HELP!! Wood stove vs. pellet stove

[cielomelo]

I'm new to forums and my husband and I need help. Just to inform, I have done hours of reading and searching on the internet and visited countless dealers and spoken with them, but now I would like advice from people not trying to sell me something. We have been back and forth on whether buying pellet or wood. This is our situation, we live in small maybe 1750-1800 sq. foot duplex house. The house is originally from 1840, but new furnace and we just installed Harvey windows last winter, we currently pay about 400-500 dollars a month for gas heat, BUT my house is still freezing all winter long, for such a high heating bill, we walk around with layers and blankets. We have low ceilings and not an open concept house. So somebody suggested heating the house with a wood stove insert. So we started our quest and from a general concensus its said that for wood a Hampton or Regency is best and for pellet stick with a Harmon and Enviro is good also, but to stay away from Napoleon, Breckwell and St. Croix. Some have said wood is too, too much work, aside from the lugging in of wood and debris, the cleaning and maintenance of the stove and starting the fire could be tricky. They also say you will always get smoke in your house more than a couple of times a year while starting a fire, you will have soot and a lot of dust.

Now for pellets they say you can only get a unit of 40,000 btu's, pellets are more expensive, sometimes hard to find, you get more heat out of the wood stove and the units themselves are more expensive.

So now we really don't know what to do, it seems that are chimney can fit a 75,000, so which one do we choose, and b/c the fireplace is in the center of our house and I have a baby grand piano, soot and smoke is not a great idea, but do all the wood stoves have this problem. And another problem is we have live in this place for 2.5 years and have tried to start a fire in our chimney and never have been able to, so when we want a fire we buy duraflame, is this a sign that we shouldn't buy a wood stove?

Please any advice is greatly appreciated, thanks for your time.

 

[babalu87]

If you have ANY doubt as to whether or not you want to go through the work involved with buying a wood stove, dont buy a wood stove.
Having a wood stove is really a labor of love and involves work, even if you buy the wood.

The chimney needs at the least a good inspection and cleaning before you buy anything. I would contact a local chimney sweep and have it inspected before I did anything.

 

[begreen]

This is a popular topic. If you do a search on - wood vs pellet - you will find many deep discussions on the subject.

Regarding your comfort, how well insulated is the house? Have you had an energy audit performed on it? This could be a better investment than a stove. A blower door test may show up some serious leakage that needs to be sealed and caulked.

Is the ductwork insulated or uninsulated? Is the ductwork running through an unheated or uninsulated space?

As to the chimney, is it on an outside wall of the house? Is the damper open?

 

[cielomelo]

Thanks babalu87, but we just had someone from Yankee grill to come out and measure the chimney and see if it had a clay liner and if in good shape (all just visual) for $50, they all say you don't need the chimney inspected b/c you would have a ss liner going up anyways?

So is that not true?

Thanks

 

[babalu87]

I would have a 1840's circa chimney inspected before I had a liner put in it.
The thing could be on the verge of collapsing on itself.

 

[begreen]

The chimney should be inspected. You want a clean chimney before adding a liner and you want it to be physically in decent condition.

Is the chimney original or added on? Is it on the exterior or interior of the house?

 

[jpl1nh]

Be Greens points are really great points. To address some of your other concerns though. while you can buy a wood burner large enough to give you more heat than a pellet stove, its likely that due to your configuration with low ceilings and a non-open concept design that it would roast you out of the room it was located in. It's possible/probable that you would not be able to heat your whole house with the stove eiher way but you could make a huge dent in yoiur fossil fuel costs. There is no need for todays woodstove to mean smoke and soot throughtout your home. A properly installed and operated stove should not have that happen. For your situation in choosing, I would think your commitment to the work of wood would be a primary issue and your acess to it. Where I live I have the good fortune to get it for free just for the work of cutting, hauling, splitting and stacking which I love. If I was paying for it I would be more reluctant even though it would still be about 1/3 the cost of using my oil furnace. Still I might go that direction. Wood is a labor of love and an art burning it to meet your ever varying needs, but its not for everybody.

 

[cielomelo]

The chimney is interior of the house, its smack in the middle of the house so I don't know if its added or original, bricks on hearth obviously don't look old, but who knows?
My husband and I both thought that would be the smartest thing to do, to inspect but everybody kept on saying no.

 

[begreen]

Good, a central chimney is much better for good woodstove performance.

Trust your instincts. A good dealer will insist on installing by the books. A roaring hot woodstove is not something that one wants to have corners cut on. That will mean pulling a permit, inspecting and cleaning the chimney, fixing any issues ahead of the installation, ensuring proper clearances are honored (this includes the mantle clearances), a proper hearth, proper block off plate, and a safe installation.

 

[lepp]

HPBA (the hearth industry trade association) has a new fuel calculator that compares different hearth products (gas, wood, pellet) against various heating sources (oil, electric, etc) and gives you an estimate of cost savings.

http://hpba.org/hpba1/effcalc.cfm

 

[stoveguy2esw]

hey , bottom line , you didnt build the chimney , nor were you there when it was done, get it inspected and cleaned, find a good sweep , preferrably a csia certified sweep. as stated , you would not want to have a liner installed into a dirty chimney , nor would the installer want to. also getting to my first statement, if you do not "know" the chimney , do not assume all is well. putting in a device which contains fire into a house you will be sleeping in is not a trivial exercise, as for the baby grand, id consult with a local antique shop with experience in wood preservation if available to see about care for the piece in a wood heat environment, i remember as a child i got to tour a historic building (where it was escapes me ) but i remember distintly the tour guide asking all of us kids as we went upan old staicase with a wood banister to run our hand up the rail as the oils from our skin was actually good for the woodwork. hope this is helpful and forgive the preaching, im kinda anal about safety, have to be in my line of work.

 

[elkimmeg]

Thanks babalu87, but we just had someone from Yankee grill to come out and measure the chimney and see if it had a clay liner and if in good shape (all just visual) for $50, they all say you don't need the chimney inspected b/c you would have a ss liner going up anyways?

So is that not true?

Thanks

welcome to the hearth You came her looking for straight answers not BS
well the statement above is pure BS
I too live in Ma in fact I am a Building and Mechanical inspector the same one ,That presented this very topic At Bridge Water State cCllege last year at the second annual State Building Inspector Convention

I can tell you with out hesitation an inspection and chimney condition is required by Code. A chimny that old I will not even issue a permit for till I have a report and it must be provide by a Licensed Chimney sweep or licensed mason and not some stove retailer making a sale. Also require is a cleaning report

 

[GVA]

I don't think Yankee (in middleton?) sells pellets so you would need to find a fuel supplier, and if pellets become in short supply then other dealers tend to only sell to thier stove customers. Just a heads up for ya... And in our area the local pellet dealers are about $50 a ton higher than those just to the north of us............. Welcome to the North Shore.... :-/

 

[eernest4]

wood stove is cheapest to run and requires that you " feed the baby" or " babysit the fire".
If you have or can buy a utility trailer, you can pick up free wood whenever someone cuts down a tree, but then chain saw and wood splitter and covering the split wood from rain & snow.
and waiting 9 months or a year 4 wood to season.
I usually spend about 1 hour laying and starting a fire and need to refresh it 3 times during the night. this is because I only run 1/3 or 1/2 load of wood so the stove dont smoke out the neighbors. Dont need cops knocking about smoky chimneys.

eventually, i replace my dragon smoker with epa non cat secondary combustion stove.

Way easier to push start button and set thermo on pellet stove if you dont mind paying 5.00 bag
for 40 lgs of pellets which will last 1 to 5 days depending on outside temp & inside temp and area you heat.

I bought both basement hot air stove and pellet stove in living room, so I can lite a fire & burn free wood or push a button & take a $3.00 nap.

So far, I save 7000.oo in fuel oil I no buy, some last winter & the rest this winter.

 

[eernest4]

another thing, pellet stove outside vent through the wall with double wall insulated stainless steel pipe, so just 350.oo installed, parts included, or less.
Pellet stoves harmon make 60,000 btu and there is a company in van coover bc that make 75,000 btu & 100,000 bty hot air pellet furnace for basement. They also make 150,000 btu hot water pellet fired boiler.

englander make 85,000 btu hot air wood fired basement add on furnace with 850cu/ft/min fan and two 8 in circular hot air ducts, takes 6 in flue pipe.
About 1250.oo delevered.

more options for you , but this keeps the wood mess and smoke and dust in the basement, not the living room.