Wood stoves, wood boilers, wood furnaces, pellet stoves — when it comes to heating your home with wood, there is no shortage of appliances to choose from.
This begs the question, though: Which wood heating appliance should you use to heat your home?
At HY-C, we manufacture forced-air wood burning furnaces under our Fire Chief and Shelter brand names. We also manufacture wood pellet fuel under our Flame Genie brand.
We know wood heating and wood pellets, and in this guide, we’re going to help you decide whether or not heating your home with pellet fuel is right for you.
We’ll take an honest, in-depth look at some of the pros and cons of heating a home with pellets. We’ll provide information on both the fuel itself and the appliances that utilize it.
By the time you’re finished here, you’ll know whether or not wood pellet heating is the right choice for your home.
Wood Pellet Heating Pros
1. Wood Pellet Stoves Have Ultra-Long Burn Times
One of the most labor-intensive aspects of owning a wood heating appliance is adding fuel to it to keep the fire going. Wood stove and wood furnace owners know this all too well.
Burn times on those appliances come in at around 8 hours (on average). This not only means that you have to add wood to your furnace or stove up to three times a day, but you have to be mindful of the time of day at which you load the appliance (so you don’t run out of heat in the middle of the night).
One huge advantage of using a pellet stove, though, is that you seldom have to worry about burning through your fuel as you sleep.
This is because pellet stoves use a hopper system that automatically burns the pellets as efficiently as possible. Most pellet stoves’ hoppers can hold about 40 pounds of pellet fuel. The burning process usually starts by simply pouring an entire bag of pellets into the hopper.
From there, the stove automatically feeds in the optimum number of pellets needed to satisfy the temperature on the thermostat — not too few, not too many.
On industry-leading pellet stove models, this automated system results in burn times up to 40 hours before you have to reload the hopper. That’s a burn time five times longer than a wood furnace or wood stove.
2. Wood Pellet Stoves Are Very Efficient
Among pellet stoves, wood furnaces, and wood stoves, pellet stoves are, on average, some of the most efficient wood heating appliances on the market today.
In terms of percentages, wood furnaces have efficiency ratings in the low- to mid-70s. Wood stoves generally have efficiency ratings from the high-60s to the mid-70s.
But pellet stoves stand out with efficiency scores ranging from the high-70s to the low-80s.
This means that very little energy from the pellet fuel is wasted. Rather than escaping up the flue, the heat energy produced by pellet stoves does a better job at making it into your living space than heat energy produced by a wood stove or wood furnace.
In all, this means that pellet stoves perform very well, helping you to get the most heat for your money.
3. Wood Pellet Stoves Produce Low Emissions
With the EPA’s recent regulations on wood heating appliances, maintaining low emissions from your wood heating appliance is more important than ever. Luckily, if you’re considering a pellet stove, you’ll experience some of the lowest emissions possible from a wood heater.
Take wood stoves as an example. When looking at the specifications of some of the best wood stoves on the market, their average emissions rate comes out to 1.29 grams of particulates per hour of burn time.
When you consider some of the best pellet stoves on the market, though, their average emissions rate comes out to 1.03 grams of particulates per hour of burn time.
This is because rather than potentially burning wet, unseasoned firewood, pellet fuel maintains an ultra-low moisture content of around 8%.
If you’re looking for a low-emissions wood heating appliance, a pellet stove is hard to beat.
Wood Pellet Heating Cons
1. Wood Pellet Fuel Takes Up Space
This is no different than the firewood you would use for a wood stove or wood furnace, but it’s still an important caveat to consider: Wood pellet fuel commands quite a bit of storage space.
Most pellet stove owners report that they use anywhere from 2.5 tons to 5 tons of wood pellet fuel to get through a heating season. That’s 5,000 to 10,000 pounds of pellets.
Most pellet manufacturers pack their pellets either in 40-pound or 20-pound bags. Given our 2.5-ton-to-5-ton range, that averages out to between 125 bags to 500 bags of pellets per heating season (depending on whether you’re buying 40-pound or 20-pound bags).
Obviously, storing this many bags of wood pellets takes up quite a lot of room. That’s why pellet stove owners tend to buy their pellets in pallet quantities.
Using our 20-pound bags of Flame Genie Premium Hardwood Pellets as an example, you’d need three to five pallets of 100 bags of pellets to get through a heating season.
For reference, storing these pallets can easily take up most of the space inside a two-car garage. If you’re going to buy a pellet stove, make sure you have plenty of extra room available to store your pellets (as well as the means to move a heavy pallet around easily).
2. Pellet Stove Require a Large Upfront Investment
Again, this is true for all wood heating appliances, but pellet stoves are no exception: Installing one requires a decent chunk of change. On the plus side, it has the potential to pay for itself over time (relative to more costly fuel sources like propane or natural gas in some areas). But you should expect to spend a good amount of money from the outset.
First, there’s the cost of the unit itself, which can run you anywhere between $900 and $2,500 or more depending on which one you buy. But there are plenty of other cost factors to consider, too.
For instance, you’ll need a stove board to ensure the appliance is safe to use around combustible materials. You’ll also need to install a chimney to vent out any combustion byproducts, which means buying chimney pipe. You’ll need a cap for that chimney, too, and potentially someone to install everything.
All told, buying and installing a pellet stove can run you anywhere between $3,000 and $6,000 depending on which unit you buy and the layout of your home. For some, the cost is worth it in the long term. So be sure to budget the project out to ensure it’s worth your while.
3. Pellet Stoves Have a Limited Heating Area
Pellet stoves are more efficient than wood stoves or wood furnaces. They also burn more cleanly than either of those appliances. But wood stoves and wood furnaces do have one glaring advantage over pellet stoves: their heating area.
A top-of-the-line wood furnace can heat a home up to 3,000 square feet in size. Even a good wood stove can comfortably heat a 2,500-square-foot home.
But pellet stoves tend to top out around 2,000 square feet, with most models’ comfort zone residing around the 1,500-square-foot mark.
Obviously, this point simply comes down to the size of your home. If you live in a 1,200 square-foot ranch, a good pellet stove will probably heat your home just fine. But if you live in a multi-story 4,000-square-foot house, a wood stove or a wood furnace may serve you better.
Should You Heat Your Home with Wood Pellets?
There you have it: an in-depth look at the pros and cons of heating your home with pellet fuel. We covered a lot here, but if you’re still trying to decide whether or not you should rely on wood pellets for heat, here are some things to consider.
For starters, think about the size of your home. If you live in a house that’s 2,000 square feet or smaller, chances are there’s a pellet stove out there that will work well for you. Any homes bigger than that may not receive adequate heat, especially in the rooms farthest from the stove.
Next, consider whether or not you have the storage space for pellet fuel. You’ll likely need hundreds of bags to heat your home comfortably through the fall and winter months, so make sure you have a place to put them all.
Finally, don’t forget that purchasing and installing a pellet stove is an investment. While the unit may cover its own cost in a matter of years, you’re likely to spend thousands, even if you’re doing a self-install.
If you check all three of those boxes, there’s a good chance that heating with wood pellets will work for you. If that’s the case, be sure to check out our guide to the top pellet stoves on the market today.
And while you’re at it, take a look at some of the best wood pellet fuels on the market. After all, you’ll need a steady supply of pellets to feed your brand-new stove, and it’s imperative to choose the right ones.
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