When you’re trying to find the perfect heating source for your home, a pellet stove could be a great option. Allow us to provide you with everything you need to know before buying a pellet stove and aid you in the decision-making process.
Recycled Fuel
One of the best features of a pellet stove is the recycled fuel it uses. The pellets you load into the stove’s chamber are made from sawdust, wood chips, bark, and other byproducts of lumber milling. This makes a pellet stove one of the most eco-friendly ways to heat your home. The only downside to pellets is the cost.
Automatic Fires
Pellet stoves feed their fires themselves. When you load a bag of pellets into the chamber, the furnace will automatically fuel more pellets into the hopper when it needs to burn more. All the work is done for you. Some pellet stoves even have customizable schedules that you can program into the heater so that it will turn on at the preprogrammed time you chose. You can even set it to start running on particular days of the week.
Size of the Stove
Pellet stoves are relatively large, making them the centerpieces of any room in which one decides to put them. If size isn’t an issue for you, you’ll love to discover that pellet stoves run on electricity, so you can place one in just about any room of the house with an outlet. However, it must follow your local building codes and allow room for a flue.
Higher Maintenance Requirements
Pellet stoves require more maintenance than, say, wood-burning stoves. Because pellet stoves can run by themselves, they burn through tons of pellets. Without proper maintenance, they could quit working, but luckily, cleaning them is simple.
Often, if one component of the pellet stove isn’t working, the rest won’t function, either. Pellet stoves can have issues with burn pot overflow, overfeeding pellets, and not igniting. You can correct other issues, such as smoke billowing into the house, by calling your local chimney and fireplace service.
Cost of Pellet Stoves
The cost of the appliance and the installation cost might be deciding factors for you. Good pellet stoves could cost around $1,700 to $3,000, but the price for heating your home could drop measurably. Pellet stoves are very efficient, and they can warm a home within 30 minutes to a few hours.
Now that you have everything you need to know before buying a pellet stove, weigh the pros and cons. Pellet stoves can be efficient, but if the stove itself or the pellets aren’t in your budget, then it might not be the option for you. Consider all the variables before you set out to buy a stove.