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[bregent]

We put a Valor G3 in our vacation rental beach house as we didn't want guests to have to deal with firewood. Propane is expensive here, but as it's only used for supplemental heat, operating cost was very low.

https://valorfireplaces.com/products/g3.php


Cost installed was $3600 5 years ago.

[Th3Batman86]

Are you ever worried about losing power? Pellet stove will not provide any heat without a power source.

[Yellow-03]

Battery backups are available for pellet stoves and inserts.  If power outages are a big issue, then whole house backup power is something to consider anyway.

[yorkdude]

We have a 7000 w generator which we have used a few times when we lost power.
In all the years we have lived here we have only lost power for 24 hours or a touch more and that was due to ice storms, both times the generator kept us going on a reduced scale.

[triplebq]

We have a 7000 w generator which we have used a few times when we lost power.
In all the years we have lived here we have only lost power for 24 hours or a touch more and that was due to ice storms, both times the generator kept us going on a reduced scale.

Having an whole house generator is quite nice. All you have to do is loose a freshly stock freezer once and you will know the value. This is what happened to me a few years ago.

[yorkdude]

I have paid for 2 fully stocked freezers full of meat.
For 24 years I was an HVAC/Plumbing contractor, I had a guy working for me that twice unplugged someones freezer to plug in his battery charger for his drill or something and forgot to plug the freezers back in, both times cost me plenty.
Had to buy them new deep freezes and fill em up.

[triplebq]

Now that hurts

[silverbullet]

I've been heating with pellets since the 90's. Used to burn then full time to heat my home. Just not cost effective to use full time anymore so I just burn them when it gets really cold. I figure about a dollar a day for electricity to run the auger & fan motor & a bag a day on really cold days & @ 4 to 5 dollars a day per 40 lb bag of pellets. Gas is cheaper today. Love the constant heat when needed most!

Currently I have a Harman Accentra which is a nice cast iron unit. You get it hot & it radiates heat for a long time. Its vented out the side of my home. My friend also has the exact same unit only its a fireplace insert. the only difference in the stove vs insert is his looks like it's cut in half in order to fit vs my free standing unit. They both heat the same the only difference is the ash pan on the fireplace unit is very shallow & has to be emptied daily vs the deep ash pan I may empty out by weekly depending on its use.

My Harman also has a room temp probe. You just set it & leave it. The stove will turn itself on or off as needed. I love the no mess of the pellet stoves vs a wood fireplace. Just dump in a bag & let it go. Hope this helps.

[silverbullet]

I am going to assume in the 21st century, either insert or pellet stove is going to have some type of blower or circulator on them?  Or is it pretty much just radiant still?

Yes they have blower motors on them to circulate the heat.

[yorkdude]

Question on the pellet stove.
We ended up buying one and installing it, I need to be honest and say that I was not sure how sold I would be on them so I did go the cheaper route to try it.
We bought a "pelletpro" (PP60) for $750.00 and that included a 2 year parts/labor warranty that kicks in after the factory 1 year.
It heats fantastic and my wife and I have decided we are going to upgrade, we are that impressed and I will use this one in the shop.
We have used it off and on for about 3 weeks as the house was closing but on Friday after we closed we have been leaving it on, it does a great job and is quite efficient.
What it does do though is make like a ash log (for lack of better description) about every 2 days if I don't shut it down and vacuum it out.
It is pretty dirty with the amount of ash that it puts out it seems.
I have since vacuumed it every day and that does not occur, am I experiencing something that a entry level stove does?
Any help would be great.

[BigDave83]

Try different pellets, I use Hamer's Hot Ones or Appalachian Wood Pellets. They burn nice and I get some hard ash not clinker stuff, it is easily broken up. I have a Harman P43, it runs 24/7 I shut it down when the ash pan get full, about once a month, quick scrape, empty pan and clean the glass.

 I looked at the manual for your stove it show once weekly or as needed to a cleaning.

If you upgrade at least you have some experience and know the questions to ask next time.

I used pellets from tractor supply and got clinkers like we used to get in the coal furnace.

[rfinley]

We have the Harman P43 and I will say it will burn most fuel pellets. I think you will find from brand to brand there is a huge difference in the amount of ash. Try a few bags of different brands and see how they burn before you purchase a large quantity.  If I can find the link I'll post it from a guy that burned 5 bags of each brand in a just cleaned stove and after burning the bags cleaned the stove again and weighed and showed the amount of ash for each brand. The amount of ash varied greatly !!!

Found it.....   I think I can include the link to a heating forum ??

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/pellet-house-pellet-search-and-review-ultimate-pellet-search.45314/

[yorkdude]

Try different pellets, I use Hamer's Hot Ones or Appalachian Wood Pellets. They burn nice and I get some hard ash not clinker stuff, it is easily broken up. I have a Harman P43, it runs 24/7 I shut it down when the ash pan get full, about once a month, quick scrape, empty pan and clean the glass.

 I looked at the manual for your stove it show once weekly or as needed to a cleaning.

If you upgrade at least you have some experience and know the questions to ask next time.

I used pellets from tractor supply and got clinkers like we used to get in the coal furnace.

That is where I bought the pellets, they really are quite dirty.
I had a pretty darn good suspicion I would like it enough to go this route, I did it this way for the experiment and because I can use it in the shop, I am not out anything so I do feel good about that.
I will try some different pellets and see what that does, I will more than likely go through this winter with this one and try and fetch an off season deal on a new one.
I looked at your stove, Man it is nice, I do have to say other than it being dirty, it does a great job so I can only imagine a good stove would be fantastic.

[BigDave83]

I do like mine, I am only heating 4 rooms about 1000 sq ft total. The stove just idled from saturday night until this morning and kept the place above 71 where I have the thermostat set. I go through 3 to 4 ton a year.

The dealer I bought mine from also had these, and I really liked it but at the time was more than I wanted to spend for a heat source I knew nothing about, I now kind of wish I had, although it requires more cleaning than the Harman.

Sorry, wish I could figure what I am doing wrong with the link thing but it gets you to the stove site.

[yorkdude]

We are heating about 1600 sq ft and 7 rooms although 2 of them are not able to be heated by it, just too far for the heat to travel I think.
I am sold on the concept, we really like it so far.
I am thinking we will burn about 1 1/2 ton based on the math I have done so far.
The neat thing is my insurance company has absolutely no riders etc. for this, they could care less that it is in there.
Apparently, according to him, the safeties that are built in make them a non issue.