How many of you have a woodstove and a pellet stove?

[Bassmantweed]

Moderators I apologize if this is in the wrong location.

The title pretty much says it all. I have a woodstove running which I can get about 7 to 8 hours burn time. I would really love to install a pellet stove in the other end of the house to cover those cold mornings and start up times.

how many of you have Both and would you do it again?

 

[EatenByLimestone]

I only have simple woodstoves. I have to fix enough things around the house without having to troubleshoot computer boards also. Actually, the wife does IT tech support... maybe she'd do the troubleshooting.... Hmm, maybe I should get a pellet stove.

 

[Bassmantweed]

;-)

 

[blades]

Wood stove, wood furnace and a pellet stove. Wood stove does the primary heating. wood furnace more just to heat basement when I am down there . Pellet is a supplement for one area when in that space as it's a long way from the wood stove, could use an electric back there but I do not like seeing the meter spin that fast..

 

[begreen]

We did for a few years. It was a nice combo actually. You could come down in the morning to a warmed up house (digital thermo on the pellet), then get the wood stove going in the kitchen. The main downsides were inconsistency in pellets and the noise in the living room. Since then both stoves have been replace with the T6. It's quiet and gets the job done well. There is always enough residual heat coming off it to keep the house cozy even first thing in the morning.

 

[Rock Crusher]

I would absolutely install both units again-wood insert and pellet insert. My chocolate lab only likes the wood burner-correct that loves the wood burner. I could have went with two wood burners, but wanted the ease of pellet heat. The wood insert does the majority of the work while the pellet adds balance-fireplaces are at the ends of the house.

 

[brokenknee]

have both, like the heat of the woodstove, like the convenience of the pellet stove, but don't like the noise and cost of burning pellets (still cheaper than electric)

nothing beats the look of a real wood fire.

 

[yooperdave]

I don't know too much about pellet stoves other than I was told that they need to be taken apart to be cleaned on a weekly basis. Perhaps this has changed in recent years, don't know, don't care.
A few years ago, someone on this site was asked as to why they didn't have a pellet stove. They responded something like....Them damn pellets are just to hard to split and the stacks keep rolling over!

 

[brokenknee]

I don't know too much about pellet stoves other than I was told that they need to be taken apart to be cleaned on a weekly basis. Perhaps this has changed in recent years, don't know, don't care.
A few years ago, someone on this site was asked as to why they didn't have a pellet stove. They responded something like....Them damn pellets are just to hard to split and the stacks keep rolling over!

think it depends on the stove, my Harman is very easy to clean, 15 minutes once it has cooled down.

 

[CenterTree]

We did for a few years. It was a nice combo actually. You could come down in the morning to a warmed up house (digital thermo on the pellet), then get the wood stove going in the kitchen. The main downsides were inconsistency in pellets and the noise in the living room. Since then both stoves have been replace with the T6. It's quiet and gets the job done well. There is always enough residual heat coming off it to keep the house cozy even first thing in the morning.

We have both (pellet and wood). I do not enjoy adjusting the feeder on the auger every time I buy a new batch of pellet either. I absolutely HATE the noise from the pellet stove fan (living room).
Hard to hear TV with stove on LOW.

Buying pellets is a PITA for me too. Got to unload them, and stack them in the basement (they take up a lot of space) Carry them up the stairs, etc. Cleaning the stove is not too terrible, but it is another thing on my already too-long-list of maintenance things to do around the house.
Pellet stove is useless during power outage too.

-------------------------------------------
I enjoy cutting and splitting wood. I don't mind stacking it either. Just different for me.

Would I buy another pellet stove? No! Actually will be selling the QUADRA FIRE and replacing it with a GAS stove (same hearth). .

 

[mepellet]

Have both and like both for different reasons. Can't beat the convenience of a pellet stove when compared to the wood stove. Just dump a bag in it once a day and clean it out every two or more weeks (15 minutes) and clean the venting once every ton (2-3 times a winter). Otherwise I just let the programmable thermostat do its work. Buy 3 tons of pellets once a year and can move them into the basement in a couple hours and be done for a years worth of heat.

BUT can't beat the feeling of wood stove heat. Lots more work though. Stacking, seasoning, lugging wood in to the stove each week, loading the stove a few times a day, opening and closing the damper to maintain proper burns. And that's if buying cut and split firewood.

Generally speaking we run the pellet stove and let it do its thing 24/7 during the winter and only use the wood stove on the weekends and the coldest week nights.

Having said all that, I love having both.

 

[Paulywalnut]

How many times can a pellet warm you?

 

[Halligan]

Had a wood stove in my previous house. Just moved this past summer to a another house that had a pellet insert. Figured I would try it for the winter and see if I liked it. I burned a liitle over 1 ton of pellets so far this season. This past Monday I removed the pellet stove and installed a new Jotul wood burner. Pellet stove is likely sold (craigslist), will know for sure tomorrow.

Besides being noisy, I already had to replace a convection blower. Plus, in my application I was burning 2 bags of pellets a day. Pellet stove, no thank you. I couldn't even last one winter with it.

 

[Bassmantweed]

How many times can a pellet warm you?

My fat ass..... Probably 4 or 5 times.

 

[Crizzoft]

I have both. Harman Advance and Quad 4100i. Pellet stove (Harman) runs 24/7. wood stove runs days off and really cold nights. Maintenance is not a big deal on the pellet stove but you cant beat the radiant heat of the wood stove. I would probably run the wood stove more this year but its my first year with it and my good supply is low.

Placement for a pellet stove i think is key for people. Mine is in the corner of my dining room right off the kitchen so the fan noise is not really an issue.

Whatever keeps the oil man away from my house.

 

[Phoenix Hatchling]

Use both, but pellet stove constantly. More convenient and for the cleaning and vacuuming once every week and a half or two, it really is quite simple. I also tend to sleep more with both eyes shut rather than one eye open, wondering what a chimney fire would sound like and if I will hear it in my sleep! Pellets also don't need to be tended and stoked at 2,3 or 4 o'clock in the morning while standing in your boxers, scurrying to get back to the warmth or your bed.

 

[Redbarn]

We have both. They are located at opposite ends of the house. Its a great combination.
The pellet stove does the bulk of our heating and replaces oil.
But a pellet stove never gets the house really, really warm.
The wood stove trumps the pellet on ambience and can get the place really snug on sub zero nights.
The pellet stove is less work, less maintance but does cost pellets.
if either of us are home alone for a few days, we can run one or the other to suit.

 

[vwmike]

I have both as well, pretty much echo what everyone else has said. Pellet is nice cause it just cruises along and keeps the house warm weather I'm home or not. My small wood stove won't burn long enough to do the same. But I always cringe every time I pour a $4 bag of pellets in, where I never hesitate to put more wood on the fire.... Hopefully next season I'll have a bigger cat stove and I'll burn more wood and less pellets !

 

[jdonna]

We run both a pellet and a woodstove. The pellet stove is more of a supplement and to heat our porch. Helps take the load off the FV when temps drop below 0. I do feel cheated and a bit uneasy as you put a bag of pellets in knowing it cost me more for that fuel. It is nice to have options though!

 

[Papa-Yankee-Romeo-Oscar]

Just to cover those cold mornings and start up times....maybe? Maybe with a thermostat so it turns itself on when the wood stove starts cooling down.

I have both but the nice new wood stove pushed the noisy, electricity hogging pellet burner to garage heating duty. I bought the pellet burner back when corn was cheap and heated with corn which put out plenty of heat. When corn prices shot up and became cost prohibitive I started burning pellets. I did not get near as much heat out of the pellets and the Big E struggled to keep the house warm. We heated the house with pellets for a good 6-8 years and just this year I decided to switch the pellet burner out for a wood stove. I wish I had done this sooner. The pellet stove is nice in the garage for the convenience of just going out and hitting a button and 20 minutes later I have a warm garage to work in, when I'm done hit a button and it stops feeding, cools down, and shuts itself off. I heated my garage with a wood stove prior to the switch and the setup I have now works much better just for the convenience in the garage and the Manchester puts out a whole lot more heat in the house. I go to bed with the living room at 80 degrees and wake up with it at 68 degrees and a nice bed of coals. Throw in some wood, open the air, and in a half hour we're comfy and warm again. The pellet burner would struggle to even get the house to 68.

 

[Defiant]

I have both, the Encore kicks the XXV's butt

 

[KodiakII]

How many times can a pellet warm you?

Twice.
Have the T6 in the kitchen and my Greenfield is in the living room. Our old farm house is drafty and the windows are old so even with the two it is still far from balmy. I am going to shrink wrap them next week while on imposed vacation hopefully this makes a difference.
We just hit the 24 hour mark for freezing rain this weekend, the power is still on, but it is going out all around us... this is when I value the PE the most!

 

[Ash]

I have both. Isle royale on one end of the house and englander pellet stove on the other. Works great to keep the house at a nice even temperature, northern minnesota and the house is almost always over 75 degrees.