Going to buy a pellet stove Need input.

As i stated need some input on pellet stoves. Going to remove the wood stove in the east end of the house. Great stove...but hard to regulate...and I am not getting any younger.... cutting, splitting, stacking, hauling firewood is getting to be a real chore. Anyone have any feedback on good pellet stoves, brands, ones to not buy?? I have one I got from Home Desperate many years ago in my loading room. Works fine. Had to replace the blower motor last year but easy to do. It is not state of the art now and needs cleaning regularly. Any help will be appreciated...BTW...they also have 'em on Amazon!

Pantanojack, I have been involved with the woodpile since I was 10...I have a back problem that has gotten worse...so I figure I will try a pellet stove. We have very few electrical outages here...and I do have a wood stove...A big Ol Fisher Grandpa Bear. When we burn it the furnace doesn't fire up so I put the furnace fan on and it pretty much heats the whole house. There's nothing like wood heat

I have had one, an Enviro Evolution, for about 20 years and it has been good. I have HW rads as my main heat but use the stove as a pleasant additional heat source. And it really saved my bacon a couple of winters ago when the boiler developed a leak. It was running full tilt for a couple of days.

I was thinking of replacing it with a wood stove a few years ago when I had three big trees taken down and ended up with some fine firewood, but the cost, including about 25' of double-wall SS pipe, was high. And, like you, I'm not getting any younger and now wouldn't want to be cutting and stacking firewood.

Mine had a rather loud convection blower when I got it but I "mcguyvered" a tangential fan replacement which has less velocity but is much quieter and not a problem as I have a ceiling fan running slowly 24/7 so that helps distribute the heat. (I am a bit fussy about noise; mine was unusually loud I think as my neighbours bought the same one and the blowers were quieter.) I also got the external combustion fan kit which sits on the outside wall.

The only things I've had to replace over the years have been the impeller fan on the combustion motor, which gets pretty grimy, being in the direct flow of hot exhaust gases, and the fibreglass "rope" that ensures a tight seal around the door.

The igniter has to be replaced occasionally, too, and they are ludicrously expensive from dealers (like many such parts***) as they are just a basic cartridge heater, used by the thousands in various industries such as plastics extrusion. I found mine was a 400W unit made by Chromalox and ended up getting a couple through a Chromalox distributor in Seattle for about what the Enviro dealers pay "wholesale" from Enviro! Eventually I just disconnected it (leaving it in place in case it was important as regards air flow) and use a propane torch to light the stove, which is quicker as well.

Yes, in a power outage you'd need external power. Having disabled the 400W igniter, only the combustion fan, auger and comvection fan need power. Mine draws 75-90W, depending on whether the auger is runnng. There is one pellet stove, from Wiseway, which is gravity feed and needs no power. Don't know anything about it, though.

Like a wood stove, they require basic cleaning of the flue etc. Also a good idea to empty the hopper once in a while and vacuum out the bottom where the auger opening is, which gets rid of any "fines" (sawdust) that sometimes builds up. The pellets are just compressed wood chips and sometimes some can create sawdust in the bag during shipping. Vacuuming out the firebox occasionally is good, too. You should use a fine bag over your vacuum filter as the dust is extremely fine.


*** I just bought a replacement combustion fan impeller from
for $11.99. OEM is something like $100

My old Whitfield has been putting out the heat for 12-14 years,
without one part being replaced.

In that time frame, there are probalbly better units out there but you need to
check out their parts and warrenty's and BTU put out, for the size and area to be heated.

Some pellets leave less ash and junk behind, but you need to find that out over time,
with the pellets available in your area.

A 40 lb. bag should last two days, if not heating a large area.
Good luck.

Pellet stoves! I like them. I put one in my work shop and liked it so well I put one in the garage. Tractor Supply has them on sale right now. The ones I bought are regular $1300, on sale for $1000. Pel Pro 130. Will hold 130lbs. of pellets. They are eligible for a 30% tax break also. Another nice thing about the pellet stoves is you can vent them thru the wall with 3" double wall pipe as long as you can put the stove on an outside wall. I don't like extra holes in the roof! Hope this helps.

storyman said:

...Another nice thing about the pellet stoves is you can vent them thru the wall with 3" double wall pipe as long as you can put the stove on an outside wall. I don't like extra holes in the roof! Hope this helps.

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That's what I did with mine. It sits by the staircase leading to the loft bedroom and the vent runs under the stairs to the external fan kit outside.

I went a bit overboard and put Knauf pre-slit fibreglass pipe insulation over the pipe, even though it wasn't actually needed.




(The lumber wrap is for some other work I was doing on my diesel genny fuel tank)

We have used a Countryside Magnum for 20 years with good luck. It heats most of our 1000 square foot home. I have had to replace a few fans and motors last few years. I think they are still available, although dealers may be spotty. We burn mostly shelled corn, which burns hotter than pellets and is cheaper here most of the time. Although we have a generator, a backup battery/ inverter could be used, it doesn't draw a lot of watts.

I run a Harmon stove in my basement. I burn 2-3 tons of pellets per year. Around here a bag of pellets cost over $7 currently. Prices are rising. As someone else mentioned, a pleasant additional heat source. Not a backup, but a supplement. Definitely will take the edge off for your furnace.

Thanks for the replies. The pellets available here are not hardwood. They are pine /fir/whatever else available here....The prices are just a bit less than 6 dollars a bag by the ton. Not a big deal. I had one back east I bought for a 100 dollars that I used in my gun shop...then moved it to the house. No self igniter on it but it worked well. It was in my shop/computer room downstairs and with the help of a little doorway box fan it really did help heat the house upstairs. Don't remember the brand but it may have been a whitfield. Looking at a Comfortbilt HP 22 in Brown . 2 grand but nothing is cheap these days..Possibly a Quadrafire also...more expensive

Maybe I should add a few facts...The house(upstairs) is about 3500 SF and is one of those engineered log homes. No insulation in ceiling or walls...but not really necessary. A very easy home to heat except on the ends. The original heat was electric, with 2 woodstoves. We had a hot air gas fired furnace put in and it does fine at less than half the cost of electric. we are going to remove the small woodstove in the east end and install the pellet stove. Exhaust will be through a lined Brick chimney which has a cleanout.

We have a Quadrafire that is self igniting and works of a thermostat just like a furnace. Had it for 15 years and still works like new. No issues.

Here in Indiana, if your insurance company knows you’re burning wood in the house, any money that you might have saved goes to the insurance company.

Don’t you guys have natural or LP gas where you live?

Electric heaters work well also.

Yendor, I must assume you have never lived with a wood stove. No heat like it. Hell nothing like food cooked in a wood stoves oven either. I think these Pellet grills are something like a wood cook stove. Yep my insurance isn't cheap but it's all together with my auto insurance...And yes we have an LP fired furnace...but nothing like wood. A pellet stove IS close...Electric?? I can't afford 5-6 hundred dollars a month.

A friend offered me one of those Quadra fires today. Went and looked at it...pretty stove...but it won't fire up, Auger doesn't work.Bud(the owner) said he only used it for about a 1000 pounds of pellets..Price was right...get it outta his grudge. Going to see how much it'll cost to get running right..like I said...it is pretty and I'm easy and CHEAP! A new one like it is over 2500 bucks

Skeet 028 said:

A friend offered me one of those Quadra fires today.... Auger doesn't work...

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I'm not familiar with the Quadrafire, but most pellet stoves are pretty much identical inside. The pellets are drawn up along the auger (an "Archimedean screw") from the bottom of the hopper and dropped into the feed tube and into the burn pot.

You should be able to find an operator's manual online if our friend doesn't have one.

Does the auger turn? Can you hear the auger motor run every few seconds? The auger will turn v-e-r-y slowly. You can put your finger on it when it turns.

Give the hopper a good vacuuming out, including right down to the bottom, where the auger meets the motor. Sometimes a pellet can get jammed and stop the auger from turning. (This actually happened to mine last night. I reached down into the hopper and fiddled with the pellets around where they enter the auger and was back in business.)

On mine, the tube (cover) that encloses the auger in the hopper is secured by 3 or 4 screws on each side. With these removed, the tube comes off and, IIRC, the auger just sits loose against the keyway in the motor and can be removed.

Is there a light on the operating panel that blinks when the auger motor is being energized? If it's blinking but the auger motor isn't working, the motor may need to be replaced Do an online search for replacement parts, as OEM from a dealer could be really expensive. I think many of these stoves use the same auger and combustion fan motors. I've never had to replace mine but I think it's pretty straightforward with the back panel removed.

We started heating with pellets three years ago. A Quadrafire insert was used to supplement the propane furnace. It cut the propane bill drastically. We then installed a second, freestanding stove. Now, the propane furnace has not come on in two years, except when I clean the stoves.

We burn about a bag, sometimes two a day, between the two stoves. I clean them once a week. About 1/2 hour for each stove.

Just installed a third one. This one is in my shop, previously heated by a small wood stove. The pellet stoves are all on thermostats so easily controlled. I can still manage the 40 pound bags. So can Herself, but I have several containers to store and pour salt that I keep filled. 20 pounds is easier for her to move, lift and pour.

Our pellet distributor decided to chase a woman several counties away and let his business slide. We bought his remaining inventory of pellets and contacted the company. We are now a distributor and supply pellets to stoves in the area. Just starting out in this venture but folks are finding us.

My wife is a genius when it comes to “…one door shuts…another door opens…”

Kevin

I had to replace the auger motor on my Countryside recently, but there are also several safety switches to check. There is a safety switch on the hopper door and high and low temperature safeties. Hopefully you can locate a manual with a schematic.

Almost 75 yrs. old, with a bad back and knees, so I invested in a propane stove to replace an old wood burning unit a few years ago. The house we bought was already setup for gas, so it was no big deal. Local gas company sold stoves, and they took our wood burner in as a trade. Bought a new unit, had it completely installed and it works great. We do a yearly "pre-buy" ahead of time for gas at the lower summer rates. No wood to cut, or buy, split, stack, lug in the house or cleanup afterward . As you get older, you tend to try to make life a little easier.

You know what they say about when you assume something.

I know my way around a chainsaw and a downed tree. That alone is has the potential of being dangerous. Everybody knows someone who got hurt with a chainsaw. I used to be halfway decent with a sledge, a wedge and an ax. Had to because we didn’t have a fancy splitting machine. You have to haul the firewood out of the woods, stack it, let it cure for at least a year, then haul that messy stuff into the house, (along with the bugs that have taken up residence in your wood) throw it onto the fire, and haul off the ashes. I’ve seen a couple of roaring, swirling chimney fires as well.

Wood heat is a nice dry heat. Usually because it’s too hot in the house because there’s no exact way to regulate the temperature.

By the time you buy a chainsaw or 2, maybe a splitting machine, a beat up old pickup, maybe a tractor with a loader bucket, figure your time is worth minimum wage, a stove, the extra insurance, and the fuel getting the wood finally in the house, you’re not saving anything. Like I said before, the insurance alone will eat up most of what you’ve saved from your heating bill.

But hey, if you burn wood because you like to, and accept all the expenses and risks, Go for it. Almost nobody in southern Indiana burns wood anymore. Except for those things that I call smolder stoves. They’re obnoxious and ought to be outlawed.

Going a little O/T, as regards wood stoves, the ultimate is the Finnish tulikivi, someimes called a masonry or soapstone fireplace. Massive and pretty expensive, but I think if I were younger and had both the available wood and money and was building a new house, I'd seriously consider one. Available complete or as inserts that can be built into custom masonry surround. Burn very clean. You fill them up twice a day and they gradually warm up the surrounding soapstone or rocks, which then radiate warmth into the house. In an open-plan house they'd be ideal

Also regarding wood stoves, my neighbour up the street put a wood stove in his house and found a really convenient wood source - a local mill that converts trees into telephone poles. He saw this and thought, "Hmmmmm...."


Turns out they cut off and discard about 5' after they're peeled and he's welcome to come by fill up his pickup truck. He bought a log splitter and he's good to go

@Yendor- Yes, there are compromises, old(er) age being one of them And sometimes extra insurance costs. When I put mine in, it just had to be inspected (=$150 for "did he read the installation instructions in the manual"). I think it only added $50 to my house insurance.

Are there any firewood guys near you that will split,stack and deliver?