Care to Know Which Alternative Heating Fuel Is Cheapest?

» left by Frank

from Ottawa, Canada 3 years 168 days ago.

Here in Ottawa, Canada, I paid $225/t of premium hard wood pellets in August 2008. I shopped around and found a store where they had 4.5 t left from last year and I bought it all at the better price. They're still nice and dry. Most places sell for $250/t though and I haven't seen higher prices around. - It sure will beat my oil furnace at $500/month from last winter... and the price of oil is even higher today.

 

I bought a pellet furnace add on that can burn wood pellets, grain pellets, corn, cherry pits and other bio fuels. The idea is that as one bio fuel dips in price, that's the one I'll purchase for the whole season. At least there's the choice and hope that competition will work in my favor.

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» left by Sam Streubel

3 years 168 days ago.
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Hi Frank,

 

Please let me know how the furnace installation works out. The most frequent complaint I hear about add on furnaces is difficulty adjusting the dampers that control the flow of heat when switching between furnaces.

 

Also, if you don't mind sharing the information, I would like to know the make of the furnace and how much it, and the installation cost.

 

Thanks for the comment,

 

Sam Streubel

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» left by Frank from Ottawa, Canada 3 years 166 days ago.

Good evening, Sam,

 

Thanks for the foresight about the dampers. That's the part I was most concerned about but I found something:

 

Let me begin by saying that I found someone who will install the exhaust air and the electric work for the pellet furnace (I also have a back up generator plus an A/C on the existing oil furnace) but I have trouble finding someone who wants to connect the two furnaces together.

 

At the moment, I'm contemplating the following scenario (which, according to the dealer, makes sense and would work perfectly): my existing oil furnace has two hot air ducts exiting from its top... one to the front and the other to the side, essentially forming an "L" shape duct work. Now, instead of plugging the pellet furnace directly onto the oil furnace (so not to open it up to put in a custom made back draft damper inside it) I'd equip the pellet furnace’s hot air return with a "Y" duct connector, with each end directed to the 2 existing hot air returns. I would put a metal "flap" in the "Y" duct so I can control the air flow's direction in case the hot air from the pellet furnace "wants’" to flow more towards one of two sides (the path of least resistance. Once that’s set, I shouldn’t need to touch it again.) The two ducts coming from the pellet furnace (from the “Y” connector) and going into the oil furnace’s exiting ducts would be on an angle (pointing away from the oil furnace) as to direct the hot air in the same direction as where I want it to go into the house (so to have least resistance like would be the case if I was to attach them at a 90 degree angle onto the existing ducts.) The pellet furnace’s ducts would be plugged on the duct work some 3 feet away from the oil furnace itself because of the angle. I would also install two rectangular back draft dampers in the existing duct work, just ahead (side closest to the oil furnace) of the two new duct work coming from the pellet furnace so that the pellet furnace's hot air can't go into the existing oil furnace. There will also be a round back draft damper between the pellet furnace and its "Y" duct connector just above it so that if/when the oil furnace fires up while the pellet furnace isn't running, its hot air won't go into the pellet furnace. Both could run at the same time (with both air flow going in the same direction) and no adjustments are needed. - I'd set up the oil furnace's thermostat 3 degrees below that of the pellet furnace and it would kick in if the pellet furnace ever stopped, like when I go away for some time.

 

The pellet furnace I bought is the Fahrenheit Endurance F50.

 

Its cost in the USA is about $3,800 while in Canada it's $4,700 plus tax (for shipping and border duties). The optional hopper (to make the pellet furnace hold 250 Lbs for about 6 days of autonomous burning) is $300. I was quoted with $400 worth of pipes and $400 for the install (not counting the duct work, which I expect to run to about $200 if I install it myself.) Once all is done, I'm looking at $6,800 to have the whole house heated evenly at roughly $1,000 worth of wood pellets per season instead of $4,000 with the oil furnace (at August 2008 oil prices). From some blog sites I've read, Fahrenheit have great customer service (the manufacturer answers questions online for all to see!) They are also quick to reply to my emails. I considered buying the Traeger pellet furnace with 120,000 BTU (burns wood pellets and corn only though), which also heats your hot water tank but it's more expensive and its low boy configuration isn't as low as the Fahrenheit at 40 inches high. (I have a low ceiling basement.) My oil furnace is rated at 85,000 BTU while the Fahrenheit furnace is rated at 50,000 BTU. It might have to run more continuously to heat our 1550 sq. ft house but the oil furnace is always there just in case, for the coldest nights. I'm anxious to see how it will perform in our +5F to -30F winter environment. (-15C to -35C).

 

I should have everything up and running by mid/end September 2008. I’m no longer worried/dreading about heating bills. I'd be happy to post how things unfold.

 

Please let me know if you have more foresight/insight! I'm trying to make things right from the start.

 

Regards,

 

Frank

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» left by Sam Streubel 3 years 165 days ago.
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Hi Frank,

Sounds like you're really on top of things. There's a lot of discussion about add on furnaces, but not much real information. With your permission, I would like to make your add on furnace experience the topic of an article for my alternative heating web site. Also, any pictures you could provide would be a real bonus to my readers.

Since the the format we're using to communicate doesn't allow the direct sharing of website addresses or emails, you'll have to click the link to my site at the top of the this article and send me your email address. Then I can get back to you with an email address to send the pictures.

It's never too late to start saving money. Best of luck.

Sam

P.S. What's your plan for the easiest way to get the pellets down to your basement?

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» left by Frank from Ottawa, Canada 3 years 164 days ago.

Hi Sam,

 

I used the link you provided above and I sent you an e-mail to be able to sent you pictures. I agree, there isn't much info on pellet furnaces and I'll be more than happy to write about it as the installation/usage progresses.

 

Great question about getting the pellets down to the basement. Sounds simple, but it's an adventure. One needs to be healthy or know someone who is... or go slowly. Ok... at the end of August 2008 I had 3 skids of wood pellets delivered at 1.5 tons each... 4.5 tons total! (4 feet x 4 feet x 6 feet tall each; 225 bags total at 40 pounds each.) That's impressive looking in the yard. I asked myself: "What did I get myself into!" But the $4,000 that it would cost me in oil for the 2008-09 season if I didn't go the pellet way motivated me pretty fast. There were 4 bags missing and I called to get credited. First I made room in the basement near where the pellet furnace will be. Then I put 12 bags of pellets at a time in the trunk of my car and backed up to the basement window, which has a 4 feet drop to the floor, where I piled up two rows, 4 bag deep to act as a cushion for when I throw the other bags down. That's after I tried a 2 x 8 wood board as a slide (it's a small window) but the edges would slice some bags open as they slid on. Also, about 20% of the bags would partially open (unglue) when I lifted them from the skid and so I had to hand carry those one by one (about 50 bags in all.) A few busted open just a bit when I threw them down the basement. Lots of sweat, near muscle cramps and a few finger blisters even with construction gloves but I got the admiration of my 4 year old daugthter! I rested after each trip, which consisted of: 12 bags from the skid and into the trunk - drive to the window - the 12 bags from the trunk to the basement window and throwing them down in the basement - go in the basement and pile the 12 bags = 1 trip). I did it in two days with 15 trips in all plus the ones I had to handle individually. I then quickly thought about buying a small silo for next season with an auger going thru to basement but hey, a few days later I'm thinking it was a good work out. But if I do decide to go with a small silo, the auger will be directed directly above the pellet furnace's hopper so all I'd have to do, after filling up the silo with pellets (or other bio mass fuels) in the spring or fall, is turn the handle for a few seconds to fill the hopper as needed, once or twice per week. Instead of having an oil tank outside the house, it would be a pellet silo.

 

I put skids on the basement floor and piled the bags on top of them, and left one foot of space between the ceiling and the last pellet bags for air flow.

 

I called the insurance company who will be sending an inspector soon after the installation. It would cost me some $50 more in house insurance per year but I will confirm with you with the exact amount and what he/she says about the installation. There are some building codes to respect with the pellet furnaces... the distance between it and walls and flammable items, the exhaust pipe location and with the first few feet of duct work leaving the pellet furnace.

 

So far no regrets... in fact, I can't wait for winter and fire up the pellet furnace! The monthly payments that we would have had with the oil will go into paying for the pellet furnace.

 

 

Regards,

 

Frank

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» left by Sam Streubel 3 years 163 days ago.
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Hi Frank,

 

For reasons unbeknownst to me, I didn't get your email. Try instead: sam at the website address above.

 

Thanks for your patience,

 

Sam

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» left by Frank

from Ottawa, Canada 3 years 146 days ago.

Hi Sam,

 

I tried but to no avail.

 

I'm still waiting to receive the pellet furnace... it's been at the US/Canada border for weeks because of paper work issues.

 

It gets down to a few digits away from freezing over night on this mid-September 2008 and I relunctantly turned on the existing oil furnace... with 4.5 tons of pellets beside it.

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» left by Frank

from Ottawa, Canada 3 years 121 days ago.

Finally this early October 2008 the pellet furnace is in. At 380 LBS, it was a pain to bring it down to the basement and we scratched a few walls. The stair way was too small to use a lift and so we brought it down by hand, the installer and myself. The installation was so easy: the installer drilled a 5 inch hole in concrete and put in the exhaust pipe with a sealant and 3 screws at the connexions. Takes about 2 hours! It cost me $1,065 to have it installed, including everything but there's not much choice as the insurance company requires it to be installed by a licenced wood pellet stove/furnace installer. I don't think it should have costed more than $700.

 

Then I plugged it in, enthusiastically put in a bag of pellets and pressed the "On" button...

 

The exhaust fan started, the pellets could be seen falling in the firepot and after some 10 minutes, a flame started. Another 5-10 minutes later, the blower quicked in! When the installer put his hand above the hot air coming out he said: "Holly molly! You won't have any problem heating your whole house with that!" Next step, the guys will be in next week to hook it up to the existing oil furnace's duct work and tie it in with a thermostat on the main floor for automatic ignition, just like the oil furnace. Yes, it's that advanced. The beauty of it is that it turns completely off when not needed, saving the wood pellets and cost and starts by itself.

 

Right now when I start it (without it being hooked up to the duct work yet), the heat in the basement follows the ceiling and goes up the open stairs... I hanged a toilet tissue at the top of the basement door frame and it waves like a flag because of the hot air going up. My wife pleaded with me to stop the pellet furnace because it was too hot in the house (at the low setting). - She has no idea how good her words sounded to me. Bye-bye oil. I was just glad to finally have it in! Now it's just darned hot and sunny out, lol.

 

It makes less noise than the oil furnace but I'll see if it's the same once it is hooked up to the duct work. Pooring in a bag of pellets was a breeze, nothing to it.

 

A small down side is that the front window gets partly darkened from the flame and it gets pretty hot (but not the rest of the furnace, even the exhaust pipe can be touched). It sits in the basement, so it's no big deal. Apparently if I adjust the fresh air intake level the window will remain fully transparent.

 

More to come as the duct work is installed and the cold air arrives. We have a 5 year old daugther and expecting a boy any day, so I'll say the story as it is.

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» left by laurie bailey

from millbury, ma 3 years 121 days ago.

great article. we're putting in a pellet/corn fireplace insert end of Oct. 2008 for a 2,400 house, so it was good reading.

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» left by Salty Dog 3 years 102 days ago.

Hello Gentlemen

 

I am a HVAC contractor in Ontario , Canada.. I have been reading the pellet furnace blog here and I thought I would add my 2 cents... One important thing here to remember is codes regarding oil , wood, ducting etc... 3 different codes come into play and they have to be respected... If the wood/pellet stove does not have a ulc/csa standard stating that the wood/pellet furnace can hook into the ducting now used for the oil appliance.. than the wood/pellet stove is not approved for canada.. Your insurance guy will inspect your wood/pellet furnace and treat it like a wood stove and pass with maximum clearances... But he knows nothing about ducting or oil appliances... ( here I am making a general assumption)... If there is code infractions with the install.. this is a possible escape clause for insurance ... I have personally seen this happen... So be careful... dot your i's ..

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» left by Frank

from Ottawa, Canada 3 years 99 days ago.

Good day,

 

Thank you for the wise words and experience... much appreciated.

 

My pellet furnace has finally been installed and hooked up to the existing oil furnace's duct work, in the fashion described earlier above. There is no negative pressure. The heat is distributed evenly across the house with the existing ducts in every room. The blower isn't as powerful as the oil furnace but thus far it is more than sufficient: it's set at near low settings, if not it gets too hot and that with a few degrees below freezing outside.

 

A bag of pellets a day is what it now consumes. Remains to be seen how it will perform when it gets well below freezing but I am keeping track on a chart of daily consumption and temperature. Both furnaces can work simultaneously but I set the oil furnace 2 degrees below that of the pellet furnace.

 

We keep the inside temperature at 23C, or 73.4F as we have a 2 week old -new born. So far I am more than impressed. The savings this month will be "only" $365 because the price of oil dropped almost be half from it's summer's peak. A bag a day at $4.50/bag x 30 days = $135 for the month. As with oil, you had to buy a purchase plan by September 15th when the price of oil was high, ending costing at least $500-$700 for the month.

 

The external thermostat will be installed on the first floor next week, which will help further reduce pellet consumption as the furnace will actually shut off completely when the demand is low as opposed to keeping the pilot on regardless if the furnace's blower is on or not. (Without the external thermostat, it has an internal one which turns the blower on or off depending on when the desired temperature is needed, but keeps the pilot burning).

 

More to come...

 

 

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