I have talked about getting a pellet stove for a long time and we finally did last summer. When we saw what the oil prepay prices were we decided now was the time to purchase. We have been using it all season and I must say we LOVE it! My house is sooooo warm now (or should I say toasty). We live in a ranch home with a partially finished basement. We were confused as to where to put it. The dealer suggested that we put it upstairs in the main living area since I only go down in the basement to work when my son or hubby if off during the week (which is rare). We have it in our living room. We got a Harman Accentra free standing stove. We couldnt find one to fit in our fireplace so we have it tucked away in the corner of the room. We leave the stove set between 75-80 room temp and my living room is always nice and warm. We have 1300 square feet on this level and the other rooms average 70. One thing I hate is being cold and now we dont have to be anymore! We bought 3 tons of pellets and still have around 10 bags left. We average around 1 bag a day depending on how cold it is. :invisible
Pellet Stove
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I was thinking of getting one, but then what happens when there is no one home for hours on end every day? What about around pets? We have 1 dog and 2 cats (one of the cats is into EVERYTHING and I can just see it now, coming home from work and he is laying all over it the dum, dum he can be. Is it safe to operate when no one is around?
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ditto! what you just said banana. it was the best thing we ever did! before pellets, we were doing firewood. ugh. between going and cutting and then loading and unloading and then stacking and then restacking near the door ( so the bugs wouldn't be inside), and the mess....pellets are the way to go! We pre-order ours in like May I think and they're way cheaper. We have 1460sq.ft. and all the rooms are around 70. One bag a day, and we have a half a skid left. One thing, hubby has it set at 75. I'd like it lower to like 66-70. We'd save on pellets and it's not that much colder really ( tuffin up old man! LOL). Also, we use floor fans to blow it around in a circle thru the house. Works great.
and yes GG, we leave it run all the time. Just fill it up in the evening before bed. It works just like furnace. You don't even know it's on really and I ignore it most of the time. It has a sensor on it to read the room temp. When the temp goes down, it'll kick on and ignite automatically. Our hopper holds like 2-3 bags full, so really you could skip a day, but we like it to stay full.
The ONLY drawback is that it uses electricity to run. So, when the power goes out it does too. We have an emergency battery pack to plug it into until we go out and get the generator running.
and yes GG, we leave it run all the time. Just fill it up in the evening before bed. It works just like furnace. You don't even know it's on really and I ignore it most of the time. It has a sensor on it to read the room temp. When the temp goes down, it'll kick on and ignite automatically. Our hopper holds like 2-3 bags full, so really you could skip a day, but we like it to stay full.
The ONLY drawback is that it uses electricity to run. So, when the power goes out it does too. We have an emergency battery pack to plug it into until we go out and get the generator running.
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Thanks for the info.
Its very safe to run. We have a dog and a puppy and no problems at all. We have a small hopper, hubby fills it up when he gets home from work and it usually is good until the next evening unless it is extremely cold out. We leave it on when we go out. It senses the room temp and goes on and off as needed. Best investment we made in a long time.
We didnt know too much about pellet stoves so I did a lot of reading. I also check out hearth.com. They have forums there and I read and asked questions as well. We went with a Harman. We were told they are one of the best. We found a local dealer that installed and also services the unit. It cost approximately $4,000 for the stove, installation and 3 tons of pellets, plus we have 3 year parts and labor warranty on the stove itself. It was a lot of money but considering what oil would have cost us we decided to invest in the stove. We decided to go with a local dealer since hubby is not too handy in case it needed to be serviced. If you know someone who is handy you can get a much cheaper model and Lowes or HomeDepot.
I just wanted to post that we switched to a corn stove. I was having a heart attack at the prices of propane and my fil is a farmer so we don't have to go far to buy our corn. It costs us about $600-700 a year for our corn. (We are on our third year) Ours is not temperature regulated, you just select the number you want it to run on. We do live in Iowa and if it hits 10 or below, the regular furnace does have to kick on.
We placed our corn stove in the basement and the difference in the warmth of the floors is amazing. Prior to the corn stove, you couldn't be in our basement in the winter because it was just to cold. We have an open stair way so the warm air rises to the upstairs. We don't have to run any fans to circulate it either. I'd say it has been one of the best investments we made!
Ivonna
We placed our corn stove in the basement and the difference in the warmth of the floors is amazing. Prior to the corn stove, you couldn't be in our basement in the winter because it was just to cold. We have an open stair way so the warm air rises to the upstairs. We don't have to run any fans to circulate it either. I'd say it has been one of the best investments we made!
Ivonna
Thanks...My dh is very handy and would have no problem installing the stove..I did checkout Lowes to get and idea on prices.
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I am glad you are enjoying yours! We also have a pellet stove and while it kept the dining room/living room nice and toasty it didnt heat up the rest of the house (upstairs & kitchen) like it should have so we had to go get some oil in the tank and start turning on the heat again. I love the amber glow it gives but for us it didn't quite work...aw shucks 
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