Heating your home:Does anyone use pellet stoves? (Klamath Falls, Boardman: co-op, houses)

[i_love_autumn]

When I lived in the country here in northern Ohio,we had to use propane heat,and the cost is unbelievable for that fuel,so my late husband installed a pellet stove,and it was wonderful! No nasty ashes to deal with,and a nice 20lb plastic bag of pellets to empty into the hopper.The pellets were so easy to have delivered on a pallet and store in the garage.

I was just curious if the stoves and pellets are available here since I haven't seen anyone mention them?

BTW,I now live in an apt. with radiant electric ceiling heat and it is amazing! Like the sun it heats all the surfaces,my furniture and floors are toasty warm.

[Sizzle-Chest]

Pellet's are widely available in Oregon. In fact, most pellets are produced in the Pacific Northwest. I've really enjoyed the heat and low ash ours produces, but lately I've been liking our heat pump better simply because I don't have to load it with pellets and the AC works great in the summer.

[hamellr]

They are available. But, everyone I know who has one has replaced it for various reasons. My in-laws had theirs for only two years for instance. It replaced an older pot-belly stove. They replaced the pellet stove with a heat pump.

[i_love_autumn]

Wow,when I go past our former home to visit, I see the family that bought our country house is still using the pellet stove 16 years later!

I'm not at all familiar with a heat pump system,will have to check that out,thanks!

How about geo-thermal there? That is just becoming known here.

[PNW-type-gal]

Believe it or not, Oregon - and the rest of the country - is at least as advanced as Ohio. We really do have most of the same amenities.

You won't find a lot of coal-powered homes here (one generating plant out by Boardman, in the process of being closed) and there are incentives to pull out oil heating (like not wanting to deal with an old leaking tank). Natural gas is also quite common here.

Geothermal - as in heat supplied by deep underground heat - and ground-source heat systems (loops or wells in the ground) are used where available (Klamath Falls uses geothermal from a deep hot water well to keep the city sidewalks clear of snow in the winter and to heat houses and buildings). The problem is that the ground-source loops are expensive and take large lots. Solar and wind have attractive rebates and work well in SOME areas.

Pellet stoves take monthly maintenance that a lot of people don't want to do and several of my neighbors have had problems with the screw feed assemblies. I just replaced the living room fireplace and chose a natural gas insert rather than a pellet stove because I didn't want to bother with bringing in the pellets are storing a literal ton of them or a bunch of bags.

[Hawk J]

Many of the Mountain folks have wood burners & fireplaces......

[oregonwoodsmoke]

Pallets loaded with pellets are available at all the feed stores, farm stores, lumber yards, and big box home improvement stores. Judging by the number of tons they sell, I would suspect that there are a lot of pellet stoves in the area.

I had one and took it out. I don't like the constant noise, if won't work when the electric power is out, and it isn't all that cheap to use.

[karlsch]

Some Oregonians just wear snuggies:

[i_love_autumn]

Originally Posted by oregonwoodsmoke

Pallets loaded with pellets are available at all the feed stores, farm stores, lumber yards, and big box home improvement stores. Judging by the number of tons they sell, I would suspect that there are a lot of pellet stoves in the area.

I had one and took it out. I don't like the constant noise, if won't work when the electric power is out, and it isn't all that cheap to use.

Noise?I don't remember any noise from ours,and the pellets were waaay cheaper per month than propane,at least 1/2 the cost!Propane was running us $300+ per month while the pellets ran $150 or less using a bag per 24 hours. Our house was an open floor plan so it did a great job of heating our home,but you are right that you need electric for the blower,or a generator in case of a power outage.

[i_love_autumn]

Originally Posted by PNW-type-gal

Believe it or not, Oregon - and the rest of the country - is at least as advanced as Ohio. We really do have most of the same amenities.

You won't find a lot of coal-powered homes here (one generating plant out by Boardman, in the process of being closed) and there are incentives to pull out oil heating (like not wanting to deal with an old leaking tank). Natural gas is also quite common here.

Geothermal - as in heat supplied by deep underground heat - and ground-source heat systems (loops or wells in the ground) are used where available (Klamath Falls uses geothermal from a deep hot water well to keep the city sidewalks clear of snow in the winter and to heat houses and buildings). The problem is that the ground-source loops are expensive and take large lots. Solar and wind have attractive rebates and work well in SOME areas.

Pellet stoves take monthly maintenance that a lot of people don't want to do and several of my neighbors have had problems with the screw feed assemblies. I just replaced the living room fireplace and chose a natural gas insert rather than a pellet stove because I didn't want to bother with bringing in the pellets are storing a literal ton of them or a bunch of bags.

Oh I don't think Ohio is so advanced!

I do know geothermal loops take a large lot.Our monthly electric co-op magazine had an article explaining it and my husband said he wished he knew about it when we bought and totally refurbished the house there since it sat on over an acre,we could have put it in since we had a new basement put in and heating system.
Natural gas was not available out there,is why we went with propane.Too far from the city to trust speedy service if we lost power to go all electric,which is what I prefer now.

If one has the lot size and is building a house,I think geothermal is the way to go.