Any have a Pellet Fire?

Would ask you to consider would you like to live next door to your wood heater, you wouldn't mind breathing in Toxic, Carcinogenic emissions so as you can enjoy your heater.
A wood heater draws air from outside the house to fuel the fire, up to 40% of what goes up your chimney on cold air inversion nights (most nights in winter) is drawn back into your house for all to breathe. One wood heater in a 24 hour period will produce the same volume of smoke as 100,000 cigarettes, 40% of that SMOKE (which has the same Carcinogenic compounds) will come back into the house to fuel the fire, the other 60% you will share with your neighbours.
Launceston has the highest Air pollution in Australia as a direct result of wood heaters, something to read other that the lying blurb published by the bastards that want to take your money while telling you how good these are for the environment and your health, sounds very familiar to the Tobacco companies back in the 50's and 60's, Regards Frank.

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Originally Posted by BigBlackDog

We are looking at getting a pellet fire for our place. Would like a wood fire but the house isn't really compatible. Don't like the heat from the heat pump and to get the whole house comfortably warm in winter costs a fortune. Went and had a look the other day at some, they seem to put out plenty of heat, clean, easy. It's about winter temps here at the moment so good time to look!
Wondering if anyone here has any experience living with them or know anyone that does? Just after advice before I break out e hard earned like to be over informed

Rod

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Sorry just realised it WAS a quote from GOOGLE. Would have been paid for it's position on Google though





This quote sounds familiar.
Quote: "The source of sawdust (harvested trees) is renewable and because the sawdust is waste, pellet fuel used for heating is great for our environment and our economy."



First up the saw dust comes from trees, SHOW me anywhere in the world that trees are being grown quicker, or at the same pace than they are being cut down.
Australia is 35 years behind catching up to equalise cut down/grown/ renewable resource, that is if the rate of destruction remains no worse than it is now.
Australia is the third worst land clearer in the world behind Indonesia and Brasil.
So Renewable resources don't even get a look in.
In the next 10 years or so you won't be able to afford to burn wood as most will be used to produce Ethanol.
What doesn't make sense to me is: First we cut down a tree, which absorbs Carbon Dioxide and produces OXYGEN, which all things on this Planet need to SURVIVE, it's like "going to war for peace" or "screwing for virginity", Regards Frank.

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Originally Posted by loneranger

Never heard of a pellet fire before.

From Google:

So what is a Pellet Heater (Stove) ?

On the outside, a pellet heater looks just like any other combustion heater, it's what's inside that makes all the difference. Pellet stoves burn recycled material at a low combustion rate by reducing the fuel load whereas a wood heater controls combustion by reducing oxygen (air control). So in fact wood and pellet heaters actually work the opposite way to each other.
Rather than burning chunks of wood, a pellet stove creates warmth by burning small wood pellets, which burn efficiently because they are so dense. They are a recycled byproduct of sawmills, so they are certainly a sustainable alternative to cutting down trees. Pellet fuel is also know as bio-fuel or bio-energy. The source of sawdust (harvested trees) is renewable and because the sawdust is waste, pellet fuel used for heating is great for our environment and our economy.
Pellet stoves don't take up a lot of space, they are much more compact than their old-timely counterparts. A small flame is visible in the center of the unit, which provides a room with a warm and cozy glow. If you prefer a more traditional look, find a unit with a large viewing glass and add ceramic logs to emphasize the flames and make your stove look more like a traditional wood burning stove.
The auger motor, convection fan, exhaust fan and electronics of a pellet stove run on a small amount electricity (around 100 watts), so it should be located near a 240-volt outlet but can operative on battery backup units if required. Pellet stoves may be purchased as inserts that fit into an existing fireplace or a purpose built cabinet that resembles a fire place. Other freestanding versions convect hot air directly into the room by means of a fan and radiate some heat as well. Hydronic Pellet heaters (boilers) create hot water that can be distributed by plumbing around a home connecting radiator panels where needed or in a concrete slab floor.


The search results seem to indicate they're mainly used in Tasmania.

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Originally Posted by Tank

Sorry just realised it WAS a quote from GOOGLE. Would have been paid for it's position on Google though





This quote sounds familiar.
Quote: "The source of sawdust (harvested trees) is renewable and because the sawdust is waste, pellet fuel used for heating is great for our environment and our economy."



First up the saw dust comes from trees, SHOW me anywhere in the world that trees are being grown quicker, or at the same pace than they are being cut down.
Australia is 35 years behind catching up to equalise cut down/grown/ renewable resource, that is if the rate of destruction remains no worse than it is now.
Australia is the third worst land clearer in the world behind Indonesia and Brasil.
So Renewable resources don't even get a look in.
In the next 10 years or so you won't be able to afford to burn wood as most will be used to produce Ethanol.
What doesn't make sense to me is: First we cut down a tree, which absorbs Carbon Dioxide and produces OXYGEN, which all things on this Planet need to SURVIVE, it's like "going to war for peace" or "screwing for virginity", Regards Frank.

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The site I quoted is the same one Big Black Dog linked to and is from one of the shops selling Pellet fires. I put up the info as I had no idea what a pellet fire was.

I'm in WA and wear shorts all year round :D.

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Originally Posted by Tank

Would ask you to consider would you like to live next door to your wood heater, you wouldn't mind breathing in Toxic, Carcinogenic emissions so as you can enjoy your heater.
A wood heater draws air from outside the house to fuel the fire, up to 40% of what goes up your chimney on cold air inversion nights (most nights in winter) is drawn back into your house for all to breathe. One wood heater in a 24 hour period will produce the same volume of smoke as 100,000 cigarettes, 40% of that SMOKE (which has the same Carcinogenic compounds) will come back into the house to fuel the fire, the other 60% you will share with your neighbours.
Launceston has the highest Air pollution in Australia as a direct result of wood heaters, something to read other that the lying blurb published by the bastards that want to take your money while telling you how good these are for the environment and your health, sounds very familiar to the Tobacco companies back in the 50's and 60's, Regards Frank.

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I put up with several inconsiderate feral neighbors.
In no way am I going to consider ANY emmisions from my house fire,my shed fire,my wood fired outside oven or any of my arken ****en fires.
BRING ON WINTER!!!!!
Andrew

A couple of friends have the grain / corn heaters and they like them. One is a dairy farmer so he gets his corn / grain at bulk feed price.
An advantage is that you can place them on any external wall as the chimney goes straight out.
BUT what they both have said is that "what is in the smoke" as it is very corrosive, eating out guttering that was above the "chimney" and even corroded up a stainless BBQ that was close by.
One advantage of burning corn is that you sometimes will find some Popped corn inside!
Their is also very little ash to deal with when compared to conventional wood heaters.

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Originally Posted by Tank

Would ask you to consider would you like to live next door to your wood heater, you wouldn't mind breathing in Toxic, Carcinogenic emissions so as you can enjoy your heater.
A wood heater draws air from outside the house to fuel the fire, up to 40% of what goes up your chimney on cold air inversion nights (most nights in winter) is drawn back into your house for all to breathe. One wood heater in a 24 hour period will produce the same volume of smoke as 100,000 cigarettes, 40% of that SMOKE (which has the same Carcinogenic compounds) will come back into the house to fuel the fire, the other 60% you will share with your neighbours.
Launceston has the highest Air pollution in Australia as a direct result of wood heaters, something to read other that the lying blurb published by the bastards that want to take your money while telling you how good these are for the environment and your health, sounds very familiar to the Tobacco companies back in the 50's and 60's, Regards Frank.

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Unfortunately I can only intermittently get coal for my register grates and have to make do with briquettes most years.
In the rest of the fireplaces we burn dead timber depriving the termites of a good feed.

Regards,
Tote

tank, where do those figures come from? not arguing the point just wondering is all. As I said I suspect traditional wood fires will face restrictions in the future. pellets are supposedly a lot more clean burning, supposedly about 4 times less mass needed for the same output. That has to be better, plus they are constantly burning feed air, so not getting the fuel rich smoking that show combustions can get. Be interesting to know what is in the exhaust of them.
The other thing to consider with electricity is where does it come from? Mining and burning coal isn't great. Has has to be extracted from the earth, what's the effect of that long term? Rhetorical questions obviously It is not as simply as we would like to hope. Energy production and use is a huge topic which I don't want to get involved in.

Good points all and a lot of things I hadn't thought of.

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Originally Posted by Tank

Would ask you to consider would you like to live next door to your wood heater, you wouldn't mind breathing in Toxic, Carcinogenic emissions so as you can enjoy your heater.
A wood heater draws air from outside the house to fuel the fire, up to 40% of what goes up your chimney on cold air inversion nights (most nights in winter) is drawn back into your house for all to breathe. One wood heater in a 24 hour period will produce the same volume of smoke as 100,000 cigarettes, 40% of that SMOKE (which has the same Carcinogenic compounds) will come back into the house to fuel the fire, the other 60% you will share with your neighbours.

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Sorry folks, but this is utterly rubbish. Modern wood burners, either for logs or wood chips, are completely different from the ancient ones referred to above. They burn almost as efficient and clean as pellet burners and will not produce any harmful emissions at all, especially if coupled with a filter and burning untreated wood only.
Comparing the old style burners with the most recent ones is about akin to comparing an old fashioned IDI-Diesel engine to a modern common rail type.
Btw, if smoke or emissions are drawn back into the house you are having a problem with your chimney and this should be sorted asap, no matter what fuel you are using.
Cheers

Just looking at the link posted earlier and it says the average Tasmanian house would use around a tonne of pellets over Winter. One thing I can't seem to find is a supplier of the pellets, and the cost of these.

Any links to point me in the right direction?

Cheers - Gav.

Oh, and there are plenty of sustainable forests around the world as well as right here in Australia. Not talking natives, although some are, but pine grown in and around the Latrobe Valley in Vic, and around Mt Gambier in SA are fully sustainable. I'm sure there are other examples. Have been for decades otherwise the paper mill at Maryvale and the sawmills at Mt Gambier would have run out of timber years ago. I'm not saying that replacing vast tracts of land with pine forests is the best solution, although I think most pulping wood is now eucalypt, just pointing out that in those 2 areas, more trees are planted and grown each year than are harvested. With Mt Gambiers declining economy, I think someone turning their hand to pellet production there - as mentioned earlier, is a great idea.

Pellet fire Tas make their own pellets here in Hobart, $9 for a 15kg bag. I get the impression most people buy a tonne on a pallet. They set up the pellet machine at a local timber mill, keeps transport cost low. They also list pellets from Geelong and NSW and NZ on there price list, on a ever increasing scale of $ though naturally. I wish I could burn my lawn, it's pretty sustainable at the moment