We have a propane furnace, forced hot air, rated at 92.1% efficiency. The wife likes to run the pellet stove 24×7 to augment this, and says we are saving on propane by burning the wood pellets.
With hardwood pellets at $289/ton what cost for propane will break even?
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Replies
You are assuming that everybody knows what you paid for propane.
Ozlander
Does it really matter? The wife is always right.
Spoken like a married man!
Bare costs for the pellets is about $17.50 per million BTU.
Bare cost for propane, at $3.00 per gallon, is about $35.00 per million BTU.
Dang, the wife WAS right....
Those are interesting stats, but does it reflect the amount of wasted heat that goes up the chimney?Scott.
No, it is based only on the BTUs chemically available in the base fuel. No efficiencies for the devices/systems were used. But, the pellet stove should be at least as efficient at transferring the heat generated to the house, as the propane furnace.
I used 8300 BTU per pound for the hardwood pellets, and 93,000 BTU per gallon for propane.
Around this part of North Central Texas, one of the stove and pellet vendors has a "Program"... He sends his pellet stove cleaning crew out during the summer to do cleaning and maintenance and they bring a pallet load of pellets. It keeps his install crew busy and the bulk off-load of pellets are the best price all year.....
Just be sure you can find pellets in your area, buy early, and make sure you have a place for dry bulk storage that also keeps out the pests.
I have a Central HVAC system and have hot water with Propane: $2.60-$2.80 a gallon A few years ago, the vendor got a lot of flac when the shortage hit. He began selling only to the customers that bought stoves from him.. He's doing a bang up business these days, but that issue with pellet shortages made a difference when I bought a new fireplace insert for wood only....
Bill
Edited 1/3/2009 11:29 pm ET by BilljustBill
Another thing I noticed during recent ice storm and subsequent extended electrical outage in NH was that those who had recently installed pellet stoves were wishng that they had invested in electrical generators instead.
This is true, and I'm one of them. Actually, I was wishing that I had bought a gas heater instead of the pellet stove. The pellet stove dealer had told me that a marine battery powered inverter could be set up to run the stove for backup heat, but obviously the battery wouldn't last 7 days at 145 watts to run the auger and two fans in the stove.I like the pellet stove to augment the propane-powered main furnace, and apparently save some money, but without a generator (which I now have) it is NOT backup heat. For that you need a wood stove or gas heater.
Edited 1/5/2009 10:06 am ET by KentMich
Download the heatcalc.xls file here ..... http://www.wiseheat.com/news/New_Heating_Fuel_Price_Comparison_Calculator
Enter your local prices and appliance efficiency ratings.
(If you don't currently have anything loaded that will open .xls files......download and install Open Office. It's free/open source.)
Edited 1/4/2009 12:13 am ET by HootOwl
Now that it's passed Jan. 1, 2009, there is a Federal tax credit for purchases this year of wood stoves that are at least 75% efficient... most, if not all, that qualify are pellet stoves.
Here's a link by Company Name (Lopi is made by Travis Industries) that shows what the EPA's tests rate the manufactures stoves... Usually lower than what they say in the tag or brochure info....
http://www.epa.gov/Compliance/resources/publications/monitoring/caa/woodstoves/certifiedwood.pdf
Bill
I installed a new soapstone wood stove this summer mostly for aesthetics, but when my budget plan for propane doubled this year I started to use it to supplement the furnace. I can't really say how much it has helped, but so far this heating season I've only used 159 gallons of propane (Oct - Dec), and less than one face cord of wood at $75. I wasn't planning on using it for heat so I ran out of seasoned wood and will have to buy it this winter.I'm not sure that wood vs. pellets is a valid comparison, but so far I'm thinking it is cheaper.