Pellet stove questions

Have you considered coal? Same amount of work, considerably more heat.

I forgot to say to be sure & check out the warranty & also who will service your stove if & when it needs service, The amount of cleaning it needs, how often & the efficiency of the particular stove.

When we were looking the 3 main brands we looked at were Bixby, Harmon & Quadra Fire before we finally decided on going with our Quadra fire stove.

I'll just confirm what others have said. Yes it will heat your home very easily, buy a well established name brand, and try and buy a multi fuel stove. Like someone else mentioned, if all of a sudden the price pellets goes to $10 a bag, it won't be cheap heat, but if oats are $5 a bag then you have another choice, and choice is good. I have a Bixby, I've had it about 5 years, this year I needed to replace a motor, and some bearings, but I did the work myself with help from this site and the great people on it.
www.iburncorn.com or www.iburnpellets.com
There is a forum for most makes of stove on each site, so some research will help you out.

Carol K

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Midhill Dexters
http://www.midhilldexters.com/

We have a pellet stove now that requires electricity to run the fan. It's not a bad stove at all, but is simply not large enough for our house.

We plan on going to coal. It can be stored anywhere and is life stable. As you say, it gives out a LOT more heat. You can get ones with hoppers that require no electricity at all. Purchase price is often cheaper than a pellet stove, but you do need a good chimney.

I have a three seasons porch that my wife adopted as her office. It has three sides of all windows. Come winter in Iowa it gets cold and that porch is all windows and north facing. After a winter of hearing the complaints over her conquest is COLD, I put in a corn/pellet stove. The next winter we had ice storms, -30 - 40 nights...that room was 84 and toasty.
So, I put a fan in the doorway and moved that heat to other rooms. It doesn't heat the whole house - but, a little thinking and I licked the problem. I put a larger then normal 'return' air vent in the middle of that room. Just turning on the FAN and circulating that air heated the home nicely. I did block the other return vent to enable a larger draw. In 2 years I had a $900 credit on my propane bill!

Go to Hearth.com

More than you could ever think of asking about

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Remember the good times, for they are fewer in number and easier to recall.

Hi Kirk. We are planning on a multi-fuel furnace (because we need to heat the basement, too!)

There is site that has washed and dried cherry pit at $210/ton in St Johns (a ways for you but maybe there is a supplier closer to you)

http://www.micherrypits.com/

We want multi so we can burn whatever is least expensive, and we do have a 'power-outage' back-up.

I am just west of Alma, a couple miles south of 46.

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Roger

With a coal stove though I didn't think there was a way to regulate the heat like a pellet stove? If it's hot it's just hot, am I wrong?

Also if you buy your pellets at the end of summer or early fall & get what you need for the winter most places sell you a ton for a good price. We bought ours for $160.00 a ton this past September.

[QUOTE=Backfourty,MI.;4840260]With a coal stove though I didn't think there was a way to regulate the heat like a pellet stove? If it's hot it's just hot, am I wrong?

Many coal appliances have bi-metallic thermostats that do a superb job of keeping the area within a 1 or 2 degree temperature range without electricity. Others have wall mount thermostats just like any other heat source. Also, there are several appliances that use power vents just like pellet stoves, no chimney needed. These do however rely on electricity just like pellet stoves.

Kirk, here are a couple places to check into

http://www.h2oasisinc.com/

http://www.cornburns.com/

The top one has store in Rockford and Gaylord

the second is in Farwell.

I have heard good stuff about both.

I am getting my from a local dealer. He is a bit more expensive (about $250) than Farm and Home, but his price includes installation and ductwork.

Saves me a headache

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Roger

I've heard bottom-fed pellet stoves are better. That is the pellets come in from the bottom rather than from the top. Supposedly the top-fed ones tend to partially snuff the flame as they drop in. Not an expert, but it might be something to consider.