I've had both. The wood stove wins, hands down. It's quiet and radiates consistent warmth. As soon as the pellet stove would cycle off, you could feel the cold creeping back in. The fan in it also felt like a draft in the room all the time. And the computer in our $8,000 Quadrafire went out three times and was expensive to get repaired. NO heat until it could be fixed. No thanks! Sure, a wood stove is more work with cleaning out the ashes, etc., But there's nothing like the wonderful heat a wood stove gives out. PS. Pellets also cost us $700 per year.
How much is cost of wood heating, in Europe pellets are quite expensive, about 4-5 euros for a bag, and it's a bag every day minimum entire winter for a 3-4 months
@@role6159 , where i'm at pellets are $5 - 6.50 for 40lbs and a big difference in quality. If temperatures are 30° F or less it's one bag a day for me and if it hits the teens it can be slightly more depending whether or not it's a sunny day.
You're so right because wood stove heats the objects as well as the air. Pellet stove is just like a furnace and blows hot air and when it's done the house cools off much quicker. And your still reliant on the outside world. I've had both and pellet is four or five times more expensive. Thanks but no thanks 🙏
We've owned both types of stoves over the years and liked them both. Pellet stoves are cleaner to use with less smoke getting in your house because you feed the pellets through a little door at the top while a wood stove must be opened completely up each time you need to add wood, which puts some smoke into your home each time which will discolor your walls over time and you'll need to repaint eventually. Also when you bring in wood and it warms up along side your wood stove before you toss it in....guess what crawls out of that wood ? SPIDERS, etc! And if your wife is like mine....any bugs are a "no-no" in the house. Also as you get older, pellets are less hassle to use. If the bags are too heavy for you to bring in (40lb bags).....cut a slit in the bag and tip it over into a bucket and bring them in that way. Easy Peasy...... Negative side? Concerning most pellet stoves, you need to clean out the pot around once a week and if you don't it won't light up after awhile (especially if you use a thermostat). We set ours on low speed and leave it on continually until we have to clean it out once a week or so. If the weather gets really cold, we turn it up to medium or even high if necessary. We burn about 3/4 bag a day on low speed. One more thing, if you have a decent sized electric generator (it will operate your pellet stove without any problems because it's 120volt). We've had our pellet stove 14 years now and have NEVER had a break down....but you must do your basic cleaning every week or so....and it only takes about 5 minutes depending on the brand of pellets you buy). Ask other pellet stove users what brand they like. Ours is a Quadrafire incase you're interested and no I don't sell them. ;-)
Quadra fires are the best. I have two both with battery back ups use deep cycle battery behind the stove in the battery box with class 31 last several days in power outage Quadra fire Mount Vernon AE. All motors are DC powered. Convert to AC when plugged in, small trickle charger plugs in to keep the battery in the shape for those power outage days Works like a champ.
@@jimhouston429 EXCELLENT points and info.....my 9000 watt generator runs everything 120vlt in our home. Lights, pellet stove, fridge, freezer and microwave. It's an electric (or manual) start and uses either gasoline or propane. I got it at Costco if you're interested.
Great review, there is a place for pellet stoves, it is good for people who want wood heat but are physically unable to deal with the extra work a wood stove requires. In some ways it is a shame they have made something very simple and efficient complicated and expensive to operate, plus it requires outside power to operate. Having to gather wood wheather you have to purchase it or if it is free to feed your wood burning stove, it is a great form of exercise, so many people in good health would rather twist a dial and pay for extra maintenance on their hi tec machine so they don't have to do anything. I am 76 if you don't get up and do something old age will roll right over you!!!
Great comment, but consider also that, for some, it's not just about being physically constrained but about preferring to spend the time taken on gathering fuel and preparing a fire, and other associated faffage on other more beneficial pursuits.
I switched from a Lopi Endeavor wood stove to a Harman P-68 pellet stove with a Surefire 512 inverter/charger and a 200 amp battery backup. The P-68 is much cleaner and with the hopper extension I can burn for three days with the outside temperature below zero. The wood stove firebox was good for about 8-10 hours. The pellet stove is much cleaner and maintains the room temperature perfectly. I heat my entire house with my P-68. I could survive a three day+ power outage with my Surefire backup.
All the motors are 12 volt and a more even heat with my pellet stove but then my house has off-grid capabilities I just pull from one side of the plug to the other 1/2 and it's on the inverter and I have a 7 day run on my pellet stove
I live in France and have had a 12KW Pellet stove and 12KW wood stove, the main winner for the pellet stove is convenience, full control the temps, switch on and off as you like, pellets here come on a pallet so no wood stacking, cleaner as no piles of wood in the house, safer with the dogs around because the stove is still cool to touch (in most places). For us, the Pellet stove wins hands down. Also, for Power failures you can buy a battery backup which will allow the stove to keep running.
My pellet stove has been crushing it since 2002, and puts out heat over 300 degrees from the heat exchange tubes, and the pellet stove also has plenty of radiant heat at the glass. And I have a backup power source so no worries with the pellet stove. Wood stoves are great, but my pellet is better in a suburban setting, no free firewood around. My pellet stove has had a few parts go down over the years, but two components since 2002 is very reliable. I do all the maintenance so no service charge from repair companies.
I’ve had both. I prefer the Pellet stove. Less mess. No wood with bugs. No running out in the snow to the wood pile. We’ve had a pellet stove for close to 14 years now. We are investing in a new one this year with the wireless. Handing down our old one to my son. Keeps us nice and toasty here in the snow belt in NE Ohio.
You can get a pellet mill for around $800 or so. I’ve got an acre full of split and chipped wood that basically makes my fuel free after running it through the pellet mill. I also have a backup wood burning fireplace for those days where the power goes out. I also have a pellet smoker for cooking. All of these can be run electrically with a small generator. It’s a nice combination.
I've had both. Pellet stove hands down. Easier, cleaner, safer, temp controls auto on/off, programmable and just more attractive than a big clunky wood stove. I don't know what that pellet stove in the video is, but my Harman pellet stove has a large attractive flame. Also - for some reason I cannot yet explain, the pellet stove does not dry out the air in my house nearly as much as my wood burning stove did. I can store an entire year's worth of pellets inside my basement in nice easy to move clean bags without risk of smell and insects. Also compare the amount of space a year's worth of firewood requires vs a year's worth of pellets. Usually, I just need to fill the hopper once per day. That's it. How often to you have to feed logs into a wood burning stove? And who is going to do that when you are out of the house for a few hours?? Pellet stove - set it and leave it - totally safe and effective for 24 hours or more depending on your hopper size. True, you can't use a pellet stove when the lights go out - unless you have a battery backup pack or, if you are like me, you have a standby whole-house generator. I heat a 2,000 square foot two-story colonial home in New England just with my pellet stove. The stove sits in a 400 square foot room which is kept at 80 degrees all winter. The remainder of the first floor stays at 75-76 and the 2nd floor stays steady at 70-71 degrees. All from that one little pellet stove using pellets that cost me about $1,200 for the year (including delivery).
I have a hybrid, but till now I've only used it for pellet. I think its the best, cause in case of power cut I can still use it for wood. But pellet is so much easier.
Absolutely. I'll never be without my pellet stove......or my generator. Keep em both running well and you'll never go cold. My 2000 square foot upstate NY home very seldom has my oil burning furnace kick on. Maybe when the temp drops into the teens. My wood burning stove was too much work and maintenance.
I purchased my home a decade ago based on two key areas, it was fed off a 3 wire transmission line and it was installed with a wood stove as a backup source for the heat. I hardly have an outage at my house and when it happened once for multiple days it was winter and the wood stove basically saved my pipes from feezing and a hotel stay for days.
I’ve had both types and the main issue that I’ve had with both is when the temperature is in the 40’s or warmer.You either get cooked out of your home because you’re making too much heat or if you use a thermostat you don’t get enough air to get good combustion causing soot.They typically work the best at low temperatures
The newer pellet stoves have temperature control. I’m in the snow belt here in NE Ohio, we have had both. I don’t have natural gas, my option is Propane, which is expensive. We are upgrading this year to the newer WiFi controlled Pellet, with better temp control. I agree the standard, non WiFi can heat you out on the higher temp days, but we have always just opened a window or took the initial chill out and shut it down, but I honestly wouldn’t live without ours.
I run both everyday... I like the ease of dumping a bag of pellets and walking away from my harman pellet stove... I don’t like the maintenance of it or buying parts... but it’s easier than dealing with all the work involved with cutting splitting and stacking firewood. Currently burn 5 cords of wood in my jotul wood stove and burn 4-5 tons of pellets
Something that wasn’t touched on was installation. Some homes are incapable of installing a wood stove due to obvious venting issues. The pellet stoves are substantially easier to chimney out. Everything else was spot on for sure.
Thanks for all the video's. I am learning the ins and outs of wood stoves. One advantage of the pellet stove is consistent Quality of the wood being burned. I am 80 now and the pellet stove seems to be my choice. Part of my routine is schedule a maintenance in Sept or so and skeduling as much as 6 months prior to heating season so I won't be cold and wait for service. I could easily buy several years of pellets, properly store them and be good.
Well some people get lucky and have good pellet stoves that don't break the first week you get it. then the next two weeks in middle of winter..then the only pellets avaliable break the ogger gears. It was suppose to be the best most efficient one at the time... less parts to beak on wood stoves..
Very good video. We've had a pellet stove for 6 years. We love it compared to our oil furnace. But my husband is a mechanic and we live in a city, no trees on our property. For us it's a good option. But we're moving to 25 acres in the country, ton of free wood. You bet were gonna get a wood stove.
Don't forget when you talk about elderly people that it's also far easier to haul wood than it is 40 or 50 pound bags of pellets. We actually heat the house with both, but we far prefer the wood stove, and only use the pellet stove for a backup, or if we are going to be gone for a day. Nice video overall and you've done a great job. Thank you.
I tried to explain this exact thing to my wife, we have a pellet stove and we are surrounded by 2 acres ( that we own ) of Ash trees, I tried talking her into a wood burner, but in her I dare to say less of a mind, that a wood burner is much more resourceful for us even though it would cost probably $1500.00 for the chimney and another oh say 900 for a good stove, we would never be without heat or cooking capabilities. She didn't agree, we'll see next time a big storm hits and we loose power for 3 to 5 days, keep in mind our entire home is electric we have no gas on our street. Like any other Broad they have to learn the hard way, I curse her father every day for not raising a girl with some sort of common sense.
Good video. We have used both in Wyoming. Honestly the pellet is way more convenient. We had to load our wood stove 3-4 times a day when it was under 20 degrees. With the pellet all I do is load in pellets and turn it on! Heats up great with under 10 degrees. Just take care of your pellet system and you are good to go. Also because of our house set up we could not do a full chimney. We just had to punch a hole 6 inches for the pellet stove and put in piping. It took couple of hours and we were done. also location, pellet stoves can go into location that a wood stove cannot.
One important factor not discussed is the yearly maintenance on wood stove. Cleaning the stove pipe with brushes, biggest reason for house fires with wood stoves is people not doing a yearly cleaning. Pellet stoves don't have that type of maintenance and safety risk. Just wanted to add that important consideration.
I have both, a wood stove is great for occasional use or power outages, otherwise a pellet stove hands down no contest, so much less work and much cleaner and much easier to control..
The other thing you did not mention is with a wood stove you need a chimney. With my pellet stove, just a pipe through my wall. But like you said, personal preference. I don't have a place to put a wood stove and build chimney. So about 8 years go I went with pellet stove.
Yea, venting pellet pipe is cheaper than stove and chimney pipe, but you don't need a chimney in order to install a wood burning stove. You'll need a chimney for a fireplace.
had both, pellets are expensive....if you have any physical limitations the pellets are easier to deal with, also if you have any neighbors that might complain about smoke I thought the pellet ran cleaner and I didnt notice major smoke bellowing out around the yard compared to wood stove...in the end I prefer the wood stove for versatility
Thank you so much for a brilliant review on these two different types of burners. As a senior citizen looking to buy one of these this has been a life saver.
@@thomasriley4963 Hey Tom is it sounds like you have stock in the oil and gas industry. Wood-burning is probably the most cheapest way to warm your home and the most expensive is oil or gas.
With a wood stoves you can build in a low or high pressure heat exchanger coil . Route it down the stove pipe into the fire box. You can route that to a blower and radiator and heat via forced air. Wood stoves rock
For a new install the pellet stove wins, a pellet stove you can vent straight out without having to install a chimney pipe all the way up past the roof
The side of your house will be ashy after a ton of pellets through it, also make sure you clean that horizontal vent often. We have seen many houses burn down from clogged horizontal vented pellet stoves.
If a person can install a wood stove in their location, that's what's best. There is no "comparison" to a pellet stove. The pellet stove can only, honestly, be compared with any other heater which uses electricity for any portion of its heat delivery, including spark for a pilot. They're all large paper weights when the power goes out. I'd determine what I was going to do when the power goes out, in the dead of winter, before I worried about cost analysis of any heating system. Just sayin'. If you don't mind having to leave home to find warmth, more power to you. The last thing I want in a power outage emergency is to also be forced away from my home and belongings due to my own lack of planning. Talk about added stress. Sorry about the tangential rant, but maybe some need to hear/read it? On the subject of back up electricity: you're required to get and keep gasoline for your generator; another possible/probable problem in a lengthy outage. If you can install a wood stove and you don't, don't think I'm going to put you up until the power comes back on. Though, after the outage, I will work, paid by the hour, to help you replace your frozen and cracked piping, if you want.
We've got a pellet stove and we like the thing, but, as this video suggests you're talking about a lot more maintenance and a lot more to go wrong - mixing high heat, dust, and ash with electronics. I just fixed ours, today, after it was out for TWO YEARS. A lot of times pellets form hard bits of ash called "klinkers". We turned our stove off one night and a klinker formed that filled the firebox - like a loaf of bread. It warped the firebox (took me two days to get it out without wrecking the housing), it burned out the igniter and it fused the igniter to a housing. I installed a new igniter (and housing), but, had trouble re-wiring the thing. I'd un-clipped a bunch of wires to get at the igniter easily. Thought it would be simple but I had a wrong wire on the auger, etc. I left it to re-model our kitchen, then, had a stroke. It sat for 23 months. I finally got it wired right over the last few days, cleaned it completely, etc. With a pellet stove you'll need a shop vac and they need to be vacuumed out all the time - far more than manufacturers suggest (like every time you use thing thing, in my opinion). And good luck finding people to service these things - they're scarce as hen's teeth. We live in southeast Michigan and we looked and looked for a service guy. We found one. And he admitted that he was "no expert" with pellet stoves.....his experience was mostly with standard stoves. That's why I did it myself. I like our pellet stove, but, the things are a lot of work - again, in my opinion. Be prepared to do a lot of maintenance and, possibly, repair these things yourself.
@@embersliving Yeah - funny this thing came up as "suggested". I just found the last, stray wire that attached the room fan heat sensor to the exhaust fan, today, and finally got it working. Very good video by the way - excellent. I just wanted to stress that pellet stoves are, possibly, even a little more work than you described. But, overall, great job on explaining the differences.
I have had both, my current unit is pellet. Pouting a bag into the hopper once a day is certainly convenient & it is very clean. Bags of pellets from WalMart cost $5.50 each & they burn just fine. However... In hindsight, I would go back to the air tight wood burner if I had the choice again. I can get my wood for nothing, the heat output is higher & a decent unit will need loading three times a day. This means I can load it in the morning when I get up to revive it, then head out to work leaving the damper at minimum & the fire will be still in when I get home to a cozy warm home The only down sides are that wood burners are more dirty & I have to carry heavy logs in. A decent airtight wood burner, with external combustion air intake will burn as clean as a pellet unit with well dried, quality wood.
@@Guruleangelica83 Castle Serenity pellet stove. Unit looks nice but Castle tech help is utterly useless... The design has an issue with the controls because it senses the exhaust vacuum which needs the exhaust fan to run to make negative pressure in the flue but because the flue fan is started by pressing start up/ignite. BUT.... the controls shuts the ignition sequence down before the fan has started & had a chance to draw down the flue pressure. I modified my unit with a press to defeat switch in line with the vacuum sensor so when I start the unit, I hold this button in for a couple of seconds to let the exhaust fan spool up. Because of this crap design flaw & the crap tech support, I would NOT recommend this unit. The best mode to run is manual mode...do not try to use the temperature controlled feature...it sucks so bad! I burn nearly all Walmart softwood pellets which are the cheapest & they burn the cleanest as well. (Softwood & Hardwood are the same thing when their density has been increased by forming pellets. Select your pellets by their BTU rating & price). Our other home "up north" has a Virginia Castings wood stove. Great unit, top feed logs but it likes a good warm up to get going properly. When new, the flue damper does not seal very well until you have "dirtied" the damper & the tube it sits in for a week or two. After that you can control it very well with the air intake damper. We burn ash, maple, oak & scrub fruit like apple. Most of the time I burn limb wood, all rounds once it is running.
You missed out the biggest plus for a pellet vs wood stove. Intake air! Unless you can pull outside air for the wood stove, which few are capable of, it draw inside air, which has to be replaced, with outside air, so you have cold air coming in to replace it. Same with fireplaces. We have 2 fireplaces, but we don't use them for heat, because the rest of the house chills when we do. The pellet stove has an outside air it that uses outside air, completely sealing the firebox from the inside. Aside from that, it really is up to preferences. Wouldn't mind a wood stove, but after stacking and storing for the fireplace, I prefer to grab a bag and pour it in. Much easier to move a pallet of pellets with a forklift than a cord of wood.
Something to consider is portability. You can move a Pellet stove to another room if you need to. You can't do that with a wood stove as you need to drill another hole for the chimney.
I wouldn't say portability is exactly a selling point when buying a pellet stove. Also, i'm a little confused as to why a 'new' hole wouldn't need to be drilled in a 'new' room if moving the pellet stove because it would.
Also, don’t forget, ash clean out on the wood stove. You must shovel it out every 3 or 4 days, & start up a new fire. I separate out the charcoal from the ash. The ash goes on the gardens, the charcoal is used to ignite the new fire. Fire starting with charcoal is quick & simple. No kindling is required.
We have a Pellet Stove and I grew up on a wood stove...40 years ago. You'll never beat the heat of a good Wood burning stove period. However, pellet stoves are way easier to maintain and a high end Pellet stoves like a Lopi or Harmon will come vary close to the BTU's of a wood burner. Bad= Pellet stoves can't work when power goes out, Wood stoves burn no matter what
Thats very true something about a wood stoves heat is different! There are definitely pros and cons to each! Based on the last statement regarding power I will always choose wood.
We live in central Alaska, we have a diesel stovr on one end of the house and a wood stove on the other end of the house. We just bought pellet stove because we ran out of wood this year. We will use the pellet stove for "backuo" to the wood stove.
I live in an area where Mother Nature will knock down more trees than I can possibly burn in a year. I have to clean up regardless so wood burning is the only thing that makes sense for me. I was just being curious and wanted to see what pellets were all about. Thanks 🙏🏾.
Did not mention you have to handle wood a lot more before you burn it. Have been using a pellet stove for years maintenance is minimal, key is to get a good one. Will burn for a good 12 hours before having to refill. Have had wood in the past, messy and a lot of stacking and carrying. If the power goes out I have a generator and it will run the stove as well and the food won't go bad in the fridge lol.
Thank you so much for this. You are a very well-versed young man and I appreciate explaining the benefits and challenges of each. I am getting older, and my husband isn't always able to split wood for kindling, so I was really thinking of changing to a pellet stove. Giving I can carry a few pieces of wood at a time and there is always bits of wood I can start a fire with, I think long term the wood stove is staying for now. Plus I can use the wood carrying as some exercise. Thank you again. Very helpful.
@@waynegrant9849 several nations are building them right now most notably Russia and China and the US. There’s also the same type of thing that comes straight from the sun in the form of solar flares it has a different name but it’s basically just a solar storm
We have had a non cat, welded plate steel medium sized wood stove for over 20 yrs in our basement. Love it. Sitting in front of it now, well trying to, the cats take up all the room when the stove is running. Ours has the air tubes in the firebox to catch the secondary burn... fantastic. Heats our whole Cape Cod style house by itself with outside temps above 40f, needs help from gas furnace below 40f... Key to whole house heating with a stove in the basement is to put cold air return vents in floor on first floor. Cold air will drop down into basement and push stove heated warm air up the basement stairwell into upstairs if you don't have a basement door closed at the top of stairs. We get almost a warm breeze coming up the stairwell... A wood burner is so nice, BUT, they require a LOT of labor to keep it fed! I love it, that is one hobby of ours, getting wood, splitting and stacking. Most enjoyable after all that work to put those pieces of seasoned fuel in the firebox. I am fortunate, I get all my wood at no $$ cost from a local tree outfit. I have a commercial grade splitter, and ALL the equip you NEED to do it right. If I had to buy firewood to feed the stove it would be too expensive for us as much as we use between the stove and firepits. Sitting in front of the stove watching the fire through the glass in the door is one of my favorite things to do. I look forward to it every year. Learn how to regulate the air flow in a wood burning stove to capture the secondary burn and the fuel wood will last much longer, also only well seasoned wood is a key as well. Never been around a pellet stove, but I am sure they are great as well.
the solution if you have is a pellet stove, is a generator, as these pellet stoves only draw 300-400 watts, then you can power some lights , your fridge too etc.. so in the end its actually better
Great amount of information. I have been questioning the differences for a while and couldn’t find a single source that compares all. I have an insert in a fire place.
Good information. My husband and I had a wood stove years ago in our first house. That thing heated several rooms. I was curious about the pellet stove because sometimes it can be difficult to find wood and I wonder how easy it is to get pellets.
we heated the first floor of a large, old village colonial with a pellet stove for a number of years and we loved it. till we lost power for 48hours related to a very bad storm.. if you do not have a generator or battery back up you have no heat when the grid fails. have since sold the big house, bought a small cottage and installed a small ( 14" firebox) woodstove in the parlor and love it... when power failed last winter I had heat, was able to keep the kettle hot and did not have to listen to the generator.
Pellet stove hands down. No splitting wood, no hauling wood, self regulates itself, easier to clean, pellets are cheap. Your wife, kids, or grandparents can load them without worrying. They are a tax write off, being green energy. You could argue a wood stove burns hotter, but not by much, unless you burn coal.
Have had both. August is terrible, splitting and stacking wood is all your weekends. Need at least 6-7 cords if its your heat. Less money to heat. I can stack all my pellets, 6 ton, in 1 hour. Stove is $3500 for a great one P68. East to operate. Have to clean every other week. Takes 2 hours. (Cool down is 1.5 hrs). Its clean, no bark in house. If you loose electricity, turn on your generator. If you can afford a $3500 stove, you have a generator. At 55 yrs old, i will always do pellets. When i was younger, i used wood. I aged out. That was the deciding factor.
I like both we have Pellets. Only real downside i see is a little A bit less heat overall but I dont need to keep feeding through the day. I just put a bag in and we are good for about 24 hours. Also if the Power goes out we have a Generator that will easily run the stove with ease along with our othwr applies.
I’ve had both and prefer pellets changing a motor isn’t a big deal for me and with an old farm house I find the consistency of the pellet stoves heat, heats more evenly where as the wood stove burns hot then farther rooms get cooler as the heat dies down as the pellet just keeps pumping the same heat continuously.
Pellet stoves tend to draw combustion air from outside. Wood stoves can potentially make your home much draftier. Still if I had to choose. I'd go with geothermal.
As much as i want a wood stove i will have to go with the pellet stove, i love that you can set the pellet stove on a thermostat set it and forget it, fill the hopper every few days, also pellets go way cheaper in the summer time which is nice
Thank you for this very honest video. I love our multifuel stove for wood and anthracite (U.K.). We have to buy the wood though and it’s a lot more expensive than it used to be. However we are about to convert a small barn in our garden, add a bedroom and shower room on it, for my mum to live in. She’s 88 now. She will have some form of underfloor heating, but we don’t have gas or oil so it will be electric driven. She wants a fire to look at and have heat from too. She’d love a wood stove. But I’d have to fetch the wood in for her. I could light it for her too, but she’d have to put fuel on during the day. I was thinking it’s a bad idea. But I’d not thought of a wood stove that’s raised up like this. Not as much bending down. I only heard about pellet stoves this week. But this is the first I’ve seen alight. The fire is feeble as a focal point isn’t it. I don’t think she’d like that. Plus it would mean no alternative to electricity. I’m going to have to think hard about the wood option. Thank you. Invaluable information.
Wood can be cut small, so that your mum can handle it. Wood stoves can be placed up higher, on a brick or stone foundation. This can be quite beautiful. Small fans, run by the heat of the stove, can be placed on top of the stove. This would distribute heat in the room. I think you can insulate your mum’s room so that it won’t require much extra wood heat. Good on you for looking after your mum. Texas
@@papajeff5486 Thanks. Yes, we can ask for a delivery of small logs. Our wood and anthracite stove is huge and can be burned with the doors open. This means the doors aren’t sealed well so it smokes the glass fast. But our neighbours have 2 Clearview stoves. They seal tightly and are very controllable. The glass stays clear and the flame can be slowed to a lazy waving movement that I love to watch. It will be well insulated and have underfloor heating. But she’s still worried about it being cold. She currently lives in an old house with no insulation, wind rushing up through the floorboards and inadequate heating. And she’s worrying. Keeps telling me she wants carpet. To make it cosy. I’m not sure if carpet can be used on underfloor heating. I think she will roast. I must look for ideas of raised stoves.
We live in France in the mountains and our only heating is a pellet stove ,used to have a wood stove ,changed 2 years ago and would never go back ,ours has a great flame ,admitidly not like a wood stove but we heat a four bedroom house with it so from mid November it runs 24 hours a day and every 24hours or so we top it up with pellets ,it uses about 14/15 kgs a day way less than our wood stove and when we go out for the day or go to work it just goes on ,no rushing back to put logs on and no emptying ash every day we just switch it of once a week let it cool if or half an hour hoover it in out and switch it back in on
100% for wood stove ( you can cook , boil coffee , boil water for bath ) but with pellet stove if you have a blackout 1-2days , you can't do anything so ....... yea 100% for wood stove
Love this video! You explained the pros/cons of each very accurately and information like this is hard to find. Been heating whole house 100% solely with wood for 18 years, 9 years with just wood stove and 9 years with just pellet stove - I feel I have the experience & insight into the pros/cons as well, but you covered just about everything perfectly! I agree, it's your needs and lifestyle. Starting out w/wood stove was great, but although we could get a burn all night it was a lot of work once we started having kids, processing wood, etc. Coming home to a cold house was less than ideal unless you wanted to use backup electricity. Switched to Pellet stove/furnace (70,000 BTUs) connected to thermostat, much more convenient for situation now. Fuel costs are similar. Owning a pellet stove has made me much more mechanically inclined and overlooking the required maintenance will cause many a cold night. Just installed a wood stove in an addition though and I'm back in love!
Pellet stoves require electricity which can be a big drawback if you are in an area that loses power frequently. Loss of power would mean loss of ability to heat your home, and if you're on a well also, a loss of water. This can be a huge problem during a storm where your power can be out for a couple of weeks.
Love my wood stove. You did forget to mention is that the stack MUST be swept and cleaned as well as the stove very well each year in spring or summer before using again for safety and to avoid stack fires that annually cause many homes to burn down.
A friend of mine bought a house that had a wood stove and he took it out. The house was black on the ceiling from the wood stove he said it wouldn't be like that if it had been a pellet stove. What is your experience?
We got electric heat pump On the AC. once we get steady nights in the 30s I pull a plate and switch it to our gas furnace. We just bought two pellet stoves for our basement and my shop. We also have a outside wood furnace/boiler deal I haven't played with yet. Now for backup we have a huge gas fireplace in the basement that can run you out the house in the basement. Our solar is grid tied and we have a whole home generator. I think we have enough ways to stay warm if one source goes down and enough back ups if the power goes out.
Problem with pellet (which I have) I can run my heat at 75° cheaper than the price of pellets. One bag of pellets at HomeDepot is 6 bucks it will run about 10 hours. So 1 bag a day thirty bags a month times $6 a bag = 30x6 =$180 . My heat bill is never over 160 a month and that includes electricity. I would never do a pellet stove again because of the cost of fuel. When I first bought my pellet stove pellets ran between 2-3 dollars a 40lbs bag. I live in Denver.
Thanks Flat Top I just got my chimney inspected and getting a stainless steel liner, my research has also led me to conclude that a wood fireplace ( 41.5 x 28 opening) and a grate heat exchanger for a 900 sq. ft Basement, will serve my needs.
Yup agreed. It's actually cheaper for me to run my 50 year old oil boiler than it is to burn pellets. I still use my wood stove though which is half the price. Pellets have gotten too expensive
Try buying pellets some where else or buy in bulk. I buy in bulk...under 4.00 dollars per bag. My all electric home bills still are too high vs my pellot usage buying this way.
I've seen those pellet stoves that are gravity fed That's going to be my next purchase. I got an AWESOME deal on a CASTLE Serenity. So we got that this time around. It is FABULOUS!!!
It would have been nice to have a brief discussion on cooking for the wood stove. Are these also meant for the dual purpose of cooking or is that a different line of product? I’m looking at the weather catastrophe in TX and the loss of their power grid. I would think that sales of generators and wood stoves would increase as people see the need to prepare after the recent situation in TX.
Perfect video. The only thing you didn't mention is the mess from firewood. Your house both outside and inside will be a big pain in the arse to keep tidy. But i'm wood all day long over pellets!
Thank you for the info. You did a great job with the comparison. Only question is how do you know if your wood stove has a catalytic converter. Also is it feasible to use pellets in a wood stove? Maybe a video about that would be helpful.
Search "woodstove catalyst" on line. Look at the pictures, then look in your stove. The catalyst will be somewhere between the firebox and the flue if you have one. Sometimes they are round, sometimes square, sometimes rectangular. They look similar to a honeycomb. Also, if you know the make and model number (maybe on that plate on the back or side of the stove) you can contact the manufacturer for the operating manual.
You can burn pellets in most wood stoves with some modifications. You *cannot* just chuck in pellets and expect it to burn. The most important thing you need is a container that allows air in from all around. A large (5 to 6 quart) stainless steel colander will work decently for this. You also need a good draft. Any well built wood stove system will provide that already. Sometimes you do need to leave the door open slightly to get it started to get more/enough air in to get it going well. Also understand that pellets burn differently than logs. With pellets, you need to light at the top and it burns down (alcohol based hand sanitizer works well). But these are not as efficient as a true, dedicated pellet burning wood stove. But you have the flexibility of using either, and you have the durability of the wood stove. One note, be careful when reloading pellets in a regular wood stove. You don't want to dump a crap ton of pellets all at once over just coals. It hasn't happened to me, but there is a guy saying on various videos that he had an explosion happen in his wood stove from the build up of uncombusted wood gas. In other words, leave the door open a bit until you start to see flames. Once the flames are going, you're good.
Wood stove equals lots of ash removal & tons of fine particulate dust that gets on everything. A wood stove that will burn at 500- 600 degrees for over 15 hrs does not exist. My Pellet stove has a 120lb hopper and will cook you outta the house on high settings 500-600 degrees Pellet stove can burn 120lbs and there is only a few cups of ash. A wood stove on idle for a night burn your lucky to get 300 degrees. Not to mention you also have the super expensive chimney issues. Heck most folks can buy a pellet stove for the cost of a 8 inch stainless double wall chimney Pellet stoves win hands down!
We have one of each, in our area we have the occasional power cut. We use the pellet stove most but have kept the wood burner in the adjoining room, because of power cuts.
Assuming home has no natural gas which changes the equation ... this is my best argument for pellet. Maintenance and repair score ... may be over stated. A big deal was made about more moving parts for pellet over wood ... true ... but pellet stove have less moving parts & complexity than a typical HVAC system … there need to be some perspective. Yes, buy your pellet stove from a real dealer with tech. & customer service vs Home Depot or Lowes. The HD stoves are 1/4 cost of a dealer brand (e.g. Harman, Quad-fire, Hampton, Enviro, etc.) … if you have any do-yourself skills then you can maintain these big box store pellet stoves (e.g. replace fan, motor, igniter, control board) but these cheap stove bands (with exemption Englander) often come-and-go & might hard to find parts while the dealer brands have a long track record, a commitment to their products, & have been around for decades. The video only considers mechanical breakdowns, what about daily, weekly, month, & annual operational maintenance? I use my pellet stoves as my principle heat source ... on cold days ~ 1 bag ... Depending on stove and pellets ... 1 bag will produce 1/2 cup of ash. 1 can run my stoves for a week w/o empty ash pan and I don’t need shutdown stove to empty ash tray. So I can load 1 bag in the hopper a day .. set & forget vs tending fire & feed wood. I can do all the operational maintenance myself … including cleaning the pipe annually … before with wood I would use a chimney sweep service annual. Some make a big deal about power requirements & power outages. A typical pellet stove requires less power than a hair dryer. If you use a stove (either pellet or wood) as a novelty (during holidays), second heat source, or only during power outages then may be wood would be your best choice If you are worried about power outages then get a generator ... a small gen or battery backup will run the a pellet stove. I had Breckwell pellet stove insert (never broke down) in basement & Vermont Castings wood stove in upstairs for 15 years. I have 5.5 acres and spent many back breaking hours splitting wood (a splitter & chainsaws are a must cost to consideration for the do-it yourself wood sourcing), stacking wood, covering wood, and rotating stacks ...setting a aside land/property for this (not the best curb appeal) ... going out in the cold snow to get wood from stack day & night ... with no help from wife or kids other than opening the door because my arms are full of wood. The dirt & bugs ... can be a pain. If you are a weekend warrior with wood then little effort ... but if you use wood as a principle heating sources then you need a plan/method/process to keep your home warm 24x7. I switch to two Harman pellet stove 2 years ago. I purchase three tons in summer per year and only used a small portion of my 2 car garage to store the pellets... and can still fit both cars in garage. I can get 1 bag from garage to last the day vs multi wood runs freezing my butt off & getting rained and snowed on ... of course some level of fuel can be stored in the home but for wood at some point during cold season one will be doing outside wood runs.. I see people complain about individual cost pellet bag (~$3-5 bag) ... I am sure a bundle of wood at the local grocery store costs no less … that is the cost of being a weekend a warrior ...someone who is serious about using either Pellet or Wood as their primary heat source will be planning their fuel sourcing well before the cold season .. which cost a fraction of individual pellet bags at HD or Lowes. A big deal was made about comfort ... yes wood is more beautiful ... I would call that aesthetics not conform. I have 20x30 room, with the Vermont castings wood stove the radiant heat would make one end of room 95F and the other 70F. With pellet stove the convection heat will be more evenly distribute the heat. Ceiling & floor fans with help more evenly distribute heat thru the home for both wood & pellet but you will still get crazy hotspots with wood. If you only looking to huddle next to a stove then wood is the great. Someone said something about the "piss pot" flame in the Quadra-fire stove was lame ... well the Quadra-fire is great stove (owned by same corp as Harman), my neighborhood has one & the video does not do it justice what that stove can do ... each pellet stove brand has their unique flame characteristics ... I am partial to Harman ... go to Facebook Harman owners group to see what i am talking. My wife fought me for years on replacing my Vermont Castings wood with pellet ... after we switched she admitted she was wrong ... a first ... I will agree pellet vs wood is personal/situational is the main deciding factor. This guy does a great compare (he has an older Harman which is loud ... mine is whisper quiet ) ... ua-cam.com/video/FhybECIwP1Q/v-deo.html Safety as related to pets and kids. Besides the glass door, pellet is cool to the touch; for freestanding the pipe is warm but will not burn. The fire & build code standards & permits are high for wood ... pellet stove only needs a 3-4 pipe and typical 3 inches from drywall wall ... placement is flexible. I trust my kids to start the pellet stove and load fuel … I cannot say the same for wood stove. Fyi, I have the Harman with LCD touchscreen control with remote heat sensor (I never use the sensor & it now comes free) … I can use the scheduler to start/stop the stove and different temps throughout the week … it works flawlessly. If you get a wood or pellet EPA qualified stove there is a Federal tax break and plus many States also have tax breaks. My state has no sales tax on the pellet fuel.
My neighbor installed something in his house that has been polluting our house ever since. I'm trying to figure out what he has done. Is it possible that he installed an outdoor pellet grill/smoker inside of his house? I know this sounds insane, but this man would use his grill in 10 degree weather, so he is obsessed with smoked meat. Can you cook food in either of these things? What can you cook food in that uses a dryer vent out the side of a garage?
I think that it all depends. First one has to think about power outages. If you have a power outage then you can continue to heat with your wood stove because the pellet stove isn't going to work because it's operated by electric. And then it depends on the price on how much you want to spend on heating stove heating stove. You can spin in between 1000 to 2000 for a wood or you could spend between $3,000 to $6000 on a pellet stove.
Great video, hard to find non-bias sources on this discussion are usually people saying theirs is better than the others. Definitely going with the Wood Burner Stove, the mechanical unreliability and dull and overly controlled looking fire of the Pellet Stove doesn't do it for me, they look like a boiler with a window disguised as a fireplace unit. Each to their own though they definately have their use cases and they sound very convenient, if the technology improves over time may consider one in the future. Not sure if it's the same in the USA but in Ireland I think pellet stoves may be cheaper to operate too because there is a tax break provided for pellet stove fuel due to it's low pollution, you're saving over 20% then on the fuel since it's not taxed.
While a constant electric is a problem for a pellet stove. A wood stove can heat up a room pretty quick and a pellet does take a while. A wood stove can dry out the air and a pellet stove is like a hair dryer with adjustable speed and temperature settings. Some places have no burn nights and a pellet stove can still be used on those nights without any air pollution. . Wood stoves have to clean out ashes every day but you just vaccum out the ashes in a pellet stove once a week with light ash build up like cigarettes ash and empty out the plate where the pellets burn once a day plus adding more pellets to the bin. You have to constantly chop wood but one pellet bag can last one or two days depending on use. Cost for a cord is over a hundred bucks and can be used up pretty quick. One pellet bag is about 5.50 to 6.00 bucks a bag and under 300.00 bucks can get you one ton of bags (50) that pretty much lasts a whole season. Research your pellet stove since some models give better heat. The exhaust port is four inches and you do have to have another two inch hole for outside air plus about a five foot electrical plug to a wall outlet. They are very heavy units requiring two people to move it around. The only problem to consider is whether your electric goes out all the time. But a generator helps if you do.
greetings from the Netherlands. Very useful video! Do you have any video in which you explain all the specific aspects of wood stoves? I have one and I have never tried to burn wood in it. So, I discover it slowly. All the best!
i heated with pellets previously, about 6 years ago i bought a used keystoker for $700. there is no comparison between anthracite coal and crappy pellets. much more heat output and much more energy dense fuel (coal). the coal stove is more reliable and doesnt require a monthly shut down. i burned 6 tons of pellets in a harman P61, and burn less then 3 ton in my keystoker 90K. the house is also much warmer in cold weather. get too close to that stoker when it's miserable outside and it will try to take the skin off your face (figuratively speaking). i have had the temperature gauge on my stove exceed 500 degrees and run that way for days if needed. the keystoker runs off a thermostat as well. when the thermostat calls for heat it will run the stoker assembly constantly, when it's not calling for heat the stoker runs off an industrial style timer to sustain the fire. you can adjust the length of the stroke (much it feeds), and you can adjust the shutter on the combustion blower. (how much air..... how fast it burns). it has a hopper and the burn time is probably 40 hours in the most miserable, coldest weather. it is a simple, robust, reliable unit. i will never burn pellets ever again. they suck
We went through the Texas power outage. We wouldn't be able to use a pellet stove without power. Our house is all electric, so we would only need combustion heat when the power is out.Probably going with a standby generator and window heat pump for those (hopefully) rare situations.
This was very helpful as I'm deciding right now. I was leaning towards pellet but now like wood. How does a wood stove throw off heat for a large room with no blower? Can a wood stove be vented thru a wall like a pellet? I live in SF Bay Area, I wish I could visit your store!
In the SF Bay area buying wood is running aroudn the same cost as pellets per year. I live in the santa cruz mountains where it gets quite cold in the winters and the pellet stove is a better option for me at this point, that being said I have a whole house generator so power outages dont phase me. I heated this house on only wood fire for the last 10 years and its nice to finally have something you can use to heat the house up when youre gone for days, I can control pellets through the app remotely so if we leave for a week I keep it off the whole time or cycle it on once a day burn minimal , have 130lb hopper and on low that lasts about 4 days of keeping it on low for 8 hours per day, or keep it off the whole time and get the house nice and toasty before I return I order pallets of pellets for 350 delivered, a cord of wood up here is hit or miss but you're not spending less than 350 for it, and in the dead of winter if you want well seasoned stuff that burns good and is mostly hardwoods, you're paying 500 to 650 delivered, but not stacked so sort your wood source first before you make the comparison, sure outside of this expensive area you can save a lot of money with wood stove versus pellet, but here the price difference isnt nearly as much
also as far as I know California code, you cant vent a wood stove out the wall like you do a pellete stove, and if you did it would likely still be more expensive to do that. I really think for SF Bay area and a brandnew install you should really be leaning more towards the pellet stove as a superior option. But of course there are tons of factors involved and your specific location and county will play a part too, and on top of that, is this your primary/only source of heat, or just a nice to have option?
I've had both. The wood stove wins, hands down. It's quiet and radiates consistent warmth. As soon as the pellet stove would cycle off, you could feel the cold creeping back in. The fan in it also felt like a draft in the room all the time. And the computer in our $8,000 Quadrafire went out three times and was expensive to get repaired. NO heat until it could be fixed. No thanks! Sure, a wood stove is more work with cleaning out the ashes, etc., But there's nothing like the wonderful heat a wood stove gives out. PS. Pellets also cost us $700 per year.
I think I would agree with you
How much is cost of wood heating, in Europe pellets are quite expensive, about 4-5 euros for a bag, and it's a bag every day minimum entire winter for a 3-4 months
@@role6159 dude go outside and pick up sticks
@@role6159 , where i'm at pellets are $5 - 6.50 for 40lbs and a big difference in quality. If temperatures are 30° F or less it's one bag a day for me and if it hits the teens it can be slightly more depending whether or not it's a sunny day.
You're so right because wood stove heats the objects as well as the air. Pellet stove is just like a furnace and blows hot air and when it's done the house cools off much quicker. And your still reliant on the outside world. I've had both and pellet is four or five times more expensive. Thanks but no thanks 🙏
We've owned both types of stoves over the years and liked them both. Pellet stoves are cleaner to use with less smoke getting in your house because you feed the pellets through a little door at the top while a wood stove must be opened completely up each time you need to add wood, which puts some smoke into your home each time which will discolor your walls over time and you'll need to repaint eventually. Also when you bring in wood and it warms up along side your wood stove before you toss it in....guess what crawls out of that wood ? SPIDERS, etc! And if your wife is like mine....any bugs are a "no-no" in the house. Also as you get older, pellets are less hassle to use. If the bags are too heavy for you to bring in (40lb bags).....cut a slit in the bag and tip it over into a bucket and bring them in that way. Easy Peasy...... Negative side? Concerning most pellet stoves, you need to clean out the pot around once a week and if you don't it won't light up after awhile (especially if you use a thermostat). We set ours on low speed and leave it on continually until we have to clean it out once a week or so. If the weather gets really cold, we turn it up to medium or even high if necessary. We burn about 3/4 bag a day on low speed. One more thing, if you have a decent sized electric generator (it will operate your pellet stove without any problems because it's 120volt). We've had our pellet stove 14 years now and have NEVER had a break down....but you must do your basic cleaning every week or so....and it only takes about 5 minutes depending on the brand of pellets you buy). Ask other pellet stove users what brand they like. Ours is a Quadrafire incase you're interested and no I don't sell them. ;-)
great feedback!
Great info… what brand Pellet stove did you buy?
@@dlgreber8041 It's a Quadra-Fire pellet stove (See last sentence). ;-)
Quadra fires are the best. I have two both with battery back ups use deep cycle battery behind the stove in the battery box with class 31 last several days in power outage Quadra fire Mount Vernon AE. All motors are DC powered. Convert to AC when plugged in, small trickle charger plugs in to keep the battery in the shape for those power outage days Works like a champ.
@@jimhouston429 EXCELLENT points and info.....my 9000 watt generator runs everything 120vlt in our home. Lights, pellet stove, fridge, freezer and microwave. It's an electric (or manual) start and uses either gasoline or propane. I got it at Costco if you're interested.
Great review, there is a place for pellet stoves, it is good for people who want wood heat but are physically unable to deal with the extra work a wood stove requires. In some ways it is a shame they have made something very simple and efficient complicated and expensive to operate, plus it requires outside power to operate. Having to gather wood wheather
you have to purchase it or if it is free to feed your wood burning stove, it is a great form of exercise, so many people in good health would rather twist a dial and pay for extra maintenance on their hi tec machine so they don't have to do anything. I am 76 if you don't get up and do something old age will roll right over you!!!
thanks for the thoughts Jim
You do know that there are pellet stoves that don't require electricity. Also, some people prefer pellet stoves because they burn much, much cleaner.
Great comment, but consider also that, for some, it's not just about being physically constrained but about preferring to spend the time taken on gathering fuel and preparing a fire, and other associated faffage on other more beneficial pursuits.
I like my wood stove even if my power goes out I still have heat
Also, you have a source for cooking.
true
That is a good advantage, but there are a couple of pellet units which do not require power.
I switched from a Lopi Endeavor wood stove to a Harman P-68 pellet stove with a Surefire 512 inverter/charger and a 200 amp battery backup. The P-68 is much cleaner and with the hopper extension I can burn for three days with the outside temperature below zero. The wood stove firebox was good for about 8-10 hours. The pellet stove is much cleaner and maintains the room temperature perfectly. I heat my entire house with my P-68. I could survive a three day+ power outage with my Surefire backup.
All the motors are 12 volt and a more even heat with my pellet stove but then my house has off-grid capabilities I just pull from one side of the plug to the other 1/2 and it's on the inverter and I have a 7 day run on my pellet stove
I live in France and have had a 12KW Pellet stove and 12KW wood stove, the main winner for the pellet stove is convenience, full control the temps, switch on and off as you like, pellets here come on a pallet so no wood stacking, cleaner as no piles of wood in the house, safer with the dogs around because the stove is still cool to touch (in most places). For us, the Pellet stove wins hands down. Also, for Power failures you can buy a battery backup which will allow the stove to keep running.
cool
My pellet stove has been crushing it since 2002, and puts out heat over 300 degrees from the heat exchange tubes, and the pellet stove also has plenty of radiant heat at the glass. And I have a backup power source so no worries with the pellet stove. Wood stoves are great, but my pellet is better in a suburban setting, no free firewood around. My pellet stove has had a few parts go down over the years, but two components since 2002 is very reliable. I do all the maintenance so no service charge from repair companies.
great feedback
One problem. Power outage :(
@@JodBronson He said he has a backup power source
@@JodBronson if you have a small generator you can run the fan with it.
@@ranpat86 - Why a small generator? May as well get a HUGE one, right? 😁😆😅🤣😂
I’ve had both. I prefer the Pellet stove. Less mess. No wood with bugs. No running out in the snow to the wood pile. We’ve had a pellet stove for close to 14 years now. We are investing in a new one this year with the wireless. Handing down our old one to my son. Keeps us nice and toasty here in the snow belt in NE Ohio.
good points
You can get a pellet mill for around $800 or so. I’ve got an acre full of split and chipped wood that basically makes my fuel free after running it through the pellet mill. I also have a backup wood burning fireplace for those days where the power goes out. I also have a pellet smoker for cooking. All of these can be run electrically with a small generator. It’s a nice combination.
nice
What kind of mill do you have
I've had both. Pellet stove hands down. Easier, cleaner, safer, temp controls auto on/off, programmable and just more attractive than a big clunky wood stove. I don't know what that pellet stove in the video is, but my Harman pellet stove has a large attractive flame. Also - for some reason I cannot yet explain, the pellet stove does not dry out the air in my house nearly as much as my wood burning stove did. I can store an entire year's worth of pellets inside my basement in nice easy to move clean bags without risk of smell and insects. Also compare the amount of space a year's worth of firewood requires vs a year's worth of pellets. Usually, I just need to fill the hopper once per day. That's it. How often to you have to feed logs into a wood burning stove? And who is going to do that when you are out of the house for a few hours?? Pellet stove - set it and leave it - totally safe and effective for 24 hours or more depending on your hopper size.
True, you can't use a pellet stove when the lights go out - unless you have a battery backup pack or, if you are like me, you have a standby whole-house generator. I heat a 2,000 square foot two-story colonial home in New England just with my pellet stove. The stove sits in a 400 square foot room which is kept at 80 degrees all winter. The remainder of the first floor stays at 75-76 and the 2nd floor stays steady at 70-71 degrees. All from that one little pellet stove using pellets that cost me about $1,200 for the year (including delivery).
thanks for the feedback
All good points, especially the humidity level. That’s why we run a Quadra fire and have for over 10 years
I have a hybrid, but till now I've only used it for pellet. I think its the best, cause in case of power cut I can still use it for wood. But pellet is so much easier.
Absolutely. I'll never be without my pellet stove......or my generator. Keep em both running well and you'll never go cold. My 2000 square foot upstate NY home very seldom has my oil burning furnace kick on. Maybe when the temp drops into the teens. My wood burning stove was too much work and maintenance.
@@kasiac3964 what type of hybrid (wood/pellet) do you have?
I purchased my home a decade ago based on two key areas, it was fed off a 3 wire transmission line and it was installed with a wood stove as a backup source for the heat.
I hardly have an outage at my house and when it happened once for multiple days it was winter and the wood stove basically saved my pipes from feezing and a hotel stay for days.
I’ve had both types and the main issue that I’ve had with both is when the temperature is in the 40’s or warmer.You either get cooked out of your home because you’re making too much heat or if you use a thermostat you don’t get enough air to get good combustion causing soot.They typically work the best at low temperatures
ok
The newer pellet stoves have temperature control. I’m in the snow belt here in NE Ohio, we have had both. I don’t have natural gas, my option is Propane, which is expensive. We are upgrading this year to the newer WiFi controlled Pellet, with better temp control. I agree the standard, non WiFi can heat you out on the higher temp days, but we have always just opened a window or took the initial chill out and shut it down, but I honestly wouldn’t live without ours.
I like the planes in the background and it’s natural the way you are talking. We don’t live in a perfect world.
This video is awesome
thanks so much!
I run both everyday... I like the ease of dumping a bag of pellets and walking away from my harman pellet stove... I don’t like the maintenance of it or buying parts... but it’s easier than dealing with all the work involved with cutting splitting and stacking firewood. Currently burn 5 cords of wood in my jotul wood stove and burn 4-5 tons of pellets
thanks for the feedback
Wow, that's an incredible amount of fuel for one heating season.
Something that wasn’t touched on was installation. Some homes are incapable of installing a wood stove due to obvious venting issues. The pellet stoves are substantially easier to chimney out. Everything else was spot on for sure.
This is very true! We always suggest asking an installer before purchasing.
Thanks for all the video's. I am learning the ins and outs of wood stoves. One advantage of the pellet stove is consistent Quality of the wood being burned. I am 80 now and the pellet stove seems to be my choice. Part of my routine is schedule a maintenance in Sept or so and skeduling as much as 6 months prior to heating season so I won't be cold and wait for service. I could easily buy several years of pellets, properly store them and be good.
That's true !! Thanks for watching!
Well some people get lucky and have good pellet stoves that don't break the first week you get it. then the next two weeks in middle of winter..then the only pellets avaliable break the ogger gears. It was suppose to be the best most efficient one at the time... less parts to beak on wood stoves..
Very good video. We've had a pellet stove for 6 years. We love it compared to our oil furnace. But my husband is a mechanic and we live in a city, no trees on our property. For us it's a good option. But we're moving to 25 acres in the country, ton of free wood. You bet were gonna get a wood stove.
Great choice!
Don't forget when you talk about elderly people that it's also far easier to haul wood than it is 40 or 50 pound bags of pellets. We actually heat the house with both, but we far prefer the wood stove, and only use the pellet stove for a backup, or if we are going to be gone for a day. Nice video overall and you've done a great job. Thank you.
thanks for watching
You can get wood anywhere. Pellets you're still depending on industry
true
There are pellet makers that you can buy for your home. There are non electrical and electric models.
I tried to explain this exact thing to my wife, we have a pellet stove and we are surrounded by 2 acres ( that we own ) of Ash trees, I tried talking her into a wood burner, but in her I dare to say less of a mind, that a wood burner is much more resourceful for us even though it would cost probably $1500.00 for the chimney and another oh say 900 for a good stove, we would never be without heat or cooking capabilities. She didn't agree, we'll see next time a big storm hits and we loose power for 3 to 5 days, keep in mind our entire home is electric we have no gas on our street. Like any other Broad they have to learn the hard way, I curse her father every day for not raising a girl with some sort of common sense.
I used to work with a guy that converted his old pellet stove to burn shelled corn .
I just bought a pellet stove this year. I'm excited. Propane was expensive.
Hope you enjoy it!
Good video. We have used both in Wyoming. Honestly the pellet is way more convenient. We had to load our wood stove 3-4 times a day when it was under 20 degrees. With the pellet all I do is load in pellets and turn it on! Heats up great with under 10 degrees. Just take care of your pellet system and you are good to go. Also because of our house set up we could not do a full chimney. We just had to punch a hole 6 inches for the pellet stove and put in piping. It took couple of hours and we were done. also location, pellet stoves can go into location that a wood stove cannot.
One important factor not discussed is the yearly maintenance on wood stove. Cleaning the stove pipe with brushes, biggest reason for house fires with wood stoves is people not doing a yearly cleaning. Pellet stoves don't have that type of maintenance and safety risk. Just wanted to add that important consideration.
good feedback
I’ve have both.
Never seen the wood stove door glass that clean except for when I replace it
ok
I have both, a wood stove is great for occasional use or power outages, otherwise a pellet stove
hands down no contest, so much less work and much cleaner and much easier to control..
nice
The other thing you did not mention is with a wood stove you need a chimney. With my pellet stove, just a pipe through my wall. But like you said, personal preference. I don't have a place to put a wood stove and build chimney. So about 8 years go I went with pellet stove.
nice!
THis is an enormous consideration for us
Yea, venting pellet pipe is cheaper than stove and chimney pipe, but you don't need a chimney in order to install a wood burning stove. You'll need a chimney for a fireplace.
My house is equipped with a very reliable trouble-free Trane gas furnace so my wood stove is for the coziness you mentioned, and it sure adds that. 😊
They sure do have an ambiance to them thats for sure!! Glad you like your stove.
had both, pellets are expensive....if you have any physical limitations the pellets are easier to deal with, also if you have any neighbors that might complain about smoke I thought the pellet ran cleaner and I didnt notice major smoke bellowing out around the yard compared to wood stove...in the end I prefer the wood stove for versatility
Thanks for the tips!
Thank you so much for a brilliant review on these two different types of burners. As a senior citizen looking to buy one of these this has been a life saver.
Glad it was helpful!
Cost of wood forget it buy oil or gas forget expensive nasty wood
@@thomasriley4963 Hey Tom is it sounds like you have stock in the oil and gas industry. Wood-burning is probably the most cheapest way to warm your home and the most expensive is oil or gas.
@@10469 guess you haven't bought wood lately or stacked carried it cleaned up Fter it jad a chimney fire or anything
@@10469 not to mention cost of dam stove inkling it in house and higher insurance rates
With a wood stoves you can build in a low or high pressure heat exchanger coil . Route it down the stove pipe into the fire box. You can route that to a blower and radiator and heat via forced air. Wood stoves rock
thanks for the feedback
I have a Quadra fire wood stove that is 30 years old. It still is working perfectly. The gasket & Window are original. I did reline it one time.
awesome
For a new install the pellet stove wins, a pellet stove you can vent straight out without having to install a chimney pipe all the way up past the roof
True but you gotta look past the install
The side of your house will be ashy after a ton of pellets through it, also make sure you clean that horizontal vent often. We have seen many houses burn down from clogged horizontal vented pellet stoves.
Is that true ? I thought it also needed a chimney to roof
@@johndagastino7900 look at some pellet stove installs, most just have a 4 inch vent pipe out the side of your home
If a person can install a wood stove in their location, that's what's best. There is no "comparison" to a pellet stove. The pellet stove can only, honestly, be compared with any other heater which uses electricity for any portion of its heat delivery, including spark for a pilot.
They're all large paper weights when the power goes out.
I'd determine what I was going to do when the power goes out, in the dead of winter, before I worried about cost analysis of any heating system. Just sayin'. If you don't mind having to leave home to find warmth, more power to you.
The last thing I want in a power outage emergency is to also be forced away from my home and belongings due to my own lack of planning. Talk about added stress.
Sorry about the tangential rant, but maybe some need to hear/read it?
On the subject of back up electricity: you're required to get and keep gasoline for your generator; another possible/probable problem in a lengthy outage.
If you can install a wood stove and you don't, don't think I'm going to put you up until the power comes back on. Though, after the outage, I will work, paid by the hour, to help you replace your frozen and cracked piping, if you want.
thanks for the feedback
This made me grin. Thanks 🪵
Wood stove is my choice pellets dont burn without power that's the whole purpose of wood burning stove
yes true
We've got a pellet stove and we like the thing, but, as this video suggests you're talking about a lot more maintenance and a lot more to go wrong - mixing high heat, dust, and ash with electronics. I just fixed ours, today, after it was out for TWO YEARS. A lot of times pellets form hard bits of ash called "klinkers". We turned our stove off one night and a klinker formed that filled the firebox - like a loaf of bread. It warped the firebox (took me two days to get it out without wrecking the housing), it burned out the igniter and it fused the igniter to a housing. I installed a new igniter (and housing), but, had trouble re-wiring the thing. I'd un-clipped a bunch of wires to get at the igniter easily. Thought it would be simple but I had a wrong wire on the auger, etc. I left it to re-model our kitchen, then, had a stroke. It sat for 23 months. I finally got it wired right over the last few days, cleaned it completely, etc. With a pellet stove you'll need a shop vac and they need to be vacuumed out all the time - far more than manufacturers suggest (like every time you use thing thing, in my opinion). And good luck finding people to service these things - they're scarce as hen's teeth. We live in southeast Michigan and we looked and looked for a service guy. We found one. And he admitted that he was "no expert" with pellet stoves.....his experience was mostly with standard stoves. That's why I did it myself. I like our pellet stove, but, the things are a lot of work - again, in my opinion. Be prepared to do a lot of maintenance and, possibly, repair these things yourself.
oh boy
@@embersliving Yeah - funny this thing came up as "suggested". I just found the last, stray wire that attached the room fan heat sensor to the exhaust fan, today, and finally got it working. Very good video by the way - excellent. I just wanted to stress that pellet stoves are, possibly, even a little more work than you described. But, overall, great job on explaining the differences.
Thanks for adding your 2c to this discussion; very helpful considerations. Hope you’re feeling much better these days.
I have had both, my current unit is pellet. Pouting a bag into the hopper once a day is certainly convenient & it is very clean. Bags of pellets from WalMart cost $5.50 each & they burn just fine. However... In hindsight, I would go back to the air tight wood burner if I had the choice again. I can get my wood for nothing, the heat output is higher & a decent unit will need loading three times a day. This means I can load it in the morning when I get up to revive it, then head out to work leaving the damper at minimum & the fire will be still in when I get home to a cozy warm home The only down sides are that wood burners are more dirty & I have to carry heavy logs in. A decent airtight wood burner, with external combustion air intake will burn as clean as a pellet unit with well dried, quality wood.
thanks for the feedback
What kind of wood stove do you have and what kind of wood do you use?
@@Guruleangelica83 Castle Serenity pellet stove. Unit looks nice but Castle tech help is utterly useless... The design has an issue with the controls because it senses the exhaust vacuum which needs the exhaust fan to run to make negative pressure in the flue but because the flue fan is started by pressing start up/ignite. BUT.... the controls shuts the ignition sequence down before the fan has started & had a chance to draw down the flue pressure. I modified my unit with a press to defeat switch in line with the vacuum sensor so when I start the unit, I hold this button in for a couple of seconds to let the exhaust fan spool up. Because of this crap design flaw & the crap tech support, I would NOT recommend this unit. The best mode to run is manual mode...do not try to use the temperature controlled feature...it sucks so bad! I burn nearly all Walmart softwood pellets which are the cheapest & they burn the cleanest as well. (Softwood & Hardwood are the same thing when their density has been increased by forming pellets. Select your pellets by their BTU rating & price).
Our other home "up north" has a Virginia Castings wood stove. Great unit, top feed logs but it likes a good warm up to get going properly. When new, the flue damper does not seal very well until you have "dirtied" the damper & the tube it sits in for a week or two. After that you can control it very well with the air intake damper. We burn ash, maple, oak & scrub fruit like apple. Most of the time I burn limb wood, all rounds once it is running.
You missed out the biggest plus for a pellet vs wood stove. Intake air! Unless you can pull outside air for the wood stove, which few are capable of, it draw inside air, which has to be replaced, with outside air, so you have cold air coming in to replace it. Same with fireplaces. We have 2 fireplaces, but we don't use them for heat, because the rest of the house chills when we do. The pellet stove has an outside air it that uses outside air, completely sealing the firebox from the inside. Aside from that, it really is up to preferences. Wouldn't mind a wood stove, but after stacking and storing for the fireplace, I prefer to grab a bag and pour it in. Much easier to move a pallet of pellets with a forklift than a cord of wood.
cool
my stove has an outside inlet right into the fire box
Something to consider is portability. You can move a Pellet stove to another room if you need to. You can't do that with a wood stove as you need to drill another hole for the chimney.
good point!
I wouldn't say portability is exactly a selling point when buying a pellet stove. Also, i'm a little confused as to why a 'new' hole wouldn't need to be drilled in a 'new' room if moving the pellet stove because it would.
Keith D'Amato, Pellet stoves don't need venting?
@@miqiee Fair question. I'm curious as the their response myself.
Also, don’t forget, ash clean out on the wood stove. You must shovel it out every 3 or 4 days, & start up a new fire. I separate out the charcoal from the ash. The ash goes on the gardens, the charcoal is used to ignite the new fire. Fire starting with charcoal is quick & simple. No kindling is required.
Good tip!
We have a Pellet Stove and I grew up on a wood stove...40 years ago. You'll never beat the heat of a good Wood burning stove period. However, pellet stoves are way easier to maintain and a high end Pellet stoves like a Lopi or Harmon will come vary close to the BTU's of a wood burner. Bad= Pellet stoves can't work when power goes out, Wood stoves burn no matter what
Thats very true something about a wood stoves heat is different! There are definitely pros and cons to each! Based on the last statement regarding power I will always choose wood.
@@embersliving I agree 100%, Been trying to get my wife to understand that for the last 5 years :-)
Coal stove wins
Just get a generator.
We live in central Alaska, we have a diesel stovr on one end of the house and a wood stove on the other end of the house. We just bought pellet stove because we ran out of wood this year. We will use the pellet stove for "backuo" to the wood stove.
Interesting. Thats a good idea!
I live in an area where Mother Nature will knock down more trees than I can possibly burn in a year. I have to clean up regardless so wood burning is the only thing that makes sense for me. I was just being curious and wanted to see what pellets were all about. Thanks 🙏🏾.
thanks for watching !
Thanks for the information. I was on the fence,not anymore.
I'm glad our video was able to help you! Be sure to stay updated with all of our different wood stove videos! Check out our channel. Thanks Suzanne!
Did not mention you have to handle wood a lot more before you burn it. Have been using a pellet stove for years maintenance is minimal, key is to get a good one. Will burn for a good 12 hours before having to refill. Have had wood in the past, messy and a lot of stacking and carrying. If the power goes out I have a generator and it will run the stove as well and the food won't go bad in the fridge lol.
thats true
Till you can't get gas for the generator anymore
@@denverbasshead they make a couple pellet stoves that don't need electricity. Moreover, you can easily power one via solar
Thank you so much for this. You are a very well-versed young man and I appreciate explaining the benefits and challenges of each. I am getting older, and my husband isn't always able to split wood for kindling, so I was really thinking of changing to a pellet stove. Giving I can carry a few pieces of wood at a time and there is always bits of wood I can start a fire with, I think long term the wood stove is staying for now. Plus I can use the wood carrying as some exercise. Thank you again. Very helpful.
Glad to help! Thanks for watching.
Wood stoves work after a EMP get the ones with no electricity needed and you’ll be ahead of the game
thanks for the feedback
they also don't break down, pellet stoves are a convenience, nothing more
Ok I’ll bite what is EMP?
@@waynegrant9849 ua-cam.com/video/PPzIWsdnj0w/v-deo.html
@@waynegrant9849 several nations are building them right now most notably Russia and China and the US. There’s also the same type of thing that comes straight from the sun in the form of solar flares it has a different name but it’s basically just a solar storm
We have had a non cat, welded plate steel medium sized wood stove for over 20 yrs in our basement.
Love it. Sitting in front of it now, well trying to, the cats take up all the room when the stove is running.
Ours has the air tubes in the firebox to catch the secondary burn... fantastic.
Heats our whole Cape Cod style house by itself with outside temps above 40f, needs help from gas furnace below 40f...
Key to whole house heating with a stove in the basement is to put cold air return vents in floor on first floor.
Cold air will drop down into basement and push stove heated warm air up the basement stairwell into upstairs if you don't have a basement door closed at the top of stairs.
We get almost a warm breeze coming up the stairwell...
A wood burner is so nice, BUT, they require a LOT of labor to keep it fed!
I love it, that is one hobby of ours, getting wood, splitting and stacking. Most enjoyable after all that work to put those pieces of seasoned fuel in the firebox.
I am fortunate, I get all my wood at no $$ cost from a local tree outfit.
I have a commercial grade splitter, and ALL the equip you NEED to do it right.
If I had to buy firewood to feed the stove it would be too expensive for us as much as we use between the stove and firepits.
Sitting in front of the stove watching the fire through the glass in the door is one of my favorite things to do.
I look forward to it every year.
Learn how to regulate the air flow in a wood burning stove to capture the secondary burn and the fuel wood will last much longer, also only well seasoned wood is a key as well.
Never been around a pellet stove, but I am sure they are great as well.
thanks for the thoughts
A big pellet stove is great for extended burn times. My old cabin had a pellet stove and the power always went out and it became worthless.
Good to know!
the solution if you have is a pellet stove, is a generator, as these pellet stoves only draw 300-400 watts, then you can power some lights , your fridge too etc.. so in the end its actually better
Thank you, you made it easy. A main reason for me wanting a stove is if the power was to go out. Wood stove all the way!
nice!
In my other house I ripped out the crap pellet stove.its expensive to run.i get wood free all day long.
Thanks for sharing!
Great amount of information. I have been questioning the differences for a while and couldn’t find a single source that compares all. I have an insert in a fire place.
Glad it was helpful!
Good information. My husband and I had a wood stove years ago in our first house. That thing heated several rooms. I was curious about the pellet stove because sometimes it can be difficult to find wood and I wonder how easy it is to get pellets.
in most places they are readily available but it does depend on the area
we heated the first floor of a large, old village colonial with a pellet stove for a number of years and we loved it. till we lost power for 48hours related to a very bad storm.. if you do not have a generator or battery back up you have no heat when the grid fails. have since sold the big house, bought a small cottage and installed a small ( 14" firebox) woodstove in the parlor and love it... when power failed last winter I had heat, was able to keep the kettle hot and did not have to listen to the generator.
This guy speaking sounds very well educated. I enjoyed watching his presentation. Quite informative.
thanks for watching!
Pellet stove hands down. No splitting wood, no hauling wood, self regulates itself, easier to clean, pellets are cheap. Your wife, kids, or grandparents can load them without worrying.
They are a tax write off, being green energy.
You could argue a wood stove burns hotter, but not by much, unless you burn coal.
I like them too!
“Since the beginning of time.” You had me going there for six seconds. 😖 Thank you for this comprehensive review!
haha
Have had both. August is terrible, splitting and stacking wood is all your weekends. Need at least 6-7 cords if its your heat. Less money to heat.
I can stack all my pellets, 6 ton, in 1 hour. Stove is $3500 for a great one P68. East to operate. Have to clean every other week. Takes 2 hours. (Cool down is 1.5 hrs). Its clean, no bark in house. If you loose electricity, turn on your generator. If you can afford a $3500 stove, you have a generator. At 55 yrs old, i will always do pellets. When i was younger, i used wood. I aged out. That was the deciding factor.
thats great
I like both we have Pellets.
Only real downside i see is a little A bit less heat overall but I dont need to keep feeding through the day. I just put a bag in and we are good for about 24 hours.
Also if the Power goes out we have a Generator that will easily run the stove with ease along with our othwr applies.
Great comment! Thanks!
Great video...Gives a clear understanding of what one is getting in to realistically....thanks
thanks for watching
I’ve had both and prefer pellets changing a motor isn’t a big deal for me and with an old farm house I find the consistency of the pellet stoves heat, heats more evenly where as the wood stove burns hot then farther rooms get cooler as the heat dies down as the pellet just keeps pumping the same heat continuously.
Thanks for watching!
Pellet stoves tend to draw combustion air from outside. Wood stoves can potentially make your home much draftier. Still if I had to choose. I'd go with geothermal.
Thanks for watching!
As much as i want a wood stove i will have to go with the pellet stove, i love that you can set the pellet stove on a thermostat set it and forget it, fill the hopper every few days, also pellets go way cheaper in the summer time which is nice
I like those for the convenience for sure!! We appreciate the comment and view. Stay warm !!
Thank you for this very honest video. I love our multifuel stove for wood and anthracite (U.K.). We have to buy the wood though and it’s a lot more expensive than it used to be. However we are about to convert a small barn in our garden, add a bedroom and shower room on it, for my mum to live in. She’s 88 now. She will have some form of underfloor heating, but we don’t have gas or oil so it will be electric driven. She wants a fire to look at and have heat from too. She’d love a wood stove. But I’d have to fetch the wood in for her. I could light it for her too, but she’d have to put fuel on during the day. I was thinking it’s a bad idea. But I’d not thought of a wood stove that’s raised up like this. Not as much bending down.
I only heard about pellet stoves this week. But this is the first I’ve seen alight. The fire is feeble as a focal point isn’t it. I don’t think she’d like that. Plus it would mean no alternative to electricity. I’m going to have to think hard about the wood option. Thank you. Invaluable information.
appreciate you checking it out
Wood can be cut small, so that your mum can handle it. Wood stoves can be placed up higher, on a brick or stone foundation. This can be quite beautiful. Small fans, run by the heat of the stove, can be placed on top of the stove. This would distribute heat in the room. I think you can insulate your mum’s room so that it won’t require much extra wood heat. Good on you for looking after your mum. Texas
@@papajeff5486 Thanks. Yes, we can ask for a delivery of small logs. Our wood and anthracite stove is huge and can be burned with the doors open. This means the doors aren’t sealed well so it smokes the glass fast. But our neighbours have 2 Clearview stoves. They seal tightly and are very controllable. The glass stays clear and the flame can be slowed to a lazy waving movement that I love to watch. It will be well insulated and have underfloor heating. But she’s still worried about it being cold. She currently lives in an old house with no insulation, wind rushing up through the floorboards and inadequate heating. And she’s worrying. Keeps telling me she wants carpet. To make it cosy. I’m not sure if carpet can be used on underfloor heating. I think she will roast.
I must look for ideas of raised stoves.
We live in France in the mountains and our only heating is a pellet stove ,used to have a wood stove ,changed 2 years ago and would never go back ,ours has a great flame ,admitidly not like a wood stove but we heat a four bedroom house with it so from mid November it runs 24 hours a day and every 24hours or so we top it up with pellets ,it uses about 14/15 kgs a day way less than our wood stove and when we go out for the day or go to work it just goes on ,no rushing back to put logs on and no emptying ash every day we just switch it of once a week let it cool if or half an hour hoover it in out and switch it back in on
Love this review, but one thing as a newbie I was interested in but didn’t hear about was cleaning, how often do both need it, same?
Id say yearly would be smart.
100% for wood stove ( you can cook , boil coffee , boil water for bath ) but with pellet stove if you have a blackout 1-2days , you can't do anything so ....... yea 100% for wood stove
true
I have a heat pump and minisplit and am considering a pellet stove. I like the convenience and they’re so much cleaner.
They are great units! Thanks for watching.
That wood stove looks so nice! Thank you for the awesome comparison!!
Our pleasure!
Is an exhaust necessary eith a pellet stove
Love this video! You explained the pros/cons of each very accurately and information like this is hard to find.
Been heating whole house 100% solely with wood for 18 years, 9 years with just wood stove and 9 years with just pellet stove - I feel I have the experience & insight into the pros/cons as well, but you covered just about everything perfectly! I agree, it's your needs and lifestyle. Starting out w/wood stove was great, but although we could get a burn all night it was a lot of work once we started having kids, processing wood, etc. Coming home to a cold house was less than ideal unless you wanted to use backup electricity.
Switched to Pellet stove/furnace (70,000 BTUs) connected to thermostat, much more convenient for situation now. Fuel costs are similar. Owning a pellet stove has made me much more mechanically inclined and overlooking the required maintenance will cause many a cold night. Just installed a wood stove in an addition though and I'm back in love!
awesome
“Back in love”…Ha! Ha! Mech inclin…! Great review review!..ha! Oh man! Not sure why I’m laughing so hard! Wait, what was I…
____
How are you using them now that you’ve had both for awhile? Which is the one you’d get rid of if you had to?
Pellet stoves require electricity which can be a big drawback if you are in an area that loses power frequently. Loss of power would mean loss of ability to heat your home, and if you're on a well also, a loss of water. This can be a huge problem during a storm where your power can be out for a couple of weeks.
There are some battery packs yo ucan use, but yeah a wood stove is more reliable.
As much as I like the ease of use with the pellet stove....it's more important to have heat. The wood burner iss my choice!!!
nice
Got a outside wood burning Hardie Stove since 1996 after the wood stove in the house caused a fire. Thanks a great way to go if you burn wood.
Nice move! Thanks for watching.
Love my wood stove. You did forget to mention is that the stack MUST be swept and cleaned as well as the stove very well each year in spring or summer before using again for safety and to avoid stack fires that annually cause many homes to burn down.
Great point!
A friend of mine bought a house that had a wood stove and he took it out. The house was black on the ceiling from the wood stove he said it wouldn't be like that if it had been a pellet stove. What is your experience?
We got electric heat pump On the AC. once we get steady nights in the 30s I pull a plate and switch it to our gas furnace. We just bought two pellet stoves for our basement and my shop. We also have a outside wood furnace/boiler deal I haven't played with yet. Now for backup we have a huge gas fireplace in the basement that can run you out the house in the basement. Our solar is grid tied and we have a whole home generator. I think we have enough ways to stay warm if one source goes down and enough back ups if the power goes out.
Thats awesome! Really smart to have multiple methods to heat your home.
I don't like the cold lol
In inclement weather, party’s at your house is what you’re saying? 😉
Pellet stove is better works fine with a generator when the power is out mine is over 15 yrs old and still going
true, but a wood stove doesnt even need that
Thanks pal, excellent video! You really helped my wife and I decide to stick with our wood stove. I wish you were in my area.
Problem with pellet (which I have) I can run my heat at 75° cheaper than the price of pellets. One bag of pellets at HomeDepot is 6 bucks it will run about 10 hours. So 1 bag a day thirty bags a month times $6 a bag = 30x6 =$180 . My heat bill is never over 160 a month and that includes electricity. I would never do a pellet stove again because of the cost of fuel. When I first bought my pellet stove pellets ran between 2-3 dollars a 40lbs bag. I live in Denver.
thanks for the feedback
Thanks Flat Top I just got my chimney inspected and getting a stainless steel liner, my research has also led me to conclude that a wood fireplace ( 41.5 x 28 opening) and a grate heat exchanger for a 900 sq. ft Basement, will serve my needs.
Yup agreed. It's actually cheaper for me to run my 50 year old oil boiler than it is to burn pellets. I still use my wood stove though which is half the price. Pellets have gotten too expensive
200$ a ton in michigan, with spring special, I easily get 20 hours on a bag. Depends on stove, and where you buy pellets I guess.
Try buying pellets some where else or buy in bulk. I buy in bulk...under 4.00 dollars per bag. My all electric home bills still are too high vs my pellot usage buying this way.
What about storage. I would love a wood stove but I dont have a place to stick cords of wood. But I have 4 tons of pellets in my basement.
Yeah storage could be a problem
I got Pellet stove- DON'T NEED ANY ELECTRICITY OR BATTERIES to work.
Which one do you have?
thats great
I've seen those pellet stoves that are gravity fed
That's going to be my next purchase.
I got an AWESOME deal on a CASTLE Serenity. So we got that this time around. It is FABULOUS!!!
The problem with pine isn't burn quality. It's that it has sticky resin tar that will cake your smoke chamber and chimney and catch fire.
good feedback
It would have been nice to have a brief discussion on cooking for the wood stove. Are these also meant for the dual purpose of cooking or is that a different line of product? I’m looking at the weather catastrophe in TX and the loss of their power grid. I would think that sales of generators and wood stoves would increase as people see the need to prepare after the recent situation in TX.
that is what we are seeing
Get yourself a potbelly stove. At least it warm's the house and you can cook on it and it doesn't go out with a power outage.
Perfect video. The only thing you didn't mention is the mess from firewood. Your house both outside and inside will be a big pain in the arse to keep tidy. But i'm wood all day long over pellets!
oh yeah..the mess!! Thanks for watching!
Thank you for the info. You did a great job with the comparison. Only question is how do you know if your wood stove has a catalytic converter. Also is it feasible to use pellets in a wood stove? Maybe a video about that would be helpful.
no, you cant burn pellets in any wood stove. There should be a rating plate on the back of the stove that will show the model #
@@embersliving my husband decided it was a good idea. What should the rating plate say?
Search "woodstove catalyst" on line. Look at the pictures, then look in your stove. The catalyst will be somewhere between the firebox and the flue if you have one. Sometimes they are round, sometimes square, sometimes rectangular. They look similar to a honeycomb. Also, if you know the make and model number (maybe on that plate on the back or side of the stove) you can contact the manufacturer for the operating manual.
You can burn pellets in most wood stoves with some modifications. You *cannot* just chuck in pellets and expect it to burn. The most important thing you need is a container that allows air in from all around. A large (5 to 6 quart) stainless steel colander will work decently for this.
You also need a good draft. Any well built wood stove system will provide that already. Sometimes you do need to leave the door open slightly to get it started to get more/enough air in to get it going well. Also understand that pellets burn differently than logs. With pellets, you need to light at the top and it burns down (alcohol based hand sanitizer works well).
But these are not as efficient as a true, dedicated pellet burning wood stove. But you have the flexibility of using either, and you have the durability of the wood stove.
One note, be careful when reloading pellets in a regular wood stove. You don't want to dump a crap ton of pellets all at once over just coals. It hasn't happened to me, but there is a guy saying on various videos that he had an explosion happen in his wood stove from the build up of uncombusted wood gas. In other words, leave the door open a bit until you start to see flames. Once the flames are going, you're good.
I need for at night in my loft apartment, do you think is better Pellets? How much cost and who will install?
It all really depends feel free tocall out store (303) 800-5659
Wood stove equals lots of ash removal
& tons of fine particulate dust that gets on everything. A wood stove that will burn at 500- 600 degrees for over 15 hrs does not exist. My
Pellet stove has a 120lb hopper and will cook you outta the house on high settings 500-600 degrees Pellet stove can burn 120lbs and there is only a few cups of ash.
A wood stove on idle for a night burn your lucky to get 300 degrees. Not to mention you also have the super expensive chimney issues. Heck most folks can buy a pellet stove for the cost of a 8 inch stainless double wall chimney
Pellet stoves win hands down!
thanks for the feedback!
I grew up with wood stoves. House we bought after retiring from the Navy had a old pellet stove. Bought a new pellet stove, we like it.
awesome
Thank you for this informative video, you did a great job!!👍
Glad it was helpful!
We have one of each, in our area we have the occasional power cut. We use the pellet stove most but have kept the wood burner in the adjoining room, because of power cuts.
nice
Assuming home has no natural gas which changes the equation ... this is my best argument for pellet.
Maintenance and repair score ... may be over stated. A big deal was made about more moving parts for pellet over wood ... true ...
but pellet stove have less moving parts & complexity than a typical HVAC system … there need to be some perspective. Yes, buy your pellet stove from a
real dealer with tech. & customer service vs Home Depot or Lowes. The HD stoves are 1/4 cost of a dealer brand (e.g. Harman, Quad-fire, Hampton, Enviro, etc.) … if you have any do-yourself skills then you can maintain these big box store pellet stoves (e.g. replace fan, motor, igniter, control board) but these cheap stove bands (with exemption Englander) often come-and-go & might hard to find parts while the dealer brands have a long track record, a commitment to their products, & have been around for decades.
The video only considers mechanical breakdowns, what about daily, weekly, month, & annual operational maintenance?
I use my pellet stoves as my principle heat source ... on cold days ~ 1 bag ... Depending on stove and pellets ... 1 bag will produce 1/2 cup of ash. 1 can run my stoves for a week w/o
empty ash pan and I don’t need shutdown stove to empty ash tray. So I can load 1 bag in the hopper a day .. set & forget vs tending fire & feed wood. I can do all the operational maintenance myself
… including cleaning the pipe annually … before with wood I would use a chimney sweep service annual.
Some make a big deal about power requirements & power outages. A typical pellet stove requires less power than a hair dryer. If you use a stove (either pellet or wood) as a novelty (during holidays), second heat source, or only during power outages then may be wood would be your best choice
If you are worried about power outages then get a generator ... a small gen or battery backup will run the a pellet stove.
I had Breckwell pellet stove insert (never broke down) in basement & Vermont Castings wood stove in upstairs for 15 years.
I have 5.5 acres and spent many back breaking hours splitting wood (a splitter & chainsaws are a must cost to consideration for the do-it yourself wood sourcing), stacking wood, covering wood, and rotating stacks ...setting a aside land/property for this (not the best curb appeal) ... going out in the cold snow to get wood from stack day & night ...
with no help from wife or kids other than opening the door because my arms are full of wood. The dirt & bugs ... can be a pain.
If you are a weekend warrior with wood then little effort ... but if you use wood as a principle heating sources then you need a
plan/method/process to keep your home warm 24x7.
I switch to two Harman pellet stove 2 years ago. I purchase three tons in summer per year and only used a small portion of my 2 car garage to store the pellets...
and can still fit both cars in garage. I can get 1 bag from garage to last the day vs multi wood runs freezing my butt off & getting rained and snowed on ... of course some level of fuel can be stored in the home but for wood at some point during cold season one will be doing outside wood runs.. I see people complain about individual cost pellet bag (~$3-5 bag) ... I am sure a bundle of wood at the local grocery store costs no less … that is the cost of being a weekend a warrior ...someone who is serious about using either Pellet or Wood as their primary heat source will be planning their fuel sourcing well before the cold season .. which cost a fraction of individual pellet bags at HD or Lowes.
A big deal was made about comfort ... yes wood is more beautiful ... I would call that aesthetics not conform. I have 20x30 room, with the Vermont castings wood stove
the radiant heat would make one end of room 95F and the other 70F. With pellet stove the convection heat will be more evenly distribute the heat. Ceiling & floor fans with help more evenly
distribute heat thru the home for both wood & pellet but you will still get crazy hotspots with wood. If you only looking to huddle next to a stove then wood is the great. Someone said something
about the "piss pot" flame in the Quadra-fire stove was lame ... well the Quadra-fire is great stove (owned by same corp as Harman), my neighborhood has one & the video does not do it justice what that stove can do ... each pellet stove brand has their unique flame characteristics ... I am partial to Harman ... go to Facebook Harman owners group to see what i am talking. My wife fought me for years on replacing my Vermont Castings wood with pellet ... after we switched she admitted she was wrong ... a first ... I will agree pellet vs wood is personal/situational is the main deciding factor.
This guy does a great compare (he has an older Harman which is loud ... mine is whisper quiet ) ...
ua-cam.com/video/FhybECIwP1Q/v-deo.html
Safety as related to pets and kids. Besides the glass door, pellet is cool to the touch; for freestanding the pipe is warm but will not burn. The fire & build code standards
& permits are high for wood ... pellet stove only needs a 3-4 pipe and typical 3 inches from drywall wall ... placement is flexible. I trust my kids to start the pellet stove and load fuel … I cannot say the same for wood stove. Fyi, I have the Harman with LCD touchscreen control with remote heat sensor (I never use the sensor & it now comes free) … I can use the scheduler to start/stop the stove and different temps throughout the week … it works flawlessly. If you get a wood or pellet EPA qualified stove there is a Federal tax break and plus many States also have tax breaks. My state has no sales tax on the pellet fuel.
thanks so much for the feedback
Thanks for taking the time to add this comment. I found it particularly helpful in sorting out my thinking about pellet stoves.
My neighbor installed something in his house that has been polluting our house ever since. I'm trying to figure out what he has done. Is it possible that he installed an outdoor pellet grill/smoker inside of his house? I know this sounds insane, but this man would use his grill in 10 degree weather, so he is obsessed with smoked meat. Can you cook food in either of these things? What can you cook food in that uses a dryer vent out the side of a garage?
man that was good thank you very much Ps I am from England a I love Colorado a lovely state.
Glad you enjoyed it
I think that it all depends. First one has to think about power outages. If you have a power outage then you can continue to heat with your wood stove because the pellet stove isn't going to work because it's operated by electric. And then it depends on the price on how much you want to spend on heating stove heating stove. You can spin in between 1000 to 2000 for a wood or you could spend between $3,000 to $6000 on a pellet stove.
True! thanks for watching!
What is the difference in exhaust requirements?
just depends on the sizing and piping.
Great video, hard to find non-bias sources on this discussion are usually people saying theirs is better than the others. Definitely going with the Wood Burner Stove, the mechanical unreliability and dull and overly controlled looking fire of the Pellet Stove doesn't do it for me, they look like a boiler with a window disguised as a fireplace unit. Each to their own though they definately have their use cases and they sound very convenient, if the technology improves over time may consider one in the future. Not sure if it's the same in the USA but in Ireland I think pellet stoves may be cheaper to operate too because there is a tax break provided for pellet stove fuel due to it's low pollution, you're saving over 20% then on the fuel since it's not taxed.
We give out an EPA tax break here as well. Both are really good though! Thanks for watching.
While a constant electric is a problem for a pellet stove. A wood stove can heat up a room pretty quick and a pellet does take a while. A wood stove can dry out the air and a pellet stove is like a hair dryer with adjustable speed and temperature settings. Some places have no burn nights and a pellet stove can still be used on those nights without any air pollution. . Wood stoves have to clean out ashes every day but you just vaccum out the ashes in a pellet stove once a week with light ash build up like cigarettes ash and empty out the plate where the pellets burn once a day plus adding more pellets to the bin. You have to constantly chop wood but one pellet bag can last one or two days depending on use. Cost for a cord is over a hundred bucks and can be used up pretty quick. One pellet bag is about 5.50 to 6.00 bucks a bag and under 300.00 bucks can get you one ton of bags (50) that pretty much lasts a whole season. Research your pellet stove since some models give better heat. The exhaust port is four inches and you do have to have another two inch hole for outside air plus about a five foot electrical plug to a wall outlet. They are very heavy units requiring two people to move it around. The only problem to consider is whether your electric goes out all the time. But a generator helps if you do.
Good points!
Did not mention the creosol build up in the chimney that needs Maintenace. Also Chimney fires that can destroy the chimney in need of replacement.
Wow, an honest review, thanks. I live in Sicily wish you had a store here.
wow nice.
greetings from the Netherlands. Very useful video! Do you have any video in which you explain all the specific aspects of wood stoves? I have one and I have never tried to burn wood in it. So, I discover it slowly. All the best!
hopefully this will help you. ua-cam.com/video/hmTkL5oUCDU/v-deo.html
i heated with pellets previously, about 6 years ago i bought a used keystoker for $700. there is no comparison between anthracite coal and crappy pellets. much more heat output and much more energy dense fuel (coal). the coal stove is more reliable and doesnt require a monthly shut down. i burned 6 tons of pellets in a harman P61, and burn less then 3 ton in my keystoker 90K. the house is also much warmer in cold weather. get too close to that stoker when it's miserable outside and it will try to take the skin off your face (figuratively speaking). i have had the temperature gauge on my stove exceed 500 degrees and run that way for days if needed.
the keystoker runs off a thermostat as well. when the thermostat calls for heat it will run the stoker assembly constantly, when it's not calling for heat the stoker runs off an industrial style timer to sustain the fire. you can adjust the length of the stroke (much it feeds), and you can adjust the shutter on the combustion blower. (how much air..... how fast it burns). it has a hopper and the burn time is probably 40 hours in the most miserable, coldest weather.
it is a simple, robust, reliable unit.
i will never burn pellets ever again. they suck
Nice!
We went through the Texas power outage. We wouldn't be able to use a pellet stove without power. Our house is all electric, so we would only need combustion heat when the power is out.Probably going with a standby generator and window heat pump for those (hopefully) rare situations.
true
This was very helpful as I'm deciding right now. I was leaning towards pellet but now like wood. How does a wood stove throw off heat for a large room with no blower? Can a wood stove be vented thru a wall like a pellet? I live in SF Bay Area, I wish I could visit your store!
Glad it was helpful!
some people will put a fan on top. If it's a good stove you will feel radient heat.
In the SF Bay area buying wood is running aroudn the same cost as pellets per year.
I live in the santa cruz mountains where it gets quite cold in the winters and the pellet stove is a better option for me at this point, that being said I have a whole house generator so power outages dont phase me.
I heated this house on only wood fire for the last 10 years and its nice to finally have something you can use to heat the house up when youre gone for days, I can control pellets through the app remotely so if we leave for a week I keep it off the whole time or cycle it on once a day burn minimal , have 130lb hopper and on low that lasts about 4 days of keeping it on low for 8 hours per day, or keep it off the whole time and get the house nice and toasty before I return
I order pallets of pellets for 350 delivered, a cord of wood up here is hit or miss but you're not spending less than 350 for it, and in the dead of winter if you want well seasoned stuff that burns good and is mostly hardwoods, you're paying 500 to 650 delivered, but not stacked
so sort your wood source first before you make the comparison, sure outside of this expensive area you can save a lot of money with wood stove versus pellet, but here the price difference isnt nearly as much
also as far as I know California code, you cant vent a wood stove out the wall like you do a pellete stove, and if you did it would likely still be more expensive to do that.
I really think for SF Bay area and a brandnew install you should really be leaning more towards the pellet stove as a superior option.
But of course there are tons of factors involved and your specific location and county will play a part too, and on top of that, is this your primary/only source of heat, or just a nice to have option?
How do they compare to propane?
Like interchangable propane tanks?? These should last longer because the wood stays hot.
This video is very informative. It ought to help the consumer choose what style is beat for themselves.
agree!
Pellet stove hands down set it to desire temp, leave no worries has safety controls keeps house warm and toasty. I am going on 6 years with mine.
No mechanical issues ?