tell me about pellet stoves and wood stoves?

[dacjohns]

Just a quick reply here.

Pellet stoves need electricity. Pellets are subject to supply and demand more than cord wood.

You can't beat the smell of pinyon.

 

[MNKris]

We have an outdoor wood boiler and LOVE it! There is a themostat and all the mess is outside. Here in MN, most insurance companies won't allow wood indoors anymore due to the fire risk. We cut all our own wood and only burn downed oak, maple, box elder, ash, and a few others. It saves us like $2500 a year. Very good investment!

 

[greycoop]

We bought a pellet stove 2 years ago and love it. Chopping, spliting and stacking wood for heat amounts to opening a bag of wood pellets and pouring it into the hoper. The ash container is a small metal box about the size of coffee cup I empty once or twice a week. It burns very clean and is super efficient. Our oil heat system is forced hot air which gives off a uneven heat; the pellet stove is consistant. The pellet stove is an easy way to heat.

 

[lurky]

We have heated with only pellets for 7 years and love it

 

[CritterHill]

Isn't wood ash supposed to be good for chickens to dust bathe in as well? Keeps down mites or some such? Someone help me out here...

 

[tackyrama]

I have burned wood for over 30 years and switched last year to a pellet stove. We love it! Both have their own advantages. This turned out to be long but I have LOTS of experince to relate.

If you have a source of free wood and can handle the work involved it can't be beat. Nothing beats sitting in front of a wood stove with a glass front on a cold winter evening. The crackling and popping and the flames is simply mesmerizing and you will be in dreamland in no time. Then there is the sense self reliance. Wood heats you twice. Once cutting and splitting and then burning it. There is a huge difference in quality of woodstoves so be careful. Do not use a barrel stove. The modern airtight models are by far the best. Even the old cast iron models 100 years old do work very well. We used a almost 100 year old cast iron parlor stove we bought for $50.00 at auction for over 10 years till we switched to pellet. It was blue enamel with nickel plated trim with eisenglass front door for loading and viewing. We loved it but it just got to be too much work at 62 ys old. I put it to use in my new chicken coop.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=14471-coop-layout
There are drawbacks. There is smoke from time to time. It is almost unavoidable. It is an issue for someone with breathing problems. With most wood heat systems temperature is much harder to regulate. At times you are either too hot or too cold. Chimney fires are not uncommon. If you have a GOOD chimney they are not too much to worry about. There is much you can do to avoid chimney fires. DRY wood is the most important thing. Green wood will give you creosote buildup and lead to chimney fires. Also green wood drains off BTUs thus lowering efficiency. Safety is an issue. Make sure you have the proper chimney and strictly observe all safety proceedures. Even after burning wood for over 30 years I never let my guard down. Oak is generally regarded as the best firewood. There are other types of wood with more BTUs per pound but they are not as readily available. White oak is near the top in BTUs. Minnesota is very cold in winter and around here most people will burn nothing but oak. One thing to keep in mind is this: All wood has the same BTUs PER POUND. It will take a very large pile of aspen to equal a cord of oak. I burn anything that is cheap or free. The great advantge of oak is you can load up the stove and it will burn all night. Of course that depends on how big and how efficient your stove is. The most I could get out of our little parlor stove was about 4 hours. I could buy popple very cheaply here and then burn it mostly during the day when we could keep chucking it in. There is some mess but in my opinion less than is commonly believed. You listen to some people and you would think you get overrun with bugs and vermin. You get an occassional ant or bug, no more than you might see during the summer. At our previous residence we kept 5 cord in the basement and NEVER had ants or mice. Avoid slab wood from sawmills. It is mostly bark. Burning wood is not for everyone. If you have no experience and any self doubt I would not recommend it. Find out all you can from someone with wood burning experience.

We love our pellet stove. It is more expensive than wood but far cheaper than propane. It is very clean. You still get an occassional whif of smoke but very little and very seldom. I actually like it. It takes up less space than our wood stove as it sits closer to the wall. The ambience is not the same as a crackling wood fire but it is much preferable to a fake electric log fireplace. (You could not pay me enough to install one of those abominations) I also like the ecological part of it. Pellets use up wood that would otherwise be wasted. Also it doesn't matter what kind of wood the pellets are made of as it is sold by the pound not cord. Ours lights up automatically with a glow plug which is very handy. We control it manually but it could be set up with a thermostat. In our area the price of pellets has gone up only about 40 cents in three years. Wood has stayed about the same. Corn for corn stoves has gone out of sight. You do need electricity to run a pellet stove.

Think it over carefully. Compare notes with other woodburners. Decide just what your priorities are and then make your decision.