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Old 11-28-2007, 12:34 PM   #30
Blue Thunder
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Location: Eastern MA & Frye Island/Sebago Lake, Maine
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Tis,
I burn 2.5-3 tons of premium pellets per year and my home is just under 2000sf. I should point out that my pellet stove is used as secondary heat although my gas furnace almost never runs. I have separate NG H/W heaters.
As stated earlier, my house (and wife) are heated to an average 75 degrees. Obviously, not too many people are going to heat their homes to that level with their primary systems.

WiFi,
You're right. Nice chart. Here's a link to one that you can plug in the values for all of the respective fuels and it will calculate costs.

http://pelletheat.org/3/residential/compareFuel.cfm

Winnie Divers,
The average BTU's per pound of pellets is closer to 8300 btu's (assuming a premium hardwood pellet) which makes the btu's per ton closer to 16.4 million. The efficiency of a quality pellet stove is closer to 85-90%. Burning a premium pellet in a good stove with an efficency of 87%, you'll use about 3 tons per year in a 2000 sf home.

FWIW, I am not a heating specialist, just a guy who's had a pellet stove for 11 years and been extremely satisfied with the results.

Blue Thunder
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