There are many ways a consumer can save by heating with wood pellets these days. We save carbon emissions. We save on electricity in many cases, and of course many of us save money compared to using other fuel types such as oil and propane. One way to save that is often overlooked is the conservation that comes with using a single point heat source as opposed to a whole house heating system.
Wood pellet heat is an environmentally friendly heat source. It is EPA exempted because of its low emissions. It's near complete combustion leaves very little ash to clean up, and wood pellets are considered carbon neutral. One benefit a homeowner might notice is a reduction in their electrical bill. While pellet stoves do use electricity to regulate air and fuel feeds, and to distribute heat through the house they use on average 1/5 the energy of a forced hot air system. A pellet stove uses an average of 250-300 watts on a mid setting. Compare this to a furnace system that can consume upwards of 5000 watts. I do notice that the window air conditioner I use in my office makes my summer heating bills higher than my winter bills. It's specs rate it at 750 watts!
Another plus is the ability to have a fully functioning convective heat source with the use of a battery backup system. I have a backup that is attached to a battery and my stove at all times. When the power goes out the backup automatically engages switching over to battery power. When the power comes back on it trickle charges the battery. Some stoves, such as Harman's Accentra have the ability to turn off the distribution blower. This limits the convective flow but is a great energy saver in a power outage situation. Harman also has the ability to disable the igniter saving even more.
Many whole house systems are tasked with keeping every corner of your home warm. Some homes have only one or two thermostats on which to base that warmth. You end up heating every room all day and night whether you are using them or not. When many of my customers install a pellet stove in their home, they turn their whole house system down if not off. This results in a warm and inviting living space, and cooler outlying areas such as bedrooms. Not a big difference comfort-wise but enough to notice a savings on your monthly fuel and maybe even electric bill. An example could be my old ranch house that was kept around 70 degrees in the main living areas, and 65 in outlying rooms. The difference is often just enough that the introduction of the pellet stove brought the family back together in the living room. Not overheating outlying areas can reduce your fuel consumption by a noticeable amount. I certianly feel comfortable about keeping rarely used rooms five to ten degrees cooler than the rooms we use each and every day.
Friday, March 21, 2008
Monday, March 17, 2008
Paper Mill to Pellet Mill
From: http://www.unionleader.com/article.aspx?headline=State+steps+up+with+assist+for+wood-pellet+plant&articleId=45b0de09-3878-471c-acca-49c009709034
State steps up with assist for wood-pellet plant
By DENIS PAISTE
New Hampshire Union Leader Staff
17 hours, 28 minutes ago
Greenova LLC's plan for a wood-pellet plant in the Berlin Industrial Park is getting a boost from the state Department of Resources and Economic Development, which will hold an off-site, 24-acre conservation easement to offset wetlands affected by the plant.
"We're delighted to be able to work with the community to be the holder of that easement," DRED Commissioner George M. Bald said in an interview last week.
DRED's Land Management Bureau already oversees more than 200,000 acres, so adding another 24 isn't a big deal. But Land Management Administrator Bill Carpenter said accepting the easement from the city of Berlin, which owns the land, will require approval from the Governor and Executive Council.
The parcel is near Berlin High School and includes snowmobile trails. Carpenter said DRED will make sure the boundaries of the easement are well marked.
Under state management, the protected land will be open to snowmobile and foot traffic.
"All our easements are open to the public for recreation," Carpenter said.
"In Berlin, we look to protect the working forest access," he said." We want this piece of ground to produce forest products."
The easement is a small piece of a big puzzle for developer Greenova, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hingham, Mass.-based Woodstone USA LLC, which currently operates a pellet plant in Holland, Mich., and has another under way in Moreau, N.Y.
The Berlin Planning Board gave conditional site plan approval to Greenova LLC's application on March 4. The company hopes to complete the permitting process this month and break ground on the facility in May. It isn't expected to be operational until next year.
"Basically we plan on starting construction during the summer, and next spring or summer, a year later, we should be up and running," said Jim Wagner, economic development director for Androscoggin Valley, who has been helping shepherd the project.
Wagner said the state's commitment to the conservation easement was a critical piece. "There are trade-offs, but we want to bring in economic benefits here and not compromise the natural environment and that's what the easement does," Wagner said.
Albrecht von Sydow, a principal in Woodstone USA LLC, said, "We are feeling extremely well about how things are proceeding."
With oil prices at record high levels, timing for a new wood-pellet production plant appears to be fortunate.
"I think it's very, very fair to say we can offer the heating equivalent of 1 gallon of oil for $1.80," von Sydow, a German native who is 33, said. One ton of wood pellets has the energy equivalent of 120 gallons of heating oil. The Berlin plant, announced in June 2007, will be designed to turn out 180,000 tons of wood pellets a year.
To meet that level of production, Greenova will be bringing in 400,000 tons of whole logs, enough to give a shot in the arm to the local logging and forestry industry. Fraser Papers closed its Berlin pulp mill in 2006, ending 250 jobs.
That's part of the wood-pellet plant's appeal to state officials.
"We've worked with Woodstone for the better part of a year," Bald said. "One of the things that we saw that was crucial was that when the pulp mill went down, there was an awful lot of demand for wood that evaporated, and so the hope was to be able to find another way to generate some demand, especially for what we consider to be low-grade wood."
Low-grade wood is not of sufficient quality to be used for lumber or flooring.
"If there isn't a good market for it, basically it stays in the forest, " Bald said. "They're talking about using about 400,000 tons a year."
The mill at its height was using about a million tons a year.
"So, we're delighted that's going to happen," Bald said. "And that's why we had a close relationship with this company."
"The city of Berlin has been very good to deal with, they have been very supportive of this plan," he said.
Fraser Papers bought the mills in Berlin and Gorham in 2002, following their closure a year earlier after the bankruptcy of former owner American Tissue.
In a separate project, Laidlaw Energy Group Inc. is planning to convert a large part of the former Fraser Paper pulp mill site, about four or five miles away, into a biomass-to-energy project that is expected to produce 60 megawatts of renewable energy and use more than 700,000 tons of wood chips a year.
Von Sydow said the wood pellet plant will employ 30 to 35, but the wood demand it creates will sustain or create another 200 or more jobs in the logging industry.
He is still in talks with equipment manufacturers for the production-line machinery, he said.
One of Greenova's principals is Alan McLain, 47, a Berlin native who was laid off from the mill in 2001. He said Greenova plans to meet conditions laid down in its site-plan approval.
After he was laid off, McLain started M&L Foundations with partner Robert Labrecque.
But lately he's been training at Woodstone's Michigan plant to learn the wood-pellet manufacturing business.
"We're certainly going to keep a lot of the outside loggers in business and make a huge impact financially," he said.
"It's great to be involved ... in something positive," he said.
"I live in the Norwegian Village (section of Berlin) and I live four houses away from where I grew up," McLain said. "From my front porch, I can see my parents' home.
"When the mill closed ... we chose to stay here," McLain said. "It's the type of place where you'd want your kids to be raised and when the mill closed it was very emotional," he said.
Besides its economic benefits, the pellet plant will have environmental benefits, too.
"The idea of having a market for low-grade wood really does promote the health of the forest," Bald said. "And we certainly know there is a limit to how much can be cut, but with the previous pulp mill using over 1 million tons a year, certainly we still have quite a bit of capacity before we get to any problems."
Wood pellets also are considered carbon neutral, meaning that the amount of carbon dioxide released when burning pellets are consumed is the same as carbon dioxide consumed from the atmosphere while a tree grows in the forest.
"The average household will enjoy a considerably smaller carbon footprint by heating their home with wood pellets," Woodstone says on its Web site.
The move from fossil fuels to alternative fuels has support at the highest levels in Washington. President Bush said in a speech March 5 at the Washington International Renewable Energy Conference: "I look forward to the day when people in the parts of our country that have got a lot of forests are able to convert wood chips into fuel. And those days are coming."
Von Sydow hopes to produce wood pellets for both the residential market, sold in 40-pound bags, and the commercial market.
"In Sweden, for example, one third of all the houses are heated with a wood-pellet furnace," he said. "The wood pellets are not a secondary heating system, but have actually replaced the old oil or natural gas furnaces."
State steps up with assist for wood-pellet plant
By DENIS PAISTE
New Hampshire Union Leader Staff
17 hours, 28 minutes ago
Greenova LLC's plan for a wood-pellet plant in the Berlin Industrial Park is getting a boost from the state Department of Resources and Economic Development, which will hold an off-site, 24-acre conservation easement to offset wetlands affected by the plant.
"We're delighted to be able to work with the community to be the holder of that easement," DRED Commissioner George M. Bald said in an interview last week.
DRED's Land Management Bureau already oversees more than 200,000 acres, so adding another 24 isn't a big deal. But Land Management Administrator Bill Carpenter said accepting the easement from the city of Berlin, which owns the land, will require approval from the Governor and Executive Council.
The parcel is near Berlin High School and includes snowmobile trails. Carpenter said DRED will make sure the boundaries of the easement are well marked.
Under state management, the protected land will be open to snowmobile and foot traffic.
"All our easements are open to the public for recreation," Carpenter said.
"In Berlin, we look to protect the working forest access," he said." We want this piece of ground to produce forest products."
The easement is a small piece of a big puzzle for developer Greenova, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hingham, Mass.-based Woodstone USA LLC, which currently operates a pellet plant in Holland, Mich., and has another under way in Moreau, N.Y.
The Berlin Planning Board gave conditional site plan approval to Greenova LLC's application on March 4. The company hopes to complete the permitting process this month and break ground on the facility in May. It isn't expected to be operational until next year.
"Basically we plan on starting construction during the summer, and next spring or summer, a year later, we should be up and running," said Jim Wagner, economic development director for Androscoggin Valley, who has been helping shepherd the project.
Wagner said the state's commitment to the conservation easement was a critical piece. "There are trade-offs, but we want to bring in economic benefits here and not compromise the natural environment and that's what the easement does," Wagner said.
Albrecht von Sydow, a principal in Woodstone USA LLC, said, "We are feeling extremely well about how things are proceeding."
With oil prices at record high levels, timing for a new wood-pellet production plant appears to be fortunate.
"I think it's very, very fair to say we can offer the heating equivalent of 1 gallon of oil for $1.80," von Sydow, a German native who is 33, said. One ton of wood pellets has the energy equivalent of 120 gallons of heating oil. The Berlin plant, announced in June 2007, will be designed to turn out 180,000 tons of wood pellets a year.
To meet that level of production, Greenova will be bringing in 400,000 tons of whole logs, enough to give a shot in the arm to the local logging and forestry industry. Fraser Papers closed its Berlin pulp mill in 2006, ending 250 jobs.
That's part of the wood-pellet plant's appeal to state officials.
"We've worked with Woodstone for the better part of a year," Bald said. "One of the things that we saw that was crucial was that when the pulp mill went down, there was an awful lot of demand for wood that evaporated, and so the hope was to be able to find another way to generate some demand, especially for what we consider to be low-grade wood."
Low-grade wood is not of sufficient quality to be used for lumber or flooring.
"If there isn't a good market for it, basically it stays in the forest, " Bald said. "They're talking about using about 400,000 tons a year."
The mill at its height was using about a million tons a year.
"So, we're delighted that's going to happen," Bald said. "And that's why we had a close relationship with this company."
"The city of Berlin has been very good to deal with, they have been very supportive of this plan," he said.
Fraser Papers bought the mills in Berlin and Gorham in 2002, following their closure a year earlier after the bankruptcy of former owner American Tissue.
In a separate project, Laidlaw Energy Group Inc. is planning to convert a large part of the former Fraser Paper pulp mill site, about four or five miles away, into a biomass-to-energy project that is expected to produce 60 megawatts of renewable energy and use more than 700,000 tons of wood chips a year.
Von Sydow said the wood pellet plant will employ 30 to 35, but the wood demand it creates will sustain or create another 200 or more jobs in the logging industry.
He is still in talks with equipment manufacturers for the production-line machinery, he said.
One of Greenova's principals is Alan McLain, 47, a Berlin native who was laid off from the mill in 2001. He said Greenova plans to meet conditions laid down in its site-plan approval.
After he was laid off, McLain started M&L Foundations with partner Robert Labrecque.
But lately he's been training at Woodstone's Michigan plant to learn the wood-pellet manufacturing business.
"We're certainly going to keep a lot of the outside loggers in business and make a huge impact financially," he said.
"It's great to be involved ... in something positive," he said.
"I live in the Norwegian Village (section of Berlin) and I live four houses away from where I grew up," McLain said. "From my front porch, I can see my parents' home.
"When the mill closed ... we chose to stay here," McLain said. "It's the type of place where you'd want your kids to be raised and when the mill closed it was very emotional," he said.
Besides its economic benefits, the pellet plant will have environmental benefits, too.
"The idea of having a market for low-grade wood really does promote the health of the forest," Bald said. "And we certainly know there is a limit to how much can be cut, but with the previous pulp mill using over 1 million tons a year, certainly we still have quite a bit of capacity before we get to any problems."
Wood pellets also are considered carbon neutral, meaning that the amount of carbon dioxide released when burning pellets are consumed is the same as carbon dioxide consumed from the atmosphere while a tree grows in the forest.
"The average household will enjoy a considerably smaller carbon footprint by heating their home with wood pellets," Woodstone says on its Web site.
The move from fossil fuels to alternative fuels has support at the highest levels in Washington. President Bush said in a speech March 5 at the Washington International Renewable Energy Conference: "I look forward to the day when people in the parts of our country that have got a lot of forests are able to convert wood chips into fuel. And those days are coming."
Von Sydow hopes to produce wood pellets for both the residential market, sold in 40-pound bags, and the commercial market.
"In Sweden, for example, one third of all the houses are heated with a wood-pellet furnace," he said. "The wood pellets are not a secondary heating system, but have actually replaced the old oil or natural gas furnaces."
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Room to Grow!
In 2005 120,000 stoves and fireplace inserts were sold throughout the United States. That number has not grown as many think it could have or should have. As a matter of fact the number actually went down last year. Pellet stoves (as opposed to whole house systems) were new to the European market around 2005. They sold somewhere in the neighborhood of 16,000 stoves that year. Last year in Europe over 360,000 pellet stoves were sold. What a difference! and Why? Government incentive is still the number one reason in my opinion. Gas and oil prices are much less subsidized and Europeans are encouraged to look to other fuel sources. Then there is the Kyoto protocal and green movement, two areas where we are gravely lacking.
Yet there is hope, and time to change. At the Pellet Forum in Wels, Austria last week the US was declared a country with large growth potential in the pellet market. Of course, Americans in the crowd had to endure a little bit of a beating on why we are so far behind, but the end message is, I believe, a positive one.
Pellet use in the US was estimated between one and one and a half million tons of pellets last year. A source in the pellet industry said there is about 90 million ton of unused wood waste available in the US right now. That is one of the strongest assets we could have. As more pellet mills come on line each year our supply grows, and costs, as always, have remained stable relative to other energy's such as oil.
There is a large commercial and industrial sector that is untapped in this country, and the Europeans have noticed. Some Americans as well. Growth in this sector may open up doors to government support and incentive, as well as push the industry into bulk distribution, and whole house systems that are sparsely available, and still manually demanding with the fuel loading.
Wood pellets have actually had an impressive ride when you consider that we are the only fuel with no government incentive or support. Ethanol is subsidized at $.51 a gallon for example. Even wind and solar energy's have rebates, and incentives in place. The PFI seems to be waking up and taking action, FINALLY. They have had a growing relationship with a lobbying firm, and there are now several people in the industry who are focusing on creating, introducing, and getting bills brought to the attention of our congressmen and senator's. While we have not yet successfully had a bill move through to active status we are gaining ground, and attention in Washington.
I am excited for the future of wood pellets. It is a fuel that is local, renewable- at this point still made from waste products otherwise destined for landfills, carbon neutral, and affordable!
Yet there is hope, and time to change. At the Pellet Forum in Wels, Austria last week the US was declared a country with large growth potential in the pellet market. Of course, Americans in the crowd had to endure a little bit of a beating on why we are so far behind, but the end message is, I believe, a positive one.
Pellet use in the US was estimated between one and one and a half million tons of pellets last year. A source in the pellet industry said there is about 90 million ton of unused wood waste available in the US right now. That is one of the strongest assets we could have. As more pellet mills come on line each year our supply grows, and costs, as always, have remained stable relative to other energy's such as oil.
There is a large commercial and industrial sector that is untapped in this country, and the Europeans have noticed. Some Americans as well. Growth in this sector may open up doors to government support and incentive, as well as push the industry into bulk distribution, and whole house systems that are sparsely available, and still manually demanding with the fuel loading.
Wood pellets have actually had an impressive ride when you consider that we are the only fuel with no government incentive or support. Ethanol is subsidized at $.51 a gallon for example. Even wind and solar energy's have rebates, and incentives in place. The PFI seems to be waking up and taking action, FINALLY. They have had a growing relationship with a lobbying firm, and there are now several people in the industry who are focusing on creating, introducing, and getting bills brought to the attention of our congressmen and senator's. While we have not yet successfully had a bill move through to active status we are gaining ground, and attention in Washington.
I am excited for the future of wood pellets. It is a fuel that is local, renewable- at this point still made from waste products otherwise destined for landfills, carbon neutral, and affordable!
Sunday, March 9, 2008
Energiesparverband
Last week in Wels Austria the World Sustainable Energy Days and Pellet Conference was held ending with the Energiesparmesse industry trade show. I was not able to attend this year, but wanted to share a little from my past visits. Many countries converge on the friendly town of Wels located near the German border. It is easily accessible by car as we drove in from Munich one year, or the ever-popular train. My last visit I stayed in Salzburg and enjoyed the countryside during the one hour train ride into Wels each day.
The invitation began with site visits. We all loaded on to motor coaches for visits to various pellet projects. The first stop was at a district heating facility that provided biomass heat for the neighborhood below. The boiler was housed in a modest building with supplies out back. This seemed a practical solution compared to each home having an appliance and independent fuel supply. One appliance maintained by a few people as opposed to 3500 appliances.
As we were driving to our next destination we saw what looked like a small grain truck going down the road past us. We were delighted to see that it was a bulk pellet fuel delivery truck from a local mill.
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Our next stop was a local pellet mill. It was built adjacent to the lumber portion of the business with conveyors to move the raw material from one section to the other. Pellets were made with similar equipment to US mills. The difference was after the production. As most fuel in Europe is bulk the fuel is conveyed to a holding tank, and there was a drive through section of the building with a loading hose for the bulk trucks. They did have a small bagging section that was new to them. The price was higher for the ~15 kg bags, but the bags were unique. They were a biodegradable corn fiber bag as opposed to the plastic bags we use in the US.
We then headed off to Guntamatic, a pellet appliance manufacturer. They showed a wide variety of pellet boiler, and furnace systems. Again, most biomass appliances in Europe are whole house systems. They let us tour their efficient and clean factory that uses laser welders, cutters, and a state of the art cad design system. Then they did a product seminar explaining the various components and boiler systems. I was most impressed by their ability to accept a much higher ash pellet, their ash handling system, and the bulk containment systems that pneumatically transferred pellets from the tank to the boiler.
Our last stop was a consumers home. They had created a bin for the fuel in their basement with a convenient fill port on the outside. It was conveyed using an auger to their boiler system. They had received tax incentive from their government to help offset the cost of purchasing and installing the biomass system.
The conference itself began the next day with many government officials making presentations about their countries plans, success, and future goals. There were also conferences on new technologies, and cooperative projects to further technology and distribution. Each country had and shared their various incentive programs. This is a far cry from the US Hearth Show that is run by people tend to merely dismiss pellet on a good day...
The first year I attended they had invited all of the US pellet manufacturers. They were trying to secure additional supplies as their expansion was rapid, and supplies thin. Last year European biomass pellet consumption surpassed 10 million tons. The US doesn't have an accurate figure but estimates put it at 1 to 1/5 million.
The end of the week brought the Energiesparmesse. The equivalent of our hearth show, but so much more. It was a venue with four halls, booths inside and out. We saw everything from the beautiful tiled stoves that are so prevalent over there, to solar systems, pellet-solar systems, boiler manufacturers, builders with pex and insulation systems, bulk feed material supply, stove manufacturers, fireplaces, pipe companies. 
The stand-outs in my mind were the BP biomass booth, Okofen's bulk feed bins, Froling's boilers, a company that made pex panels for wall use, and a kitchen stove manufacturer that had a wood pellet kitchen stove that was as elegant as a cast iron wood cook stove, but with the ease of pellet!
We also saw some familiar names like Enviro-fire which started in Europe and sells in the US.
The biggest impression I walked away with was how the government embraced, encouraged, and provided incentive for wood pellet products, and projects. Sweden uses pellet power for schools, government buildings, commercial buildings, district heating, electrical generation, and residential home heating. Italy, Bavaria, and France were not far behind.
What can you do to help encourage wood pellet use in the US? Write your congressmen, and senators. There have been a few bills that have been introduced but have not made it all the way through to fruition. Get both groups on board. You can visit the PFI's web page at http://www.pelletheat.org for more information. Here is a link to the Energiesparverband web site http://www.energiesparverband.com/esv/index.php?id=8&L=1
Friday, March 7, 2008
Heat Your Home, Spare the Planet
Here is a link to the segment from Good Morning America.
http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=4399910
http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=4399910
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Pellets in the News!
HPBA is excited to inform you that tomorrow – Thursday, March 6 between 8:30 – 8:45am ET* – there will be a short segment on the energy efficiency of hearth products on ABC's Good Morning America. Sam Champion, the program's meteorologist, hosts "just one thing," tips on how to live a more environmentally-friendly lifestyle. With the exceptional assistance of several manufacturers (who have not caught their breath since Expo), we will have a wood stove, pellet insert and direct-vent gas fireplace in the studio as examples of how homeowners can save money on energy costs.
Good Morning America has a third hour, Good Morning America NOW, a cable program, and the stoves may potentially be featured a second time on this program.
This amazing opportunity is a result of our January 31 news conference and clean burning demonstration held in Washington, D.C.
*If there is a last minute scheduling glitch, this segment will run between 8:00am–8:30am ET.
Good Morning America has a third hour, Good Morning America NOW, a cable program, and the stoves may potentially be featured a second time on this program.
This amazing opportunity is a result of our January 31 news conference and clean burning demonstration held in Washington, D.C.
*If there is a last minute scheduling glitch, this segment will run between 8:00am–8:30am ET.
Sunday, March 2, 2008
Harman News
With Hearth and Home Technology's recent purchase of Harman there was a lot of buzz about the company before and during the Hearth Show in Atlanta. What would change? Or would it be the same? Harman was the largest family owned company in our industry, and many were left wondering what the short and long term effects of a large corporation purchasing it would have. I am glad to say that other than the new Operations Manager it is the same great Harman with Dane and Gloria firmly at the helm with the new guard. There was more comment about how little had changed than anything, except an acknowledgement that it should not be changed. The old If it's not broken, don't fix it mentality.
Showing that they are still on the leading edge of innovation they had two new pellet products introduced. One is the long requested low price auto light stove. The P38 is probably the best value stove on the market, but the downside was that it had a simple control board, and manual ignition.
They released the P43, which has the same body as the P38, with a fresh new side panel option, but the automatic ignition control system found in their other stoves. There will now be an automatic and a manual value stove available from Harman.
They also released a new smaller pellet boiler. The HydroFlex60.
This innovative product won the Vesta award this year. It has a 60,000 Btu burner with a new remote thermostat operation, and the easiest maintenance cleaning system yet. It also has an extremely small footprint while still providing a 160 pound hopper.
Showing that they are still on the leading edge of innovation they had two new pellet products introduced. One is the long requested low price auto light stove. The P38 is probably the best value stove on the market, but the downside was that it had a simple control board, and manual ignition.
They released the P43, which has the same body as the P38, with a fresh new side panel option, but the automatic ignition control system found in their other stoves. There will now be an automatic and a manual value stove available from Harman.
They also released a new smaller pellet boiler. The HydroFlex60.
This innovative product won the Vesta award this year. It has a 60,000 Btu burner with a new remote thermostat operation, and the easiest maintenance cleaning system yet. It also has an extremely small footprint while still providing a 160 pound hopper.
New Products- 2008 NEHPBA Show in Atlanta
Here are some of the new products that were introduced at this year's Hearth Show in Atlanta.
These beautiful and innovative stoves from Palazetti are not new products, they are actually existing products made in Itlay. They came to the show to see what interest there may be in the US for their product. Two things set this stove apart. One is that it is a dual fuel- wood and wood pellet- stove. It can burn wood and with a simple adjustment switch to pellet fuel. The second is that the actual stove unit can be moved into several styles of body and inserts. While on the higher end cost-wise, ~$10,000 to $15,000 they are of very high quality. The only disappointing thing was the size of the ash pan. I would guess it would need cleaning once a week using pellet and daily using wood.
It looks like Lennox is ready to get back into the pellet game. After many years of fumbling with the Whitfield stove, they have discontinued those products and opted to buy the Country Stove line. The biggest difference is that they have left Country Stove plants, personnel, and engineering in place. They have also put new product development into their capable hands. Two new units will join the existing Country pellet stove and insert. The Bella cast iron stove has elegant tile panels on the sides, and an optional enamel finish. You could tell immediately that it was a very quiet operation with a variation in auger control and a quiet distribution fan. The Montage is a great value stove with a large hopper and ash pan.
Ecoteck is a newly imported Italian pellet stove line that was looking to set up distribution in the US. With European stylings such as a decorative tile body, a sleek insert design, and modern finishes they offer a wide variety of styles to fit any modern decor. Advanced controls (option) even allow you to call from your cell phone to change the settings on your stove. I was very happy to see European companies taking an interest in our market!
These beautiful and innovative stoves from Palazetti are not new products, they are actually existing products made in Itlay. They came to the show to see what interest there may be in the US for their product. Two things set this stove apart. One is that it is a dual fuel- wood and wood pellet- stove. It can burn wood and with a simple adjustment switch to pellet fuel. The second is that the actual stove unit can be moved into several styles of body and inserts. While on the higher end cost-wise, ~$10,000 to $15,000 they are of very high quality. The only disappointing thing was the size of the ash pan. I would guess it would need cleaning once a week using pellet and daily using wood.
It looks like Lennox is ready to get back into the pellet game. After many years of fumbling with the Whitfield stove, they have discontinued those products and opted to buy the Country Stove line. The biggest difference is that they have left Country Stove plants, personnel, and engineering in place. They have also put new product development into their capable hands. Two new units will join the existing Country pellet stove and insert. The Bella cast iron stove has elegant tile panels on the sides, and an optional enamel finish. You could tell immediately that it was a very quiet operation with a variation in auger control and a quiet distribution fan. The Montage is a great value stove with a large hopper and ash pan.
Ecoteck is a newly imported Italian pellet stove line that was looking to set up distribution in the US. With European stylings such as a decorative tile body, a sleek insert design, and modern finishes they offer a wide variety of styles to fit any modern decor. Advanced controls (option) even allow you to call from your cell phone to change the settings on your stove. I was very happy to see European companies taking an interest in our market!
Saturday, March 1, 2008
Thank You Lauzon
What do you do with your Canadian supplier at the Hearth Show? Go to a Hockey game, of course! Here are some pics from our evening out with Lauzon. THANKS!
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