Someone decided to donate a pellet burner to church for use in the parsonage. When we found out how big this thing was, I got busy cleaning and decluttering the basement, as the heater and the fuel would take up about 1/3 of the space of a bedroom.
Problem is, nobody took into consideration that we have a crawl space under part of the house. If this new heater is supposed to heat the basement so as to reduce propane use in the furnace, what happens to the unheated crawl space (where there are WATER pipes) when the furnace is running so much less? Someone was supposed to have been here 4 weeks ago to evaluate that.
I never know where things stand around here. Did they give up on it? Do I have to continue the decluttering and basement-rearranging? Will the heater be arriving in March or in two days or in 2017?
Saturday, January 12, 2008
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I am wondering why there would be fuel with a pellet burning stove? The pellets are the fuel...are they not? Are you talking about where to store the pellets (fuel)? Are they thinking about putting the pellet burner in the basement? I am wondering about the safety in that...does it have to vent somehow?
ReplyDeleteThe pellets are the fuel, and from what we've found online pellets for a winter would cost about $800. And they're hoping to save "up to half" of our heat bill. Our propane bill (hot water, cooking, and furnace) has only been running $1600 for the whole year recently.
ReplyDeleteYes, they're thinking of putting it in the basement. And yes, they'll have to vent it through the concrete wall.
Susan,
ReplyDeleteOut at the farm, we had a pellet/corn stove installed in November. We put ours in a corner of the living room, and it pretty much takes care of the whole house, upstairs bedrooms included, except on very cold days. For those, our propane stove, which is on the opposite side of our downstairs, kicks in.
We have a 120-year-old farm house with no ductwork, so a basement furnace wasn't an option. Our basement is chilly, but the pipes don't freeze. We bought a pallet of bags of pellets and put it in one of the barns, and I haul in ten bags at a time and pile them in our laundry room off the kitchen. Since November, I think we've been through around 75 bags. They're cheaper at Farm & Fleet ($3.84 per 40 lbs.).
If it's at all possible to do it, I'd recommend having it on the main floor. Easy to vent, plus it makes for a toasty family/living room. You have to clean them every few days, so having it on the main floor is a blessing.