Pellets to wood pro's and con's

[Pshell]

Newbie here with a question. I'm currently running a Quad Castille pellet insert. It's in a family room/ kitchen open floor plan.
Im only interested in heating that area primarily. If the heat finds its way down to the other end of the ranch thats fine.
My issue is the current unit heats the area adequately unless its below 20 degrees, then its a struggle. ( lots of windows).
imo the fan is louder than I want to deal with.
If the fan is on high it will heat to my needs but it's way to loud for its location which is next to the tv.
Im considering going back to a wood insert. I've had a VC insert in the past (different house)and was very happy but went to pellets for convenience. I'm willing to deal with wood again to get some quiet.
Now I guess the two main concerns are am I going to get too hot in the relatively small rooms (16×50) and will I need to run a fan in a wood unit to heat a space that size?
Thanks for reading.

 

[begreen]

If the insert sticks out onto the hearth enough, it might heat the space adequately when temps are milder, but very likely you'll need to run a blower on a wood insert when it gets below 20º. You control how hot the insert gets by the amount of fuel and air the fire gets. If it's 45º outside, build a smaller fire and let it go out overnight.

 

[Mark8]

I'm struggling with the same decision, I hate to listen to a noisy fan running. I have an older wood burning insert and the fan is loud and annoying and it vibrates on the hearth. If I built my hearth out I could put a free standing wood stove and my ceiling fan could move the air around, ceiling fans are pretty quiet. I would really like to install a pellet insert for the convenience of not messing around with wood, but on the other hand do not want to listen to the fans on a pellet stove, so I'm thinking if I have to listen to a wood burning insert fan run why not just buy a pellet insert, depending on how loud a pellet stove is compared to a wood burning insert fan. I'm wondering if the stove manufacturers list their decibel ratings on their fans so we can compare the level of noise, I'll need to research that.


Good luck with your choice.

 

[Pshell]

Idk Mark, I just wish the current fan I have wasn't so loud. I'm not dissatisfied with the stove, and to be fair it may not be loud based on industry standards, it's just in my case its in a bad spot as it pertains to my layout.

 

[begreen]

Not all wood stove and insert fans are noisy. Several mfgs. have tried to keep the blower noise down. Usually one doesn't need to run the blower at full speed which helps with the noise level. Unfortunately no company that I know of lists a decibel rating for their stove blower noise at a specified distance. That means one has to rely on subjective opinions. So here is one.

We had a pellet insert in our living room for 6 yrs. One of the motivations for finally selling it was noise. The blower on our stove is many decibels quieter than the pellet insert because there is only one blower running and PE has done a pretty good job at coming up with a quiet blower. It's still a bit noisy at high speed, but we never run it at full speed. Compared to the pellet stove which had the combustion blower, the convection blower and the low frequency noise of the forge like fire, our stove blower is vastly more quiet. It's easy to watch and hear the TV without interference from the stove blower on medium speed.

 

[diverscale]

The positive thing is that if you can fit a freestanding wood stove instead of an insert in there, there is no need for a fan.

I am heating my home from the basement, with a PE Summit, no fan, I like total silence, and heat has no problem at all getting second stair. Keeping upstairs between 68 and 75 and I load before work, and getting back from work only. adjusting load size with temperature and sometime adding some during -20 outside temps.

 

[Mark8]

That's to bad that stove manufacturers don't list decibel ratings so the consumer can compare, because a pellet stove from years ago could be way louder from a current version and the same goes for inserts. I've been to three dealers and none of them could run their pellet stoves so I could get an idea of the noise they make.

 

[Highbeam]

All pellet stoves make noise but some are much louder than others. It I was the op I would travel to dealerships that can run the stoves for you and compare the sound levels. Wood is great, powerful and silent, but if you don’t like dealing with firewood then it might not get used much.

 

[Pshell]

Thanks for the great info guys, it will be a summertime decision for sure.

 

[AppleRock]

Not all wood stove and insert fans are noisy. Several mfgs. have tried to keep the blower noise down. Usually one doesn't need to run the blower at full speed which helps with the noise level.

My apologies to begreen. On my phone and I didn't quote him properly. Quoting a partial post is a little trickier on a phone than PC.

Anyway,
This is the key in my experience. Most variable speed blower noise is tolerable in all but full speed mode. If the blower just has an on/off switch, add a rheostat.

 

[Ashful]

Pellet pro’s:
1. Easier acquisition of fuel, esp. if you plan ahead and buy in summer, for those not inclined to enjoy the outdoors.
2. No need to season your fuel before using it.

Wood pro’s:
1. No firmware updates to crash your stove, or failed controller boards.
2. No failed motors to shut you down in the middle of a season.
3. An excuse to go out to the woods on Saturday, rather than helping your wife or husband clean the house.
4. No need for power to run your stove, much more reliable in power outages.
5. The smell of freshly split wood bringing good memories of what you used to do with dad or grandpa, when you were a kid.
6. Saved money on gym memberships.
7. You can get your fuel for the cost of gas and equipment.
8. You can still buy your fuel and have it delivered, and all of the above (except 7) still apply, when you stack it and move it.
9. No long boring debates or frustration over the quality or availability of different brand pellets.

I could go on, but those are the big ones for me. I equate their weekly cleaning of burn pots, etc., to our emptying of an ash pan, so I left that out of the list.

 

[Mike508]

In my experience the fans on inserts are quieter than on pellet stoves but if you want true quiet than you need a free standing stove. Seems like a lot of work (and money) to swap out that pellet insert for a wood burning insert for purely a reduction in noise. Furthermore, I imagine the noise reduction is going to be subjective. If it were me I would try to move the furniture and TV to see if I could find a better layout where the existing noise is not so noticeable.

 

[Pshell]

I had a VC wood insert with a combustion chamber from the mid 90s.
It was very efficient and a very quiet fan.
Wish I still had it.

 

[zig]

Best up side to wood is if you run short you can always go to the woods and cut more wood but, you can't cut more pellets. At the coldest part of the year the store knows that.

 

[Highbeam]

Don’t run short. Plan ahead. Put the hay in the barn.

Biggest pellet problems for me are noise and component failure.

 

[begreen]

Pellet pro’s:
1. Easier acquisition of fuel, esp. if you plan ahead and buy in summer, for those not inclined to enjoy the outdoors.
2. No need to season your fuel before using it.

Wood pro’s:
1. No firmware updates to crash your stove, or failed controller boards.
2. No failed motors to shut you down in the middle of a season.
3. An excuse to go out to the woods on Saturday, rather than helping your wife or husband clean the house.
4. No need for power to run your stove, much more reliable in power outages.
5. The smell of freshly split wood bringing good memories of what you used to do with dad or grandpa, when you were a kid.
6. Saved money on gym memberships.
7. You can get your fuel for the cost of gas and equipment.
8. You can still buy your fuel and have it delivered, and all of the above (except 7) still apply, when you stack it and move it.
9. No long boring debates or frustration over the quality or availability of different brand pellets.

I could go on, but those are the big ones for me. I equate their weekly cleaning of burn pots, etc., to our emptying of an ash pan, so I left that out of the list.

There's a lot more pro's to pellets. It's basically a small wood furnace.

• Cleaner burning than most stoves,
• true thermostatic room temp control, hands off operation
• night time set back temp possible,
• simpler safer loading,
• cleaner (no ash spill or wood detritus on the hearth),
• instant heat,
• virtually no creosote issues, etc..
• high efficiency,
• quick cool down (needed when the sun comes out and temps shoot up 20º suddenly),
• much less space required to store a year's fuel

I'm with Highbeam on the cons.

 

[TonyVideo]

I know a guy who has his A.C. backup propane heat thermostat in the same room. In winter he shuts off the breaker to his compresser, sets to cool and turns the stat to 75. When his room heats up above 75 his blower will kick on to distribute the heat.

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[Ashful]

I know a guy who has his A.C. backup propane heat thermostat in the same room. In winter he shuts off the breaker to his compresser, sets to cool and turns the stat to 75. When his room heats up above 75 his blower will kick on to distribute the heat.

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Works as long as all ductwork is in the heated envelope, but usually causes too much loss if the ductwork runs thru unheated attic or basement.

 

[TonyVideo]

I asked him last night and he mentioned he built the house himself and put all ductwork in between the floors on his two story house and they are well insulated. If any heat loss it would stay in the house. He typically closes all the vents upstairs except for his bathrooms upstairs as they like it cooler when sleeping. He rises anyway in general and it is fine in his situation.

 

[CenterTree]

We got rid of our Castile in most part due to the NOISE. It was in our main living room and we hated it because it was so loud. (both fan and auger).
The other reason the Quad is gone is due to the fact that it requires electricity and it had lots of other parts that could/would breakdown in time.

I would much rather cut,carry/stack firewood than drive to Lowe's and load and unload and store 40lb bags of wooden BB's in the basement.

 

[savageactor7]

The few wood burning friends that have switched over to pellets are very pleased and would never go back to wood.

We've talked about switching but it always come down to having all this free wood all around for the taking...so I guess were stuck, in a good way.

The only drawback I can see with pellets is a power outage otherwise pellet heating is a clean/neat operation.

 

[Mark8]

The few wood burning friends that have switched over to pellets are very pleased and would never go back to wood.

We've talked about switching but it always come down to having all this free wood all around for the taking...so I guess were stuck, in a good way.

The only drawback I can see with pellets is a power outage otherwise pellet heating is a clean/neat operation.

I personally am so busy I really don't have time to mess around with wood, I would love to just buy pallets of pellets and buy a pellet stove, but the deal breaker for me is that everyone says pellet stoves are loud. I guess there are just to many pros and cons to every stove.

 

[begreen]

Pellet stove noise varies with the technology used. A conventional unit will have AC combustion and convection blowers. Some of the higher end units like the Quad Mt. Vernon use DC motors and have worked hard reduce noise. One noise that is also present is the low rumble of the fuel combustion itself. That might be partially addressable with double glass?

I have been adding to my list of pellet pros above. There are a lot of them if the noise is not a big issue. In Europe you will find sophisticated central pellet boilers heating the home. That puts the noise in the basement. Storage is also not an issue because they have worked out a delivery system that pipes a large amount of pellets into a storage bin so that monthly deliveries are practical.

 

[Highbeam]

I personally am so busy I really don't have time to mess around with wood, I would love to just buy pallets of pellets and buy a pellet stove, but the deal breaker for me is that everyone says pellet stoves are loud. I guess there are just to many pros and cons to every stove.

Loud and they break down a lot. Take a look at the pellet forum. Three motors, a pile of sensors, an ignitor, and a computer board that all break at the worst time.

 

[Manly]

We have been burning wood for about 35 years, averaging 3.5 cord/season. Added a small pellet stove to our dinning room addition last year. We have a small ranch with an open layout so the heat gets around pretty well. I have managed to procure wood over the years without paying. Scavenging for many years and later in life developing relationships with tree cutters we use at work to unload excess at my place. As this is my last year before retirement I foresee my current wood connections going the wayside. I don't want to scavenge so I suspect I will use more pellets going forward. We just don't care for burning oil with our forced hot air system. As far as the pellet stove, the heat is good but I had to replace an auger motor and a flow sensor before I burned through the first ton of pellets. And this is on an expensive stove. Trouble shooting the flow sensor was a nightmare, but a good learning experience for future issues. Bio bricks have performed ok in the wood stove, so they may be added to the mix. Given a choice I would go with free wood, but that's not always an available choice.