OT : Wood or Pellet fireplace inserts ?

[Smiley]

Any thoughts from the gallery on BEST brands with stellar efficency as well Wood or Pellets please ?

[billrick]

I don't have an answer for you, but if you haven't found this place yet, check it out:

http://www.hearthandpatiostore.com/index.htm

And there is supposed to be another good retailer-installer near Annapolis.

Let us know what you get!

:)

[thejen12]

I have an EPA approved wood-burning insert (I got it many years ago and I don't think the company is in business any more). My thought about wood vs. pellets was that I can get wood anywhere (usually free, too), but I have to buy pellets at the store.

One of the reasons I wanted the insert was to get out from under gas bills for the furnace. The price of natural gas changes constantly and I hate buying something that I don't know the price of until later. And I wanted to be able to decline the product if the price is too high. With pellets, I'll know the price ahead of time, but I still have to pay someone for the privilege of using my fireplace. I had a good laugh when we had a cold snap last month and they had a story on the news that pellets were sold out and people were driving all over trying to find them.

That said, wood can be messy, and if you make your own it can be a fair amount of work. It also takes up storage space, invites bugs, is heavy, gets wet, etc. It can get smokey trying to start a wood fire (my chimney has a terrible draw). Pellets seem to be really easy to use - more like another appliance than a lifestyle choice. ;) The convenience factor was very attractive, and they probably make them to burn cleaner than wood. I've only seen one pellet insert in action - it made a lot of noise when the pellets fed in, and they seemed to feed in on a regular basis (I don't remember how often, but maybe every 20 minutes or so?). I found that annoying, but I'm sure I could get used to it.

Good luck with your choice!

Jenn

[David Kirk]

I heat my shop with a "Cheap Charley" wood pellet stove and like it very much. Keeps the shop toasty warm for about $130 a winter even here out on the tundra.

Dave

[pbbob]

whitfield pellet stoves. have 2 of them

[zap]

:) , you read today's WP RE section.

[CNY rider]

We have a QuadraFire pellet insert that we are very happy with.

We have a 2300 square foot house, in a very cold part of upstate NY and the stove does most of our home heating. It's on a thermostat so it turns itself on and off. The installers did a wonderful job with matching materials, so it looks like it naturally belongs there, as opposed to just being something shoved in the fireplace.

Pellets feed essentially continuously. The only thing you hear is the fan that circulates the heat from the stove.

I did a tremendous amount of research when we purchased ours 3 years ago. The two that I wanted were Harman and Quadra-fire. The Quadrafire model I wanted fit our particular fireplace and the Harman did not so the choice was easy.

Pellets were more expensive this year than in the past. Ours were $225/ton delivered. We will probably use a little over 3 tons this winter. YMMV.

[Smiley]

We have a QuadraFire pellet insert that we are very happy with.

We have a 2300 square foot house, in a very cold part of upstate NY and the stove does most of our home heating. It's on a thermostat so it turns itself on and off. The installers did a wonderful job with matching materials, so it looks like it naturally belongs there, as opposed to just being something shoved in the fireplace.

Pellets feed essentially continuously. The only thing you hear is the fan that circulates the heat from the stove.

I did a tremendous amount of research when we purchased ours 3 years ago. The two that I wanted were Harman and Quadra-fire. The Quadrafire model I wanted fit our particular fireplace and the Harman did not so the choice was easy.

Pellets were more expensive this year than in the past. Ours were $225/ton delivered. We will probably use a little over 3 tons this winter. YMMV.

a ton is 2000 pounds , is that the same measurement ? Where do you store that much stuff ?

[CNY rider]

You've got mail.

[Bruce H.]

We made the decision to place an insert this year. After much research we installed a Freedom by Lopi Stoves. We bought 3 cords of wood. Used almost 2. so far. At full strength it is so warm you need to leave the house, but can dampen to suit your preferences. To date we have had only 2 oil deliceries vs 6 last year.
The startup costs with installation is expebsive. 2500 for stove etc. Probably will pay for itself by end of season. Burns to less than one ince of ash. And can burn up to 10-12 hours. We are very happy with our choice.
We have a large 5 BR colonial. Even send the heat to second floor but barely so we augment the 2nd floor with a small propane stove.
Good luck finding pellets in season.
Bruce H

[Too Tall]

Smiles, that was a Lopi insert warming your toes at Stuporbowl this yr. and it is one of the most efficient wood inserts avail Acme in Gaithersburg is the place to go. A pellet stove sounds nice on paper but fact is your don't HEAT your house with it...rather you'll supplement the heat and enjoy the ambience kapish? I am hard pressed to burn more than a cord...these things really cook. If you learn to run it than a full load of hardwood will last 6-7 hrs....I usually run it in that mode overnight and there are enough embers to restart in the am without bothering with kindling etc. Come check out ours.

[Dave]

Burning wood certainly isn't environmentally friendly. If everyone in a highly populated area did it, you couldn't breathe for all the smoke. It wouldn't take long to run out of wood either. At least natural gas burns clean.

In the Denver metro area, wood burning devices can't be installed in new homes. Older homes can still use them, but not on red days, when the smog is bad.

[jhcakilmer]

I would disagree.....wood burning is probably one of the most enviromentally friend heating sources since it is a carbon nuetral fuel. This because it absorbs as much carbon when it grows, as when it is burnt. The same amount of carbon would be released if the dead trees where left in the woods to rot.

I agree that natural gas burns clean, but all the electricity that is used to pump, and refine it, along with most other electricity comes from burning fossil fuels....which is defintely the leading cause of green house gases.

Wood burning probably produces a fraction of the CO2 and smog, that is released in Denver, compared to the vehicles, and factories!

As long as you keep the fire burning hot, and aquire complete combution...it will burn quite clean. Some of the new stoves even have catalytic converters on them.

Finally, I'm not a big fan of the pellet stoves, I definitely prefer wood. All of the pellet stoves that I've seen use blowers to encourage the burning, so if the power goes out you loose most, if not all of your heat.

Just my $0.02

[scooter]

Feeling the Heat, Just Where It's Needed
By M.J. McAteer
Special to The Washington Post
Saturday, February 10, 2007; Page F01

Did you see this article in Saturday's Washington Post? It discusses the various fireplace/woodstove options (fuel, effciency, etc.) and things you should consider: [URL=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/09/AR2007020900102.html?sub=AR]

[shemp]

I use a Harmon Accentra free standing cast iron pellet stove to heat our entire house (about 2000 sq ft). I live in New England, on average I go through 3 - 4 tons a winter depeneding on how cold it gets. 1 ton of pellets takes up about the same amount of space as a cord of wood and lasts twice as long (We also have a Vermont Castings wood stove in the basement family room). Most reputable companies will offer better pricing if you purchase your pellets in the summer. Pellets burn much more cleanly and cause much less of a mess then wood. On the coldest nights/days she goes through about 40 lbs in 24 hours (1 bag usually weighs 40 lbs) has a thermostat and variable fan speed with battery back up incase we lose power.

Harman is one of the few stoves that can burn all the alternative fuels from corn to cheap pellets.

All in all a great stove, I will miss it when we sell our place!


Shemp!