[TheForge] Winter is coming

[Dave Brown]

At 06:53 10/27/02 -0500, you wrote:
>Yes please Dave, I would be interested in how it performs and what you
>reckon the cost to be for say, heating the shop for a month.  I don't have
>anything either at the moment and besides a small electric radiant heater at
>the work bench, I rely on the forge to bring the temperature up.  Trouble is
>there are times when you are just doing finishing work and the forge is not
>on.
>
>I like the fact that you don't need a stack with the pellet stove you
>describe, because if I put a wood stove in, my stack would have to be about
>35 feet. (read expensive)
>
>Harry Foster

You betchya, Harry, putting up 35' stack would be expensive.  Necessary if 
you wanted to put the stove in the middle of the floor, but along any 
exterior wall these modern pellet stoves are direct vent.  The heat 
exchanger is pretty efficient and the exhaust gasses are surprisingly cool.

Speaking of expense, though ... pellet stoves aren't cheap and most are 
made to look pretty for your living room.  Northern Tool 
http://www.northerntool.com/ has two models that are plain and basic that 
are about half the price of the fancy models.  They seem just right for a 
shop though.  The stove shop where I bought my stove says that the HT 
stoves (also available through Fleet Farm and similar places down here) 
aren't up to the quality of the ones they sell <would they ever say 
otherwise?>.  The box and fire pot may be fine, but they cast aspersions 
upon the fan motors and life expectancy of such.  I figure that one needs 
to take the dealer's comments with a grain of salt.

Pellets are cheap or not cheap depending on where you can buy them.  At 
Fleet Farm they go for about $3.50/40#bag (8000btu).  At the dealer where I 
bought my stove I can get better (9000btu) pellets at a "preferred 
customer" price of $1.85/40#bag.  They also offer the same pellets in bulk 
(bring your pickup truck or trailer or barrels) at a rate equivalent  to 
$0.95/40#bag.

The particular stove I bought will burn 80# of pellets over 72 hours set at 
low.  Set at high it will burn the same 80# of pellets in about 30 
hours.  Since I smartly bought my pellets in bulk, 80# at $0.95/40 comes up 
to $1.90 for two days (assumes average setting at medium output).  I don't 
plan on running it 24/7 but even if I did it would only cost about 
$30/month ... depending on weather and how cold and windy it might get.  I 
spent more than twice that amount last year, which was a relatively mild 
winter and I wasn't heating the shop all that often.

Bottom line is that I expect to save a lot of money on fuel costs this 
year.  As I mentioned in my reply to Bruce, it was quite warm in the shop 
this morning.  As a matter of fact it was warmer than needed for a day of 
pounding iron and such.  Even if I keep the shop at a mild 50F, it will be 
quite comfortable for working.

All in all, I think it was a good move for me.


Dave Brown
Heritage Smithing
Green Bay, WI
ABANA, UMBA, GoM, MODA, ARG