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Benefits of Pellet Stoves
Pellet stoves are relatively versatile appliances and typically all pellet stoves are now self-igniting and cycle themselves on and off controlled by a thermostat. Pellet Stoves with an automatic ignition can be equipped with remote controls. Recent innovations have created computer systems or “brains” within pellet stoves which run diagnostic tests if an imminent problem has arisen.
A well maintained and clean pellet stove should not create any creosote, the creosote is a sticky, flammable substance that causes chimney fires. Pellets burn very cleanly and create only a layer of fine fly-ash as a byproduct of combustion which is collected within the ash tray. The grade of pellet fuel will affect the performance and ash output.
Premium grade pellets will produce less than 1% ash content, while standard or low grade pellets produce anything from 2 to 4% ash content. When using lower grade or standard grade pellets there will result in extra maintenance.
A pellet stoves typicaly burn wood pellets but now more and more pellet stoves will also burn the likes of shelled corn, grain, seeds and woodchips an exampe would be Quadra- Fire range of products that burns wood pellets and shelled corn.
Pellet stoves venting is nowadays required and needs a certified double walled venting system, normally three or four inches in diameter with a stainless steel interior and galvanized exterior. As pellet stoves have a forced exhaust system, they do not usually require a vertical rise to vent although its recommended to have a three to five foot vertical run to prevent any leakage when theres a power outage. Pellet stoves can be vented horizontally through an outside wall and terminated below the roof line much like a modern gas appliance, making it an excellent choice for structures without an existing chimney. If an existing chimney is available, manufacturers urge use of a correctly sized stainless steel liner the length of the chimney for proper drafting.
A big plus is the fact that in many states in the U.S.A, pellet stoves and fuel are exempt from sales tax.
Pellet Fuel Manufacturers
Pellet fuel has grown in demand over the past decade with many different tyes of pellet fuels like wood, paper and even shelled corn. Consumers interested in expanding their options for purchasing pellet fuel should seek out additional vendors.
Here’s some simple steps you can use to find a pellet fuel manufacturer in the USA or Canada
Step #1 - Choose manufacturers closest in geography
Step #2 - Call several manufacturers for the names of their retailers in your area
Step #3 - Contact those retailers for current inventory and pricing
Wood Pellet Fuel
Wood pellet fuel is made from sawdust and ground up wood chips, which are biomass waste materials from trees used to make furniture, lumber, and other such products. Therefore very environmentally friendly as only waste products are used.
Typically wood pellet fuel have alow moisture content of approx. 5%–10% compared to 15% for
fuel shelled corn and around 20% for seasoned fire wood.
Some wood pellet fuels contain either petroleum or non-petroleum lignin used as a lubricant in the pellet production process, though most contain no additives. Pellets made from agricultural waste contain more ash, but can produce more heat than wood pellet fuel.
Under the PFI standards, there are two pellet fuel grades:
premium and standard.
The main difference between grades is in the inorganic ash content, premium pellet fuels should be
less than 1% ash content where as standard pelet fuel which is less than 3%. Premium is usually made of core wood (not bark).
Pellet stoves designed for low-ash (typically top-fed stoves) tend to operate poorly
when used with pellets of a higher ash content. Many pellet appliance
manufacturers are redesigning their products to burn pellets with varying ash
contents.
Although pellet fuel availability is increasing, you should be sure there is a reliable
pellet fuel supplier in your area before purchasing a pellet stove.
Looking to buy Wood Pellet Fuel click here for my Pellet store
What information should I know about pellet stove dealers?
Pellet stoves appliances are not difficult to operate or maintain with a little initial instruction from your pellet stove dealer. Ask what training material and services are available before you purchase. many pellet stove dealers will offer training though stove operation demo’s.
Dealers can provide details of warranty service, including extended warranty plans, as well as regular service. Dealers will discuss a fuel plan with you, telling you where locally available pellet fuels are compatible with your stove and which pellet mills or shops supply them.
Here’s a few questions you could ask:
- Shopper’s Checklist
- Fuel requirements and availability
- Dealer’s owner training program and materials
- Special features like self-igniter system, remote thermostatic control, glass air wash and imitation logs for fire viewing, ash drawer size
- Ease and expected frequency of routine owner maintenance
- Availability and cost of professional service
- Understanding of heating system requirements and installation plan
- Backup power or alternate heat source plan (if important)
- Warranty details
- Total system and installation cost
For more information on Pellet Stove Appliances click here.
Comparing Pellet Fuel Energy Costs
Before we look at the cost of the pellet fuel, we have a quick look at the prices for pellet stove appliances which can range from about $1,700 to $3,000 for the stove and from $150 to $400 for installation. When we start comparing prices of pellet stoves against those of wood stoves, we can remember that pellet stoves offer a substantial savings as they don’t require installation of a full-height conventional chimney or flue, which is typically the most costly part of some fireplace and wood stove installations.
Now back to the pellet fuel cost we can compare the price to the cost of wood. Pellet fuel are more expensive, at $130 to $200 per ton, compared with firewood, which runs from $100 to $175 per cord. But we can’t just compare like that.
One ton of pellets fuel consists of 50 bags that weigh 40 pounds each. A cord of wood, which measures 4 feet by 4 feet by 8 feet is purchased by volume, which of course includes the voids between stacked logs and the moisture in wood that can’t be converted to heat (20 percent to 30 percent). As a rule of thumb, one ton of pellets is roughly equivalent to about 1 1/2 cords of wood.
We can also evaluate based in the usage. Wood stove users burn from around 3 to 4 cords of wood per year. An average pellet stove appliance will use from 1 to 3 tons of pellets per year. Figuring in the costs above, pellets are often less expensive than cord wood. Of course, other advantages are time, as you save on the stacking and carrying of wood, and you need less storage space too, pellets can be stored in only one-third the space needed for cord wood.
A key factor to the cost of pellets is the location as you will need a supply nearby else you end up playing for transportation. Most of the pellet mills in the United States and Canada are located near lumber mills, furniture manufacturing, or millwork plants so be sure to ask your wood stove dealer about sources and prices.
Looking to buy Wood Pellet Fuel click here at my Store for Pellet fuel
What types of pellet appliances are available?
Pellet stoves designs come in a wide range of sizes, styles and finishes. Your first choice is the basic configuration of the applicance.
Free Standing Pellet stoves (figure 4)
floor protector can be installed in almost all living rooms, they are installed a specific distance away from. these have a great range of flexibility in the installation, supported by legs and sits on a non-conbustibleconbustible materials but still can be placed closer than typical wood cord burning appliances.
Fireplace inserts (Figure 5)
Firepalce inserts are installed in existing working firepalces, panels are added to fill up the void around the new pellet stove, certsian pellet stoves can only be used with masonary fireplaces, whereas others can be installed in apporved factory built metail firepalces.
Built-in appliances (Figure 6)
Built-in appliances are an excellent choice for homes without an existing fireplace but can give the look of having one. A built in pellet stove can be boxed in with a close clearance to combustible framing, materials like brik can be added around the pellet stove to give appearance of a fireplace.
Pellet furnaces are large units designed to heat an entire house through duct work. They are usually installed in a basement or other non-living area of the house. Like pellet stoves, furnaces require venting to the outside.
Pellet stoves can also be categorised accordling to the deliverly of pellet fuel.
Top feed pellet stoves deliver pellet fuel from a tube or chute above the fire, and bottom feed stoves deliver pellet fuel from behind or beside the burn pot directly to the fire (see Figure 2).
There are many variations within these two categories depending on manufacture, but bottom feed stoves preform better with the wider range of ash content in standard grade fuel because the feeding action moves ash and clinkers away from the burn area thus keeping the air inlets open and will reduce the frequency of cleaning.
To feed pellets stoves do have advantages in overall heating efficency sice thepellet fuel remains in the burn pot and exhaust gases move slower and improves the heat transfer. Special grates or rotating burn pots in some top feed pellet stoves will also reduce maintenance frequency.
If only standard grade pellets are available to you, or if there is a desire to burn a higher ash or special fuel like shelled corn or nut hulls, special attention must be paid to the issue of fuel delivery, ash content, and stove compatibility. Otherwise, design differences are less significant considerations of relative degrees of efficiency and maintenance frequency.
For more information on Pellet Stove Appliances click here.
What does pellet Fuel cost?
The current cost of pellet fuel ranges anywhere from $120-200 per ton and averages $150, but of course this will vary by availablility, region and of course season, as do other heating fuels.
One good advantage with Pellet fuel is they can be stored aeasily as they come in bags, so many consumers will buy in the chea summer season rather than wait to the expense winter season.
The selling price, of course, is only a part of the overall cost. The primary issue is the cost of energy, which is measured in dollars per million British thermal units ($/MM Btu). Pellets purchased at the average $150 per ton and burned in a typical pellet stove cost about $11.50 per million Btu, a figure that is less than the cost of electric heat and competitive with average energy costs of some other fuels.
While tables and charts assume average appliance efficiencies and fuel costs, real world experiences vary widely. The actual cost of heating a home must take into account other factors like your homes insulation and tightness of the home, its size and layout, the level of comfort desired, and local climate.
Other economic factors impacting energy costs, though hard to quantify, are also worth consideration. Biomass pellets reduce the use of dwindling fossil fuels, often imported from foreign countries. Every ton of waste material used in pellets fuel reduces the rising costs associated with waste disposal.
Looking to buy Wood Pellet Fuel click here at my Store for Pellet fuel
Common characteristics of all pellet fuels?
Although the chemical constituents and moisture content of different biomass materials vary, the Pellet Fuel Institute has identified the common characteristics and developed the fuel standards.
These voluntary industry standards will assume as much uniformity in the pellet fuel as is possible for naturally grown materials. PFI graded fuel must meet tests for the following areas:
- Density-consistent hardness and energy content (minimum 40 pounds/ cubic foot)
- Dimensions-length (1 1/2″ maximum) and diameter (1/4″or 5/16″) to assure” predictable fuel amounts and to prevent fuel jamming
- Fines-limited amount of sawdust from pellet breakdown to avoid dust while loading and problems with pellet flow during operation (amount of fines passing through 1/8″ screen no more than .5% by weight)”
- Chlorides-limited salt content (no more than 300 parts per million) to avoid stove or vent rusting
- Ash-important factor in the maintenance frequency.
Looking to buy Wood Pellet Fuel click here at my Store for Pellet fuel
What advantages do pellet fuel offer?
The first thing that attracts people to pellet fuel is their convenience. As a bag of pellet fuel can be stored and stacked easily, to store one ton of pellet fuel only requires a volume of 4ft x 4ft x 4ft which is approx half the space of wood. Bags of pellet fuel can be stoed in any small utility room, store, shed, or basement.
Another bag plus is that pellets can be easily loaded into the stove hopper, the small szie of the pellet fuel allows for precisely regulated fuel feed. which in turn allows the combustion air to be regulated easily for optimum burn efficiency since the amount of fuel in the burn pot is predictable and consistent. A high combustion efficiency is also due to the uniformly low moisture content of pellets (consistently below 10% compared to 20 to 60% moisture content in cordwood).
A high heat output and a very low level of uwanted emmissions due to the uniformly low moisture, controlled fuel batches, and precisely regulated combustion of air.
Pellet fuels have other environmental benefits besides clean burns. As a biomass fuel, pellets offer the advantages of sustainable energy supplies through renewable raw materials which in the long term only can benefit the world. In addition, pellets are a by-product, not a primary user, of these renewable materials. Using pellets also helps reduce the costs and problems of waste disposal.
In 1993-94, more than 6.5 million cubic yards of waste were diverted from landfills and converted to home heating in the form of pellets. So you can see you can save money and help the world by using Pellet fuels.
Looking to buy Wood Pellet Fuel click here at my Pellet fuel Store
How do pellet stoves work?
Pellet stove appliances have automate as many functions as there is possible. The most significant one is the fuel delivery. When the user sets the heat setting an auger or similar feed device will regulate the delivery of pellet fuel from the hopper to the fire (Figure 2).
By having automatic fuel delivery of the pellet fuel the user does not need attend to the frequent loading while at the same time providing clean burns and the desired comfort level. To get the desired combusion air is automated or with a slight manual adjustment.
In most pellet stove designs, a fan delivers air to the fire and will blow exhaust by-products out of a vent pipe, which is a smaller and cheaper version of a chimmey (Figure 3).
In most pellet stoves systems, a fan delivers heat to the home by blowing air through heat exchangers in the stove and out into the home. Heating efficiency is greatly enhanced by removing the heat from the appliance before it can exit the system.
For more information on Pellet Stove Appliances click here.
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