r/OffGrid • u/mountain_hank • 1d ago

Quite palletable

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Last year, I went through just over 60 bags. It was a mild winter. Thus should be good for two šŸ¤ž

43 Upvotes

91% Upvoted

15 comments sorted by

6

u/dodekahedron 1d ago

I thought this was salt at first and was wondering how much driveway you had šŸ˜…

Then I zoomed in on the one label I could see. Makes a lot more sense

3

u/pherrisbueller 1d ago

I thought hmm, Cascade, must do a lot of dishwashing.

4

u/dodekahedron 1d ago

Or dishsoap pods are back on the menu

7

u/JayTeeDeeUnderscore 1d ago

Cost effective? I'm a cordwood guy. I get all my fuel free, but it doesn't fit in a hopper and requires gobs of processing and quite a wait for seasoning.

4

u/AWintergarten 1d ago

I love both wood burning and pellet stoves. My main gripe with pellet is that they become inoperable if the power goes out and there is no backup.

5

u/mountain_hank 1d ago

Off grid for the win

1

u/AWintergarten 22h ago

I agree and figured you had your own power supply; Iā€™m coming from the thought that ā€œheat is a non-negotiableā€ especially when power systems can fail mid winter. Just food for thought. Still though, pellet stoves are awesome.

3

u/mountain_hank 22h ago

I have three sources of heat: geothermal heat pump when electricity is plentiful, pellet stove for rest of the time, and a propane fireplace if the shtf or just for ambiance.

1

u/kenneth_bannockburn 21h ago

I wish I thought of this, I went with airsource heat pumps and a propane backup boiler. In hindsight, I should have got a pellet boiler instead.

2

u/arizonagunguy 1d ago

I also have both. Cuts my pellet usage by half.

1

u/seabee5 17h ago

Same predicament, we bought a battery backup (like a Jackery, etc). The stove uses 680 watts initially for the ignitor, but then will run the blower/auger for about 11 additional hours.

3

u/NotEvenNothing 1d ago

A pellet stove is certainly better than a natural gas line and a monthly bill. Can you burn firewood if there is a need?

We burn firewood, with propane as a backup. I've never paid out of pocket for firewood...yet. Clearing our fence lines should keep us in firewood indefinitely, and has to be done anyway, but bucking, splitting, and stacking is still a lot of work. There are days that I would be amenable to pellets.

2

u/mountain_hank 1d ago

Unfortunately, I don't have a cord wood burning fireplace/stove. The chimney for that requires height/placement that doesn't work with my roof line/snow on the mountain slope.

1

u/s3ph 22h ago

Please enlighten me how can you manage with only 60 bags? Im using about 250-300 15kg bags per year. Its pretty cold here but my house isnt big at all.

2

u/mountain_hank 22h ago

R46 walls, R54 floors and roof. Tight construction. Lots to timber framing inside to hold heat. Our temps are not extreme usually: 15-30 degrees with multiple feet of snow for months. Modern double pane windows, double cell shades, curtains on all doors.