OT: Pellet Stoves

[sokyroadie]

I have a detached garage (pole barn) 24 x 32 that I have heated with wood for 36 years, wanting to try something easier, hence the pellet stove idea. I typically only heated it on the weekends, but I am now semi-retired and have 4 days off. I live in southern KY and winters are pretty mild, the temp. in the garage very seldom is below 40 deg. even being unheated for a week.

I am hoping a stove rated for 2200 sqft (44,000 btu) can bring it from say 40 deg. into the 60's in 3-4 hours. I could turn it on the night before if need be.

Any users ;)

[Hilltopperny]

I have used everything from a gravity fed to a motorized pellet stove. They heat things up without any problem, but the motorized ones need to be cleaned quite regularly and the motor tends to seize up and need replacing if it is a cheaper model. The gravity fed only needed the $30 basket replaced after lots of use.


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[CNY rider]

You won't have any problem reaching the temp you desire.
You do need to think about where you will store your pellets so they are dry and conveniently located to bring to the stove.
We had a Quadra Fire forever. Great stove, would readily buy again. Now we have a Harmon, also very high quality but there were some little things I preferred on the Quadra Fire.
What brands do you have available locally?

[David Kirk]

I've heated my shop with a pellet stove for the past 17 years. I can heat it 5 days a week for about $250 for the season.

I started with a "Cheap Charlie" brand stove and it worked OK for a long time. In time the pellet lift/drop mechanism wore out and the company was long out of business so I donoated to some guys who were going to make new parts for it.

I then purchased a new stove made by Castle. I got it online through Ace hardware. It's awesome. Super quiet and very efficient and it puts out a ton of heat if you need it to....or it can run on very low and just keep the place warm once it gets there. I love it.

One thing that is hard to process is how little ash there is. I can burn 1 ton of pellets in a winter and the ash won't fill a 2 gallon bucket. Just awesome.

dave

[sokyroadie]

You won't have any problem reaching the temp you desire.
You do need to think about where you will store your pellets so they are dry and conveniently located to bring to the stove.
We had a Quadra Fire forever. Great stove, would readily buy again. Now we have a Harmon, also very high quality but there were some little things I preferred on the Quadra Fire.
What brands do you have available locally?

I have plenty of room in the garage for pellets. About the only thing local are US Stove (King, Ashley, Vogelzang etc,) none of which get rave reviews. There are no local servicing dealers for anything. I am probably going with:

https://comfortbilt.net/collections/hp55/products/comfortbilt-hp55-pellet-stove-carbon-black

Free shipping

[C40_guy]

Pellets? We don't need no stinkin' pellets. :)

[NHAero]

The minimal ash is a function of the stove, and also of a high quality pellet. It's been quite a while since I looked at this issue, and my experience is with wood pellet boilers that heat a college dorm in one case and a cohousing development of 28 homes in another, but the European high quality pellet burning equipment had strict specifications on the quality of pellet, including residual ash IIRC.

I've heated my shop with a pellet stove for the past 17 years. I can heat it 5 days a week for about $250 for the season.

I started with a "Cheap Charlie" brand stove and it worked OK for a long time. In time the pellet lift/drop mechanism wore out and the company was long out of business so I donoated to some guys who were going to make new parts for it.

I then purchased a new stove made by Castle. I got it online through Ace hardware. It's awesome. Super quiet and very efficient and it puts out a ton of heat if you need it to....or it can run on very low and just keep the place warm once it gets there. I love it.

One thing that is hard to process is how little ash there is. I can burn 1 ton of pellets in a winter and the ash won't fill a 2 gallon bucket. Just awesome.

dave

[Tandem Rider]

I heat my shop with a Warnock Hersey pellet stove, I bought it used, I have only cleaned it, never had to fix it. Shop is fairly well insulated and the stove will bring it up to mid 50s in an hour or so from near freezing. I find 50s comfy for working on bikes or woodworking so I start turning it down at that point.

[Ken Robb]

If the rating for 2200 sq. ft. refers to a typical insulated room with 8 foot ceilings will it be adequate for a "pole barn"?

[sokyroadie]

If the rating for 2200 sq. ft. refers to a typical insulated room with 8 foot ceilings will it be adequate for a "pole barn"?

I have pretty good insulation, so pretty sure it will be OK.

[Ken Robb]

I have pretty good insulation, so pretty sure it will be OK.

After I posted my question it dawned on me that you have been heating it successfully burning wood so you surely know what you need. As I think about how this company rates stoves I wonder if instead of just saying a stove is good for 2000 square feet they said that assumes "typical" 8 foot ceilings?

[morrisericd]

I have a 1500 SF workshop that I used to heat with a pellet stove. The pellet stove would hold 3 bags of pellets and was set up to run off of a thermostat. I'm in Vermont - so it gets pretty cold, but the shop is very well insulated. After the first year or so, I began having issues with it. I would go down in the morning and find the auger had clogged, or it had shut itself down for some reason. I was meticulous about cleaning, etc.

After 3 years, I gave up and bought a mini split system. It's worked great from day one, uses very little electricity and I have AC in the summer which is great for keeping all of my furniture projects and materials at a consistent humidity / temperature.

So - my thought is, get yourself a mini split. Skip the pellets.