pellet stove?

[treeman82]

One of my neighbors was telling me the other day about how he's looking into installing a pellet stove for his home. It's a European company that builds and sells the units. Said it should cost about $15,000 or so, and will heat a house up to 2,800 sq ft.

I understand the concept of this thing for the most part... it heats the house just like a wood stove would, and it heats the water too. Basically like an outdoor wood boiler or whatever they are called. He said though that this thing will also supply electricity. Has anybody ever heard of this???

 

[ktm rider]

Are you sure he isn't installing a nuclear reactor??? Never heard of any pellet stove providing electricity. But for $15,000 it dam well better do the laundry also.. I think me may be jerking your chain. But, if he isn't PLEASE ask him for a link.

 

[Husky137]

Sounds unlikely. he may just be an idiot. I would hate to have to pay for the pellets to feed such a beast.

 

[logbutcher]

Possibile, but sounds like a "if it's sounds like it's too good to be true...." thing. Maybe Iran or Kim Il are selling home sized nukes : "heats your water and makes electricity"

We tell friends looking to heat and save $$$ to stay away from pellet stoves. They're clean burning and sort of convenient, BUT:
They make an unromantic grinding noise.
You're fixed on one manufactured source of fuel.
Pellets can be expensive/BTU, often in short supply.
The mechanicals break in continual use, such as the hopper feed.
Need constant power.
For the greens: pellets are not C02 neutral--they require energy to produce.
Not the same kind of body work as working up a wood supply: felling, carrying, stacking, splitting .
No woodpile to lurk around

 

[ktm rider]

We tell friends looking to heat and save $$$ to stay away from pellet stoves. They're clean burning and sort of convenient, BUT:
They make an unromantic grinding noise.
You're fixed on one manufactured source of fuel.
Pellets can be expensive/BTU, often in short supply.
The mechanicals break in continual use, such as the hopper feed.
Need constant power.
For the greens: pellets are not C02 neutral--they require energy to produce.
Not the same kind of body work as working up a wood supply: felling, carrying, stacking, splitting .
No woodpile to lurk around

Ditto, that is why I got rid of mine and went with the good ol' Harman coal and wood stove. It throws more heat and while the blower does require power, it isn't necessary. It will still throw radiant heat just fine when the power is out.
Pellets are $4.95 a bag in my area now. that's $150 a month. A cod of wood in my area is $125. thjat will last you a month ( atleast) and throw better heat.. IMO.....

 

[Haywire Haywood]

Can't you burn corn in those things too?

Ian

 

[user 19670]

Corn???

Can't you burn corn in those things too?

Ian

Great - Now we're burning food tooooo. What do the hungry get to burn?

 

[roaddog]

I've heard of them. It's a fairly new area called chp - combined heat and power. It's becoming pretty popular and has some traction in europe.

In the states i've read of a few test installations, although these have been powered by natural gas not biomass. Mostly these installations have been geared towards industrial users with excess biomass. So far it's more efficient on an industrial/commercial scale, but there are a few companies that are working on developing what they call micro chp systems. These will be the all in one units that are used in residential housing and are of a much smaller scale.

This is the only one that i've seen that is currently available, although at 35kw output it seems to be a bit much for a typical residence.
http://www.koeb-holzfeuerungen.com/kus_tree/kus_content/powerslave,id,128,nodeid,26,lang,EN.html

This technology is definitely coming. Very cool stuff

 

[aandabooks]

No corn burners are a seperate thing. They seem to be a little more reasonable for people in corn producing states where you can just go to the elevator and pick up a load of corn. They typically use about a bushel per day. That is 57lbs of corn per day. Corn in Illinois is right around $4 per bushel.

I don't have one but my in-laws have looked at them. My father-in-law is over sixty and coming to the point where he can't gather wood anymore.

Matt

 

[ents]

If I were going to invest in a stove to generate electricity it would not be powered by pellets. Give me a wood/coal burner I don't think the economics would work out. I'm lucky, I have 95 acres of timber I could gleam but if someone had to buy the wood ... I bet it would be more cost effective to buy from the utility. One would hope you could heat the house with it too.

As far as generating electricity, with $30K you could set yourself up with an adequate solar PV generator (federal and state gov. would probably pay out $15K (directly or tax credits). Cleaner foot print and you might be able to sell back excess to the utility company.

 

[logbutcher]

My father-in-law is over sixty and coming to the point where he can't gather wood anymore.Matt

No offense here Matt, but many here fell, burn, and haul pulp ( 4' softwood logs for paper mills) well into their 80's. Example: Our closest friend and neighbor just turned 83, had a hip replacement last year, and his complaint: " my 359 is too heavy now, Got a new 353, weighs nothing ". Many of the Old Farts we compete with in the 60+, 70+, and 80+ age groups can out run, or out row most of the whining Young Farts 1/2 their age who do nothing in work or play. Unless someone has some kind of chronic disease or handicap, there's no reason to give it up "just because" the three score is reached.
Forgot: that neighbor's wife , 81, beat cancer 2 years ago, works the woods year-round with him, and cooks with wood all year. They embarrass us by getting in ALL their wood by summer.

 

[ktm rider]

I've heard of them. It's a fairly new area called chp - combined heat and power. It's becoming pretty popular and has some traction in europe.

In the states i've read of a few test installations, although these have been powered by natural gas not biomass. Mostly these installations have been geared towards industrial users with excess biomass. So far it's more efficient on an industrial/commercial scale, but there are a few companies that are working on developing what they call micro chp systems. These will be the all in one units that are used in residential housing and are of a much smaller scale.

This is the only one that i've seen that is currently available, although at 35kw output it seems to be a bit much for a typical residence.
http://www.koeb-holzfeuerungen.com/kus_tree/kus_content/powerslave,id,128,nodeid,26,lang,EN.html

This technology is definitely coming. Very cool stuff

I don't think this is what he is supposedly talking about. these are gasificatin boilers ( and VERY cool by the way) but the site says nothing about them producing electricity.

aandabooks,
You can in fact burn corn in a pellet stove. I had an Englander for a few years and I mixed the pellets with 50% corn. It worked very well, cost less and smelled like corn bread.

 

[gtstang462002]

my neighbor took her woodstove insert out and had a pellet insert installed after her husband died. She complains about it all the time and has had nothing but trouble out of it from day one. But she puts up with it because she can not handle logs anymore as her husband had always taken care of them.

 

[czar800]

I sometimes burn dry ear corn in my wood furnace.
I was selling corn stalks for decaractions and would pick some of the ears when i made my bundales corn makes alot of heat.

 

[rx7145]

Ear cord in a OWB works great! I burned one load one time but it cost too much to burn it all the time. Corn just burns down to nothing!

 

[allthegross]

even if it was available in such a small house how could it make sense for 15k?

 

[aandabooks]

Logbutcher,

No offense taken. Unfortunately, my FIL is in his early 60s and has smoked 3 packs a day for 45 years. He's currently drinking about a case a day and has been doing so for about as many years as smoking. And yet he is never drunk. If he'd taken care of himself, doing the wood thing would not be a problem. Unfortunately he hasn't and it is.

Matt

 

[logbutcher]

Logbutcher,
No offense taken. Unfortunately, my FIL is in his early 60s and has smoked 3 packs a day for 45 years. He's currently drinking about a case a day and has been doing so for about as many years as smoking. And yet he is never drunk. If he'd taken care of himself, doing the wood thing would not be a problem. Unfortunately he hasn't and it is.
Matt

Thanks Matt...appreciated.
Your FIL sounds like he's an OK guy BUT: what about all that $$$$$ going into 3 packs/day PLUS a case/day !!!!!!! Talk about pissing $$ away. That $$$ could have and can still go to his kids, to charity, to you .....to me. We think the finances through that -- that money every year would pay for a nice , long, luxury charter in the Carribbean, a round the world flight, Tahitii, a new trawler with hot tub, gee a nose job, giving to vets in need, ........

 

[aandabooks]

Tell me about it. It's not so much the money but the toll that living like that takes on your body. That's why he's about done burning wood. His health is starting to break down.

Matt