Where are you going to store the pellets? They come in big, heavy bags. You're still going to have to lug pellets.

What happens when you can't find pellets to buy? I would do some research to try to find out how pellet production and availability was affected by the events the last 2 years. With wood you can always find a tree to chop down!

Random thoughts:

- I didn't know pellet stoves required electricity. To my mind, that's a deal-breaker. I want a stove -- in part -- to have sure heat in emergencies, and I want it to run even if the electricity goes out.

- Yes, the availability of fuel should be a chief concern as you make your choice.

- My son-in-law buys pellets, and I have the impression they're easy to find. He bought a garbage can (keeps it in his garage). He's a plan-ahead kind of guy and keeps it full -- I'm not aware that pellets have become hard to find. He has homemade scoops cut from fabric softener bottles, so he lifts heavy burdens when he fills his garbage can ... but on a day-to-day basis he carries those small fillers.

- I disagree that everyone can find a tree to chop down: people in cities and suburbs don't always have access to trees or trucks to haul wood. Or knowledge of how various woods burn, how to fall a tree and split the wood. Or they don't own chainsaw, axes, etc. It's seriously not as easy as, "Just go chop a tree".

- I grew up on a farm, and our house was heated with wood. IT IS VERY REAL WORK to cut firewood yourself. Every fall the whole family (5 kids) worked 4-5 solid weekends to fill the woodshed -- someone always got hurt, and to say that we hated wood-weekends doesn't say half enough. What people don't always realize is that you can't burn "green wood" the year you cut it -- we had two woodsheds: one we'd fill this year, the second full of last year's wood /what we'd burn this year.

- For most people, buying a cord of wood is more practical than cutting your own. Buying cut wood is relatively expensive, if you're going to run your stove every day.

- With wood you always have bits of twigs and bark that need sweeping up, and you're always hauling in wood /hauling out ashes. It is the messiest of the choices.

- With wood you have to light the fire, and it takes a while to really "catch" and warm the room. It requires attention every hour or so, and you have to "let it die down" or "bank it" before you go to bed. Wood is REAL WORK to use.

- Why aren't you considering a gas stove? To my mind, it seems to be the best option: if you can't have gas run into your house, you can have a small tank out back. Gas prices rise and fall, but it's always available; my mom and my brother buy their gas in the spring /summer when the prices go down. Unlike wood, gas is an instant-on /instant off choice; that is, you can have a fire NOW, and you can turn it off NOW -- you can even get a remote control for your gas stove. Gas doesn't require that you bring in any supplies or that you haul away ashes.

Thank you for all of your responses.

@Sigrid Storing pellets is not a problem. We are on 4 acres in the country and store cords of wood for the basement wood stove.

@chispa Good point, finding pellets is not an issue

@Mrs Pete Thank you for your detailed answer. Yo are correct wood is work and lots of it. Messy too. We want the ambiance of a wood fireplace but without the mess and work, especially as we age, hence pellet insert. Propane Gas is not an option for many reasons, but you are rifht easy on snd off.

Mrs. Pete, my comment still stands, it is much easier to find a tree to cut down than manufacture your own pellets. That was my whole point. You infer way too much from a simple short comment! Don't you think people know it is hard work to cut and process firewood? lol

Mrs. Pete, my comment still stands, it is much easier to find a tree to cut down than manufacture your own pellets. That was my whole point. You infer way too much from a simple short comment! Don't you think people know it is hard work to cut and process firewood? lol

This comment presupposes that pellets are difficult to purchase.

I think people know that cutting wood is effort, but not everyone has experienced that effort.

We have both, so Ill tell you our experience. Pellets have been easy to find, and many suppliers give you a break on the price if you buy a winters supply in the fall. Pellets burn much slower than wood as well. Pellet stoves are useless in a power outage however, and the electric blower can be noisy as well. We keep the open bag inside a large covered garbage can with a scoop. We use a bucket to transport enough to fill the pellet hopper, as nobody would carry those big bags around! Wood can attract rodents and bugs. Wood fires have a lovely ambiance compared to a pellet stove, and we get lots of heat during a power outage from burning wood. We have a vacation home with a propane fireplace and it has the ability to be started with a battery back up in a power outage. It’s quiet and beautiful and we think the best of all three choices.

We have a wood stove. The electricity requirement for a pellet stove is a deal breaker for us. We wanted something that would provide heat in case of a power outage.

I hate gas fireplaces. We had them in previous houses and hardly used them. There is no comparison to the heat from wood. Yes wood is messier and yes chopping wood is not fun but it is worth the effort for us. We keep our wood behind our garage and then have a smaller rack on our deck which is right outside from where our stove is which we keep full.

My neighbor has a pellet stove and likes it. He has some sort of battery from his RV which he said he would plug his pellet stove into if there were power outages. But that also involves long extension cords running through the house. His pellet stove wasn't too loud but there was still fan noise which would be another nonstarter for us since our stove is in the room we watch tv in.

@momdotcom41 @vinmarks vThank you for sharing your exoeriences.

The fan noise is concerning to me, but so is the idea of lugging messy wood up the stairs. We know all about it as we have an EPA wood stove in our basement. I dont care about the mess in the basement, but the upstairs is another story. Guess its a toss up between 2 evils lol

I DO think wood is messier than the pellets.. but the fan drives me nuts. It’s in our finished walk out basement. My husband has adopted it it as his man cave because I don’t want to listen to that blower! If we are watching a movie, etc we really have to TURN UP THE VOLUME! I am staying upstairs. 😉

@momdotcom41 Do you mind me asking What Brand of pellet stove do you have or is it an insert. Thank you

Its freaking hilarious that the crowd that wants ”real wood” for all of everything in their home and turn their noses up at composite wood products, are perfectly happy to burn expensive composite wood products for heat.

Gas heat is far cleaner and easier to deal with.

@chispa - even if a tree were conveniently nearby to chop down (it’s not true for most people that “you can always find a tree to chop down“), and if there were an able-bodied person at home who can wield an axe (not always available for many people), and knows how to split logs, and also haul the wood to the home - even if that were all true, you still can’t burn green wood. It takes 6-12 months for freshly cut wood to season before you can burn it. So your idea of avoiding issues of pellet availability by having trees conveniently nearby does not make practical sense.

I hate gas fireplaces. We had them in previous houses and hardly used them. There is no comparison to the heat from wood.

It's true that wood gives more heat -- but most of us want a fireplace to "take the chill off", not to heat the whole house like we did when I was a kid. It's wise to investigate and know what you're getting /whether it will fulfill your own needs.

I DO think wood is messier than the pellets

Not just what you think. Wood IS messy -- it's a solid fact.

Its freaking hilarious that the crowd that wants ”real wood” for all of everything in their home and turn their noses up at composite wood products, are perfectly happy to burn expensive composite wood products for heat.

Eh, I'm not fussy over "real wood", but I do see a difference between a long-term item built into your house vs. a consumable product.

Gas heat is far cleaner and easier to deal with.

Without question.

@chispa - even if a tree were conveniently nearby to chop down (it’s not true for most people that “you can always find a tree to chop down“), and if there were an able-bodied person at home who can wield an axe (not always available for many people), and knows how to split logs, and also haul the wood to the home - even if that were all true, you still can’t burn green wood. It takes 6-12 months for freshly cut wood to season before you can burn it. So your idea of avoiding issues of pellet availability by having trees conveniently nearby does not make practical sense.

The very points I made.

I wouldn't take either one if the primary objective is heat, but based on heat alone the pellet stove transfers more heat over the wood burner. About 20% more from the specifications given by each manufacturer.

On the other hand I've ran a wood stove for twenty two years and one pleasure besides heat is watching the fire, and can't see any pleasure watching a pellet stove glow, so the wood burner would be the winner for me. If you get wood for free as I have the operation costs would give the wood burner a significant edge.

Pellets cost more per pound of wood but operation costs between the two would be negligible because of the efficiency difference between the two stoves and the fact pellets have a slightly higher BTU content per pound because there is less moisture. So I've given you the real pros and cons I believe are important to me, and not the cleanup or work involved because I don't mind work.

You said you need to pick between the two evils but there is a third better choice but it will cost more. I said I wouldn't take either if I had a choice, and would only consider a masonry wood stove if given a do over. I'd pick a masonry wood stove because it's the most efficient solid fuel heater with the highest transfer efficiency. It requires less wood, only burns for a few hours but provides heat for 18-20 hrs. You have a fire to watch for a few hours in a day but will provide heat nearly the entire day and can't be beat by any thing on the market.

Plus like the wood stove the masonry stove doesn't need electricity and in the event of an EMP you won't freeze.

We like our wood burning fireplace. We Can always pick up some wood bundles at the local grocery store here in CT——We purchased a ‘blower’ that sits on the ground in front of the fire. When the fire reaches a certain temp it blows the heat into the room. Works very very well.

@kevin9408 I aporeciate your detailed explanation. There is no fas in our area, other than propane. We have an EPA wood burning stove in the basement and have had EPA rated fireplaces in previous homes. We have an old not efficient wood fireplace in the upstairs living room. The choice is between high efficiency wood and pellet insert. We burn wood in it and its a pia, messy, carrying it up etc.

Yes, worst of both evils, Pellet insert might be noisy. Wood is messy, etc. I plan to go to see and hear in person.

The Harman Pellet insert does a great fire mimicking job. Hopefully it won‘t sound like a train engine.