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I've owned both. I have heated with wood for over 15 years and now I heat with pellets 7 years running. Both sources were considered 'primary' for us. We have ebb now and try not to run it at all costs!
As you stated (OP) there are advantages and disadvantages to both. Cost on the units do vary, but you're going to pay top$ for a quality wood stove, and top$ for a quality pellet stove.
For me- I like pellets. A lot. We own an Enviro M55 and it's been a flawless, workhorse of a unit. Only 3 minor repairs- a new and improved blower motor and 2 heat baffles- the new baffle is much thicker and shouldn't warp like the old ones. Maybe $400 in repair parts in 7 years? And we burn 4-5 tons a year through it. That's a fair amount.
Pellets (for premium) we pay $220 p/ton. Ranges from $200-$250 depending on year. I buy a ton at a time, store them in the garage. Come home from work, grab a bag when I go inside, load and repeat the next day. This units ash pan holds one ton used pellet ash. I only empty the ash pan 5x p/season compared to the at least once every 2 days for a wood stove. Cleaning the chimney is a breeze compared to wood soot and creosote. Basically a wipe through with a soft brush. It's just a hands down, no brainer easier operation.
We have a generator (a small one) that can operate the pellet stove in the event of an outage. There's a window close to the pellet stove- we can crack it in run the cord that way- no problem.
It provides stable, predictable heat, it costs us about $220 a month, and the entire house is affected by it's performance. Compared to the 5-7 cords I used to burn per year, and I cut, hauled and split all my own, it's a no brainer for me. By the time you factor in the cost of the chainsaw, splitter, gas, maintenance and time ( I generally spent 3-4 weekends getting my years supply done about 10 truckloads- 8ft bed)- $220 a month seemed cheap to me.
I have a long term review going on a site dedicated to wood/pellet/coal heat. 7 years running since I bought this unit. If you want to check it out pm me and i'll give you the link.
Pellet stoves need electricity for augers, blowers and fans. All those moving parts make the pellet stove noisy. They aren't cheap to run. The low cost pellets don't work well so you need to buy the premium pellets. If you have storage, pellets are cheaper in the summer.
Pellets are easier to handle and don't involve bark and bugs and sawdust. There is very little ash with the pellet stove, but only if you buy premium pellets.
Woodstove can be silent. Woodstove is much better to cook on if power is out. My woodstove does use electricity after a fashion because I use a ceiling fan and a small fan for convection to move the heat evenly through the house, but it works without the fans.
Fire wood is not cheap if you pay someone else to cut it, split it, and deliver it. To do it correctly, you need space to store a couple years worth so the wood will be dry enough to burn clean.
SuperLogs and and Canawick bricks, the best of both world's
Quote:
Originally Posted by PS90
I really am leaning toward a pellet stove, simply because I have a 50-60 hour per week job, and don't look forward to the labor of having to get wood every year, and the labor of starting the fire and keeping it maintained constantly - i.e. adding wood all the time. With a pellet stove, you set the thermostat, dump the pellets into the hopper every 24-48 hours, and that's it. But a wood stove seems better for a power outage, especially if it's long-term (we get long-term outages very rarely, but do get 6-12 hour outages semi-frequently), and the labor thing may be negated if the pellet stove needs tons of frequent cleaning.
You forgot one other option -- get a wood stove, and burn compressed wood logs, basically super-jumbo sized wood pellets. That way you can always fall back to burning cordwood when society collapses. Dealers will deliver your choice of "logs" or "bricks", then you store them inside the house (no bugs) or in a garage or a (dry) basement or shed. They're shelf-stable and stack compactly.
Quality brands available in my area include CanaWick, EcoBrick, BioBrick. I look for the best price and I order a full pallet load each fall to supplement the seasoned hardwood I've stacked up from a year ago. Pure wood, ground up and run through a press just like the pellets, only bigger. Less work than cordwood, and if you buy early in the season, often less expensive than seasoned hardwood. You still need to load the stove every few hours, but not as often as you would when burning split natural wood.
Our house in NH came with only oil heat. First, we found a used wood stove and installed that in our living room fireplace. Recently, we found a used pellet stove and installed that in a far corner of our attached swimming pool room that we are converting to an in-law suite.
We like having the combination of all three. I do miss having natural gas from my years of living in MA.
The oil heat is there for when we go away in the winter so our pipes don't freeze.
The pellet stove with its fans does warm the whole house up evenly, but it does need to be cleaned out once a day for maximum performance, and it needs electricity to run.
The wood stove is a nice burst of heat and we like watching the logs burn, and if the electric goes out, we're still okay. And when we're having a cold snap, sometimes it's hard to get oil or find pellets, but we can always find wood to burn in our wood stove.
I guess the main thing is to buy quality. You get what you pay for. My ex lives in Maine and she loves her wood stove but she gets the wood delivered and has plenty of room for storage in a dry place.
My pellet stove needs little maintenance. I clean the burn pot twice a season, and I found s super easy way to do it.
The M55 Enviro is a tough, heat producing machine. Our local ski hill lodge uses one in the main hall- runs full tilt and been going for 8 years. Tough unit.
Has the advantages of not having to cut or handle firewood, but will work just fine in a power outage. It has a fan, but can operate without it.
Ours is in the middle of our main living space and heats it quite comfortably even in power outages.
We have a 500 gallon tank that lasts all winter long. Pay around 1.10-1.40 per gallon for propane in recent years, if we buy in summer. No need to handle or store pellets either.
Quote:
Originally Posted by pikabike
That was and is our top choice. Clean, can heat during power outages, easy to use, can connect to a thermostat but also control by manual switches on the stove.
The thing is, OP mentioned wanting to use wood as the resource consumed. If that is not top priority, I think he and his wife would love a propane stove. Unless the smell of wood burning is desired.
I agree that propane would be nice, but on my side of the mountains, electricity is much cheaper. I pretty much ruled out propane in favor of electric and wood due to cost.
I've owned both. I have heated with wood for over 15 years and now I heat with pellets 7 years running. Both sources were considered 'primary' for us. We have ebb now and try not to run it at all costs!
As you stated (OP) there are advantages and disadvantages to both. Cost on the units do vary, but you're going to pay top$ for a quality wood stove, and top$ for a quality pellet stove.
For me- I like pellets. A lot. We own an Enviro M55 and it's been a flawless, workhorse of a unit. Only 3 minor repairs- a new and improved blower motor and 2 heat baffles- the new baffle is much thicker and shouldn't warp like the old ones. Maybe $400 in repair parts in 7 years? And we burn 4-5 tons a year through it. That's a fair amount.
Pellets (for premium) we pay $220 p/ton. Ranges from $200-$250 depending on year. I buy a ton at a time, store them in the garage. Come home from work, grab a bag when I go inside, load and repeat the next day. This units ash pan holds one ton used pellet ash. I only empty the ash pan 5x p/season compared to the at least once every 2 days for a wood stove. Cleaning the chimney is a breeze compared to wood soot and creosote. Basically a wipe through with a soft brush. It's just a hands down, no brainer easier operation.
We have a generator (a small one) that can operate the pellet stove in the event of an outage. There's a window close to the pellet stove- we can crack it in run the cord that way- no problem.
It provides stable, predictable heat, it costs us about $220 a month, and the entire house is affected by it's performance. Compared to the 5-7 cords I used to burn per year, and I cut, hauled and split all my own, it's a no brainer for me. By the time you factor in the cost of the chainsaw, splitter, gas, maintenance and time ( I generally spent 3-4 weekends getting my years supply done about 10 truckloads- 8ft bed)- $220 a month seemed cheap to me.
I have a long term review going on a site dedicated to wood/pellet/coal heat. 7 years running since I bought this unit. If you want to check it out pm me and i'll give you the link.
Thanks a lot for the great post. Most of your experience sort of reinforces what I have researched.
The pellet stove that I cited earlier apparently comes standard with a battery back-up in case of power outage, so that will also solve that problem. I will look at Enviro, though, for sure.
You don't need a pellet stove to burn pellets. We use a Vermont Castings wood stove, that was made in the 70's. It is a top loader and we burn wood in it, or, mostly this year, we have burned pellets because they are only $3.50 a bag and I haven't had time to cut wood. I have always kept a bunch of bags of pellets on hand. I just open the top and dump them in and they burn for a very long time. Add more periodically. The nice thing about the pellets is they don't spark. They do put out a lot of heat. No ash pan or grate in the stove. Have to scoop it out about once a month.
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SuperLogs and and Canawick bricks, the best of both world's
Pure wood, ground up and run through a press just like the pellets, only bigger. Less work than cordwood, and if you buy early in the season, often less expensive than seasoned hardwood. You still need to load the stove every few hours, but not as often as you would when burning split natural wood.
