WOOD PELLET OR MULTI FUEL

[newbie111]

I'm looking around for a pellet stove to heat a 1500 SF area in my home in S. CT. We have wood pellets already but it was definetly not an easy thing to get them around here and we're worried it may be harder in future years...demand probably will just keep going up we're thinking.

So we're thinking we might opt for a multi fuel stove, to keep our options open. Not that corn is easily available around here, but what do people know about the possibility of other biomass pellets becoming available in the next few years?

So I have a few questions: can a "wood pellet" stove burn biomass pellets? (Switchgrass, other organic material made into pellets) If we purchased a "multi fuel" stove and we only ended up burning wood pellets, would it burn them as well/efficiently as a "wood pellet only" stove? Is there any other reason we should lean toward pellet only vs multi fuel (otherwise seems obvious to keep your options open and go with multifuel if all else is equal).

If folks vote for multi-fuel, do you have any favorite units in the 40,000-60,000 BTU range?

Many thanks in advance for your advice!!

 

[oliver5528]

I have a harman PC-45 and I burn mostley Barley, But I put straight pellets sometimes with no problems at all.

 

[drizler]

i am under the impression that multifuels tend to be problematic.

I agree they can be a bit more demanding of understanding how they operate than regular stoves. Mine takes a little getting used to but once you figure out the thing it has a lot of merit. I don't have to worry about the quality of pellets really because I can add or remove air as needed to make it run acceptably, burn pellets, corn, pits and likely a lot of other stuff that's not necessarily kosher. I bet you can change the burn with a lot of the pellet stoves as well by messing with the draft just as I do with mine. The same goes for feed rate. Before booze gasoline I was getting corn for the exorbitant rate of $125 a ton bulk while many others in the mid west were getting it for $60 or even less. Of course that has changed but who knows what is coming down the road.
The one very big plus you don't get on most pellet stoves is the very large ash pan. They will run for weeks on pellets and often a week with corn while you often can't get away without cleaning for as long with others. It is nice to have a range of options open to you unless you are in a part of the country where one single type of fuel is guaranteed to be cheap. Coal in Pennsylvania is a good example of this as is corn in Iowa. It's almost a no brainer there unless you are serving some particular need of yours. For us poor slobs on the coasts its best to keep your options open. Just my .02 cents adjusted for inflation.......................