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Wood Pellet Pricing
Generally speaking, if you compare apples to apples, the pellet stove and the wood stove there really isn't much difference.
Taking for example Joel's situation, if you reduce the $190/ton for pellets by the factor of 73.5% that is the additional BTU's you get rather than the White Oak firewood the pellets now have an effective cost of about $140/ton.
If you compare and factor in efficiencies of the wood burning units themselves now, it changes things again, a 'typical' wood stove is about 63% efficient, and a 'typical' pellet stove is about 78% efficient.
So you gain about 15% more BTU's in the house from the same amount of BTU's going into the burner unit. So the $140 of pellets is now reduced by another 15% to about $120.
Now that we're comparing apples and apples, the 'handy factor' enters into it as well. With a pellet stove loading ranges between once every 24 hours on low, to once every 6 to 8 hours on high.
All in all, even without the convenience, it sure looks like pellets at $120 and firewood at "somewhere around 100 dollars per cord" are pretty close. If you add up the costs of the backup system coming on when the wood stove isn't making enough heat, overnight or during a short absence, I'm sure they're pretty much even.
Best of luck.
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Wood Pellet Pricing
I think Dennis that's the difference between heating for effect or utility.
I know of several people who have pellet stoves that are purely there for utility, i.e. cheap heat for the house.
One I know of in particular has both, a pellet stove in the main part of the house which provides the bulk of the homes heating, and an air tight insert in the family room for appearance and ambiance where they spend most of their time.
Wood / oil combinations are making a come-back, years ago they were very common around here, in fact I still have one in my shop at the house, the wood burner provides the main source of heat and when the output from the heat exchanger doesn't cut it, the oil burner kicks in. I can keep the main room of my shop (40' x 50' with 16' ceilings) at 60°+ regardless of outside temperatures or wind with not much more than an armful of wood.
Best of luck.
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Wood Pellet Pricing
Glad to be of help Joel.
If I may offer a further suggestion, if you presently have a forced air heating system, several manufacturers also offer add-on furnace style pellet burning units.
Basically it is a second smaller (because it has no blower) furnace that feeds heat into your exist air plenum and the blower you already own circulates the air.
One of the big advantages of these units is the over-sized fuel hoppers and the price. They feature a hopper big enough to burn a week (or more) unattended and if they go out for some reason your existing burner takes over.
They are a much better value IMHO because you're paying for capacity and function, not beauty and form.
A neighbour of mine has one of these and installed a simple ABS pipe through the foundation wall between his furnace room in the basement and his garage. The pellets get poured down it right out of the back of his pickup and go directly into the fuel hopper of his furnace.
BTW, most dealers will both store all the pellets you pre-purchase for free, and will also give you a discount if you sign a contract at the beginning of the year and commit to purchase a minimum amount of pellet that year.
At least that's how it works around here.
Best of luck.
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