Pellet Stove – What it is and How it Works

Many people have been going with wood stoves and pellet stoves to curb the blistery weather of winter. The type of radiant heat these stoves create warms every corner of your home. My family has had a wood stove for a number of years, but lately, we have been contemplating buying a pellet stove. Needless to say, our questions were many. Among them, how does it work, what type of fuel does it use and is it economical to use?

The pellet wood stove offers a new way to heat your home over gas, electric and the traditional wood stove. Instead of burning big chunks of wood, it will burn pellets the size comparable to that of rabbit feed.

A typical pellet wood stove has at least two burn settings and a thermostat to control the fire, with a forced-air system to distribute the heat. Since the pellet stove burns wood efficiently, they do not typically need a standard chimney. Instead, you can exhaust the fumes through a small hole in the wall to the outdoors. A "pellet vent" or a "Class L chimney", which consists of a stainless steel interior and an aluminum or galvanized exterior, will connect from the stove to the opening to the outside.

A hopper is used to hold the pellets. Depending on the size of the unit, a hopper can hold from 35 to 130 pounds of pellets. An auger, which is a corkscrew-shaped device, is used to transfer the pellets to the fire chamber.

There are two types of augers:

• Bottom fed auger

• Top fed auger

How does a pellet wood stove work? Is it similar to that of a wood stove? With a wood stove, once the chimney is in place, you just place chunks of wood in the stove, light it and let it burn. A pellet stove works a little differently.

First, a pellet stove needs electricity to run. Thus, you will have to make sure the unit is plugged into an outlet.

Second, add wood pellets to the auger. The auger will move the pellets into the combustion chamber, at set intervals determined by either a set timer or sensor within the unit. As stated above, the auger can be either at the top of the unit or at the bottom of the unit. There are disadvantages and advantages to both the bottom fed and the top fed auger.

With a bottom fed auger, pellets are fed into the unit from the side. Since the pellets are fed into the chamber horizontally, it will cause the ash to fall to the side, making it easier to clean.

A top fed auger, moves the pellets into the stove from the top of the unit. The top fed auger helps to minimize the chance of a fire burning up to the hopper. However, ash can build-up quickly in this type of unit.

Third, press the automatic ignition switch to start the unit if you have one. To manually start the unit, add starter gel to the pellets, light a match and drop it into the chamber.

Fourth, adjust the feeder and thermostat to the comfort level that you want. The thermostat is a nice feature, because it allows you to control how much heat you want, and how long the unit will run between fillings.

Fifth, keep the ash cleaned out of your unit.

There are pellet stoves that can burn more than one type of fuel. Some multi-fuel pellet stoves can burn cherry pits, hulled wheat, and waster paper pellets, corn or wood, with corn and wood being the most commonly used fuel used in the pellet stoves.

Wood Pellets - There are two different grades of wood pellets, standard and premium, which are sold in 20-40 pound bags. If you look at the wood pellets in your hand, you will notice that they resemble rabbit food. Average price of these bags are around $3 or 4 dollars each, or you can buy in bulk from $120 to $200 a ton.

Corn Pellets - The quality of the corn pellets involve both moisture level and residue levels. If there is to much moisture the fuel will not burn. Thus, both moisture and residue levels should be taken into consideration before choosing this type of unit. These pellets, unlike the wood pellets, require specific corn burning stores.

Whatever type of fuel you use, you must keep them dry. Any moisture, just like wood, will not burn in the stove.

Is a pellet stove worth it? I can only answer that by stating some of the advantages and disadvantages of the unit.

Advantages

1. It is easy to operate

2. Need to be loaded with wood pellets once or twice a day.

3. Pellet stoves do not produce smoke

4. No external heat on the outside of the stove

5. Efficiently burns pellets with low moisture, which means there are less harmful gasses that are released in the air.

6. Environmentally neutral fuel.

Disadvantages

1. You have to know whether pellets are assessable in your area.

2. Internal components of pellet stoves operate off electricity to run the motors, pellet feeders, controls and fans which can become a hassle when the power goes out for more than a day or so. They use around 100 KWH of electricity every month. However, some pellet stoves come with battery packs.

3. Pellet stoves cannot be used in manufactured homes (mobile homes or trailers.)

The price of a pellet stove will vary, it is dependent upon the name brand, the amount of room capacity the unit can heat, as well as, any additional bells and whistles that you may want, or need. However, for a unit that can heat 2000 sq. ft, the price can start at $1000 and go up from there.

The pellet stove is gaining popularity, mainly because it is an environmentally neutral fuel and low in cost. But before you buy the stove, know its limitations and availability of the fuel in your area.