I would like to take this time to tell you why people like pellet stoves so much. First of all, pellet stoves look really great in your home. They also give you that nice warm cozy fireplace feeling. There is nothing better when it snows out then curling up on the couch with your pellet stove blazing away. Below I will outline the main reasons why people have pellet stoves.
The first reason why I bought a pellet stove is to save money. I live in New England where the winters are very cold. The price of oil lately has gone way up, and it was getting quite expensive to heat my home all winter long. The last winter that I used oil to heat my home it cost me $2500. This was to keep my house at only 64° which was quite cold all winter. Once I got my pellet stove I heated my house for the winter for only $500. Keep in mind my house is 2200 ft.². With my pellet stove I was able to keep my upstairs at 72° and my downstairs at around 80° all winter. This sure beats freezing in my house with oil heat, set at 64° all winter long. It also saved me $2000 so it was a real no brainer.
Another great thing about having a pellet stove is that it looks really nice in your house. There are all types of pellet stoves. Some can be inserted into a fireplace. These are called inserts. Others are just freestanding and are vented through the wall. My pellet stove is freestanding in my living room and it looks really nice. There is nothing like having the lights off and the pellet stove running for that cozy warm fireplace feeling. This beats heating my house with oil any day.
Pellet stoves are also very good for the environment. Instead of using oil which puts carbon into the atmosphere you are burning wood. While the would does produce carbon when burned it is considered carbon neutral. The reason for this is because when a tree grows it uses carbon dioxide. So it takes carbon dioxide away from the atmosphere while growing and then produces carbon dioxide when burned. Hence the term carbon neutral. Another reason why it is good for the environment is because pellets are made from sawdust. In the old days this sawdust would’ve been thrown into a landfill and wasted. Now instead of being wasted it is used in a very productive way. This is recycling at its best and it is no doubt very good for the environment.
While all pellet stoves have fans that run inside of them they do not make your electricity bill go up much at all. When I first got my stove I was thinking these fans were going to cost me a ton on electricity. But when I got my electric bill, I really didn’t even notice the difference. The only problem with a pellet stove, is that if your power goes out the stove will not work. This is because it has electric fans and an electric auger which feeds the pellets into the burning chamber. Obviously a fireplace or a wood stove does not need electricity to run. Some people purchase generators just in case of a power outage in the winter so that they can still use their pellet stoves.