Woodstove vs. Pellet Stove

[panolo]

I burned pellets for a number of years. Around here they average about $220/ton. If you go the pellet route always go 50% bigger than you need. Stores change brands year to year and some you may not get the btu's out of. Learn your pellet stove and know why it dirties the glass, how to unjam an auger at 2 am, does it like hardwood or softwood, whats the leaf blower trick, etc.

Honestly if I would have had the cash at the time No doubt I would have went with some type of wood burning equip like I have now. I will give you that pellets stove are cleaner in general. Didn't mind that part of it.

 

[Marine5068]

As mentioned by other members there are +'s and -'s to owning both.

A key point being supply and ability.
If you have a good supply of wood and you are able to process it (cut it, split it, stack it, store it and haul it) then I would go with a wood stove. An alternative to using wood is bio bricks, though if you use the bio brick option you will have to find out if it is compatible with your stove. Some stoves depending on how their secondary combustion is designed "might" have an issue with using them.

For a pellet stove you are dependent on the supply of pellets and economic effects on its costs. You also need a supply of electricity to run the unit, you can get a battery backup system for it, but if the power is out of an extended period of time your battery backup will run out and you may have to run it off a generator.

A good alternative would be to do an all of thee above solution, using the wood stove as your primary heating source and just use the pellet stove to supplement the heat. aka: wood stove in basement and pellet stove in the main living area.

That's what we do.
Wood stove in basement and pellet stove is in main open concept living area.

 

[muddstopper]

I have read this whole thread and am still having a hard time putting the numbers together. My train of thought is simple, at least to me. Pellets seem to be around $200per ton. Thats 2000lbs of wood, and from what I have seen is mostly pine sawdust. I can buy a cord of wood, split/delivered and stacked, which is over 5000lbs, for the same $200. The wood will be mostly oak. That right there is a 150% savings over the price of pellets. wood regardless of species, has about the same btu's per lb, so nopt only would I save money, I would get 150% more heat for my money. If I buy pellets, I have to go to the store , purchase it, haul it and stack it in the dry and I still have to pour it in my stove. If I buy firewood, I just have to put it in my stove. So buying firewood would seem to be less work than buying pellets. My wood stove doesnt have any fans so it heats even without electricity, if you want heat with a pellet stove, you better have a back up generator. A good generator can cost as much as a chainsaw and probably will burn as much fuel to run the pellet stove as my chainsaw will bucking up a cord of wood.

I harvest and split my own wood, and even with my own wood supply, it isnt free. Problem is I am getting older and slower. There will come a time when I cant cut wood and buying might be my only option. Until then, I think I will stick to my old wood stove. My new house will have some sort of wood heat, but I also plan on using a lot of solar heat forms. I think reducing the amount of of heat needed is probably the cheapest, easiest way to stay warm.

 

[Mustang71]

Idk about ur stove but my wife's aunt and uncle are about 60 and burned wood in a stove for ever and recently switched to a stove that will burn coal because they couldn't cut wood anymore. I know my wood furnace will burn coal also idk anything about the price of coal though.

 

[muddstopper]

I dont even know where to find coal around here. I do happen to have a couple of 5gal buckets of coal I have picked up on the side of the railroad track. I throw a hand full or two on the coals when I want a little heat, but dont want to fill the wood box up.

 

[hedge hog]

I burned pellets for a number of years. Around here they average about $220/ton. If you go the pellet route always go 50% bigger than you need. Stores change brands year to year and some you may not get the btu's out of. Learn your pellet stove and know why it dirties the glass, how to unjam an auger at 2 am, does it like hardwood or softwood, whats the leaf blower trick, etc.

Honestly if I would have had the cash at the time No doubt I would have went with some type of wood burning equip like I have now. I will give you that pellets stove are cleaner in general. Didn't mind that part of it.

What is the leaf blower trick?
Insurance would only let put a pellet stove in my shop and have been cleaning and burning 50% corn with pellets
Corn is dirt cheap right now


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[panolo]

What is the leaf blower trick?
Insurance would only let put a pellet stove in my shop and have been cleaning and burning 50% corn with pellets
Corn is dirt cheap right now


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Leaf blower trick is simply where you hook a leaf blower that has suction on it to the exhaust pipe on the outside. You turn it on and it sucks all the ash from the passages in the stove and hidden areas. Pellet is ash is so fine that it seems to clog so many of the stoves and kills the efficiency. There are many you tube videos on it. Works great but you need to pay attention to the stove because on some of them it is smart to unhook the vacuum hoses and such. I have two Englanders and one is very touchy the other will eat through anything but they both get a little plugged with fine ash.

 

[Marine5068]

I have read this whole thread and am still having a hard time putting the numbers together. My train of thought is simple, at least to me. Pellets seem to be around $200per ton. Thats 2000lbs of wood, and from what I have seen is mostly pine sawdust. I can buy a cord of wood, split/delivered and stacked, which is over 5000lbs, for the same $200. The wood will be mostly oak. That right there is a 150% savings over the price of pellets. wood regardless of species, has about the same btu's per lb, so nopt only would I save money, I would get 150% more heat for my money. If I buy pellets, I have to go to the store , purchase it, haul it and stack it in the dry and I still have to pour it in my stove. If I buy firewood, I just have to put it in my stove. So buying firewood would seem to be less work than buying pellets. My wood stove doesnt have any fans so it heats even without electricity, if you want heat with a pellet stove, you better have a back up generator. A good generator can cost as much as a chainsaw and probably will burn as much fuel to run the pellet stove as my chainsaw will bucking up a cord of wood.

I harvest and split my own wood, and even with my own wood supply, it isnt free. Problem is I am getting older and slower. There will come a time when I cant cut wood and buying might be my only option. Until then, I think I will stick to my old wood stove. My new house will have some sort of wood heat, but I also plan on using a lot of solar heat forms. I think reducing the amount of of heat needed is probably the cheapest, easiest way to stay warm.

Only thing is that pellet stoves are more efficient that wood stoves.
Ours burns 125 bags a heating season for a 2500 sq ft house. That's for the whole season that we need constant heat source.
That costs around $500-$650(CAD) a year in heat. That's it.
No other heating appliance can come close to those numbers not oil, gas, propane or electric. Only wood.
Our stove burns at 83% efficiency. What that results in is 1 metal garbage can of waste ash at the end of the season. That's all.
Our pay back period for the $3000 investment for pellet stove was 1 year or less.
Wood is the cheapest heating fuel for sure, but pellet stoves have their place when it comes to easy labor, ease of use, and being able to put 3 days worth of fuel in the appliance and turn it on and forget about it.
All I can say is I'm glad I bought one and glad I have a great wood stove in my basement too.

 

[muddstopper]

Hard to compare apple to oranges. Your in Canada, Im in North Carolina. I would expect you to use more wood, of any form, than I do. Your $600 av, cost of pellets is about $450 US dollars. for $450, I can buy a truckload of logs and process them myself and get about 2 years worth of heat. At face value, it would seem I burn about half the money for heat than you do. that might mean something if you lived right beside me and had a similar house. As is, it doesnt really mean anything. I just got my monthly power bill for $124, it runs $160 in the summer. Before the wood stove, it would approach $300 per month. by that math, my wood cost payback was about 2-2.5 months. I paid $300 for my used stove so add another 2 month to the total payback of about 4.5 months. Basically payback was one heating season. I spent about $60 for copper pipe to build a heat exchanger to heat my hot water. It paid for itself the first month, but it doesnt do anything in the summer when I dont have a fire. f course i didnt add anythng for my saws, my truck, my splitter, or my time, but over the years, I suspect I saved enough to have paid for my tools. I havent even looked at pellet prices around here, and I have never used them, so I really cant say which method would cost the less to use. What I do know is the weather man is calling for some bad weather here over the weekend. If my power goes out, my wood stove will keep me warm and I wont need a generator to power any fans to get the heat off of it. If I get hungry, I can, and have cooked on the stove, and I keep a 40qt stock pot full of water on the stove all winter, so I can get hot water to wash my face and hands.

 

[NSMaple1]

No other heating appliance can come close to those numbers not oil, gas, propane or electric. Only wood.

Natural gas (if you can get it & depending on local pricing) or ductless heat pump.

What do you use for heat when you don't need a constant heat source?

 

[muddstopper]

I think there are a lot cheaper heat sources than wood or pellets. Best method is to reduce the amount of heat you use. My house isnt the best insulated as it could have been when it was built and the design doesnt lean to any inexpensive method to add more insulation into the walls. In my area, Solar heat is a viable method, but isnt used very much. Probably not a very good choice for you folks way up north where you have more darkness than daylite. Even a very small solar water heater can produce 130*f hot water in dec and jan. Even the little cheap solar panels can produce enough electricity to run a low voltage circulation water pump to run that hot water thru a radiant heating system. Add some water storage tanks and you can store heated water and a battery to run the pumps and you can get heat even at night. Payback wouldnt take very long and once paid back, its free heat.

 

[Marine5068]

Hard to compare apple to oranges. Your in Canada, Im in North Carolina. I would expect you to use more wood, of any form, than I do. Your $600 av, cost of pellets is about $450 US dollars. for $450, I can buy a truckload of logs and process them myself and get about 2 years worth of heat. At face value, it would seem I burn about half the money for heat than you do. that might mean something if you lived right beside me and had a similar house. As is, it doesnt really mean anything. I just got my monthly power bill for $124, it runs $160 in the summer. Before the wood stove, it would approach $300 per month. by that math, my wood cost payback was about 2-2.5 months. I paid $300 for my used stove so add another 2 month to the total payback of about 4.5 months. Basically payback was one heating season. I spent about $60 for copper pipe to build a heat exchanger to heat my hot water. It paid for itself the first month, but it doesnt do anything in the summer when I dont have a fire. f course i didnt add anythng for my saws, my truck, my splitter, or my time, but over the years, I suspect I saved enough to have paid for my tools. I havent even looked at pellet prices around here, and I have never used them, so I really cant say which method would cost the less to use. What I do know is the weather man is calling for some bad weather here over the weekend. If my power goes out, my wood stove will keep me warm and I wont need a generator to power any fans to get the heat off of it. If I get hungry, I can, and have cooked on the stove, and I keep a 40qt stock pot full of water on the stove all winter, so I can get hot water to wash my face and hands.

True but here a truckload of logs is over $1400 CAD. about 8 cords.

 

[Marine5068]

I think there are a lot cheaper heat sources than wood or pellets. Best method is to reduce the amount of heat you use. My house isnt the best insulated as it could have been when it was built and the design doesnt lean to any inexpensive method to add more insulation into the walls. In my area, Solar heat is a viable method, but isnt used very much. Probably not a very good choice for you folks way up north where you have more darkness than daylite. Even a very small solar water heater can produce 130*f hot water in dec and jan. Even the little cheap solar panels can produce enough electricity to run a low voltage circulation water pump to run that hot water thru a radiant heating system. Add some water storage tanks and you can store heated water and a battery to run the pumps and you can get heat even at night. Payback wouldnt take very long and once paid back, its free heat.

Ontario is a very big place. If you try to leave you will drive for 24 hours straight west (north west along the Trans-Canada Highway) and you still wont be out of it.
I'm in Southern Ontario. Which is about the same latitude as Minneapolis Minnesota.
We have plenty of light. Its very sunny here and has pretty equal day/night for most of the year.
Mid winter it gets dark around 5pm and summer around 10pm.
Temps reach way over 30 degrees Celsius for a lot of the summer.
Lots of water here too. Ontario holds 1/3 of the world's fresh water.
I'm not in North Nunavut, or N.W.T. where light and day are different times of the year....lol.
Have you been to Toronto or drove the busiest highway in North America. It's called the 401 and through Metro it's 16 lanes wide at one point.
We don't live in igloos....lol.
I live north of Belleville about 1/2 hours drive.

check out this link....gives a god idea of what Ontario is...
http://www.ontarioimmigration.ca/en/about/OI_ABOUT_GEOGRAPHY_CLIMATE.html

 

[Marine5068]

No other heating appliance can come close to those numbers not oil, gas, propane or electric. Only wood.

Natural gas (if you can get it & depending on local pricing) or ductless heat pump.

What do you use for heat when you don't need a constant heat source?

wood

 

[DSW]

Only thing is that pellet stoves are more efficient that wood stoves.
Ours burns 125 bags a heating season for a 2500 sq ft house. That's for the whole season that we need constant heat source.
That costs around $500-$650(CAD) a year in heat. That's it.
No other heating appliance can come close to those numbers not oil, gas, propane or electric. Only wood.
Our stove burns at 83% efficiency. What that results in is 1 metal garbage can of waste ash at the end of the season. That's all.
Our pay back period for the $3000 investment for pellet stove was 1 year or less.
Wood is the cheapest heating fuel for sure, but pellet stoves have their place when it comes to easy labor, ease of use, and being able to put 3 days worth of fuel in the appliance and turn it on and forget about it.
All I can say is I'm glad I bought one and glad I have a great wood stove in my basement too.

Counterpoint:

Growing up, pellet stove was our main source of heat. I say main, because it wouldn't heat the entire house. (Not that a wood stove would have)

Pellets were bought by the skid load, when on sale. As cheap as they were available, essentially.

It would cost at least a grand for 4 months of heating. They make the area very dusty, cleaner than wood but not comparable to electric or gas. And gas was still used to supplement heat.

I genuinely like pellet stoves but my personal experience is they're not in a different league than any other source of heat.

 

[Mustang71]

Ontario is a very big place. If you try to leave you will drive for 24 hours straight west (north west along the Trans-Canada Highway) and you still wont be out of it.
I'm in Southern Ontario. Which is about the same latitude as Minneapolis Minnesota.
We have plenty of light. Its very sunny here and has pretty equal day/night for most of the year.
Mid winter it gets dark around 5pm and summer around 10pm.
Temps reach way over 30 degrees Celsius for a lot of the summer.
Lots of water here too. Ontario holds 1/3 of the world's fresh water.
I'm not in North Nunavut, or N.W.T. where light and day are different times of the year....lol.
Have you been to Toronto or drove the busiest highway in North America. It's called the 401 and through Metro it's 16 lanes wide at one point.
We don't live in igloos....lol.
I live north of Belleville about 1/2 hours drive.

check out this link....gives a god idea of what Ontario is...
http://www.ontarioimmigration.ca/en/about/OI_ABOUT_GEOGRAPHY_CLIMATE.html

I live an hour from Buffalo...on Lake Ontario in Niagara county. I know Canada have been there many times and head up that way to ice fish. Not sure what this matters about fire wood or pellets but I'm sure we get the same weather. It's about 10 degrees fareheight here still heating with wood...also spent many summers on the magnetowan river where it got over 101 degrees f.

 

[muddstopper]

True but here a truckload of logs is over $1400 CAD. about 8 cords.

Log prices vary greatly around the country. This makes it hard to compare heating cost with anyone, except maybe your next door neighbor. Also in Canada, I am pretty sure you dont have the quality of heating woods that I do. I can easily pass up any pines or soft hardwoods and go for the good oaks, hickory, or locust. Not that I cull pine or any other wood from my firewood stash. If it burns and I have to deal with it, it goes in the stove. Getting a lot from logging sites for free, and them loading the trailer, I dont think I want to be pointing a finger and saying get this log and leave that one. They are pretty good about chooseing and culling tho, they want the culls out of their way. Getting old and set in my ways, I dont see any reason for me to swap stoves and start using pellets. Doesnt mean pellets might not be a better or cheaper choice, just that I am hard headed and not willing to make the switch.

I am not aware to the size of Ontario. I have been to Sultan, on a bear hunt/fishing trip, but I wasnt driving around site seeing the rest of the country. Crossed into Canada thru the U P of Mi and drove about 250 miles due north. Been wanting to go back, but making a living seems to get in the way.

 

[Kingfisher30]

I live in northern Maryland and have a Harman 300i fireplace insert on the main floor, a Harman Accentra pellet stove in a finished basement, and a quadrafire Cumberland Gap wood stove in my detached shop.

I only burn the pellet stove when we are using the basement and went with a pellet unit as installing a full chimney would have cost more than I'll spend on pellets in many years.

I cut my own firewood from my lot as well as via permit from the Army base nearby. If I were paying retail for the firewood, I would probably change the balance to 2 pellet units (adding the optional battery backup for overnight without generator noise) and one wood stove.

 

[Mustang71]

I always figured that if I had to pay for the fuel I might as well just buy more propane. I don't mind hard work for free heat. I like the idea of the pellet stove but it's not more efficient than my hi efficient furnace or any furnace I can get and install.

 

[mohick]

It just makes sense that anything with a fire about as big as a soup bowl ain't going to heat much space. And if you'r paying for something might as well be paying for something that is going to heat the house!!