I'm in the market. Thanks
Anyone use a Pellet Stove or Heat Pump? Share your thoughts / experience
by UnConfused 6 Replies latest jw friends
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hillbilly
heat pumps are just a reverse cycle AC... If you live in the middle latitudes it simply takes the heat from the outside air and uses that heat to warm the refrigerant and that heat is drawn into the house. If you live way north it wont work well. Around 40 f they work pretty well.
If you live further south .. they back up the reverese cycle with gas, LP or electric supplemental heat in the unit... in case is gets too cold out.
Pellet stoves are among the crop of bio-mass products out there today. They can be very efficent ... even cheap if you can buy fuel in bulk and store it.
Corn stoves are great... the farm across the road kept several thousand bushels of feed corn in storage... so fuel was not a problem. buying it in 50 pound bags could get a little spendy.
Alternatives... you can set up geothermal systems... using the heat of the earth to transfer heat to a buried closed water circuit. Expensive...but I a cold area the payback could be short..especially if you are getting out of oil or gas.
There are some outdoor burner systems out there too... boiler in a shed... heats a loop of water that exchanges heat into you existing heater coils.
Again..if you can store enough wood , corn, cornstalks or other fuel you prefer ... these can have a quick payback.
If I went back to Michigan I'd put a boiler out back... and probably add a geothermal loop. In that area the water below frostline is always about 60 degrees. My yard is big enough to bury a pipe loop. I have plenty of room to store fuel for an outdoor boiler and a place to site the equipment.
LP is getting way to spendy for all winter heating.
Hill
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Casper
We just had a new Trane furnace & A/C with heat pump installed last Fall.... works really well for us here in Southern Ind.
It has an emergency back up heating system in it... it never did kick on last winter...
Cas
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rekless
I bought a pellet/corn stove two years ago and it warms our two story house in South Dakota.
THE CORN HAS GONE FROM $1.89 A BUSHEL TO 6.08 a bushel in 3 years.
It is high maintenance, but it is cheaper than natural gas, propane, or electricity for the moment.
Probally will start burning pellets this winter.
No matter what, they have us over the barrel.
sorry for the typos--I guess that last beer let my fingers doing the walking without my brain.
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hillbilly
THE CORN HAS GONE FROM $1.89 A BUSHEL TO 6.08 a bushel in 3 years.
is that retail Dan? or market price? I have not really followed corn lately. If you buy it bagged up in retail form I bet it's spendy if the bushel price is sitting at 6.08.
I was lucky... drive across the road and load the pickup out of the harvestor for $10 bucks a truck load.
Hill
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rekless
is that retail Dan? or market price? I have not really followed corn lately. If you buy it bagged up in retail form I bet it's spendy if the bushel price is sitting at 6.08.
I was lucky... drive across the road and load the pickup out of the harvestor for $10 bucks a truck load.
Hill
That is straight from the elevator! I life across from a grain elevator too.
Retail corn is over 4$ for a 40 lb bag.
a bushel of corn is 56.4 lbs; therefore corn has now passed pellets and they are talking about 7$ corn.
Soy beans were 3.50 a bushel 3 years ago and now 12$ + seen it at 15$ this pass winter.
Pellets are 4$ plus for 40 lb bag about 250$ for a ton. They will go up too because of the shipping.
This bio fuel is killing us all...the only thing the media don't tell the public field corn is not used as table corn (I tried some and rather eat sweet corn.)
dan
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hillbilly
yea..feed corn vs Sweet corn. A produce clerk tried to blame the high price of table corn on bio-fuel. Two seperate issues.
Hill