The first run started around 2pm on Friday with most of a bag of pellets. Fitting a whole 40lb in seems a bit of a stretch so we're probably only loading it with 35 or so pounds. Unfortunately I don't know exactly how long it ran as it was out when I woke up the next morning. But I did get up during the night, past 3am and it was still running. When I came downstairs the machine was still warm, but not hot, so it had probably been off for a couple of hours. I will try to have a better idea in the future. The energy usage was 1.93 kWh for the time it ran which was at least 13 hours. This was on the lowest setting and it averages to 0.15 kW of power being consumed. If you run the machine all day and you pay $0.172 per kWh then your electric bill will be increased by $0.62 a day or $19.20 a month. Again this is for the lowest setting (1,1).
I've also been monitoring the exhaust. The exhaust comes out a little less than 36 inches off the ground. There's snow on the ground below the exhaust and its interesting to note that there's no sign of melting snow. That is, the exhaust, carrying what heat it does, is cool enough that the ground feels not appreciable heat.
The location of our pellet stove is anything but final. We have so many plans for this house that I can't say where it'll be in a year or two from now. Ideally it would be in a more central location as we're currently trying to determine how to move the heat around the first level (since the stove is at one end of the house).
I've also seen some installations where there is a vertical run of stove pipe within the house to capture some of the heat from the exhaust on its way out through the wall.
I'll continue to provide updates on the pellet stove periodically and when its moved (during warmer weather) I'll detail that move/installation as well.
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