Cost of burning wood vs wood pellets?

[logbutcher]

I hear this a lot. The market value of the wood is one thing, what you pay for it is another. I don't think my spare time is that valuable. What else am I going to be doing? Certainly not working at the regular 9-5 job. I'm going to have a chainsaw anyways so the only real costs are the fuel used to saw and haul. I am also saving money by not having to buy a gym membership and spend fuel driving to the gym. The exercise helps keep me healthy and saves medical bills.

It is pretty lame but I have heard of city people that buy all of their wood c/s/d. That's just silly.

Be careful with those fuel cost calculators. They assume an efficiency for wood or pellets that is often biased. They also don't take into account duct losses from a furnace that can suck up an easy 15% of the delivered heat.

NO, not silly. It's a choice. It creates jobs for full-time firewood sellers, part-time sellers, arborists, loggers,...even your dreaded "homeowners" selling firewood P.T.
Cities don't give permits to cut park wood.:msp_w00t:

 

[KiwiBro]

Here's a curve ball.

Whilst probably not legal in many places, does anyone use a rocket mass heater? The references in this thread to efficiencies prompted me to ask the question.

Rocket mass heater - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[dancan]

Whilst probably not legal in many places, does anyone use a rocket mass heater? The references in this thread to efficiencies prompted me to ask the question.

Rocket mass heater - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I'd love to have one but it would probably only be in a camp .
A masonry stove or heater (http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/M/AE_masonry_stove.html) would be suited to traditional homes .

 

[Locust Cutter]

Well,
my 2700sqft 2-story farm house (now half insulated to current standard and half insulated to 1880's standard) is primarily heated courtesy of Propane central air. I bought and installed a Pacific Energy T-6 2 months after moving in. The lack of insulation (recently half fixed) coupled with the intermittent bitter cold of last winter, cost me about $750/mo (while burning seasoned OAK, Locust and Hedge). I am about to pick up a pellet stove to augment my wood stove and hopefully significantly cut back on my propane consumption. There are many reasons for this including: It's more cost effective currently (for the $$$ I currently have available) to pick up a used stove (almost new Harmon, used 1 season, from my wife's boss w/flue and all for a song) than it would be for me to buy 2 good windows, OR one good door, or re-do ONE room's insulation. Until I can insulate/tyvek/etc the other half of the house, replace that windows and doors, and replace my HVAC setup, nothing will provide as much immediate relief from propane bills as the stove will. That, and it provides automated operation for when nobody is at home, (or is asleep) w/o the need to continually stoke/feed 2 fireboxes. I agree w/046 that if you're able and have the means, there's no better deal going than scrounging wood, (or thinning operations for rancher/farmer friends)... BUT, the reality is, I need the flexibility of all 3 heating setups, between my remote locale, working wife, 2 kids under 3 and Full-time A.F. employment status, (that pesky Gov't, LMAO). my $0.02

 

[Highbeam]

In the abscence of NG, and if you need a heat supply for extended periods of abscence from the home then a pellet stove can indeed provide what you need at a price cheaper than propane.

First, I would consider a heat pump added to your propane furnace. Even in cold climates the modern heat pumps can provide enough heat that the propane shouldn't need to run very much at all. In the less frigid parts of the year, the heat pump can completely eliminate propane usage. You need electric anyway to run a pellet stove.

If somebody gave me a free pellet stove then I would install it. Pellets here are under 200$ per ton and I admit that I would appreciate the thermostatic control for those times when I'm away from the home on a trip. You can still run your woodstove as much as possible but if the house ever dips below 60 or so then the pellet stove could kick in.

Efficiencies in those fuel cost calculators are often biased. The pellet fuel institute offers a calculator such as this that give pellet stoves high efficiency and wood stoves low efficiency. You hear of wood stove manufacturers claiming efficiency in the 90s. That's great and far from the default 70% that some calculators give.

Duct loss is real and in most parts of the country ducts are not run inside the insulated space. That would take up valuable living space. Duct losses really only apply when comparing a central furnace to a space heater such as a pellet or wood stove.

The really cool thing about pellet stoves is that you can run them stealthily during a burn ban. No smoke for the fire police to see and send you a 1000 dollar ticket. We get those burn bans every so often in the NW.

 

[Marine5068]

Pellet Stoves are a Good Thing:

I've used both for over ten years now to heat our single story 1200 sq./ft. open concept chalet style home.
We have a large wood stove in the basement that is centrally located and will heat the house on milder cold weather days. We also use a medium sized wood pellet stove on the main floor to heat that space.
I am lucky to have an open concept home(living-dining-kitchen great room) which really helps evenly distribute heat around when heating with a wood stove or wood pellet stove.
We used about 75 -100 bags a heating season and it costs us around $4-$5 a bag. So we usually spend about $500 a year on heating by pellet stove.(as opposed to $3000/year for Gas, Oil or Electricity)
I do agree that the stoves are initially more expensive than wood stoves(ours was $2000 installed), but our payback period was about 1.5 years over that of heating by oil, natural gas, propane or electricity.
Yes they can be a bit noisy but ease of use, clean-up, efficiency and cost per/BTU is a fair trade off.
So all in all, a great way to save tones of money and help out environment at the same time.
Like said, only cons are that the bags are heavy and need dry storage space.(also need electricity for blower and starter)
~Stan

 

[indiansprings]

I sell firewood for a living and heat with a pellet stove. The house I built has 5200 sq ft of living space, but the house has 9" outside walls, 2x6's full of cellulose insulation, 1" foam board insulation and then brick, I put 30" of cellulose insulation in the attic. In the great room 38' x 40' I have a pellet stove, I also have two propane furnaces. I heat the house with 3 tons of pellets and one 500 gal tank of propane a year, the propane also is used to cook with year round. Wood pellets cost me 170.00 a ton at the local feed store or 4.25 a bag. It takes about a bag a day to heat. The main reason we use the pellets is the ease of filling the stove for the wife plus it is set up on a thermostat. There is no mess on the carpet from tracking in and out with wood. With that said I personally prefer wood heat from a wood stove, grew up with it and it makes my old bones feel better. If I can ever talk her into it I would love to add a high efficency wood stove to the house, I could burn all the odds and ends we accumulate that no customer would want.
Pellet stoves have their place though, mine is made by the Lennox company and is quiet compared to what some have mentioned on here. As a wood seller I would rather have a he wood stove than a OWB, the owb just burn a lot of wood, some more than others. The Central Broilers and Wood Master seem like they are quite a bit more efficient than the guys with using Hardys or Wood Doctors, I know there are a ton of varibles, sq. footage, insulation etc, but the Hardy's small water jacket just hampers it's performance imho.

 

[cheeves]

Best heat

You can always go scrounge wood for free, and burn it in a regular stove. You don't have to buy it, not if you hustle. A pellet stove and pellets keeps you locked into "the man", you lose flexibility. It's no different from just burning natural gas or propane then, so why bother with it. (yes, I noted you would retain your regular heater...just sayin..)

I like wood because it helps me get independent, same as having a big garden does. I can "get by" with much less FRNs and I am not tied so much to absolutely having a big income in a collapsing economy. The whole shebang could fall apart tomorrow and my life wouldn't change all that much.....

This is called "future proofing".. real tangible practical "insurance" for life's necessities and some of the good things to have, like food water, etc....just like I invested in a small solar array years ago. It won't do a lot, but it can do "enough" to keep me in lights at night, run a laptop, charge batteries, etc even if the grid went down hard or if I couldn't pay utilities or any other problem like that. And I only have in it what some might "invest" in like a big screen TV home theater system, or a high end "gaming" computer, etc.

So, my vote is no pellet stove. You lose too much freedom and potential cheaper cost of heating for a little more "convenience" now..plus..don't you like to cut wood? I really slap flatout enjoy cutting/splitting. Ya, it's work, who cares, every thing I do is work, that's life.

Zogger, I'm with you!! I too very much "just flat out love cutting/splitting wood." I've been doing it so long it's apart of me.

My father told me after the oil embargo of the early 70's, "Robert you better learn how to heat your ass with wood because with the price of oil, and it will never go down again, you'll never be able to afford it." He was right. He went out and bought a fancy pellet stove cuz his friend got one. He's not using it anymore! He's got me! BURN WOOD!!! Best heat going.

 

[stacyjohnna]

Wood stoves radiate fire flashes, which may prompt consumers, and these units could collect creosote stores bringing about hazardous house fires not far off.

Pellet stoves consume cleaner and more secure, without the danger of hurting you or your home. The contained flares shield your family protected from flying ashes and starts, anyway, the pellet stove will end up hot to the touch.
Information Source :
https://www.highschimney.com/wood-stoves-vs-pellet-stoves
https://www.bestreviewslist.com/best-pellet-stoves