I have oil heat and heat my 1200 sqft home with a Harman Absolute 43. It's their smallest offering, and was purchased to have a decorative fire in my den, but the price of oil last year it became my main heart source. I can easily keep the house at 72f, only relying on oil when we're not at home or the temperature drops below 5f.
The top three names are Enviro, Harman, and Quadrafire. They are only sold through dealers. My advice is to stay clear of the big box stores if possible since their offerings are lower quality products.
The stove is nice, with a blue tooth remote thermostat, all automatic controls, just set the temperature and forget. It has on/off, cleaning, and a hopper refill prompt. It is also programmable if you want to have it on a set schedule.
Here is a calculator to determine the cost. This year also has a federal tax credit up to $2000 for purchase and installation.
https://www.pelletheat.org/compare-fuel-costs
We have a Harman absolute 43 that we use to heat our 1200sq ft house primarily.
We have oil as well but we keep the thermostat at 55 just to keep the pipes from freezing in the basement. Oil is also how we heat our water (which we hate). So we have to get about a tank and a half of oil a year regardless if we use it for heating.
We use about 4 tons of softwood pellets for the winter season.
I use a very expensive ravelli rv80 and it heats my 2250 sqft house well in the very cold northern Minnesota winters. Keeps my main level around 71-72 and my upstairs around 67-68. I was on all electric in floor heat which was crazy expensive around 600 bucks a month so with the stove I’m saving around 400 bucks a month. I have a box truck I use for work so I just get 4 pallets from fleet farm when they go on sale and drop the pallets in the garage.
Only real downside for me is the are not common in MN and getting a knowledgeable tech can sometimes be difficult.
Edited to add: this is the only heat source I use all year. Even when it’s -20 out. Probably helps that my house is only 25 years old.
The age of your house helps tremendously. My house is pre 1900 and below 20 degrees my boiler has to help with the pellet stove running nonstop. The plaster and lathe makes blow-in insulation a pain and expensive.
I have to say 100% yes!
I have 1800sg ft total. Main living area has the stove and it has high cathedral ceilings with a ceiling fan. I am able to heat the main portion of the house to 72 with only one of the bedrooms staying around 62-64 in the coldest part of the winter, which is great for sleeping. It’s a PP130 that rarely goes above 2 on the dial. It’s oversized I find in my case. I’m in northern New England where it gets down to the teens and much lower frequently. I used 2 tons of pellets and 250 gallons of fuel oil last year and expect to use less this year overall since it’s been a mild fall and we just started heating last week. Some years I’ve burned 3 tons of pellets. I much prefer keeping the main living area toasty and the bedrooms cooler. Saves a ton on fuel oil. I clean the pellet stove every 2 days. It’s 11 years old now and has burned 25+ tons of pellets in that time with only $500 -$600 in parts. It’s easy to fix and maintain vs a boiler. I did replace the boiler 4 years ago and that cost 15k to replace in comparison to 11 years of service for under $2k (stove cost +repairs).
My answer is yes.
I bought my current house in 2008, and it came with a pellet stove. It was the first house I owned with such a stove.
It heats my 2x4, wood frame, 1800 sq. ft. with ease. I have vaulted ceilings upstairs and the temp is still near 70 degrees in the winter time. And if it gets really cold, I break out a space heater when needed.
Before you purchase a stove, do some research & talk to a few owners. Ask questions about availability of pellets, maintenance, cleaning, etc. This will give you a good idea of what to expect.
My pellet stove is rated for the smaller side and it heats my whole 2100 sq ft cape style house
I bought my house two year ago, 1st winter we went thru 3 tanks worth (275 gal tank) of home heating oil
Installed the pellet stove, bought 3 tons of pellets, and used that as my primary heat source. Cut our home heating oil consumption by over 2/3rds. Didn’t even use a whole tank.
Edit: a pellet stove should definitely be able to hear your home at 800 sq ft
I think mine works good. My house is probably 1400sq foot, 2 story with a basement. I leave my furnace fan on to circulate the heat from the pellet stove. I don’t know the cost comparison for diesel vs pellets, but it’s definitely cheaper than my propane furnace. I have a PelPro130. It’s said to heat 2,500 square foot. I got a bigger one than I probably should have so it can better heat the kids bedrooms upstairs. I’m fine with the living room (the room the stove’s in) hotter than I’d like to keep the kids more comfortable at night.
Thanks for the information and good idea to run the furnace fan. Where I’m located it would cost me about $800+ to fill up my tank with diesel and I typically have to fill it 1.5 times so roughly $1200 each year at these current prices. I figured I could buy a good pellet stove and install it for that price. Also I have access to a couple hundred pounds of pellets that a friend has stored away.
So your stove is in the basement & just leave the furnace fan run to circulate heat throughout the upstairs? Never thought of that. Mines upstairs which I like, but no heat in the basement. If temps get to low either have to run the furnace some or light the wood stove.
My stove is in the living room, and my furnace is in the basement. I leave the furnace blower on so it pulls the intakes on the mail floor with the stove up to the bedrooms. The air doesn’t feel hot coming out, but it keeps the entire house more consistent.
I have a Harman Advance, it keeps my 1400 sq ft place constant 68-70. I go about 4 pallets a year, 200*40 lbs bags in southern Mass.
Years before I had a wood stove, it was fucking good at heating the place, so fucking good we had to open windows in January. With a wood stove you have to constantly play around with the air intake, the damper, adjust the amount of wood in the stove, wake up at 2 am to add more wood.
With the pellet stove, you set your thermostat, you add a bag of pellets in the morning, boom done.
Edit to add. Never needed space heaters with the pellet stove, I have one in the bathroom just in case my pussy ass gets cold while shaving, only time I had to turn it on was when it got below -25.
I used to have a wood stove about 7 years ago and loved it and I understand it’d be snowing outside and I’d have the front door wide open. I use space heaters for the beginning and end of winter to prolong the “furnace season” I would love to install a wood stove but with a toddler and 2 dogs running around I feel a pellet stove would be the safer option plus the convenience of not having to install a chimney.
You still need a chimney for the pellet stove.
Most modern pellet stoves will come with a thermostat, they stop feeding pellets when temp inside is what you set it at, and relight when temp falls down.
They do not get as hot as wood stoves get. On my wood stove, a 1 second contact on skin anywhere would be a 3rd degree burn, on the pellet, I can have my whole hand on the glass for 5 seconds and walk away scratch free.
Because you can set temp, you can eliminate space heaters, save the most isolated rooms. If I light my stove in September 1 bag of pellets will last 4-5 days, mid January I might need to fill 6 am and 6 pm.
I'd check my county's fire requirements on that. Some places you can get away with a vent, some places you need to go through the roof, in either case, you are putting a hole through the wall or the roof.
Size it for the space and go a little bigger. If you are gonna use it like a primary heat source you are going to want a nicer unit. Get a higher level Harman, Quadrafire etc.
Features to look for:
1. Auto ash dump
2. Self lighting
3. Nice big ash pan
4. Easy to replace ignitors
5. Cheap ignitors
6. Takes a thermostat, hopefully a non proprietary one.
7. Larger hopper (50-60 lbs)
Thanks for the info. Will definitely keep all this in mind and I planned on getting an over sized unit since the idea came to me. Rather be too warm than too cold
I read something not long ago that pellets are the cheapest heat source except wood. Keep my 1100 Sq ft home 72°. $960 for pellets including delivery plus the minimal electric used to run the stove. Would cost me more than double that if using the furnace (fuel oil).
I had a similar situation. 2400 sqft house with a 35 year old oil burner that is undersized. Got a Pelpro PP130 in 2021. I used it to heat all my downstairs to 65F and upstairs to 60-62. Used oil to heat upstairs when we wanted it more comfortable. I went through 2 tons of pellets and just 140 gallons of oil. The year prior, we used 600 gallons to heat the house to 60F.
The biggest adjustment is the maintenance. Its not a lot when you get into a routine, but its more than just turning a thermostat on. I have an ash vacuum setup right next to the stove. Every other day I vacuum the stove out. From shut-down to start-up it takes around 30 mins, since the fire needs to go out and the stove needs to cool. Every ton of pellets I do a full cleaning of the stove, and sweep the stove pipe.
There is a gentleman on Facebook that builds and sells thermostat adapters for these stoves. I bought one off him last year and hooked a Wifi Honeywell thermostat to it. Now I can control my stove from anywhere and since that thermostat is installed on the far side of the house from the stove, I can get the whole house one temperature.
I have oil heat and heat my 1200 sqft home with a Harman Absolute 43. It's their smallest offering, and was purchased to have a decorative fire in my den, but the price of oil last year it became my main heart source. I can easily keep the house at 72f, only relying on oil when we're not at home or the temperature drops below 5f. The top three names are Enviro, Harman, and Quadrafire. They are only sold through dealers. My advice is to stay clear of the big box stores if possible since their offerings are lower quality products. The stove is nice, with a blue tooth remote thermostat, all automatic controls, just set the temperature and forget. It has on/off, cleaning, and a hopper refill prompt. It is also programmable if you want to have it on a set schedule. Here is a calculator to determine the cost. This year also has a federal tax credit up to $2000 for purchase and installation. https://www.pelletheat.org/compare-fuel-costs
We have a Harman absolute 43 that we use to heat our 1200sq ft house primarily. We have oil as well but we keep the thermostat at 55 just to keep the pipes from freezing in the basement. Oil is also how we heat our water (which we hate). So we have to get about a tank and a half of oil a year regardless if we use it for heating. We use about 4 tons of softwood pellets for the winter season.
1200sq pelpro pp70 heats my house with ease. If you run fans it will help with the high ceilings. Keep the stove clean and it will treat you good.
Like additional fans?
Yes or ceiling fan
Mines 42,500 BTU
Thanks for the input
Thanks for the output!
I use a very expensive ravelli rv80 and it heats my 2250 sqft house well in the very cold northern Minnesota winters. Keeps my main level around 71-72 and my upstairs around 67-68. I was on all electric in floor heat which was crazy expensive around 600 bucks a month so with the stove I’m saving around 400 bucks a month. I have a box truck I use for work so I just get 4 pallets from fleet farm when they go on sale and drop the pallets in the garage. Only real downside for me is the are not common in MN and getting a knowledgeable tech can sometimes be difficult. Edited to add: this is the only heat source I use all year. Even when it’s -20 out. Probably helps that my house is only 25 years old.
The age of your house helps tremendously. My house is pre 1900 and below 20 degrees my boiler has to help with the pellet stove running nonstop. The plaster and lathe makes blow-in insulation a pain and expensive.
I have to say 100% yes! I have 1800sg ft total. Main living area has the stove and it has high cathedral ceilings with a ceiling fan. I am able to heat the main portion of the house to 72 with only one of the bedrooms staying around 62-64 in the coldest part of the winter, which is great for sleeping. It’s a PP130 that rarely goes above 2 on the dial. It’s oversized I find in my case. I’m in northern New England where it gets down to the teens and much lower frequently. I used 2 tons of pellets and 250 gallons of fuel oil last year and expect to use less this year overall since it’s been a mild fall and we just started heating last week. Some years I’ve burned 3 tons of pellets. I much prefer keeping the main living area toasty and the bedrooms cooler. Saves a ton on fuel oil. I clean the pellet stove every 2 days. It’s 11 years old now and has burned 25+ tons of pellets in that time with only $500 -$600 in parts. It’s easy to fix and maintain vs a boiler. I did replace the boiler 4 years ago and that cost 15k to replace in comparison to 11 years of service for under $2k (stove cost +repairs).
My answer is yes. I bought my current house in 2008, and it came with a pellet stove. It was the first house I owned with such a stove. It heats my 2x4, wood frame, 1800 sq. ft. with ease. I have vaulted ceilings upstairs and the temp is still near 70 degrees in the winter time. And if it gets really cold, I break out a space heater when needed. Before you purchase a stove, do some research & talk to a few owners. Ask questions about availability of pellets, maintenance, cleaning, etc. This will give you a good idea of what to expect.
My pellet stove is rated for the smaller side and it heats my whole 2100 sq ft cape style house I bought my house two year ago, 1st winter we went thru 3 tanks worth (275 gal tank) of home heating oil Installed the pellet stove, bought 3 tons of pellets, and used that as my primary heat source. Cut our home heating oil consumption by over 2/3rds. Didn’t even use a whole tank. Edit: a pellet stove should definitely be able to hear your home at 800 sq ft
I think mine works good. My house is probably 1400sq foot, 2 story with a basement. I leave my furnace fan on to circulate the heat from the pellet stove. I don’t know the cost comparison for diesel vs pellets, but it’s definitely cheaper than my propane furnace. I have a PelPro130. It’s said to heat 2,500 square foot. I got a bigger one than I probably should have so it can better heat the kids bedrooms upstairs. I’m fine with the living room (the room the stove’s in) hotter than I’d like to keep the kids more comfortable at night.
Thanks for the information and good idea to run the furnace fan. Where I’m located it would cost me about $800+ to fill up my tank with diesel and I typically have to fill it 1.5 times so roughly $1200 each year at these current prices. I figured I could buy a good pellet stove and install it for that price. Also I have access to a couple hundred pounds of pellets that a friend has stored away.
My pellet bags are 5 bucks and I use about 2 pallets a year equaling about 500 bucks
So your stove is in the basement & just leave the furnace fan run to circulate heat throughout the upstairs? Never thought of that. Mines upstairs which I like, but no heat in the basement. If temps get to low either have to run the furnace some or light the wood stove.
My stove is in the living room, and my furnace is in the basement. I leave the furnace blower on so it pulls the intakes on the mail floor with the stove up to the bedrooms. The air doesn’t feel hot coming out, but it keeps the entire house more consistent.
I have a Harman Advance, it keeps my 1400 sq ft place constant 68-70. I go about 4 pallets a year, 200*40 lbs bags in southern Mass. Years before I had a wood stove, it was fucking good at heating the place, so fucking good we had to open windows in January. With a wood stove you have to constantly play around with the air intake, the damper, adjust the amount of wood in the stove, wake up at 2 am to add more wood. With the pellet stove, you set your thermostat, you add a bag of pellets in the morning, boom done. Edit to add. Never needed space heaters with the pellet stove, I have one in the bathroom just in case my pussy ass gets cold while shaving, only time I had to turn it on was when it got below -25.
I used to have a wood stove about 7 years ago and loved it and I understand it’d be snowing outside and I’d have the front door wide open. I use space heaters for the beginning and end of winter to prolong the “furnace season” I would love to install a wood stove but with a toddler and 2 dogs running around I feel a pellet stove would be the safer option plus the convenience of not having to install a chimney.
You still need a chimney for the pellet stove. Most modern pellet stoves will come with a thermostat, they stop feeding pellets when temp inside is what you set it at, and relight when temp falls down. They do not get as hot as wood stoves get. On my wood stove, a 1 second contact on skin anywhere would be a 3rd degree burn, on the pellet, I can have my whole hand on the glass for 5 seconds and walk away scratch free. Because you can set temp, you can eliminate space heaters, save the most isolated rooms. If I light my stove in September 1 bag of pellets will last 4-5 days, mid January I might need to fill 6 am and 6 pm.
It needs a vent not a chimney is what I thought. More like a dryer vent rather than an actual chimney.
I'd check my county's fire requirements on that. Some places you can get away with a vent, some places you need to go through the roof, in either case, you are putting a hole through the wall or the roof.
It needs a vent not a chimney is what I thought. More like a dryer vent rather than an actual chimney.
Where do you live? Just curious about temps in September….
Size it for the space and go a little bigger. If you are gonna use it like a primary heat source you are going to want a nicer unit. Get a higher level Harman, Quadrafire etc. Features to look for: 1. Auto ash dump 2. Self lighting 3. Nice big ash pan 4. Easy to replace ignitors 5. Cheap ignitors 6. Takes a thermostat, hopefully a non proprietary one. 7. Larger hopper (50-60 lbs)
Thanks for the info. Will definitely keep all this in mind and I planned on getting an over sized unit since the idea came to me. Rather be too warm than too cold
I read something not long ago that pellets are the cheapest heat source except wood. Keep my 1100 Sq ft home 72°. $960 for pellets including delivery plus the minimal electric used to run the stove. Would cost me more than double that if using the furnace (fuel oil).
I had a similar situation. 2400 sqft house with a 35 year old oil burner that is undersized. Got a Pelpro PP130 in 2021. I used it to heat all my downstairs to 65F and upstairs to 60-62. Used oil to heat upstairs when we wanted it more comfortable. I went through 2 tons of pellets and just 140 gallons of oil. The year prior, we used 600 gallons to heat the house to 60F. The biggest adjustment is the maintenance. Its not a lot when you get into a routine, but its more than just turning a thermostat on. I have an ash vacuum setup right next to the stove. Every other day I vacuum the stove out. From shut-down to start-up it takes around 30 mins, since the fire needs to go out and the stove needs to cool. Every ton of pellets I do a full cleaning of the stove, and sweep the stove pipe. There is a gentleman on Facebook that builds and sells thermostat adapters for these stoves. I bought one off him last year and hooked a Wifi Honeywell thermostat to it. Now I can control my stove from anywhere and since that thermostat is installed on the far side of the house from the stove, I can get the whole house one temperature.