderate and we can get by with mostly one stove we can get 20 days or more out of the two barrels.....BUTTTTTTTTTTTTTT...If we get into needing both nut burners on line 24/7 we will scarf up a barrel in 3 days or so....

Weather forecast is for moderate temps though mid November.....

 

Hello all, I have returned, or something. Lots of good and tons of bad since last posting. But focusing on the good. Just purchased a home in the lakes region of NH.(Doing the single floor downsizing) Very excited. So, with that said we have decided to purchase a harman insert p42. All the reviews and feedback I have seen, it appears that this is the right choice, and with the 30% tax credit, who can go wrong. Any insights on this stove for the experts here? I still live in CT and have the St Croix which I need to clean soon and fire up. (She is over 20 years old now and will stay with the home once we decide to sell). A lot of negotiating with wife to go North as I am not a fan of the heat.

 

Good to see you back. Hopefully not too bad has happened, but I can identify.

No experience with any Harman inserts but my P68 is all original and just maintenance for it. Keep it clean and it should be happy!

Ive scaled WAY back on pellet heat since the rise in pricing on the fuel. Using oil and mini split far more these days. Heck, the mini split is like having a pellet heater upstairs now-well we will see how that turns out in colder months though.

 

Welcome to NH! The Lakes Region is beautiful, and the autumn leaf changes are stunning.

I have a free standing P43 as my main floor stove and a P61a as my basement stove (way oversized for that space since I insulated and opened up the area). I don't have any experience with inserts, in fact I thought you made a typo until I looked it up - LOL.

Are you adding on the wireless room insert? I'll bet that would be great. I run both my stoves off of thermostats that are in different rooms than the stoves. The P43's stat is in my office so I turn it up a degree when I'm in there (all day since I WFH) to keep it comfortable, then turn it back down 1* when shut down everything and am in different parts of the house.

Looks like that stove has a nice big hopper at around 60#. I'd guess in actuality that you will get 5-7 pounds less in there, unless the pellets you use are reallly small and they can settle/pack in there.

Don't remember which St Croix you have, but the Harmans are much easier to clean than my Hastings was.

 

Did you get a hyper heat unit they work as decent heaters until it is well under zero. The rest are fine for warmer climates but really fall short during the cold days in NH.

 

Thanks much! Yeah lost both parents unexpectedly in 2024 and in the middle one of my longest and best friends suffered a fatal heart attack at 56 years old. So, we had been planning on moving north. My dad always wanted to live on or near the Lake, but I could not leave him as I live(d) closer to him and need to help out. We bought a home that was a total reno, new upscaled everything just completed. We have propane, but the home is wide open and the stove will heat up the main floor no issues, I would have done splits but did not have a choice as the builder had already put in a new furnace and Central air unit. Wife is excited to get the stove (as I am except for the cost!) and we get the 30% tax credit which helps a little!

 

Hi-Yes I have the Hastings, still living in CT and will sell maybe next year. We are working with a stove company in Laconia as we speak. If it was oil heat I would have held off, but propane is a bit pricier. We are both retired (well I have been, wife is thinking that she will be done once we plant roots up there) and barely run the stove here, and do not expect to run it a lot, just to take the chill out of the air as we like to be cooler.

 

Yup. It's rated for 13 below. This is the first year Ive used it for some 2ndary heat. So far so good but still shoulder season.

Its a Samsung system. Not one of my first two choices but it's what I could get when I needed it in 2022.

Keeping my fingers crossed on longevity of the units but it has a 10 or 12 year warranty. I was told by a HVAC tech from another company that they are all good (he has Mitsubishi and his son has a Samsung system). Says its the install that matters.

 

Propane is pricey up here. That is why I got my first pellet stove - couldn't afford a house payment every 3-4 weeks for the propane. stove and pellets paid for themselves very quickly. That was winter of 2013/2014 when propane prices were insane and I was paying $5.50 a gallon even using a good amount of the stuff (I had a 500 gallon tak at the time). Since then I've downsized to two 100/gal tanks and pay about $4.30/gal - but, I only use about 120 gallons every 16-18 months or so for my hot water.

My condolences for the loss of your parents and best friend. That makes for a very hard year and must have been extremely difficult to get thru.

 

We finally ran a couple more barrels of shells through Munchy Saturday.
So we have enough empties to be able to unload the dumpster.

Yesterday was stove cleaning day.
Got that all done.
Weather was decent..
In no big hurry to empty the dumpster.

We have been running the Big Whitfield these past few days.
The nights have been chilly and the little Whitfield can't heat the entire house when the temps get below about 45 F
Even on sunny days the sun angle is getting low enough that the house does not get much direct heating from O'l Sol......Yesterday was 56 F but the big stove on low setting was just right to keep the shack comfy

 

Thank you for your service, to all the veterans on the site. You are what make this country great, and free.

 

Thank you Dad and you were right too many wars:

 

SN*W