This post was sponsored by Wayfair
I’ve had this dream that when I walk into my house I am going to be met with a warm burst of air from a fireplace. (anyone else want that?)
Well, the problem with fireplaces is that you have to always have burnable wood, and my fireplace is no where near my door- It’s in the living room.
My house was built in 1984, but it’s a New England home, in the second oldest town in the Commonwealth of MA. So most homes run on oil and not natural gas. Same goes for my house. I have forced hot air that’s run by oil on the top two floors of the house and then in the basement I have electric heat (which is also expensive if you keep it on and running all the time).
In the winter most people fill up their oil tanks every 2-3 weeks. And when I fill up my oil tank with 150 gallons, it’s at least $380. Talk about a stab to the heart. And it goes SO quickly!! God forbid I wash dishes and take showers with hot water, but in the winter it’s like a black hole of money going out of my pocket and into the hands of the oil companies.
That’s when I started looking into pellet stoves. Because pellet stoves you can keep running all day and night (until the stove runs out of pellets), but then to change them out you just put more in. Once a week you have to clean out the stove, but that’s no big deal.
That’s when I started looking online and found one that was small, but MIGHTY on Wayfair.com (See Below)
The reviews were good, and it fit perfectly inside the entranceway to my house.
Cost: approximately $1200. I think they’ve sold out of the exact model I bought but here’s a link to one very similar in size and price Then I had to find a professional installer who knew WAY more about installing pellet stoves than I do, because I wanted to make sure I was safe. Between all of the piping, materials, and labor the cost for that was $2000 (and yes, I did pull a permit with the town to all you nosey people who were wondering).
I’m already $3,200 into this pellet stove commitment and I was praying that it turned on and worked and spoiler alert, IT WORKED! And was warm!
And the best thing about this pellet stove is that it has settings for heat. So if I’m freezing I will turn it all the way up and it can honestly heat my entire 1,800 sqft house. (I’m pretty proud of that).
But let’s talk cost. I bought my pellet stove and started using it in January 2020. When I got my electric bill it was almost DOUBLE. I thought I was seeing things and I called the electric company to see if I was missing something. It was about $344 for the month of January. They told me that if I have something plugged in with a motor on it that would cause a lot of electricity to be used. DING DING, that was obviously the new pellet stove. But here’s the thing, I haven’t had to fill up my oil tank at all since we bought it because oil is no longer being used to heat up my house.
So whether or not the cost is worth it…I’m not sure… Honestly I think it might be a wash. BUT I will say I love the cozy look and feeling of having my new pellet stove inside my house when I walk in.
My price of oil went down because I didn’t have to buy it as often, but my electricity went up.
