Wood Pellet Stoves

The Advantages Of Wood Pellet Stoves

As the cost of heating fuel continues to skyrocket, many people are looking for alternative fuel sources.  Wood has served this purpose for thousands of years.  That said, wood pellet stoves offer some distinct advantages over more traditional wood burning stoves.

To begin, wood pellet stoves are environmentally friendly.  The wood pellets that they use are referred to as “carbon neutral” because they do not emit greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.  In addition, today there are wood pellet stoves that can burn other types of pellets.  As an example, some can burn vegetable based pellets such as corn and and black oil sunflower seeds.  Others are capable of burning grass pellets, as well as those made from rye and wheat.

Anyone that has lived with a coal stove or wood stove knows that it must be constantly monitored.  If there is not enough material to burn, the fire will go out.  While wood pellet stoves cannot feed themselves, they do have hoppers that you can load the wood pellets into.  As pellets inside the stove burn up, more are drawn in from the hopper.  Therefore, you can go for hours on end without ever having to add more fuel.

With a traditional wood stove, even if you feel too warm, it is not likely that you will want to douse out the fire, only to have to start a new one later on.   Perhaps this highlights one of the most unique advantages of wood pellet stoves.  They actually have an ignition switch that will automatically start a fire whenever it is needed.  This is ignition switch is paired up with a regular thermostat.  As the temperature moves out of the ideal range, wood pellet stoves will start up or stop burning wood as needed.

Wood pellet stoves also have a clear advantage over oil burners.  You have only to take a look at the cost of home heating fuel, plus the egregious cost of delivery charges to realize it is time to find another heating method.  Even though wood pellet stoves require specialized pellets, these are cheaper than purchasing fossil fuel.  In addition, when you choose wood pellet stoves over oil burners, you are sending the oil industry a message that you can do without their products.

Because wood pellet stoves can be controlled by a thermostat, they use less fuel than a conventional wood stove.  Considering the prices of the necessities of life, this can amount to more savings than you might at first think.  In addition, wood pellet stoves offer all of the modern conveniences associated with oil burners.  Along with not having to start a fire, you can even find wood pellet stoves that have central heating units and attached boilers.