Wood Stoves vs. Pellet Stoves?

[BrotherBart]

To add to this, aren't clearance smaller for pellet stoves and the installs are cheaper, too, right?

Yep.

And when you fire the generator to run the pellet stove and come on hearth.com com to report your power outage you just plug in the $19 dual hot plate for cooking like I do.

 

[granpajohn]

We have both installed in the basement of our house, the pellet stove is a steady soft heat which is nice, since buying a woodlot we bought the woodstove which is a more intense heat.

Another reason we bought the woodstove was the price of pellets went up every year. We went from burning 200 bags of pellets per year down to burning 50 bags and under.

Woods more work but you can't beat the heat.
zap

I wonder if Zap would be willing to list his stoves in his signature? Makes it easier to consider his (well respected) opinion.

 

[thewoodlands]

We have a Yankee Pellet Stove with the Lopi Liberty wood stove.

 

[Don2222]

Dear Experts,

With help from this forum, I was all set to buy a $3000 soapstone wood stove. Thank you, great help! Just then, a good friend urged me to by a pellet stove instead! From the wood stove purists, can some of you please explain the benefits of a wood stove over a pellet stove?

Hello

I had a VC Consolidated DutchWest Wood/Coal stove with a catalytic combuster for 19 years. I actually used it for 3 years. After 19 years I sold it for $400 and purchased a wood pellet stove. I have been using the pellet stove every winter for 3 years now and I always will!

 

[VTrider]

I heated my 1,500 sq. ft. home mainly with wood for 8 seasons w/woodstove in the basement - had a smaller pellet stove upstairs for an addition. I replaced the woodstove in the basement w/pellet stove and i'm now going into my 2nd year heating 100% w/pellets.

I'd say all the pros/cons here in this thread are pretty much on the money. I think one of the biggest, overlooked factors though is your lifestyle. I loved burning wood and everything about it, my good ole Stihl saw, bucking, splitting, stacking (rinse, repeat). Lots of work and I loved every minute of it. Sadly though, I wouldn't go back - have 3 young kids now and have basically traded all of that for time spent with my wife and children now.

The convenience factor is great, have everything on a thermostat so wake up to and come home to a warm house, can go 3 days before refilling - it's just a different game really. One day i'll return to a wood, I sure do miss the exercise along with all the other great things about heating with a wood stove.

 

[begreen]

Depends on the house. In shoulder season we were one bag a day. In 20-30F weather we were 1.5 bags a day with the Jotul supplementing. In below 20F it was 2 bags a days.

Dave M, what soapstone stove are we talking about? And what pellet stove are you considering?

 

[dafattkidd]

I never considered a pellet stove. I'm a pyro and love fire. My brother in law and good friend have them and love them. I just love wood heat. I love splitting and stacking wood, and Lord knows I love burning wood. Can't beat that wood heat. When it's 20* out, and I come in from working outside, I have no interest in sitting in front of a farty pellet flame. Give me that monster wood heat that pours off that 500 lb steel beast in my livingroom. Different strokes for different folks. Wood heat is my thing, man.

 

[mfglickman]

Well I do have a generator, so I'm not too concerned about outages anymore. I also have a separate propane tank for cooking gas, so thats not a concern for me. Wood is plentiful around here, but I can also get a pallet of pellets from tractor supply company. Not sure about the price, I have to check that out. On the noise of the pellet stove, is an upper end model still loud?

I can hear my XXV from all but the farthest room in my 2000 sf drafty house.

 

[BrowningBAR]

I can hear my XXV from all but the farthest room in my 2000 sf drafty house.

We need our own support group.

 

[Heftiger]

I'm new to burning wood but I have a couple friends who tried to convince me to purchase a pellet stove instead of wood.

I'm glad I went wood. I changed to wood because I was tired of somebody else choosing how much I pay for heating my home with oil. Pellet's seem to have the same issue. My reasons were validated when during the same season all the suppliers of pellets ran out, and refused to restock them because it was the end of the season. I live in the middle of a forest, so there is always wood.

I also have frequent power outages and I don't run a generator because my water heater and stove ar both propane. I can live without power, and buying a pellet stove would have changed that.

Everybody referencing the convenience of pellet stoves is correct, but don't underestimate the wood stove either. Just yesterday (and the day before) I burned my stove for 36 hours without a reload (on pine!). The house was 76 degrees inside and 30 and snowing outside. There's nothing like the satisfaction of knowing your hard work is keeping your family warm and comfortable.

 

[Huntindog1]

I think its been said but I like the ability to cut my own wood and save money or if I dont have time I can buy the wood and even have it delivered. Pellets you pretty much stuck with buying the pellets. Around my area I can get wood for $45 a rick if i haul it my self ($10 more dollars to have it hauled per rick) . I think there are about 3 ricks in a cord so thats around $135 per cord. Last year I burnt 6 ricks of wood (mild winter).

I like messing with wood stoves. Pellet stoves would be no fun, too easy but maybe thats what you want. Flue install I think is cheaper and easier with a pellet (3 inch pipe).

There is more mess with wood stoves.

If you dont mind messing with wood stoves and you cut your own wood there is more satisfaction in the wood stove experience.

 

[saladdin]

I'm 38 and haven't aged well. No way I can be cutting wood at 48 or 58. I have relatives paralyzed and others have severe injuries from logging accidents.

As a kid, we had wood heat. I helped with the cutting, chopping, stacking, loading, taking out the ash and keeping logs on the fire. I hated my childhood and want nothing to remind me of those days.

Pellet stove is not loud.
Electricity here is .09 a kwh. Heated all last winter for 350 in pellets (avg inside temp was 74-76 range)with average electricity bill of 60.
There is always that little voice in your head saying "something could break".
Pellet stoves have really picked up here. Everytime I stop in to talk to the guys the are installing more and more.
I have no truck and my installer lets me borrow his to deliver my pellets.
Any time I start to worry about the "something can break" thing I check the forums and see how many people go season to season with no issues at all or minor diy fixes.

 

[BrowningBAR]

I'm 38 and haven't aged well. No way I can be cutting wood at 48 or 58. I have relatives paralyzed and others have severe injuries from logging accidents.

As a kid, we had wood heat. I helped with the cutting, chopping, stacking, loading, taking out the ash and keeping logs on the fire. I hated my childhood and want nothing to remind me of those days.

Pellet stove is not loud.
Electricity here is .09 a kwh. Heated all last winter for 350 in pellets (avg inside temp was 74-76 range)with average electricity bill of 60.
There is always that little voice in your head saying "something could break".
Pellet stoves have really picked up here. Everytime I stop in to talk to the guys the are installing more and more.
I have no truck and my installer lets me borrow his to deliver my pellets.
Any time I start to worry about the "something can break" thing I check the forums and see how many people go season to season with no issues at all or minor diy fixes.

To put it in perspective, my electricity bill during the winter is $200 and I do not heat with electricity.

 

[Dakotas Dad]

To put it in perspective, my electricity bill during the winter is $200 and I do not heat with electricity.

Jeeez.. mine is near that in about the same, but much newer, sqft.. but the reef tank burns through kWh's like crazy. So with "averaged billing" we pay $140 +/- a month.

OT: No pellets grow on my property, and the power loss thing is a regular dealeo here. At 53, I still enjoy C/S/S our wood, at 75, my dad is still doing the same, so I guess I will be at it for a while..

We have a genset, but honestly, it's for the aquarium. It can go a couple hours without power, if the house is warm.. after that.. bad things happen. It crashed in the ice storm of '09, (didn't have enough fuel to last until gas stations had power back, 7 days in our area) we probably lost $15k worth of corals and fish. But the psychological hit was the worst I have felt, and it took 3 years for us to put water back in the system. Just started adding livestock yesterday.

 

[raybonz]

To put it in perspective, my electricity bill during the winter is $200 and I do not heat with electricity.

You must be on National Squid too! Rates are high here as well but I have shaved off what I can and use compact fluorescent lamps on lights that tend to on for long periods of times. They have improved compacts drastically over the years and in many cases I prefer them especially the 3-way lamps as they last for years not days lol. Dimmable CF lamps do not seem to work very well unless they have improved them so I stay with incandescent lamps on those applications. For instance I just installed candelabra base lamps (X3) in my daughter's ceiling fan light because she has it on for ~6 hours a day and I went from 120 watts to 27 watts! The lamps set me back $4.50 total and will pay for themselves in very little time and will also last much longer.. Of course and electric range and dryer eat power but I save where I can.

Ray

 

[raybonz]

Jeeez.. mine is near that in about the same, but much newer, sqft.. but the reef tank burns through kWh's like crazy. So with "averaged billing" we pay $140 +/- a month.

What's a reef tank?

Ray

 

[raybonz]

Well... It's a marine aquarium that is for live coral and invertabrates, with few to no fish..

Looks kind of like this..

(broken image removed)


You have a ton of light simulating the sun, a ton of pumps providing random flow/currents, pumps running filters, reactors, etc. Chillers to pull out the heat generated by it all.. heaters to prevent rebound when the main lights go off... 14 hours a day 200watts of compact flourescent is on, 8 hours a day, 350 watts of metal halide is on..

Wow that's beautiful and money well spent! Sometimes you just have to spend the money..

Ray

 

[imacheezhead]

I burn both wood and pellets. I've burned wood for many years and have no intention of stopping as long as I can deal with the work. Wood stoves are as messy or as clean as you make them. It just depends on the condition of the wood and where the stove is located. My stove is close to the door under the patio roof where the wood is stored in the winter. I have 5 acres and lots of Oak trees and some are dying off due to Oak wilt as a result I have lots of firewood. What better way to dipose of it than to heat the house with it. I could probably sell it, but I still have to do the work and I know I'm more money ahead by burning it.

The woodburner (an old Consolodated Dutchwest Cat) throws off much more heat than the pellet stove and the fuel is basically free! The gas for the chainsaws, splitter and tractor are the only expense.

The pellet stove (Enviro Windsor) is nice and somewhat more convenient, but I still have to bring home 2-1 ton pallets every year and they have to be unloaded and re-stacked and then carriied into the house one by one all season. I like the pellet stove, but you can definitely hear it, especially when it's on high heat. I have an automatic back-up generator, but when there's a power failure there's about a 30 second wait before the power transfers over. During this time the exhaust blower stops, of course, and where do you suppose the smoke goes? I had this happen a couple of times and it's not fun! If you don't have a back-up generator, God help you during a power failure! If you have a manually operated generator, by the time you get it started and transferred over your house will be full of smoke. The wood burner doesn't have this problem.

If I could only have one, I would go with wood! JHMO

Jim

 

[imacheezhead]

Well... It's a marine aquarium that is for live coral and invertabrates, with few to no fish..

Looks kind of like this..

You have a ton of light simulating the sun, a ton of pumps providing random flow/currents, pumps running filters, reactors, etc. Chillers to pull out the heat generated by it all.. heaters to prevent rebound when the main lights go off... 14 hours a day 200watts of compact flourescent is on, 8 hours a day, 350 watts of metal halide is on..

Isn't this in the wrong forum??

 

[nate379]

I couldn't afford to heat my house if I had to use pellets. If averaged a 1.5 bags a day it would run me about $2000 a year to heat! That's about 4 years worth of firewood if I'm paying for it!

 

[Dave M]

Depends on the house. In shoulder season we were one bag a day. In 20-30F weather we were 1.5 bags a day with the Jotul supplementing. In below 20F it was 2 bags a days.

Dave M, what soapstone stove are we talking about? And what pellet stove are you considering?

I have the woodstock hybrid on order. Thing is, we also have a fish tank. So I feel kinda trapped in the house, like I could never leave or else my fish would die. I've been looking at the lopi leyden pellet, and also the PE PS45 pellet stove. Wood, chainsaws, lawn tractors, wells, septics.....its enough to overwhelm a city boy like me.

 

[raybonz]

I have the woodstock hybrid on order. Thing is, we also have a fish tank. So I feel kinda trapped in the house, like I could never leave or else my fish would die. I've been looking at the lopi leyden pellet, and also the PE PS45 pellet stove. Wood, chainsaws, lawn tractors, wells, septics.....its enough to overwhelm a city boy like me.

http://www.petsmart.com/product/ind...ferralID=c315718a-1ddd-11e2-b779-001b2166c62d or http://www.tbaquatics.com/eheim-eve...er-1052.html?gclid=CMq7z9zfmbMCFcRU4AodLzcA7A will set you free..

As for firewood I buy it C\S\D all you have to do is stack it..
Ray

 

[Dave M]

Thanks Ray, but I'm not too worried about starving them..... more worried about cold killing them if I leave the wood stove unattended. I buy my wood cut and split too, I dont mind the rest of the work that it involves. I just want to be warm, not kill my fish, and keep the wife happy. I know I sound lazy here, but I do like the idea of a thermostat, maybe even an extended hopper.

 

[Dakotas Dad]

Isn't this in the wrong forum??

Possibly, but many here have more than one interest, and I was only answering a question, not trying to change the thread topic. Tell you what though, just to make the thread police happy, I will remove my post.

 

[raybonz]

Thanks Ray, but I'm not too worried about starving them..... more worried about cold killing them if I leave the wood stove unattended. I buy my wood cut and split too, I dont mind the rest of the work that it involves. I just want to be warm, not kill my fish, and keep the wife happy. I know I sound lazy here, but I do like the idea of a thermostat, maybe even an extended hopper.

I do have oil hot water heat in the event I leave for a vacation which I use for DHW as well via a tankless coil..

Ray