need a little insight

I have a Lopi fireplace insert and a Whitfield pellet stove. The wood burner is in the living room and the Whitfield is on a glassed in porch.

I have a Harbor Freight 5 ton wood splitter it makes short work of splitting wood.

http://www.harborfreight.com/5-ton-log-splitter-61373.html

We only use the insert on weekends and evenings too, I wouldn't consider replacing it with a pellet stove, I get my wood for free.

Dave

Wood stove advatages:
Uses no electricity
Possible free fuel if you have lots of trees.
Silent except the sound of fire crackling.

Wood stove disadvatages:
Difficult to regulate house temperature
Fuel harder to store and load
Harder to light

Pellet stove advantages:
Fuel is easier to store and load
Can run on thermostat
Auto ignition on most models

Pellet Stove disadvatages:
Requires electricity
Not silent
More parts to fail

TimfromMA has a great list.

I'd also add a pellet stove can likely go longer between adding fuel. In the 80's I had a wood stove and could never go longer than 8 hours, and that only on the lowest setting. I can get almost 24 hours on a low setting with my PC45. If I had the hopper extension that would about double.

My ancient pellet stove heats my house way better than I hoped for. I don't have easy or cheap access to wood. I would still love a wood insert for the LR, and might just get one this summer if I can find the right deal. It would have to be a gently used, low-tech machine like my stove, though. And looks would count.

I would love to get a wood burner but the wife is really against a pipe going out the ceiling and bla bla bla. I was hoping with the cold she would give the thumbs up but my pellet stove is just kicking ass(shameless plug).

My wife was completely opposed to the pellet stove purchase, but stopped short of forbidding the purchase. We have electric heat and rates skyrocketed this fall. Stove is in, house is warmer than ever and electric bill is maybe $50 higher than summer. At this point,if it was me or the stove I'd still win, but it would be a close call!

I run both daily. Pellet stove in the finished basement, Avalon insert in the 1st floor living room. I use both to limit the run time on the FHW oil burner. Pretty happy with this arrangement although I'm a long way from done with it all.

The insert is far from silent though as to really get heat out of it you'll need a fan unit. Also to be efficient with fuel and above mentioned inside air I need to run it at a very low draft, which takes tweaking - easy enough when you're hanging out in the LR. My insert currently draws room air and I really really want to get it burning outside air; if I crank that up the perimeter of the house gets darned cold.

Meanwhile I feed the pellet stove once per day (usually) and clean once per ton. I'm not done with the heat distribution part of this install but still with fans I'm able to keep the baseline temp in the house noticeably more comfortable than while trying to be gentle with oil.

Good news is with 3 fuels one or more should be reasonably available. The insert is small enough electrical load to run off a modest inverter, which is good. Pellet stove is a pretty big one so a big inverter and big battery supply are needed. One of my next steps is a small diesel generator, still seeking executive approval on that one .

Funny part - wife and daughter were strictly opposed to either solid fuel, probably since the first couple fires I had were a bit smoky owing to my learning the new-to-me setup. But now they congregate near the insert and enjoy coming home to a warm house.

Cheers,
- Jeff

I have free wood but I don't have free time... therefore it's a Pellet stove for me.

Bowhunter1 said:

When i first bought mine the wife thought i had lost my mind, now she loves it. well, except for the fact that i keep the house at 72 now, our first house had electric heat and i would never keep it at anything above 66, 20 years of being bundled up in the winter....never again! hahaha

Click to expand...

Same thing here , The expense to go from wood to pellets scared her for awhile ,but after the last few weeks when we can keep the house around 72 and sit in our underwear here , it has her convinced the change from wood was good , Though being in our 60's any pics. aren't suitable for public consumption .