I've always been a wood burner, but I'm thinking of buying a small pellet stove to put in the basement of the spec house I'm building to basically keep things from freezing up this winter without having to make two-3 trips over per day to keep the woodstove going when temps drop below 0 F.
I stopped at the local stove shop and I can get a 40,000 BTW pellet stove for $2,100 or get a Harman Pellet Stove for $2800 (harman being the best name in the business).
Then I stop at the local Box Stores (Home Depot. Lowes and Tractor Supply) and they have similar pellet stoves (Englander & Summers Heat & Ashley) that are $1000-$1100).
As this is really a temporary setup, I'm leaning toward the cheapo pellet stoves. Anybody have any pellet stove experience?
The only thing I heard, is the cheaper pellet stoves don't work well with the low-grade pellets.
My father had one in his cabin for several years and loved it (I don't know the brand name.). The pellets, the fan blowing on the burner and the fans blowing out to the living space kept it warm and comfortable. He could burn his for two days and not get a double handful of ashes. The dealer in town went out of business and he had to dive +/- 100 miles to get pellets so he just removed it and put in a gas fireplace insert.
Andy
It is my understanding is that if the power goes out, the pellet fuel is no longer feed to the stove. My friend had a
Jotul wood stove that was very slow burning and efficient.
Right about the fire going out due to lack of fuel if the power goes out, also the blowers will not work. If you have a power supply that has much interruption, like going on and off several times before settling down, you will end up with burning pellets in the ash box dropped there automatically by the restart feature which will redo the dumping each time the power goes out, even if it's for only seconds. Also protect the control board with a serge protector, it's a computer. If you are depending on it for the only source of heat, have a generator handy.
jud
This apply s to the more expensive stoves with lots of bells and whistles, Those pellet stoves without automatic start and restart act different.
jud
Perry,
We have one in our home that we have been using for about 6 years now. It is our main source of heat in the winter. I think we have only not been able to use it for one night when power was out. This stove is a Kozi pellet stove that we got at Home Depot for about 1200. It heats well and they are right about the amount of ash. Just clean out the ash pot every 3-4 days and no problems.
> Perry,
> We have one in our home that we have been using for about 6 years now. It is our main source of heat in the winter. I think we have only not been able to use it for one night when power was out. This stove is a Kozi pellet stove that we got at Home Depot for about 1200. It heats well and they are right about the amount of ash. Just clean out the ash pot every 3-4 days and no problems.
Just picked up an Englander at Home Depot for $1100. Suppoesd to heat a 1500 sq. ft. house. They are the same stove as the Summers Heat (Lowes) and I've talked to several people who seem happy with them.
Thanks for all the responses.
