Most of the time I only need the combustion blower going, except if I'm heating when it's -20C out. Yes, on mine once every minute it feeds pellets. You can hear the motor, pellets falling, and sometime clicking sounds. I have yet to sleep in the basement where the stove is. I can still hear it going though in the winter, as it right below me. Plus, I have 4 inch duct between the two levels. That is one thing I like about it. Just buy bags of pellets (hopefully good ones), clean it (PITA) and run.
A pellet stove is a small, solid-fuel furnace at heart, with many of the same components as an oil furnace. In our pellet stove there were two fans, convection and combustion, in addition to the auger motor. In addition to the fan noises there was the low roar of the fire itself. One can sort of get used to it, but we had to turn the tv up in order to overcome the pellet stove noise.
