Need help wood inert vs. pellet nsert

Another benefit to the wood insert is, getting wood for "free" is also very possible, even if you do not own alot of land. I have scrounged about 4 cords of hardwood already in the month of march alone, 2 cords very well seasoned and 2 cords of ash that is seasoned a year. fortunatly i already had a truck and a trailer, and i invested in a brand new stihl and a wood splitting ax. So without those one-time investments I will be practically heating my house for free this winter and be getting a great work out at the same time!

getting pellets for free will be a little bit more of a challenge. either way it beats paying the oil company or in my case the electric company.

BeGreen said:

I have owned both types of inserts. The pellet stove will be more like an appliance. It starts itself up and runs off a thermostat (at least the Quad does). They are very convenient in that way. The downside is that they are a bit noisier due to the multiple blowers and require regular cleaning to keep them burning efficiently. The Castile may a little undersized, especially if this is an uninsulated basement. Maybe consider the Mt. Vernon instead if going pellet and trying to heat a large area. These are somewhat complex machines so expect it to be higher maintenance over its lifetime. Also, I strongly advise putting the unit on a UPS system to prevent electronics failures.

The wood insert will be less maintenance and will put out more heat. The fire will be much more visually satisfying. And it will be quieter. Burning wood will take more physical work to stack and haul wood and a bit messier. But not hugely so. FWIW, we are now back to wood burning and love it. Teamed with a high-efficiency, 2 stage heat pump it gives us the best of both worlds.

Click to expand...

Read this thread, it has a lot of good summary & comparison info in it.

https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/36340/P0/

Consider storage space --

Wood: Takes more space than pellets but can (and likely should) be stored outside away from your home due to insects. You really need to be thinking of enough space for more than on years worth of wood since it is next to impossible to buy really dry wood no matter what the wood sellers tell you. Granted in rare cases you will find someone selling really dry (aka seasoned) wood, but don't count on it. So, consider how much wood you need for a year and then double or triple it and consider if you can store that much wood? I am not saying you can't burn wood if you have a small yard - many do, but it could be a factor.

Pellets: Less space but MUST be kept dry or you have some expensive kitty litter / mulch on your hands. So indoor / garage/ waterproof shed is the right place for pellets. At least you only have to get them at most one year in advance though. Best price can be had getting a years worth delivered at once though I believe so consider where you will store them. If you have space in your basement or garage then you are all set there.

Cost --

Wood: You have more control / options since you can can choose to scrounge and/or cut your own. Friends will eventually know you burn and offer something at some time. Craigslist etc are good sources and for good or bad the prices are all over the place.

Pellets: Stability of prices - well, sort of. Seems that they just cost what they cost and at least in this area when I was watching them they didn't seem to move a whole lot. Bad side is they don't seem to have gone down at all even though oil prices have fallen quite a bit in the last two years. Some like the fact that it is easier to know you got what you paid for (i.e. a bag is a bag - vs a cord of wood is harder to eyeball when not stacked neatly)

Gee, I hate to quote someone when I can't remember who on this list said it nor the exact quote, but here goes "Nobody grows pellet trees around here".

Scrounged wood = free heat = works for me!

Shari

Anybody make some kind of giant pellet stove that feeds in presto logs?

Burned wood in an insert for 14 years. Tried the pellet insert idea this past winter. Going back to wood this coming winter. Reason: if you are looking for supplemental heat then the pellet work will work okay. If you are lookng @ primary heat, there is no comparison. Many of the above posts hit it right on the head. For me, it turned out to be an expensive experiment that did not suit my needs. Let me know if you would like a pellet insert @ a really good price............

Two years ago when heating oil prices were through the roof I looked into both woodstoves and pelletstoves. There are pros- and cons- to both types . . . I think a lot of what you decide to go with depends on your individual needs and wants.

For me there were a few factors that led me to go with wood . . .

1) I lose power frequently. While some pelletstoves have back-up batteries or you can fire up a generator I wanted a simple system that could be used to heat the house for a long time without the need for power. In the cas of a wood insert however you may need power back up anyways since many folks say the blower is a pretty important component of an insert vs. a woodstove where the blower may or may not help move the heat.

2) Fuel source. I wanted to get away from paying high prices and unfortunately if I had gone with pellets I would have been paying the going price for pellets -- and the prices at the time were rising pretty high at the time and the availability was pretty scarce (ditto for the pellletstoves as everyone and their sister were buying them). The fact that my family owns over 150 acres of land less than 15 minutes from my house means I have a relatively cheap source of wood . . . I wouldn't say it is free wood since we do pay taxes and I do pay for the gas and oil to cut, split and transport the wood so there is a cost . . . although it's a lot cheaper than buying wood pellets.

For me it all boiled down to having a heat source that would be cheap (and pay for itself in a few years) and be reliable . . . in my case a woodstove was the answer.

For someone who is looking to heat their house cheaper . . . or a person who wants the "load and go" convenience or the "set it and forget it" features where they just load up a hopper, set a thermostat and the stove does all the rest . . . a pelletstove may make sense since a woodstove does require more of a time commitment to starting the fire, moderating the air, etc. It's not a long or hard process -- but it does take up some time.

The noise of a pelletstove . . . I would guess this is a wash . . . since you would most likely have some noise from the blower of a wood insert. Mess: Woodstoves are messy . . . I would guess they are more messy than a pelletstove . . . but that's a guess on my part. Installation . . . . I would think a pelletstove install would be easier . . . you can vent these right out the side of your house with a minimal amount of pipe . . . and the hearth requirement generallly is pretty simple with little to no R-value requirements for the hearth.

I will say after having used my woodstove now for two years there are two other benefits that I like about it -- the view of the fire is heads-and-shoulders above the view of a pelletstove fire. If you want something with ambiance . . . something you will enjoy watching as much as the TV -- go with the woodstove. If you're just looking for something to heat the house, go with a pelletstove.

The other thing I like about the woodstove is that it is very easy to maintain a woodstove . . . many pelletstoves will require weekly or bi-weekly cleanings. Our inspector says his pelletstove (a well known and perhaps the most highly rated manufacturer of pelletstoves) requires him to do a weekly cleaning which he says takes him 20-45 minutes if he does everything by the book. My woodstove pretty much only requires an annual check . . . and I check and clean my chimney every month.