Would be nice if someone can do the math and figure out the Break Even point of pellets versus oil, gas, and Propane.
One barrel of crude oil is 42 gallons, 100/42 is about 2.4 barrels. Depending on quality & refining of the oil as well as the heat output per unit of pellets all the comparison numbers can shift up or down some. KaptJaq
You can plug in your numbers here: Compare Fuel Costs It is from the pellet institute so it might be slightly biased. There are others if you search google for: fuel oil gas pellets coal wood breakeven cost calculator KaptJaq
I wonder where they sell them? No one talks about them on this site and I don't see them for sale anywhere around me. I know talk in the past has been that Corinth exports most of their product. Maybe that's true.
I use a slightly different method here in a spreadsheet for Heating Oil calculations - but it's close to the PFI calculator: 1 US gallon of Heating Oil / #2 Fuel oil = 137,381 Btu energy * Source: Energy conversion calculators - U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 1 US pound of Wood pellets (Satisfaction/LG brand here) = 8,400 Btu energy *Source: pellet bag labeling. 137,381 (Btu oil) / 8,400 (Btu lb) = 16.35 lbs. pellets is equal to (1) US gallon of Heating Oil burned 40 lb bag / 16.35 lbs. pellets = 2.45 gals US Heating Oil is equivalent to (1) bag Pellets @ 8,400 Btu/lb Cost: -- $5.90 bag pellets / 2.45 gals equivalent Heating Oil = $2.41 / US gallon of Heating Oil is the (breakeven) cost here to (1) bag of Pellets @ $5.90/bag, 8,400 Btu/lb. * All calculations rounded to (hundredths).
The only other factor to consider is the efficiency of the heating units(stove, boiler, furnace). How many of those BTUs actually heat the house and how many are lost due to stove inefficiencies or out the flue... KaptJaq
I can only say this, most quality pellets in Ct are $300 a ton. I've burned less than one ton of pellets this year, October through current. Only on a few cold days, or in evening when watching movies in my cave. Gas Bill's this winter, heat and hot water, November $127, December $154, January $155. My average summer gas bill is $60, so deduct that to figure heat cost only. There is no way pellets can compete with gas right now.
That's true. I could factor it in ( FHA furnace @ 80%, Pellet Stove @ 86% ), but then all that (lost heat) would just be too depressing to think about, LOL. The calc's primary use is to determine the (fixed purchase) cost of fuel, for budgeting / "what if" analysis: e.g.: $5.90 / bag pellets = $ 2.41 / gal fuel, $6.50 / bag pellets = $ 2.65 /gal fuel, etc. so I know if pellets vs. fuel is the better choice here. As off-road Diesel is $2.70/gal, and #2 fuel oil is $2.86/gal (delivered) in our area currently, pellets are the "better deal" currently @ $5.90 / bag. ... If the price went up on pellets, to $6.50, or $7.00 per bag ... then it would be closer to "break-even", per above. With Elizabeth (wife, aka: The Boss) recovering from knee surgery this winter, we have been using more fuel oil vs. wood pellets - between her Dr. appts, PT, her mobility, etc. it's just made more sense to do so: we don't leave the stove running, when no one is home. We still burn pellets on a regular basis: just not the "24 x 7" regime as we have, in years past. If the weather keeps tracking the way it has been (warmer, vs. past few winters), we'll end at approx. 600 gals. fuel oil, and 2 tons pellets burned this season.
I'm glad that some places gas is cheaper. That is NOT the case where I live. Each November, the price of the gas, is almost doubled. Yeah.. November... when you start using a bunch. I do NOT care what the price is of the gas. I figure what it cost INCLUDING all of the charges. In other words, what I write the check for. That gives me how much it really is per THERM. Plugging that number in to that calculator gives me the true comparison. ..................................Cost per million/btu.....Cost for 40,000,000 btu North Country pellets $249.. $19.47.....................$778 Oil $2.59/gal..........................$24.06....................$926 Natural gas $1.98/therm.. .... $24.77.....................$990 Electric $.19 KWH.................$55.00.....................$Ridiculous Dan
I agree, the delivery portion of the bill is ridiculous. On the above Bill's, I'm giving the whole monthly bill. To break it down though,this month, Supply charge was 63.90, and delivery was 91.49. But still, there is now way I can heat my house using 1 bag of pellets, per day, which would still be $180 for month.
Looky what I just uncovered as Ive been burning the old stock this year. These must be 6-8 years old as I burned the for one season from Great Works in Berwick. They havnt been around for a long time.
Propane was derived last Sunday (yes, Sunday - don't know why). I'm on auto and they come out twice per year. Propane is used for hot water, cook stove (which I never use) and boiler. The boiler is only used as back up and the pilot light was off until Mid December. My propane usage was 68.5 gallons since the last delivery in October. The cost per gallon was 3.7190 . Last time I heated my home strictly with propane I was using 250+ gallons per month. That was during the winter of 2013/2014 and propane prices hit over $5.50/gallon so my bills were $1k per month to keep my main floor at 64*. Sure, I've made improvements so that number would go down, but I can't imagine I could use any less than 100 gallons a month if I heated with propane, which would be $371 each month. And that would only be heating my main floor. I can heat for a month with pellets for about $250-$275 (it's really less since I usually have coupons when I buy tonnage). According to my records, I use an average of 1 bag a day and have never used more than 60 bags in a month (shockingly enough since there are days I use 3 bags). Add in the electricity, and during the worst months that adds about $45/month. So let's call it a total bill of $300-$325 per month to heat the house to 69*. Oh yea, that is heating the basement too.