Alternative Heating

[Bubs]

I was just wondering if anyone has tried any alternate energy source for heating. I have put a down payment on a corn / wood pellet stove. But the stove won't be arriving till Febuary or March. So I won't save very much on fuel this year. I ordered a quadra-flame (brand name)catiline stove 35,000 BTU I think. If burning corn you can't use the thermostat, you have to set it to manual low, medium or high auger speeds. Burning the pellets you can set the thermostat at 70 degrees and keep the hopper full. I grew up cutting firewood and kind of like the ideal of just turning the thermostat up. But so my son's don't turn out too lazy I need to make them work, so maybe cutting firewood will help keep them in shape. I now cut fire wood just for making maple syrup, and back yard fires. But with so many rez residents switching to wood as a secondary or primary heat source I figured I try a renewable source corn. I can supply my heat with around 4 acres of corn or buy it from the feed mill. The wood pellets just can not be found in western NY now.

[anantas]

Thoeretically I like the idea of using something other than wood pellets to heat. BUT I can't get beyond the idea of burning food (corn). The people I know who have pellet stoves love them. It's quiet, minimal work filling the hopper (a weak person merely fills it with smaller loads), you have better control of the heating of your place therefore less sweltering then freezing within a given day, cleaning is easy. The only negative comment I've ever heard is that it is not much fun watching a single flame but then a person doesn't usually watch the fire in a woodstove anyway. I guess this person was expecting something more like a fireplace.

[WarriorBadge]

thats funny you ask. My little sister and her husband are heavily involved in alternative heating solutions. They run a small company that installs alternative heating equipment in the central ny state area. Their website is online at http://www.buywoodstove.com/

[Bubs]

I guess you could use white flour corn, but ussually yellow dent animal feed corn is used which sells around $6.00 a hundred pound bag, compaired to $4.50 for a 45 pound bag of pellets. But with corn you have to store corn in varmin proof barrels or hoppers more expenses, but you don't have that problems with pellets or wood. This stove I ordered has a maybe 10 inch by 6 inch fire viewing window, you can order extra fake logs to look like a regular fire for it.
There is company called Buffalo Pellets Stoves from Salamaca, I was looking at but it only burns pellets. It doesn't use a auger it uses a wheel simular to old paddle boat wheels and as the wheel turns the pellets fall into the fire box, it has a life time warranty.
I will pass the wood stove information to a friend who is planning on switching back to wood after 15 years of propane, he just hates giving his money away. He says cutting wood would give him something to do, I told him he might want to keep the propane furnace just in case your tractor dies and you can't haul the wood.

[Blackbear]

LOL I always heard buffalo chips/cowchips were an inexpensive burning material as well... I'm sure not a pleasant smelling one. Man I feel bad for those with propane and natural gas right now to heat... it's gone up so high! We heat with oil and a toyostove. It's right around the price of gasoline right now which is roughly 2.25 a gallon.

[Bubs]

Bear not buffalo chips, the pellets are of two types 87% efficient type has bark and sawdust in the pressed pellets and the 93% efficient type which is just pressed saw dust, no buffalo chips. I think I would be sitting outside if I burn buffalo chips, not too fond of the smell myself. There was a fertilizer plant in Ransomeville NY that made cow manure into garden pellets, being down wind within 5 miles of that place would gag you, completely ruin a Sunday drive, you couldn't even stop to gag it just got stronger smelling in the car and worse if you opened the door then your clothing smelled like it.

[WarriorBadge]

cow chips?? lol

man, Im just going to follow the sun around. cold and snow make me feel like an old lady, brrrrrrr.

[Bubs]

WB, I have burned firewood for heat growing up at my parents and all the work that goes into getting the wood from the woods to the house. When you get to Calif. check out the redwoods. I know this sounds silly but it will make you wonder how they moved such huge trees. I went to I believe its called Fulton Point, it's a little redwood park maybe 100 acres of preserved redwoods near San Fransico. They had a tree section about 14 feet in diameter (rather small for a redwood) and maybe 2 foot thick, but they had labels aging the trees growth rings with a little star at each growth ring one was Jesus was born on earth, another showing the start of WWI, WWII an I believe the tree was 3200 years old. But it is rather sad to kill such a massive and magnifcant tree, but there are bigger trees yet. But they do have pictures of how they moved them, makes me think how many people died moving logs. There is no flat ground so the logs would of constantly rolled and Oxen don't move very fasy. I would still like to try to grow a redwood myself. Make sure you wear your sun screen!

[Mato Winyan]

I'm kind of partial to friction :tu :roflmao:

[bearcat]

I'm kind of partial to friction :tu :roflmao:

MATO!!!

Now that's funny ... heheheheheh

:laughing_

[Bubs]

My pellet stove arrived two weeks ago, I couldn't set it up because I needed a wall cricket the pipe that goes through the wall. The place I bought it from got a attitude because I bought it cash and carry, I refused to pay $1200 for 2 hours of work to install my pellet stove. They had the double walled exhaust pipes but wouldn't sell me a wall cricket unless I hired them to install my stove. I made my own wall cricket and set up my stove, made my hearth out of marble tile on a 3/4 plywood base. Then I couldn't find a quanity of pellets unless I go to Hagerstown, MD or several places in PA. Pellet prices run anywhere from $200 a ton to $400 a ton depending on the store. eBay has pellets from $300 a ton to $6.99 a bag. Lowes had a special this week $201 a ton and $30 to deliver it. But we had 7 degrees temp's outside the other night and my furnace kicks in maybe once a hour now instead of every 10 minutes before the pellet stove. So I am a pretty happy customer now.

[rjricelny]

$1,200 for a couple hours of work? Dang - I'm in the wrong business!


Bubs, where did you get your black pipe from?

[Craig]

I spent the last 4 days in a large modular home totally heated by wood. Not pellets just split logs. The house was set up for electric heat and I was told that it was insolated better than normal modular homes heated any other way. The wood stove was in the basement and vents were cut through the floor with the warm air rising naturally. I expected to find a large unit and was really surprised to find a small, maybe 3 by 5 by 4-foot closed unit heating the whole house. They cut, transport and split their own wood from the acres of woods on there own land. BTW the av temp inside was about 75 deg upstairs and maybe 80 to 85 in the basement. Oh Yea they are located in the high hills close to the Catskills about 35 min south of Albany the sunrises and sunsets were great and I can’t wait to get back.

[Bubs]

RJ, I got all my double walled pipe from Home Depot (galvanized), I was boycotting Strenkowski Brothers after he got wierd over not having him install my setup. But Tractor Supply in Lockport has black and galvanized double walled 3" pipe. I believe all the piping cost around $80 and my floor hearth materials about $35. I keep my pellet thermostat at 75 degrees and my furnace at 70 degrees, the pellet stove burns about 40 to 50 pounds of pellets in 24 hours. I have not tried it's manual auger setting.
Craig if I sat in 80 degree temp's you would hear snooring.

[bearcat]

Hey there Bubs - can your new stove burn pea-coal? My friend Paul asked ...

[Bubs]

Bearcat, the stove I have will not burn pea coal. But the company does make an air tight wood / coal burning line of stoves that do, but the one I got only burns wood pellet and corn . There are also bio- fuel stoves that burn all grains such as wheat, rye, oats and corn. So far I have tried 50/50 or half corn and half pellets it burns hotter but also has about 4 time the amount of ash close to a wood stove needing daily attension to the ash pan.

[Bubs]

Comparing my propane use in the 2003-2004 winter cost me $2,900 to fill my 500 gallon propane tank 4 times, and 2004 -2005 winter it cost $3,200 to fill my tank 4 times. This winter I filled my propane tank in November and December cost approx. $1,300, purchased a pellet stove for $2,000 and 2 ton of pellets cost $404 so I spent $3,704 but I still have 45% propane in my 500 gallon tank from the December filling. So I figure winter of 2006 will cost me $600 dollars to heat all winter.

[Ojidanowe]

I remember when my ex and I first got a woodstove. The gas company sent out a couple guys and they replaced the meter and checked all the gas lines. The stove cut our gas consumtion that low! If I lived in a home rather than an apartment I would definately be exploring kinds of alternative energy.
The pellet stove sounds great.

[Kanuna]

I believe you! When I was a kid my dad got me a axe that I could swing and I remember trying to cut logs with him in the back yard. I didn't chop as many as he did but I had fun trying :)