3rd year burnign pellets in our home - old house we purchased 2 years ago means lots fixing up to do. One of the first was replacing the old wood/coal stove with a pellet. One of the best decisions we've made, especially after the past two winters here in CT. I found this forum sometime last year and had been on another popular forum before that...just wanted to say Hi and it's nice to see everyone again I took a bit of a break from posting but I've been reading a bit here and there. It's always nice to see some familiar names (you may not know me, but many of you have been so helpful when figuring out pellets, stove issues, making decisions, etc). Anyway, now, I'm back and starting the pellet hunt (way too late this year but dog and house repairs kept me from obsessing the way I wanted to). We have 1/2 ton left from last year - looking for another 6 tons, although, I'm not sure we will need that much since everyone saying oil might be cheaper than pellets this year. I'll have to look into it a bit more - we only use oil for heat so we haven't filled since last April and I haven't been tracking the prices. I like figuring this stuff out - drives my husband crazy but if I can get a good deal and watch the energy cost drop, I'm a seriously happy lady Last year, we added insulation and air sealed everything. This summer, we started to add soffit vents in hopes to avoid the dreaded ice dam from hell. We still have to finish it...I've been avoiding it b/c I wasnt' ready for fall. After this morning, I'm all in. It was chilly and I needed a sweatshirt. Next up, we buy pellets and an ash vac Anyway, just saying hi Jen in CT
Hi Jen Welcome back! Good to see you again! Don't think you missed much as far as pellet price savings. We are all hoping for a crash as many are skipping pellets or doing the dual pellet oil thin. Seems to be a horde of them out there. I'd check out one of those calculators to see which is the better deal for you. Get the price for each and them do a little comparing. Oil near me is $1.92.gall and pellets are $280ish. Should be close to what they are near you. One of the other threads has a couple a calculators you might be able to use? pellet vs LP vs cord wood: price of heat calculation | Firewood Hoarders Club
Save yourself some aggravation and buy a 5 gal shop vac and dedicate to the stove instead of an ash vac. The shop vac has more suction. Put drywall or fine particle bags in it and your all set. Just don't vacuum any hot coals., but then again, most ash vacs can't either.
It's good to hear I didn't miss much in the "off season" - I definitely feel behind the 8-ball in getting ready for the winter. So much to do and oh-so-little time. It seems like I was hauled pellets just a few weeks ago, but I haven't done that since May I think you are right on the price - we live fairly close, if I remember correctly. Not neighbors, but in the grand scheme of the internet, we might as well be. I'll dig out a calculator. The husband is working late tonight - so I'll be spending my evening online reaching pellets and all that goes with winter heat (when did I get so OLD? My Saturday nights never used to be like this!)
Thanks for the suggestion! I think I will do exactly that! I have a small (2.5 gallon, I think) one now, that my inlaws gave us. It's just ok, but maybe I will use that and buy a bigger one for around the house. Didn't realize I could do that...but it makes sense. I just heard all the rumblings about an ash vac, I just assumed that is what I needed
Thanks! After the first winter where we were able to see our breath while sitting in the TV room, we had made some huge improvements Added exterior wall insulation (older part of the house had NO insulation at all), air sealed the house, lots of more insulation in the attic areas. We had a huge ice dam issue both winters we were here - so we started to install soffit vents...almost done with that. Just have to find the time to get back up on the roof. We have a lot to install but I really hope that will help with our issue. Doesn't feel like we have done a lot until I sit and think about it -- I never ever want to go back to the first winter we were here...we were so cold!! On top of all the work we did, the new harman has been a life saver!! So toasty in there now!!
newbinct, here's one from the Pellet Fuel Institute......bookmark for future reference: Compare Fuel Costs
I have a baby shop vac that I used the first year to clean the P61A. Got a Power Smith ash vac last fall when I installed a second stove, and it doesn't seem to have as much suction, but it does well enough. My baby shop vac is my only shop vac and I use it for sucking up all the drywall detritus from my constant demolition so I needed something dedicated to the stoves. I also don't have room for a large shop vac, so a Power Smith is perfect for me. Oh, and I use the leaf blower trick for my heavier duty cleaning anyway . . .
Hi Jen, we use the Shop-Vac 9035000 Ultra Web Cartridge Filter in our 5 gallon Shop Vac that cleans the pellet stove here, that cartridge has been a life-saver.. After the 1st bag I used broke and spending 2 days cleaning the resulting ash cloud from our living room.. It's available on Amazon, if you would like to read more about it.
Same one I have im my big shop vac....works great: http://www.amazon.com/Shop-Vac-9035...1&keywords=9035000+Ultra+Web+Cartridge+Filter
I use the drywall bags and as a safety I use the Hepa canister filter in my shop-vac. I've done it since the wood stove days on cold stoves. Bag catches all the ash and the canister(hepa) stays clean unless there's a bag failure. Hepa does a great job all by itself but cost a ton $$$. The bags are cheap enough and one usually goes the whole season. I treat the shop vac like the stove. Once the seasons over and I do the full clean. I also dump the bag, clean the vac and both are set to go once its time!!
