Pellet Stoves Michigan

Sault man has burning desire to lower heating bills

Special to the Sault Star

Bob Thomas just wanted to save money on his heating bill.

Five years ago, after moving from the west end of Sault Ste. Marie to Haviland, he was paying around $350 a month to heat his home.

Then, he found out his costs would be rising an additional $30, which prompted him do some research.

And what he found out has, apparently, cut his costs in half.

"I decided no, that's ridiculous, so I started to look around and I discovered wood pellet stoves. Now, as a result of using a pellet stove, my heating costs are about 70% less," said Thomas, a 63-year-old retiree who previously worked with the Ministry of Natural Resources as provincial spokesperson for forest fire management.

Now, the man who spent his career trying to prevent forest fires wants people looking to cut heating costs to burn wood.

Thomas said pellet stoves (which cost around $2,000) can heat an entire home for around $5 a day — the cost of an average bag of wood pellets.

Wooden pellets and stoves are available at hardware and heating stores around the Sault and area.

Thomas described how a bag of pellets is dumped into the back of the stove where the hopper, as its known, is located.

The stove then uses two fans, one an auger that feeds the pellets into a burn pot and the other a blower fan that blows oxygen into the fuel.

"My home is around 1,600 square feet and we essentially just use the one stove to heat up the whole house. We have a small oil stove in our dining room as well, just because we're on the water and the wind tends to make that room colder," he said.

However, Thomas did run into a problem with his stove this winter when he had trouble finding pellets to heat his home.

What he found out is most pellets used here come from British Columbia, Quebec and Michigan.

Eventually he visited an area hardware store and discovered pellets made in Northern Ontario — which he said is the only business of that type in the area.

"I was so taken with these pellets that I dashed off an e-mail to the company just to let them know how great I thought their product was and that I was so glad to see there's finally a producer of pellets in Northern Ontario," Thomas said.

Normand Lacroix, founder and owner of LacWood Inc., which produces the wood pellets, called his satisfied customer to thank him for the positive feedback. And after a lengthly conversation, he decided that Thomas could be of use to the company.

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