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Just an Observation

18 years ago

Lots of posts about pellet stove problems..Just wondering why so many chose pellet over wood?..Never hear any problems with wood stoves.Is it just the fact that some people feel dealing with wood is a hassle?

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Comments (3)

kframe19
18 years ago
Availability of wood supply, ability to store wood, hassle of dragging it in, insect infestation possibility, ash disposal...

Whole lot of reasons why people might not want to deal with wood.

I, for example, don't have any place to store wood. I live in a townhouse. Pellets, on the other hand, are a much better solution if I decide I want a stove. I can store the bags in the basement.

Pellet stoves do have more problems because they're a lot more complex, with a bunch of moving parts. Wood stoves don't have all that.
brad_brown2
18 years ago
Oh, geesh. That's an easy answer. My parents had a wood-burning insert in their fireplace when I was growing up. What a pain in the arse! Getting truckloads of wood, splitting it, stacking it, all the bugs and spiders in the woodpile...then hauling it inside. Yucko. And the worst part was, there was no good way to control the heat - so the living room ended up being like 90 degrees when the dang thing was burning.

A pellet stove? 10 times easier. Go to the store, buy a couple tons of 40 pound, easy to carry and easy to stack bags of pellets, and you have enough for the entire year. They stack neatly and easily in the garage. Much easier.

No mess in the house. Just bring a bag in, dump it into the stove, and throw the plastic bag away. Turn on the thermostat for the pellet stove - it lights automatically, and it turns itself on and off automatically at whatever temperature that I set the thermostat on. It's great!

Yes, pellet stoves are more expensive that wood stoves, and since they have more mechanical parts in them, they naturally have issues that a plain old woodstove or fireplace would not have. But for the ease of operation, cleanliness, and temperature control that you have with a pellet stove, they are the only choice in my opinion.
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theplayer
Original Author
18 years ago
well..I'm 41 and have a wood burning insert and couldn't be happier. The hassle is minimal..get wood deliverd, stack on my front porch. No spiders or bugs, no splitting. I bring in a few handfuls in the morning and ready to go. I wouldn't consider this 10 times hardier than bags of pellets. I like seeing the wood burn,the smell and the flames. I can easily control the temp with the air flow and the high and low blower settings. I think you exaggerated just about every point. lol To each his own I guess.

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