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[sup]

Hi, guy's Nice sight, I have been thinking of getting an owb or outdoor pellet furnace. I have been heating with pellets now for 7 years, in a fire place insert. Tired of the dust inside the house. Plus bringing buckets up the stairs. Not getting any younger. I pretty much have decided if i do this it would be a unit from CB. my house is a ranch style About 1600sq ft. Well insulated newer windows & doors. I use 2 1/2 tons of pellets about every year with a space heater every now and then.

I like the idea of a wood burner, but i would be buying all my wood. I also like the idea of the pellet furnace . I plan on doing a new heat pump at the same time. tired of oil heat as a back up. I live in SW Pa so i would be using the out door unit when it's below freezing i hope. What I'm trying to figure out is how much wood or Pellets i would be using, and is it going to be worth it. Sorry for the long first post.  Thanks sup

[Bull]

Welcome to the site sup, there are guys here from your neck of the woods so someone will chime in or read some post to find some like size houses and heat loads. 

[Rockarosa]

Hello, and welcome Sup. I live in eastern Ohio across the river from Wheeling Wv. I have a 250 Cozyburn made by Pro-Fab. I'm heating a2800 sq ft. older farmhouse with new windows but not insulated that well. I light up in early Nov. and keep it  burning till spring. My house is around 72 degrees. I have a oil fired hot water heat furnace  in the basement which is now my back-up. I burn between 8-10 cords a season, but it is worth it. My house is warm and the last time I checked heating oil was $3.82 a gallon. I was using 1200 gallon a winter and the house was chilly. The outdoor furnace is alot of work but I like being self sufficient and the wood cutting is good exercise.  Good luck and stay warm!

[willieG]

sup..i can not make your estimate of your wood pellets come any where near heating your home. a search on the net tells me a ton of pellets is at best 14 million btu..a conservitive btu estimate for your home is 30 btu per square foot per hour (48,000 per hour for 1600 square feet)  that makes 1,152,000 per day so if we even lowe that to 1,000,000 per day and say  for average numbers only 100 days for a winter season we get  100,000,000 that would equate to about 6 cords of mixed hardwood (that would be about average i think for a home of your size)
now baack to your 2.5 tons of pellets =35 million btu or again on average about 35 days of winter?
 
could you have counted your pellet bgs wrong or use the space heatermore than you think

if you truly only used that small amount of pellets you will only use about 2 to 3 cords of wood. mixed hardwood would be close to 16 to 18 million btu per cord less the efficency rating of the boiler (lets say 15 million average) 3 cords would be 45 million  less (again lets estimate) 20 percent for efficiency = 9 million off the 45 would be 36 million  and that would equal your 2.5 tons of pellets

that is how i figure it..and i have been wrong before but it is something to think about

[BoilerHouse]

Last year I went through 9 cords- mid sized old farmhouse and medium newer shop in a colder climate.
 I thought that seemed high and made a few modifications.  Wood use is down quite a bit but the winter is milder.  It is still wait and see.  Many here either cut down their own wood or, like me, buy logs and cut, split and pile from there.  It is not everyones cup of tea.  It is a lot of work but if you enjoy that type of work then the fuel oil or propane savings are well worth it. 

[sup]

I should have mentioned i don't fire the pellet stove up till really cold weather sets in, usually after Thanksgiving. Plus we don't like it to warm 70 degrees is just fine. We use the oil furnace early & late winter. That's why i was thinking about a heat pump with an electric air handler until winter sets in to use the out side unit. I need to replace my a/c unit anyway. I would sooner support the coal miners and use a little electric than big oil till i would fire up the out door unit. It just sucks that i can't split my own fire wood, i have had three shoulder surgeries and am limited what i can do. Thanks Sup.

[willieG]

sup that makes sense to me now..if you are thinking of a heat pump why not an in ground water furnace they arem uch more efficient that one that sits ourside your home. you may find if some one dies a heat loss on yoru home (because you say it is wellinsulaated) that the amount of electricity used  may be less than the wood you would need to buy. im not sure how things work in PA but here in canada they had a big grant for puttingthem in a year or 2 ago.

[woodman]

If you are really only going to use the owb for 2-4 cord of wood per year, plus you are planning on buying your wood, it will be a long time to see a payback on your investment. If this REALLY is the case and you are planning on putting in a new heat pump anyway, I think I would run the numbers on a geothermal system. I think there is still a 30% tax rebate available for qualified systems.   

[woodman]

Woops! WillieG beat me to the post! Anyway good luck.

[willieG]

with all those spelling mistakes woodman...i'm surprised you could read it