Pellet Stove opinions and ?'s

18 years ago

Hi Everyone, I have a Grizzly woodstove from the late 70's I belive..I love it but since we have installed new windows and updated our small 1100sqft. ranch style home it seems to be too much heat for us..ts a airtight stove and I mostly run it shut at all times other than 10-15 degrees and colder..Keeping it shut all the time creates alot of build up in the chimney pipes..Some of this is from the wood not being quite as dry as I like but its not really green either..

Anyway my inlaws had a pellet burner in a older trailer they had..They bought a new double wide and never put the pellet burner in..I have the chance to get this for free..I have a few ?'s about it though..

1)The venting system with the pellet burner is like a dryer vent system..I have no direct wall to the outside to do this..Also is there is a way to run it up out the existing chimney..I would like to try the pellet stove for a season to see how it goes. But I don't want to have to do alot of work to convert my chimney because if I don't like this pellet burner I want to put my old Grizzly back in..My existing chimney is about 6' of 8" black stove pipe in the living space that goes into about 9' of stainless triple wall chimney pipe..Its staight up from the wood burner..

The other thing is that this Pellet burner needs to have electric to operate..Is there a way to power this during a power outage through a 12v battery? Maybe I should look into a solar PV panel and a battery with inverter and never hook it to the grid..Not sure how much power the pellet burner would require..Its a mid to late 90's model is all I know about it.

Any way to tell how much pellets I would need? I burn about 5-6 face (4'high x 8' long cut about 15" long) cord of oak per season now..

Anyone in southern Michigan know where a good place to buy pellets is..I think my inlaws even burner cherry pits in it once..I belive they only used this 1 season..Not sure if it can burn corn ect. or not..

Any tip or advice about switching to the pellets..I like the idea of not having to climb up on the roof every 2 weeks to run a chimney brush through the pipes..Although that might not be so bad if I get better wood next time..

Thanks for any advice or tips..maybe I would be better off keeping the wood burner..

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Comment (1)

uncledave_ct
18 years ago
We've only had experience with a pellet stove for one season, but we have been satisfied with its performance. Our only complaint is that the auger & blower can be noisy.

We have ours vented through an existing 8" flue, with a collar to step it down to the proper size. If you can find the make & model, you might be able to locate a manual which would illustrate the acceptable installation options and required clearances. Typically, the clearances you maintain for your wood stove should work fine for a pellet stove. If you find the make & model, or a manual, you should be able to find out whether or not you can burn alternative fuels such as corn.

We didn't use a backup for ours, but I've known people to use an inverter with a deep cycle marine battery. I might try that next season.

As far as pellet supply, most anywhere that sells pellet stoves can supply pellets, some local agricultural/feed stores carry them, but check the quality. We burned 1 ton last season, but it was not our primary source; we were told we should use around 3 to 3-1/2 tons for our 1600 sf house. At the beginning of last season I saw pellets going for around $230/ton; the price keeps going up along with every other fuel source, so if you have a generous supply of hardwood to cut & burn, I'd stick with the wood.
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