Pellet Stoves

[vivlamored]

thinking about putting one in my house...What are your guys take on these

[MT-Ed]

I put one in a few years ago. It has a thermostat hooked up to it so, although it essentially runs all the time (has to keep a few pellets burning) it will really fire up when the temp drops below the setting. The one thing I don't like about mine is cleaning out the ash. The firebox chamber has to be sealed so the door cams shut very tight. The ash lands on either side of the burner cup and there's no easy way to get it out. I ended up fabricating some custom boxes to sit in the pockets where the ash deposits, and when full, I carefully lift them out and dump them. I still have to vacuum the insides, however. I made the boxes out of aluminum flashing. I don't know if other stoves are designed to make ash removal easier or not, but MAKE SURE YOU ASK HOW THE ASH IS REMOVED when your checking out the different models!!!! The only other complaint I have is the cost of pellets goes up EVERY year. Sometimes I might find a dealer that has a surplus in the spring and will unload them at a good price, and I will load up on them if that happens.

Although it sounds like  I'm not happy with the stove....I really am, I just prefer to tell it like I see it so others can be on the look out for things I find a pain.

[The Cod Father]

I was thinking the same thing about one
How big of a hopper do you have and how long of a burn time do you get on it
Or I guess how many bags would you go through of pellets on a cold month lets say minus 20

[hardwateryooper]

 I have a lot of experience on wood stoves and pellet stoves and just heating with wood in general. Pellet stoves are good in the right situation.I would say 1/2 of the people who have them like them..check out  " hearth.com " it's a very good forum,if you have never been on it it's a must when making a heating decision....

[iluvcrappie]

Got a buddy that had one in a 3 bedroom cabin......corn/pellet stove......they heat like crazy and they do work very well the only thing is the hopper doesnt seem to hold enough to get a guy through the night.....Im not sure but I would assume a guy could put a bigger hopper on there and that would fix the problem but why should a guy have to put more money into something that already is costing him a pile....that same buddy well his dad actually has a corn stove in the basement of their home and thats what they use all winter long.....works just great and they never have any problems with it.....I give the corn stoves 2 thumbs up......

[iluvcrappie]

along with the how much they burn....the big one in the basement of the house takes 2 5 gallon pails of corn to fill the hopper.....thats enough to get through the night and in the morning you will end up filling it again.....they do burn through some corn/pellets but its well well worth it......

[bearbgone]

How efficient are they? The base cost for a unit seems a bit high. I would think corn would get real expensive.

[Mainehazmt]

presently I run a pellet furnace  works just like your home hot air furnace set the temp and forget it  hopper holds about 4 bags heats the whole house havent burned 50 gal of oil in 6 years   starts and stops on it's own   heat not needed  shuts down relights in 3 min totally unattended  best heating purchace Ive ever made    It's a harmon pf 100

[stripernut]

They work well for some people, but I would never own one. The price of pellets is tied to the price of oil, as oil goes up so will pellets. With a wood stove you can always can grab a axe or burn the furniture and you don't need power...

[mormyshka]

If you think of buying one - buy noise canceling headsets!

[Mainehazmt]

40 lb bag of pellets easy to handle and as far as ash I only have to clean it out 3 times a year
as far as cost it is cheaper for me   check your self!    http://pelletheat.org/pellets/compare-fuel-costs/

[The Dad Fisherman]

Love mine, throw in a bag of pellets and forget about it. Clean it out every couple of days with a wet/dry vac. Had one for at least 15 years.

The only drawback over a woodstove is you do need power...so unless you have a generator, they are useless during a power outage.

[Mainehazmt]

If you think of buying one - buy noise canceling headsets!

mine is actually less than the oil fired furnace

[CharoS10]

i love pellet stove! only thing i wish that i can make my own pellet wood. its will make different! i put my pellet stove in basement to heat up the whole basement, so i dont have to use my oil heater in basement. My pellet stove is Breckwell, One of best kind.

here my pellet stove set up:

[CharoS10]

I forget to add, I do have generator so Im not worry if we got no power!

[murphy421]

I owned a pellet stove and it was ok but if you want heat and I mean HEAT go with a coal stove! Same dimension stove but twice the BTU's (pellet 40,000 BTU vs coal 90,000 BTU) and coal is about the same price as pellets where I live. Has auto thermostat and can run the entire season without shutting it down for cleaning (or 2 tons) which ever comes first.

[firegems]

I agree with MURPHY421...coal burners are the ticket...cost ...efficiency...contro l the heat much better...only have to feed them a few times a day...minimal clean out for stove ash and pipe silt. Believe it or not...the Amish brought it to my attention, they mostly all have coal burners now. At one time you had to order coal by the tonage ... now you can buy it by the bag for easy storage and stacking. Good Luck!!

[murphy421]

My Leisure coal stove has a 100 lb hopper that I fill every other day (course this winter its every 3rd day!). My only issue I have is trying to keep the humidity in the house. The stove top does not get hot enough for a kettle so my humidifier runs overtime trying to keep up. Course I also keep my place about 74 degrees in the winter. I like it warm! (inside)....lol