Pellet stove

[woolybanana]

Whilst it appears to have good central heating from gas, I feel inclined to put in a pellet stove into my nearly-new house. And there appears to be a healthy tax rebate on the stoves at the moment which is a help.

Can anyone please give me their experience of these stoves, cost of running, efficiency, cost of stoves, good and bad makes etc, please?

[nomoss]

We have had our Canadian made Kozi pellet stove since October 2008 and it continues to provide reliable heating each year.

The habitable area of the house is 120 m2, the stove is roughly in the centre, and is the only heating used once the temperature drops too low for the air to air aircon units to operate efficiently (below about 8º).

The thermostat is in the same room as the stove, on the far wall, and is set on 20º except for about about 4 hours at night when we are mainly sitting in this room, when we put it up to 22º. With the doors open to two bedrooms and the dining room which leads to the kitchen, temperature in these is 18º. The third bedroom and the office beyond get down to 16º, but these are not used much, and have small electric heaters in case these are necessary.

The pellet consumption was reduced more than I expected last year by changing the thermostat function from on/standby to on/off, as the low fire during standby operation causes the temperature to rise above the set point after the thermostat goes to "off" in mild weather, using more fuel than necessary. The only drawback to this is that the ignition heater life will be reduced, but I have a spare, which I found fairly easily on line.

The house is very well insulated, and, with outside temperatures down to 1º on some nights so far, we have used only five (15kg) sacks of pellets since switching it on early this month. Pellets this year cost 4.82€ a sack, delivered. The difference in the amount saved by collccting a ton of these myself with van and trailer, compared with the cost of petrol used to do this was marginal.

The only complaint I have is that the pellets are becoming increasingly heavier each year, so we now use a small 2 wheel trolley to bring them from the far end of the house.

The stove cost £1,399 plus £199 for delivery from Ireland, which I believe the seller arranged via Loadup or Shipley. The original chimney is double wall stainless steel, installed inside an existing brick chimney, and cost almost as much as the stove. I made the mistake of buying it from a "specialist" in Narbonne, who was quite expensive. He evidently didn't like my installing it rather than paying him to do so, but at least sold me the material, which other suppliers refused to do.

Maintenance consists of cleaning the chimney, cleaning the interior fire passages and blower fans, and lubrication motor bearings etc., all detailed in the instruction manual.

I reinstalled this stove in the new house, but as we continued to live in the old house for another year, I replaced it with a Ravelli Mavi stove. We drove just over the border to an agent near Imperia, Italy to collect it, and  saved enough compared with the French price to more than pay for the trip plus a short stay in San Remo.

This was installed with a single wall enamelled steel chimney, also purchased in Italy, and which is of considerably better quality than what I found in France, as well as considerably cheaper.

[woolybanana]

Thank you, nomoss, very comprehensive and interesting reply. I shall read, mark, learn and inwardly digest!

[NormanH]

I can't compete with nomoss's reply but when I looked into this option I was warned that there can be a considerable consumption of electricity to add on to the bill.

Others may know better but it's worth asking about.

[mint]

For goodness sake, Wools, just use the gas central heating that is already there.

Do you really need or want the boulot or hassle of installing things, cleaning chimneys, lugging bags of pellets, keeping everything dry, etc etc?

I shudder to think of exerting myself in such a fashion.  Lots more interesting thing to do, like finding out about your new location which I understand is full of historical interest.  Research and write a book instead.  Much more FUN than faffing about with stoves?

[nomoss]

[quote user="NormanH"]I can't compete with nomoss's reply but when I looked into this option I was warned that there can be a considerable consumption of electricity to add on to the bill.

Others may know better but it's worth asking about.

[/quote]

I suppose it depends on what you regard as considerable.

Electrical consumption of our stove is 300W when operating.

This is the power required for the two blower motors, not including the 500W or so required for about 5 minutes during each ignition cycle - maybe a total of one hour per average day..

That represents a cost of about 4 euro cents per hour, or 96 cents a day at average electricity prices, if the stove is on all day, plus another 7 cents a day for consumption during the ignition cycles.

So, in our climate, about a bag of pellets at 4€80 plus 1€30, that's 6€10 per day, so long as you can handle the annual maintenance plus a weekly ash removal and clean.

Even gas boilers need to have their flues cleaned and inspected [:D] And who has cheap town gas, rather than bottles or huge tanks in the garden filled with relatively expensive LPG?

[idun]

IF there is town gas central heating there already I'd stick with that and may be have a little wood burner for atmosphere, and a possible back up.

I stopped using my wood burner when we got gas from Gaz de France in our home and it was cheaper to run that burning wood and once I have played with the radiators and the timer etc etc, (that took a year or two) it was smashing!