Wood vs Pellet

webbie · Aug 31, 2007

elkimmeg said:
Despite the cost of pellets, they are part of energy independence of foreign imported fuels. You will never hear me bashing pellet stove users. they are part of the solution

Ha Ha.....how about the following famous Elk Quotes:
"Idiot proof ??? many more mechanical parts to break down computer boards to faulter thermo couplers regimented cleanning routine, Idiot proof?? I bet you have more service calls for pellet stoves than wood stoves?
Its the idiots that require the service work"

and

"Pellet stoves have taken a yuppy appeal. Explaining as I pull into my office one morning in Oct., One Hummer a huge suburan and couple explorers are sitting in the parking lot. All drivers owners are there to obtain pellet stove permits."

That could be construed as "bashing", but as you know in some ways I agree with you. Pellet stoves have their downsides and we have always pointed them out here accurately. If my neighbor was broke and wanted to borrow from his home equity line to buy a $4000 pellet stove to save money (over NG or even oil), I would tell them the facts! It is highly doubtful that when everything is figured in that they will save anything......but then again, if they were interested in sticking it to the oil or gas companies (we can argue as to whether this means anything in the long run), then I would tell them to go ahead.

In the long, long, long run - Pellets and pellets stoves will only be successful if the cost of the stoves, fuel and service stays competitive against other options. Certainly there will always be SOME market, but a larger market would dictate these things.

Eric Johnson · Aug 31, 2007

How about looking at it this way when comparing pellets to chunk wood:

Assuming a wood stove and a pellet stove are equally efficient in overall combustion and heat transfer efficiency, would it be fair to compare the cost of fuel, per ton, to determine the relative savings (or cost of operation)? I mean, if a cord of dry firewood costs $200 and a ton of pellets costs $200, would it be fair to say that the fueling the pellet stove costs about 2.5 times as much as keeping the wood stove running?

If so, that's pretty dramatic, as those prices are on the high end for firewood and relatively low for pellets. Probably closer to 3X in the real world.

webbie · Aug 31, 2007

Eric, wood weights can vary a LOT, and also moisture content and efficiency come into play. That makes it hard to compare thing that way.....

I think, for those who want to be fairly accurate, cost per delivered BTU must be used - of course, the appliance and servicing costs must also be figured in.

We've been through this a bunch of times - but given the basics......

2,000 lbs of pellets = 17,000,000 BTU x 80% efficiency - would equal approx 13,500,000 BTU delivered to the house per one ton of pellets ($225)
2,000 lbs of hard coal = 27,000,000 BTU x 80% efficiency - would equal approx 21,500,000 BTU delivered to the house per one ton of pellets ($175)
2.30 per gallon of oil (100 gallons) would be 14,000,000 BTU x 80% - would equal 11,200,000 BTU delivered to the house for 100 gal ($230)
A cord of mixed hardwood (3,000 lbs seasoned) at $175 a cord, would be 25,000,000 BTU at about 70% or 17,500,000 delivered to house ($175)

Also, prices for firewood vary greatly in different parts of the country - but in the east it might be fair to say that Pellets are about twice the cost of split and delivered wood, and also more expensive than hard coal - but 10 to 20% less than oil and somewhat similar to Natural Gas.

The "double" figure takes in a bit of short cords, wet wood and other variables. In other words "in the field". The person who cuts and carefully seasons and measures their own wood is obviously doing quite well in comparison to ANY fuel.

jjbaer · Aug 31, 2007

karl said:
Cast Iron, you mean you have said, "Hey babe, you wanna curl up on the couch and watch the furnace?" and nobody took you up on it?

I'm hoping I can find some hot young hippie chick from burning issues and get her in my living room once the Summit is up and running. If she's also a member of PETA then, I'll pull out the bear skin rug.

GREAT! I love it.....I can see it now....the Burning issue babe who drives a 1968 Vanagon telling you how she hates wood burners and animal killers while you respond "yes I agree" and simultaneously enjoy her company on your bear skin in front of your carbon neutral (but particulate belching) EPA approved woodburner........

jjbaer · Aug 31, 2007

Eric Johnson said:
I basically agree with cast on this one. As usual, he's done his research and crunched the numbers.

But I will say that there's a certain segment of the population that wouldn't be burning wood at all if it were not for pellets, so I'm thankful for that. I think burning wood pellets is good for the environment and good for the economy. If you share my view that energy independence is a matter of national security, then I think it's fair to say that burning pellets is a good practical and ideological approach as well.

And I will say this about pellets: Consumers have more power than they may think when it comes to buying pellets, at least over the longer term. I've talked to pellet producers, and they're in a bit of a bind when it comes to the weather, which they can't predict any better than anyone else. They have to try to anticipate demand, and that depends almost entirely on the weather. Since nobody wants to be caught short of product in a hot market, I think they tend to shoot for the moon and hope for the best. When we get a warm winter, they get stuck with unsold inventory at the end of the season. That should result in bargains for smart shoppers. Of course, if they guess the weather right, then they're holding all the cards.

I think it's more like running a ski resort than a more traditional manufacturing operation.

Thanks Eric. What was not said (but implied) in my response was that IF I had a ton of money, I'd also get a pellet stove with a marine battery back-up to power it during power outages. Given sufficient $ I wouldn't worry about the higher maintenance and fuel costs associated with a pellet stove because at that point I'd be after conveinence. But I'd still have a wood burner for beauty.

Also, what may be the determining factor is location. Pellet stoves are generally easier to vent, don't require the robust piping that wood stoves do and therefore the siting options for pellet stoves are probably more numerous. As for my comment on "flame appearance" you should ask to see a pellet stove burning before you buy it. Manufacturers are becoming more aware that consumers would like livelier flames and are doing some things to improve the flame appearance.

Henz · Aug 31, 2007

that they are..I was relatively impressed with some of the Harmons..Not nearly the same as wood and no popping/crackling sounds so it almost seems fake, but still better than they used to be. If your really worried about power outages, do yourselves a favor and get a decent generator and co-gen system...yeah, its expensive but well worth it. I love my 10k W honda...When the lights go out, I roll it out the basement door, fire it up, flick my switch on the main panel and bang! the lights come on!

hearthtools · Aug 31, 2007

I will put in my 2 cents on why I use a pellet stove.

I sell all types of heat but for myself I prefer Pellet.

Im fully capable to cutting wood, Own a Saw and healthy enough to do the work and have plenty of resources to get wood and have 6 acres to store it.
My back yard is the Sierra Nation Forrest with some of the larges trees in the world. Ranging from 3 kinds of Pine, Fir, 4 kinds of Oak, Cedar and Redwood.
I can buy wood from a local wood cutter or from the Valley from a company that Cuts the Fruit wood and resales from when a farmer has to Replant Old Growth Orchards. millions of cords available per year. Average hard wood is $220 a cord.

This will be my 19th season of using a pellet stove as my sole source of heat. I heat 1900 sq feet to and average of 72 deg 24 hours a day.
Burn 3 tons per year.

Reason I dont heat with Gas (I have a Furnace but dont use it)
Im in a Propane ONLY area so the cost to fill a 500 Gallon tank in over $900-1500 depending on gas prices. If I was going to get the same heat as my pellet my guess I would have to fill 3 times.
with forced air I still feel cold for you dont feel the radiant heat. and it suffs me up

Reason I dont have a wood stove.
I grew up with a wood stove and froze my ass off for 18 years because Our older smoke dragon only had 3 hours burn times. New stoves are much better but still more work than pellet.

I own a business and work 12-16 hours a day. I want to come home to a Kozy home no matter what time it is without having to work more when I get home.

I dont have time to go out and cut wood. I want to spend my Limited OFF time with Family and or my TV remote.
(side note: we went camping two week ago. I brought my chain saw to cut firewood for our Huge Fires we had every night.
Boy was a Worn out after my half a truck load loads every day.)

Dont like the mess a few cords of wood leaves in your storage area.

Dont like the mess wood leaves on your hearth.

Dont like the bugs that come in with the wood.

Dont like the possibility of Termites eating my wood home from wood being stacked near my home.

Dont like to keep Newspaper and Soft wood kindling to start a stove once or twice a day.

Dont want to mess up my wood floor with Embers that might fly out of the stove when I load.

Dont want to repaint my Ceiling every 5 years.

Don’t want to clean ashes out every day and dump gallons of ash every week

Dont want to have to open a window to cool off because I over fired my wood stove.

Dont want to hear the wife groan that she had to cut up kindling to start a fire.

Dont want to here the wife groan it is too hot or too cold.

Don’t want my Kid to open the door and walk away

Don’t want a huge hearth to trip over with my size 12’s

Don’t want to go up on the roof and clean the California Mandated Small Screen in the cap ever 2 weeks.

Reasons I use a pellet:

Evironmental friendly
Less than 1 gram of Particulates in the air.

Easy to clean:
Clean burn pot every 2-3 days (5 minutes), Good cleaning once every 2 weeks. (15 minutes)
Full service once a year. (the same as a wood stove but a little more detailed)
(1 hour)

My new Enviro fire Omega (coming to me soon) with the self cleaning burn pot and huge has pan I will not have to open the stove to clean but once a month. And can burn any crappy pellets or Cherry pits I can get my hands on.
http://www.enviro.com/fireplace-products/pellet/freestanding-fireplace.html#Omega

Less Mess
No wood chips in side home or out
No splitting
No newspapers to keep
No smoke in the house
No burnt floors
No bugs, Rats, Squires or cats living in fuel.

Takes up much less space
No need for a huge hearth to stick out and stub you toe on.
New Omega has build in hearth can sit right on my wood floor.

Easy to start
My 2 year old helps me clean burn pot and glass and she pushes the start button.
Have photo but kind find them.

Safe:
Less surface area that is hot, less chance of a chimney fire.

Burn times:
Load Once a day (feed my dog feed my stove)
Burns 12-35 hours on one bag of pellet fuel. Omega has a 3 bag hopper
Fuel stacks nice and neat in my garage 20 feet away from my stove don’t have to go out in the weather to get fuel.

Thermostat controlled.
Maintains a even temp with in 5 deg. Don’t have to open a door or window to even out heat. If to hot just turn it down or shut it off.

#1 Reason
As soon as I get done with work I’m a lazy ass and don’t want to work any harder its bad enough my wife don’t cook and I have to cook dinner when we get home.

Henz · Aug 31, 2007

Wow..sounds perfect for you then..if your only burning 3 tons that isnt bad at all. I really think it all depends on where you live and your situiation..I have an endless supply of hardwood..Thats why I burn wood. Most people who have pellet stoved around here burn at least 5 ton, but the winters are alittle more severe here that anywhere in CA..Put it this way,..I start a constant fire in September..and dont stop burning wood until mid May.

Dunadan · Aug 31, 2007

Tammy -

I have no history with pellets and only 1 season with my wood stove/insert but we love it and I'll provide my thoughts -

1. To heat the size area you mentioned you aren't going to need a very big stove. I would consider my Lopi Revere a medium size insert and it kept the entire lower level (we have 3 steps up to the upper level) of our split level ranch in the low to upper 80's all of last winter except on the coldest of our Upstate NY (sub-zero) days and then it would be high 70s. To heat your 2 rooms, I would think you could go with a small stove and get similar results.

2. You will cut down on your utility bills with wood. Burning wood 24*7 last year we only need to use 1.5 tanks of oil from October through March. It would have been less if we hadn't run out of wood right at the end of the season. The winter before we went through 4 full tanks of oil. At $600+ to fill the tank, I figure by next season my original investment will have been offset by what I've saved.

3. Not only will you cut down on your utility bills, you will be able to do so while staying warmer in your home. Last year our lower living area stayed (as I said) in the 80s most of the winter, and our upper living area stayed in the 70s. When we were heating with oil, we rarely had our thermostat set above 70. When family would come over to visit, they couldn't believe we were running around the house in the middle of winter wearing shorts, t-shirts, with bear feet. So, more heat, for less money.

4. You can't fine tune the heat output of a stove like I understand you can with a pellet stove. Once your fire is going, you can damper the fire down to reduce the heat output, but the range of adjustment is not all that great, and takes some practice. My goal this season is to learn to control the output of heat much better than I did last season.

5. Wood does take a good bit of work. Eventually I would like to be able to cut and split my own wood, but for now I am buying the wood which gets dumped in the driveway. I then take it by wheelbarrow to where it needs to be stacked, and stack it. Since we burned pretty much 24*7 last winter, at least once in the morning and once at night I would have to go to the wood pile, load up my canvas carrier, and haul it into the house to fill up my wood rack by the fireplace. I'm anal and can't stand to have a partially filled wood rack, I like to see it full, so I probably made more trips than I really need to. Also, wood is messy. You will get wood chips and dirt on the hearth and under your wood rack.

6. Cleaning ash out a stove is messy. The problem is ash is light. No matter how carefully I would scoop out the ash, and how quickly I would cover the ash pan after putting ash in it, the ash would always puff out and float into the air. All winter long we had a fine film of ash on most surfaces around the stove - even though we constantly would dust to clean it up. Possibly if I were more patient and took more time between taking out scoops of ash it would settle, and be less likely to become airborne, but I'm not.

7. Despite the effort and mess of burning wood, there is something wonderful about it, and I love it. I love the smell of wood smoke, and I love watching the wood burn when I'm relaxing in the living room at night. It just seems natural to burn wood, and even though it can be a pain, and by the end of winter I'm sick of hauling in wood, sitting in front of the fire on a cold night with a glass of wine (or a beer) just can't be beat.

Good luck with your decision.

Sean

TJN66 · Sep 1, 2007

Thank you everyone. You have given me some really good information. We are going to start looking at stoves and see what type we like best. I have some friends that all have pellet stoves and they love them. Thats what hubby wants so that is the way we are going to go and then for my survivalist side we are going to get a generator for emergencies.

And if we decide that we dont like the pellet stove..ok if I decide lol...then I will eventually buy a wood stove. Sounds stupid I know but... since Im not going to be doing most of the hard labor for the wood I have to go with hubby's decision. He works hard and I just cant seem to want to have him work hard at home also. But who knows..when we start looking he may change his mind after talking to a few places.

I'll be reading the boards and checking all of the posts so that I can be well informed in case he changes his mind.

Again thank you... this is a really great site!

Tammy

Gooserider · Sep 1, 2007

Tammy said:
Thank you everyone. You have given me some really good information. We are going to start looking at stoves and see what type we like best. I have some friends that all have pellet stoves and they love them. Thats what hubby wants so that is the way we are going to go and then for my survivalist side we are going to get a generator for emergencies.

And if we decide that we dont like the pellet stove..ok if I decide lol...then I will eventually buy a wood stove. Sounds stupid I know but... since Im not going to be doing most of the hard labor for the wood I have to go with hubby's decision. He works hard and I just cant seem to want to have him work hard at home also. But who knows..when we start looking he may change his mind after talking to a few places.

I'll be reading the boards and checking all of the posts so that I can be well informed in case he changes his mind.

Again thank you... this is a really great site!

Tammy

Sounds like a reasonable plan, good luck on whatever stove you decide to purchase... Remember that if you have any questions about specific models, let us know and I'm sure there will be plenty of opinions on that as well...

Gooserider

wg_bent · Sep 1, 2007

Good plan Tammy. Once you pick out a stove and get it installed, take a picture.

When I looked at stoves, the top one on the list was the Harman Accentra. To me it was the quietest, nicest looking stove that had the best looking flame.

mkmh · Sep 1, 2007

Not sure if folks have seen this before, but I have found it to be helpful when i'm trying to understand pros and cons of one fuel versus another. I've seen several tools like it on the web, but this seemed to be the most comprehensive to me.
http://www.eia.doe.gov/neic/experts/heatcalc.xls

It does not contradict anything stated in this thread, but really allows you to customize for your situation (appliance efficiency and market price for fuel).

For my situation in southern Maine it confirmed the following:
At 2007 prices it is significantly cheaper for me to run my (roughly) 82% efficiant pellet stoves than to run my 82% efficient Rinnai LP space heaters. Likewise it is cheaper for me to heat with wood pellets than #2 heating oil....However, if I bought a high efficiency (90%) efficient oil burner the price per million BTU would be pretty close to the same. A woodstove and cord wood would probably be my cheapest option per therm, but I would incur some heavy front end costs on the installation...so it would be many years before I financially "broke even" on that expense.

If you really want to be anal retentive, put a price per hour on your labor and factor that in as well. If I were to "bill myself out" at the same rate that I get at work then pellets are more cost effective than wood for me. In fact #2 heating oil becomes my most sensible option. Obviously (as others have stated) the debate goes beyond economics....but that is really the only objective info that can be brought into the equation. The rest is all personal preference etc. I will say that I disagree with the statement that pellet stoves are as fun to watch as a furnace.
Agreed that wood stove win for ambiance...but our St Croix Hastings burns really nicely
http://www.ruralenergyproducts.com/images/stoves/st-croix-hastings.jpg

I'll post pic of our actual stove in October

jjbaer · Sep 5, 2007

GVA said:
Your decimal point is off on the cost per million BTU'S ($14 and $10 respectivly)

Yup...you're correct. Thanks

GVA said:
from an old thread the $1.84 per therm is after all associated charges are added

Still though, I can’t quite find the savings that you promised me.
http://www.quadrafire.com/products/stoves/gasStoveDetail.asp?f=CASTILE-DV
this was the first one i checked and didn’t check any further...... 81% efficient.
Now using the calculator with the defaults.
pellet stove 70% eff at $200 per ton (or the $5 a bag you stated earlier)======$17.71 per mil BTU
gas stove at 80% eff at $1.84 per therm===========================$23.00 per mil BTU

so I punched in a more realistic minimum # for a pellet stove
pellet stove 80% eff at $200 per ton==============================$15.50 per mil BTU

You might have me confused with someone else. You see I bought my stove when pellets WERE cheaper, but maybe I should get a gas stove and wood stove and rotate them out baseed on the market.......
My wife was all excited when I said that we could add another stove to the house and run NG and save money..... Now I guess I have to break the news to her

Also this was a zone heater comparison. not central to zone.
I believe in that same thread Elk mentioned that typical eff loss from duct work was 35%

Where I am (Ohio) the fully-loaded cost is only about $1.1 per therm (100,000 BTU) making it about $11/million BTU's which, at least for around here, makes gas far cheaper. Another thing to consider: if your ducts run through heated spaces then the loss is not really a loss because you're just leaking it out of the ducts earlier........so...even at $1.84/therm, if you had say, a 93% eff NG furnace, that regardless of duct losses (provided you intended on heating the areas where the duct losses occured anyway) your calculation for NG would show $1.84 spent for one therm (100,000 BTU) of which 93% (93,000 BTU's) are usable and going to heat spaces you want heated anyway, for a cost of about $19.8/million BTU's which brings it in-line with the pellet stove. But when it's that close, I'd go with whatever you want. Also, both have pros/cons: point sources like the pellet usually only heat a few rooms but this may be what you had in mind while the NG heats all rooms but can be made to heat fewer rooms (but then you still might have leakage into those rooms you didn't want heated and other problems if the thermosat isn't in the main room you want heated).....so...after all that "analysis".....go for what you want !!!

LOL

budman · Sep 5, 2007

Tammy said:
Thanks everyone. I live in NY..right on the PA border. There are lots of woods around but I don't own any of it =(

Since Hubby would be doing the majority of the hard work of the splitting, hauling and such then that also needs to be taken into consideration. I know nothing about what brands to buy or anything of that sort. Are there better made wood/pellet stoves than others? And what should I be looking for when I do buy. We have someone coming from a local business next Thursday to give us an idea of what we can put in and where is the best spot for us.

I talked to one dealer and he told me that to get a good wood stove and a proper venting/piping its going to cost around $5000. I don't even know if that seems high or not. We really wanted an old fashioned looking stove not the newer sleeker models. It just wouldn't fit our home decor.

Any advice/help you can give us would be wonderful. And thank you again for all your help.

Tammy

5,000 :ahhh:

TJN66 · Sep 5, 2007

[/quote] 5,000 :ahhh:[/quote]

LOL !!!

I agree!

Tammy

Mrs-GVA · Oct 15, 2007

hearthtools said:
I will put in my 2 cents on why I use a pellet stove.

I sell all types of heat but for myself I prefer Pellet.

Im fully capable to cutting wood, Own a Saw and healthy enough to do the work and have plenty of resources to get wood and have 6 acres to store it.
My back yard is the Sierra Nation Forrest with some of the larges trees in the world. Ranging from 3 kinds of Pine, Fir, 4 kinds of Oak, Cedar and Redwood.
I can buy wood from a local wood cutter or from the Valley from a company that Cuts the Fruit wood and resales from when a farmer has to Replant Old Growth Orchards. millions of cords available per year. Average hard wood is $220 a cord.

This will be my 19th season of using a pellet stove as my sole source of heat. I heat 1900 sq feet to and average of 72 deg 24 hours a day.
Burn 3 tons per year.

Reason I dont heat with Gas (I have a Furnace but dont use it)
Im in a Propane ONLY area so the cost to fill a 500 Gallon tank in over $900-1500 depending on gas prices. If I was going to get the same heat as my pellet my guess I would have to fill 3 times.
with forced air I still feel cold for you dont feel the radiant heat. and it suffs me up

Reason I dont have a wood stove.
I grew up with a wood stove and froze my ass off for 18 years because Our older smoke dragon only had 3 hours burn times. New stoves are much better but still more work than pellet.

I own a business and work 12-16 hours a day. I want to come home to a Kozy home no matter what time it is without having to work more when I get home.

I dont have time to go out and cut wood. I want to spend my Limited OFF time with Family and or my TV remote.
(side note: we went camping two week ago. I brought my chain saw to cut firewood for our Huge Fires we had every night.
Boy was a Worn out after my half a truck load loads every day.)

Dont like the mess a few cords of wood leaves in your storage area.

Dont like the mess wood leaves on your hearth.

Dont like the bugs that come in with the wood.

Dont like the possibility of Termites eating my wood home from wood being stacked near my home.

Dont like to keep Newspaper and Soft wood kindling to start a stove once or twice a day.

Dont want to mess up my wood floor with Embers that might fly out of the stove when I load.

Dont want to repaint my Ceiling every 5 years.

Don’t want to clean ashes out every day and dump gallons of ash every week

Dont want to have to open a window to cool off because I over fired my wood stove.

Dont want to hear the wife groan that she had to cut up kindling to start a fire.

Dont want to here the wife groan it is too hot or too cold.

Don’t want my Kid to open the door and walk away

Don’t want a huge hearth to trip over with my size 12’s

Don’t want to go up on the roof and clean the California Mandated Small Screen in the cap ever 2 weeks.

Reasons I use a pellet:

Evironmental friendly
Less than 1 gram of Particulates in the air.

Easy to clean:
Clean burn pot every 2-3 days (5 minutes), Good cleaning once every 2 weeks. (15 minutes)
Full service once a year. (the same as a wood stove but a little more detailed)
(1 hour)

My new Enviro fire Omega (coming to me soon) with the self cleaning burn pot and huge has pan I will not have to open the stove to clean but once a month. And can burn any crappy pellets or Cherry pits I can get my hands on.
http://www.enviro.com/fireplace-products/pellet/freestanding-fireplace.html#Omega

Less Mess
No wood chips in side home or out
No splitting
No newspapers to keep
No smoke in the house
No burnt floors
No bugs, Rats, Squires or cats living in fuel.

Takes up much less space
No need for a huge hearth to stick out and stub you toe on.
New Omega has build in hearth can sit right on my wood floor.

Easy to start
My 2 year old helps me clean burn pot and glass and she pushes the start button.
Have photo but kind find them.

Safe:
Less surface area that is hot, less chance of a chimney fire.

Burn times:
Load Once a day (feed my dog feed my stove)
Burns 12-35 hours on one bag of pellet fuel. Omega has a 3 bag hopper
Fuel stacks nice and neat in my garage 20 feet away from my stove don’t have to go out in the weather to get fuel.

Thermostat controlled.
Maintains a even temp with in 5 deg. Don’t have to open a door or window to even out heat. If to hot just turn it down or shut it off.

#1 Reason
As soon as I get done with work I’m a lazy ass and don’t want to work any harder its bad enough my wife don’t cook and I have to cook dinner when we get home.

Yup, I can relate! I agree 100% !!!

! Only I'm the wife that would be complaining, whining and bitching! ;-)

hearthtools · Oct 16, 2007

Mrs-GVA said:
hearthtools said:

I will put in my 2 cents on why I use a pellet stove.

I sell all types of heat but for myself I prefer Pellet.

Im fully capable to cutting wood, Own a Saw and healthy enough to do the work and have plenty of resources to get wood and have 6 acres to store it.
My back yard is the Sierra Nation Forrest with some of the larges trees in the world. Ranging from 3 kinds of Pine, Fir, 4 kinds of Oak, Cedar and Redwood.
I can buy wood from a local wood cutter or from the Valley from a company that Cuts the Fruit wood and resales from when a farmer has to Replant Old Growth Orchards. millions of cords available per year. Average hard wood is $220 a cord.

This will be my 19th season of using a pellet stove as my sole source of heat. I heat 1900 sq feet to and average of 72 deg 24 hours a day.
Burn 3 tons per year.

Reason I dont heat with Gas (I have a Furnace but dont use it)
Im in a Propane ONLY area so the cost to fill a 500 Gallon tank in over $900-1500 depending on gas prices. If I was going to get the same heat as my pellet my guess I would have to fill 3 times.
with forced air I still feel cold for you dont feel the radiant heat. and it suffs me up

Reason I dont have a wood stove.
I grew up with a wood stove and froze my ass off for 18 years because Our older smoke dragon only had 3 hours burn times. New stoves are much better but still more work than pellet.

I own a business and work 12-16 hours a day. I want to come home to a Kozy home no matter what time it is without having to work more when I get home.

I dont have time to go out and cut wood. I want to spend my Limited OFF time with Family and or my TV remote.
(side note: we went camping two week ago. I brought my chain saw to cut firewood for our Huge Fires we had every night.
Boy was a Worn out after my half a truck load loads every day.)

Dont like the mess a few cords of wood leaves in your storage area.

Dont like the mess wood leaves on your hearth.

Dont like the bugs that come in with the wood.

Dont like the possibility of Termites eating my wood home from wood being stacked near my home.

Dont like to keep Newspaper and Soft wood kindling to start a stove once or twice a day.

Dont want to mess up my wood floor with Embers that might fly out of the stove when I load.

Dont want to repaint my Ceiling every 5 years.

Don’t want to clean ashes out every day and dump gallons of ash every week

Dont want to have to open a window to cool off because I over fired my wood stove.

Dont want to hear the wife groan that she had to cut up kindling to start a fire.

Dont want to here the wife groan it is too hot or too cold.

Don’t want my Kid to open the door and walk away

Don’t want a huge hearth to trip over with my size 12’s

Don’t want to go up on the roof and clean the California Mandated Small Screen in the cap ever 2 weeks.

Reasons I use a pellet:

Evironmental friendly
Less than 1 gram of Particulates in the air.

Easy to clean:
Clean burn pot every 2-3 days (5 minutes), Good cleaning once every 2 weeks. (15 minutes)
Full service once a year. (the same as a wood stove but a little more detailed)
(1 hour)

My new Enviro fire Omega (coming to me soon) with the self cleaning burn pot and huge has pan I will not have to open the stove to clean but once a month. And can burn any crappy pellets or Cherry pits I can get my hands on.
http://www.enviro.com/fireplace-products/pellet/freestanding-fireplace.html#Omega

Less Mess
No wood chips in side home or out
No splitting
No newspapers to keep
No smoke in the house
No burnt floors
No bugs, Rats, Squires or cats living in fuel.

Takes up much less space
No need for a huge hearth to stick out and stub you toe on.
New Omega has build in hearth can sit right on my wood floor.

Easy to start
My 2 year old helps me clean burn pot and glass and she pushes the start button.
Have photo but kind find them.

Safe:
Less surface area that is hot, less chance of a chimney fire.

Burn times:
Load Once a day (feed my dog feed my stove)
Burns 12-35 hours on one bag of pellet fuel. Omega has a 3 bag hopper
Fuel stacks nice and neat in my garage 20 feet away from my stove don’t have to go out in the weather to get fuel.

Thermostat controlled.
Maintains a even temp with in 5 deg. Don’t have to open a door or window to even out heat. If to hot just turn it down or shut it off.

#1 Reason
As soon as I get done with work I’m a lazy ass and don’t want to work any harder its bad enough my wife don’t cook and I have to cook dinner when we get home.

Click to expand...

Yup, I can relate! I agree 100%! Only I'm the wife that would be complaining, whining and bitching! ;-)

my new OMEGA
http://www.hearthtools.com/pellet/enviro/omaega_room.jpg

Mr Whitfield · Oct 16, 2007

I had a wood stove (Lopi), after years of buying wood (Oak) 200 to 250 a cord, stacking, spider,bugs, wood rats, I went with a Whitfield Adv II Pellet insert. What I like about the pellet
stove is set it and foget it. The stove run's all night, no adding wood in the middle of the night.
As for cleaning, just vac it out. This stove runs great and is a tank. The big plus is my wife can
load the pellets, no heavy wood to carry in the house. Buy your pellets early no problems, cost
runs about the same as a cord of wood in my area, Plus the older you get the the pellets are easy to deal with... Pellets Rock

wilbilt · Oct 16, 2007

I like my pellet stove so far. I think it is a great alternative to my LPG-fired FAU and will most likely replace it as primary heat. Even though we have pretty mild winters compared to a lot of you, preliminary calcs suggest my heating costs will be 50% of LPG expenditure.

It helps that the stove was free.

Plus, it "feels" warmer.

Wood vs Pellet

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