Wood vs Pellet

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TJN66

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Hearth Supporter
Aug 27, 2007
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Hubby and I are looking into purchasing a stove. The only thing we can not agree on is either a wood or pellet stove =) He likes the way a pellet stove is easier to start..push of the button basically. I like the idea of a wood stove. You can use it even when the electric is out. Pellet stove you cant.

Anyway..we would have to buy wood/pellets as we dont have a cheap source of wood.

Which stove gives out a even heat? We are mainly wanting it to keep our utility bills down, and not to have the on/off cycle of the furnace. You know the old hot one minute then cold the next sensation.

So what are your likes/dislikes to each one? We are totally newbies to this and have never used either one before.

Thank you so much!
Tammy
 
FYI some new pellet stoves run off all DC motors and can run off a marine battery during a power outage.
 
Tammy......I will throw in my 2 cents worth since I am relatively new to wood burning for home heat. I have been burning in wood stove for 5 years just cause the house came with it. I love using it and will be upgrading in the next year or so to a more modern, efficient stove. I burn because each propane fill is $600+, and I now only go through a tank a year. Friend of mine goes through 5-6 tank fills a year on a similar sized 2000 sq foot log home. Needless to say, his new Avalon Perfect Fit fireplace insert is getting put in next week. It will pay for itself in 2 seasons. My friend has a splitter, I have a couple chainsaws and a beater pick-up so the cost of the wood is almost nothing. But the wood takes work, time, patience, some banged up legs and sore backs. We're in it for the natural aspect and money saving as compared to pellets or LP.....but the pellets would be easier.
 
Welcome Tammy. We've had both wood stoves and pellet stoves. A good pellet stove is really convenient and really clean burning. Some work just like a furnace on a thermostat. They can set back the heat at night and turn it back up at night, all automatically. Pellet stoves also have less stringent flue requirements, so often the flue is less expensive to install.

But a woodstove has some advantages too. For one, unless it has a blower, it's silent. So you should think about where this stove will be located. Even the best pellet stoves make noise. It is essentially a mini-wood pellet furnace. If the stove is to be located in an area where you cherish quiet, then consider this. If the stove is in a relatively active or noisy area, or if it's located out of the central gathering area, then a pellet stove may be great. A wood stove, if sized correctly, can also have a lot of reserve capacity for those really cold nights.

But to complicate things, we loved both stoves. It was great waking up to a warm house and a stove you could stand in front of and warm up. When we removed the pellet stove during the remodel, my sister in law thought I was nuts to sell it. But I really like the quiet heat of the larger wood stove and ultimately am glad with the decision to have one larger wood stove to heat the house with.
 
Tammy,

Where are you located? The price of wood and the price of pellets needs to be taken into account. I live in West Virginia, and I this will be my first year heating with a wood insert. I have been cutting and splitting wood in my spare time all summer. I just found out in the past few days that some of my neighbors think I'm crazy for cutting wood. Two of them heat with wood and one heats with coal and wood. Apparently the price of split wood in this area is very cheap. One of the guys says he goes and picks up his from tree guy and the going rate is $25.00 for a pickup truck load if you buy it off him during the summer. He said he gets almost a half a cord in his truck. The guy delivers wood in the winter time for about $125.00 to $150.00 cord, depending on how bad he needs money how cold it is etc. Even at that price it's still cheaper than alot people are paying in different parts of the country.

I don't know a thing about heating with wood or pellets, other than what I have learned in here over the past 6 months or so. It seems as though the price of pellets is discussed a lot on here, and the price is volitile just like heating oil and natural gas. Well, maybe not as bad as them but it is going up.

You might want to take into account your ability to transport wood and pellets. Pellets can be delivered, but wood can be scrounged for free at times. I have a cheap pawn shop chain saw and a three hundred dollar electric splitter. They get the job the done. You might buy some wood and scrounge some more for free.

Go here https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/articles/fuel_cost_comparison_calculator/ and compare the cost of the two for your area. Elk posted just a few weeks ago about seeing pellets at $269.00 a ton. At that price and 80% efficiency you could pay $350.00 a cord for hardwood at 70% effciency and still be a few dollars cheaper.
 
Karl's going down the same path I was going to go down. at 269.00 a ton, plus the Pellet stove, your ROI is going to be a while. You can expect to burn up to 4 or 5 tons per year depending on your location. My problem with pellet stoves is that they have all the ambiance of a blast furnace. My wood stove has a blower too, and it heats better than without the blower, but a pellet stove simply won't work with out power. Honesty, the power loss argument is almost a non-starter since in 5 years of living here we lost power once in the winter when we needed the stove as the only source of heat. A couple cheap kerosene heaters could have been the back up for those few hours.
But that may not be the case for you.

On the plus for pellet stoves, they are controlled by a thermostat, some are self starting, and burn all day with no fuss.

Pellet stoves are easier, but that's only because I cut my own wood. You could get a wood stove and burn presto logs (NOT THE GROCERY STORE WAX LOGS!!!!) or a similar product.

My wife, kids and I all love the wood stove. It takes time, but there is value in that time. It makes us appreciate what it takes to heat a home.
 
There is the lobor of love factor whether processing fire wood or scraping and cleaning the burn pot of the pellet stove.

This could swing the deal in fovor of a pellet stove a direct vent stove can go just about anywhere and no complicated chimney is required.

One would purchase a direct vent model..


Pellet stove pros

the installation can be a lot less costly

Thermostat controled fill the hopper and get hours of unattended heat

One may be able to burn corn if it is available or cheaper

No needed wood gatherning tools expenses

Some cons

the blower and mechanical noise factors

View if you want and open fire view a pellet stove looks like a mini blast furnace

It does require cleaning scraping the burn pot.

Chances are you need indoor or sheltered storage for you pellet supply

Cost and availability of pellets can be come a factor

There will be costly repair parts in the future that will require replacement

Needs electricy to run

Woodstove pros

can be run without power

Realistic looking fire.

Can be the cheapest source of heat providing you can secure inexpensive wood supply

Less maintance than a pellet stove no control boards and mechanical parts replacements

Cons

a class A chimney can cost more than the stove a liner system over $1000 in an existing chimney

A lot of work goes into processing wood and stacking it

It needs dry seasoned wood to run properly.

Bringing wood into the home is a messier opperation.

There will be more loading and tending a fire involved

Not as good cost of fuel saver if purchassing cut and split wood

The wood needs proper stacking and storage outside


I'm sure others can add to the list this gets the ball rolling
 
I think Elk's list is very accurate. I also think you need to consider who will be doing the wood processing if you choose to go with a wood stove. As others have said it is time consuming and physical and the person doing it has to want to do it. If you want the wood stove and are willing to split, stack, etc. then that's great, but if your husband doesn't want the extra work, then it may not be a great idea.
 
hilly said:
I think Elk's list is very accurate. I also think you need to consider who will be doing the wood processing if you choose to go with a wood stove. As others have said it is time consuming and physical and the person doing it has to want to do it. If you want the wood stove and are willing to split, stack, etc. then that's great, but if your husband doesn't want the extra work, then it may not be a great idea.

Everyone above is dead accurate.

I, as probably alot of us on here, enjoy the process of bucking/splitting/stacking. There is some pride involve (it also is a great stress-reliever). Besides, what's sexier? A man/woman carrying an arm of firewood you know they split, or coming in the house with a bucket/bag of pellets?
 
while i'm not going to say anything new ... i will relate to you the choices i went though when deciding what to go with.

I should also mention, that i live in PA, so coal is also an excellant option as well. Depending on your location this may be a viable choice for you too.

When deciding on a stove i really only had one NEED, and that was, to heat my garage.


my pros for pellet/corn
---------------------------------
Biomass/re-newable energy
direct vent is easier and cheaper to install
pellets are easier to store
less maintenence, fill it up and let it run for the most part
burns overnight with no work
easier to control overall temperature


pellet corn cons
-----------------------
initial stove is more expensive
price of pellets is volotile, this can easily been seen with the price of corn doubleing in recent years
requires electricity to run


wood pros
----------------
initial stove price is cheaper
also re-newable and carbon neutral
with work, wood can be free or very cheap
maintaining the stove is half the fun for me
works in a power outage

wood cons
---------------
chinmey more expensive to install
fuel needs to be seasoned, and there for planning is needed
overnight burning is something you need to pay attention to
possible to overfire the stove
harder to control overall room temerature



in the end, i went with a wood/coal stove. mainly because i actually enjoy tending the fire, but also because i found a new unit very very cheaply. Pellet/corn stoves are very applealing to me, but it's difficult not knowing the future of pellet/corn prices. i'm willing to work for my wood, so i know i'll always have a reasonably cheap supply.


plus, to me, there's nothing more enjoyable then banking a stove on a cold winters evening.
 
And pellets burn much cleaner. They are often a better choice in an urban environment unless gas is available.
 
go with the wood..pellets are just gonna get more expensive. anything that requires processing is gonna cost more in the end..
 
Adirondackwoodburner said:
go with the wood..pellets are just gonna get more expensive. anything that requires processing is gonna cost more in the end..

it goes along with the dreaded peak oil theory. pellets take energy to make, energy to gather the biomass, trasport it to the pellet factory, and then energy to transform into pellets, then delivery ... blah blah blah, it goes hand in hand that as oil prices rise, so will the price of pellets.

wood's the same way to a degree, but since it's a local product wouldn't nearly have as much of an impact.
 
exactally, and, if you are really able to, try to fund yourself a chunk of land that has decent hardwood on it that can be used for firewood..Once you get to the end of the fireood on the property you can then sell the land..If the property is big enough, you can re-plant as you go or it will simply regrow anyways..That is basically what I am doign with my 50 acres.
 
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
 
Tammy, how large is the home? How large is the room you want to put it in? Is this a one or two story house? What is the floor plan like? How well insulated? Will the stove be going in from scratch or is there an existing chimney?

$5000 seems a bit high. I would think you might get a nice wood stove set up from scratch for about $3500 to $4000. But wait a month and the price will be higher. This can be done for less, but that will depend on how big the stove is and how complex is the installation. If you want to keep the costs down you may have to forego some of the fanciness of the stove and go for a steel box.
 
It's a tough call and an interesting question. Pellets and chunk wood are really two very different animals. About all they have in common is that they're both made of wood and they both burn in a stove that you have to tend.

Over time, firewood will cost you a lot less than pellets, simply because there will always be plenty of free wood around, and even the stuff you buy isn't going to rise as much as pellets, which are subject to swings in demand and tend to be priced at what the market will bear. More expensive oil and gas means more expensive pellets. Not so with wood.

On the other hand, wood is a lot more work, and the equipment will probably cost a bit more to install, considering that you'll probably need a new chimney or chimney liner. And if you cut your own wood, you'll need a good saw and some safety gear.

So I would say that if you're willing to offset the longterm cost of fuel with your time and labor and you have the cash to do a proper wood stove installation, that's the way to go. If you are more interested in a reliable and relatively trouble-free alternative to fossil fuels that will save you a fair amount over time, then pellets are probably a better bet.

Bear in mind that you'll need a place to store and dry enough wood to get you through at least one heating season, and preferably two. You'll need a fair amount of space to store a few tons of pellets, too (so you can stock up when prices are low and supplies are plentiful). And unless you pay to have them delivered, you'll need a good way to haul them home. Three tons would be six trips with a half-ton pickup truck.

You can't beat fossil fuels for the convenience, but most of us have developed a complex relationship with our wood-based fuel of choice, so we're more than happy to do what it takes to make it work.
 
Welcome to the hearth Tammy. Everyone has brought up excellent points, to which I will just add the following.

I would take a good look at the pros, cons and most importantly characteristics and duties associated with each type of fuel. Then consider how those points fit with your life style and goals. There is a lot to be said for filling the hopper, pushing the button and changing into your shorts. On the other hand, you may find great enjoyment and relaxation in cutting and splitting wood (I don't think too many folks find great enjoyment and relaxation in stacking it....). It really is a choice that should be based on the type of involvement you are comfortable with.

I think you will find that many of us lean toward wood burning, because of the lifestyle that goes with it. I do think that wood burning brings much more of a commitment and lifestyle along with it than pellets. That's not to say that one is better than the other, just different.

I chose to go with a wood burning stove for a number of reasons. The fact that I enjoy scrounging for and processing wood played greatly into that decision. Since the stove is in my office, where I spend a lot of time, the ambiance of a real wood fire was also important to me. Finally, the cost of fuel was also a major deciding factor.

Good luck on your decision. Keep the questions coming and keep us posted.
 
I've never had a pellet stove, but to me it never made much sense to buy a stove that you had to pay 50-70% of the cost of oil/gas and still tend to it and do all the work of running it. Many people seem to like pellet stoves. I LOVE a wood stove. I pay nothing except for labor for my wood. About 1/2 of it I cut off of my land, 1/2 of it I find from various sources and I live in the Seacoast of NH where wood is expnsive. I truly enjoy the process of finding, cutting, splitting (stacking isn't as fun) and burning wood. I think where you live that you would be surprised at how much free or very inexpensive wood you could come up with IF you're willing to do the work. If you buy your wood, you can buy large loads (a "grapple load") for about 1/3 the cost of oil/gas maybe even less. You would need to cut split and stack it. Or just buy it already cut and split. "Seasoned wood" may run about the same as pellets but If you buy green cut and split ahead for a year from now, the cost would be lower, at least 1/2 the cost of oil/gas. As many here have already said, the cost of wood should be far less volitile in the coming years than virtually all other fuel sources.
 
The really nice thing about using a wood stove is that you can pretty darn near be self reliant for heat to the effect if you make friends with land owners that would like someone cleaning up there falling trees and people that suffer wind damage that after a little networking you can end up with more wood access then you ever imagined.

Then you do not have to rely on anyone but the work of your own labor. YOu will get heat out of it when you put sweat into it in the summer.


One must be forewarned though it does become addictive. I have managed to locate a gold mine of sort of wood as a friends parents live on a farm and I have cut and split so much wood that I have pretty much taken off the last two seasons from splitting wood as if I quit splitting today I have over 4 years worth already to go.

I have not paid a natural gas bill for the past 7 years and I am the only person in my entire neighborhood that heats with wood. They look at me a little strange seeing me out and about dealing with firewood but to tell the truth I have no idea how much it would even cost to heat my home on natural gas since the prices have changed so much over the last seven years and it feels good to say that and I do not have to go to a store for to much beyond chain saw related parts.

I have a truck but would anyways so I really do not factor that in to much and others have gotten around that by using a pull behind trailer if one has a suv or vehicle able to pull something.
 
Most of the ground has been covered - but I will try to summarize...

1 Cost - A pellet stove will cost more than a comparable wood stove for the appliance itself, although there is a considerable range in cost for both. Wood stoves can start at under 1K for a plate steel Englander, to well over 3K for a fancy soapstone heater. I haven't priced pellet stoves as much, but my impression is that they start around $1500 and go to about $2500, as the range of models is less. However the pellet stove uses a simpler, less expensive venting system so installation will be considerably less. If you have an existing chimney that can be used (possibly with a liner install) the costs would be less, and you can also save a bundle by doing as much of the work yourself as you can, but if you have everything installed from scratch, including a new Class A chimney, I would say your stove dealers estimate of 5K isn't totally unreasonable depending on what you pick for a stove.

2. Quality of heat - as mentioned, many pellet stoves have, or can be equipped with thermostats which will maintain the temperature just like a fossil burner, along with push button starting - so it is basically a matter of dumping in the pellets and the stove maintains the constant setting you put on the thermostat. A wood stove will vary in temperature as it goes through it's burning cycle (soapstone stoves will vary less, but still) so you house temperature will also, how much is mostly going to depend on how you burn the stove and the quality of your insulation. It is also much more difficult to set an exact temperature w/ a wood stove; you can control how much heat it puts out to some degree, but there is no house style thermostat, it's more like the heat lever in a non-fancy car.

3. Fuel cost and storage - Pellets are expensive, and require "premium" storage - they MUST be kept totally dry, either indoors, in the garage or basement or in a very well waterproofed shed. There have been times when pellets were either not available or VERY expensive. However you are limited in your fuel options, as pellet stoves can only burn pellets or other "pellet size" biomass fuels such as corn. Exact cost comparisons are difficult, but most indications are that a pellet stove will save somewhat over LP or electric, but will be about the same as oil or natural gas. Wood will be less expensive, depending on how much work you want to put into it (note that processing your own does add costs for equipment) and is much less fussy about storage. Many people build woodsheds, but these are low cost structures just to keep the worst of the rain and snow off. Others just throw a tarp or other cover over the top of the pile, or even leave the pile uncovered. Stoves are more flexible about fuels - Ideally you should ONLY burn cordwood, but if you have to, a stove will burn almost anything combustible you can get in the firebox (NOT RECCOMENDED!), even in normal times, while there are preferred woods to burn, you can (and many do) burn any kind of wood they can get into their piles.

4. Work on fuel - Pellets are easy to handle, just pick up a bag and dump into the hopper. Repeat once or twice a day. Pretty neat, simple, etc. Cordwood will be more work to handle, stack, bring into the house, and the stove will probably need feeding more often. If you process your own, then the amount of work goes up greatly, as you may need to bring the wood home, cut it into stove length rounds, split it, etc. OTOH, if you process your own wood, I'll just about guarantee that you won't need to go to the "health club" for exersize.

5. Maintainence - Pellet stoves are much more maintenance intensive. You will need to regularly scrape out the burn pot, the stove will need frequent cleanings (typically weekly) and other service. A Pellet stove has a lot of complex moving parts and electronics, all of which are prone to expensive failure, often requiring expensive service calls from the stove shop. Like a pellet stove, a wood stove will periodically require ash removal, probably more often than the pellet stove does, but otherwise requires minimal maintainance beyond having the chimney swept once or twice a year (This is something that many people get a pro for, but you can do it yourself and save a lot, it usually isn't hard.) Aside from possibly a blower, a woodstove has very few moving parts, and those are pretty reliable.

6. Ambiance - As said, a pellet stove is about as much fun to watch as a bunsen burner. A wood stove will give you a real fire, and some of the secondary combustion tube style stoves will really give a great light show.

The decision is up to you, as the different factors have different levels of importance to different people.

Gooserider
 
Goose,

As usual you have done a great job summarizing the subject. I would like to try to simplify the summary.

I think wood or pellet stoves are the best way to heat a home today. Everything considered (cost, environmental, ambience, energy independence, etc.).

The choice between the two comes down to the desire to do the work (tend stove, move wood, cut, split, stack, scrounge, etc.) versus the enjoyment of the outcome (lower cost, ambience, independence, noise, etc.).

A wood stove is, without a doubt, significantly more work but can be much less expensive, have more ambience, leave you more independent, etc. in the long run.

One needs to decide how much work you are willing to do to get the benefits. This may be somewhat age dependent or available time dependent or just depend on your desire to get the outcomes.
 
One advantage I see to cordwood burning over pellets is that you can scrounge and cut and split all of the wood yourself, buy it all or any combination of the two. With pellets you are going to buy it all, period.
 
my new stove install cost around $4500 last fall.$2250 of it was the Avalon Olympic..the next highest fee was the chimney..$350 for a hearth panel and around $340 for install
 
BrotherBart said:
One advantage I see to cordwood burning over pellets is that you can scrounge and cut and split all of the wood yourself, buy it all or any combination of the two. With pellets you are going to buy it all, period.

While this post doesn't say it outright, i fell like i should mention something that seems to be vailed slightly in all this talk.

i think, on this board, you'll find deep down, and mostly not outright, a strange survivalism aspect. that is to say when the S*** hits the fan, you can toss a chair in your wood stove ala B.J. Honeycut from Mash. In an emergency, be it disaster, end of the world blizzard, whatever, you can burn any cellulose you can find, with no power.

now, this isn't an argument over if this is logical, just something to think about.
 
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