Wood vs Pellet heat ???

[Thomas]

We have burn wood for many..many years and now Mrs. wants to try wood pellets.

Purchase Harman pellet furnace heats 3000 sq.ft,my concern will we get the same warmth density like wood?..I don't mind putting up 5 cords wood each year nor extras... when -20F plus for days on end.

Like to hear about your Pros & Cons.

Thanks.

 

[Egon]

The pellet stove should burn at a constant rate providing more even heat. It will also require less maintence, ie. ash and loading wood. Pellet bags are inherently less messy than chopped firewood. There are more chimney options for pellet stoves.

The pellet stove does not lend itself to viewing the fire. Less ambience?

Cost of pellets versus wood?? Physical ability to harvest firewood?

Power outage will the pellet stove require power??

I really enjoy watching a fire but the logistics would probably favor pellets.

 

[Peter 315]

I have a Enviro m55 steel running it for 3 years now . Paid $208 per ton at hd for pellets I run it 24/7

 

[RNeumann]

No power=no heat. They typically have a fan that runs which makes noise. I haven’t had good luck with them but as written above others have.
If I got to the point I couldn’t do a wood stove I’d spend the money to make my gas or electric furnace and home more efficient. Safe some wood for when the power went out.

Edit- no matter brand or type the numbers given by sales folks and or manufacturers isn’t something to rely on across brands. Their isn’t a standard way to test and certify like HVAC systems. Be careful and do your research by asking actual customers of the brands you want to purchase.

 

[Peter 315]

No power = no heat = generator = heat, lights ,tv , water

 

[oosik]

We started here with a wood stove. That lasted nine to ten years. Then because the firewood drug in so much dirt, bark and bugs - we converted to a pellet stove. I made a serious mistake - if a little pellet stove is good then a big one will be that much better - the new pellet stove would almost drive us out of the house. Its 15 F outside - the pellet stove is set as low as it will go - wife & I are sitting around in our shorts - the front door is open to cool off the house. This is not good - plus the price on pellets is out of sight.

We trashed all the stoves and simply turned on the electric heat. No sweat, no pain, no dirt,ash or bugs. And its cheaper, by far, than heating with pellets.

 

[nybirdman]

My BIL purchases a pellet stove a couple years ago;not happy with it.$260/ton for "good pellets",40# bags that he can handle but my sister can't.He was burning 4 tons a year;no real cost savings over oil.
You have to shut down every two days to clean;no power ,no heat.
His brother spent a lot of money putting in a coal furnace;just about the same situation.
They just don't make sense to me.

 

[ruffdog]

Burn what fuel source is cheap in your area. I burn wood because there is no middleman...I cut and I burn. Do they manufacture wood pellets near by and the price is cheap...go for it. My neighbor burns corn in what looks like a pellet stove. He also has a large corn boiler in the basement. They have their own types of issues.

 

[oosik]

nybirdman - your BIL's experiences with the pellet stove were just about the same as mine - then we shut it all down and turned on our electric heat. Only difference - I had to clean out my pellet stove every 10 to 14 days.

 

[fishheadbob]

Burn what fuel source is cheap in your area. I burn wood because there is no middleman...I cut and I burn. Do they manufacture wood pellets near by and the price is cheap...go for it.

I'm with him.

 

[rgr33]

I have had a pellet stove for 10 years or so. The wife wanted it, as she thought the firewood was too messy Haven’t used it at all the past three years.
Dislikes- it’s useless when you lose power, it’s very noisy when running, its way too hot, due to the fan blowing hot air constantly.

Switching to propane at some point, scrapping the pellet stove.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Love my harman pellet stove. I use as supplement heat in FR. Sitting beside it now. Lot cleaner and easier than a wood stove. Mine only needs cleaned monthly. Pellets easier to deal with than wood. I burned wood in my last house, lot more work.

 

[bunyip]

Positives, they are clean and maintain a heat level and start themselves, the amount of dust we get from our wood stove is incredible.
Negatives, initial cost and pellets are two to three times the price of average to good firewood.
I doubt we would get one as we have a reasonable supply of fallen timber and reverse cycle aircon.
The units I have seen here are European which means they are very expensive, over twice the price of a locally made good wood heater.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

A friend of mine switched from firewood to pellets this fall, and he has tree's to make firewood...

He's happy with the switch because there's no mess with pellets and a heck of a lot less work.

HE SAYS he's still coming out a lot less than buying propane.

SR

 

[Dftodd]

I have a wood burning fireplace insert. It's about as noisy as a pellet stove. The reason being is it has a 3 stage blower. If the blower isn't blowing, it doesn't give out any heat. In case of a power outage, we just hook it to the generator. And use it as supplemental heat and help cut down on our electric bill.

I get wood for free, and it will only handle 14" long chunks, so a cord of wood lasts quite awhile. And on a really cold winter, I might burn 1.5 cord of wood. I only use it when the temps get below 40 during the day and colder at night though. If it's warmer then that, it will drive you out of the house

 

[grsthegreat]

i replaced my old (19 yr old) kuma wood stove this summer with a new Lopi endeavor wood stove. i looked into pellet stoves, but cant stomach buying wood pellets when i have 20 acres of trees. mind you i get tired of putting up firewood, but it had to go somewhere. might as well go into heat.

i have a propane furnace in my shop, but im thinking of putting a pellet stove in there for winter work. the fact i could put a pellet stove on a thermostat makes that a nice option. that wont occur until i fully retire, as for now my propane furnace will heat up my shop in a few minutes. its just kinda expensive to leave on.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

My 93 yo dad started his wood furnace the other day, he has free gas from his well.... But just in case...

 

[Thomas]

Thanks for advice gentlemen...keep it coming. :thumbsup:

 

[coolreinfarm]

I’ve had a pellet stove for 18 years and has served me well, connected a wall thermostat and keeps the temperature +-2deg. Don’t have many power outages but it runs the same on generator. Much safer than the wood stove that i used for 30 years, no temperature spikes and no creosote. I direct vented out the wall so no chimney to maintain. I don’t know much about the pellet furnace, a friend of mine has a corn furnace and has had a lot of trouble with it. I have a wood furnace in the garage that does a very good job of heating.

 

[CS2210]

I'm on my 4th winter with my enerzone bio45 pellet stove and love it. We heated with electric baseboards here for the first 8 years and it was expensive, and never felt warm no matter how high we cranked the heat.

We live in New Brunswick so our heat is on constantly from about the middle of November until about April. With the cost of pellets (about $900 per year cad) were saving money and it's a constant heat with the stove hooked to a thermostat.

The first year we burned a brand of locally made pellets and I had to clean the stove every 2 days and had a lot of clinkers. Since then we switched brand of pellets and they burn a lot cleaner needing to be cleaned only about every 2 weeks. I would suggest if you do go with pellets to try a few bags of different brands to see what your stove likes.