Granted, I need to put pellets into my stove every 20 to 24 hours, running it constantly at its lowest setting. It would probably use more pellets on a higher heat setting, might use less if I installed a thermostat. Filling the hopper isn't all that much of a chore, however, and some pellet stoves have a larger hopper than mine has.
But is there some other convenience? Well, for starters, no splinters, no unwieldy chainsaw, no need to split wood, no need to wait 3 years for it to dry, no need for bulky storage space.
In my case, chopping and splitting are no longer in the cards for me--the result of an accident a couple of years ago--and the local cord-wood suppliers here don't seem to be willing to stack for you. And let's not even talk about how much they charge just to pile it in the driveway! Moving a couple of cords a few splits at a time is time-consuming in the best of circumstances, and my damaged shoulder can take only so much before it needs a rest. On the other hand, the pellet deliveryman will stack for me, and I can still lift a 40-lb. pellet bag fairly easily, so getting bags of pellets inside is more manageable than stacking the woodpile and then getting splits inside the house. Not only that, but three tons of pellets take up a lot less space than the cordage I would need for a wood stove. I only need to bring pellets in from the garage about once a week or so.
Pellet stove fire-starting is automatic nowadays, though probably no more convenient than using a torch on your splits, lol! But a pellet stove requires almost no tending, once you get the settings figured out for your heating requirements and the brand of pellets you're using. I just press the ON button, and I'm set. There's almost no ash to deal with, especially compared to a log fire, although ash quantity varies by brand of pellet and type of wood they used. So far, we've been doing just fine without a thermostat, but I'm toying with the idea of putting one in.
Now, by saying all that I don't mean to minimize the pleasures of wood burning. In your situation, you may not find a pellet stove to be any handier than a wood stove. I can certainly understand someone preferring a wood stove over a pellet stove. They simply offer different pleasures and conveniences. And of course the convenience of pellet stoves has its tradeoffs in terms of repair costs, amount of stuff that can go wrong, etc. I'll likely get a wood stove for the living room (the fireplace is pretty, but not a good source of heat), just so we'll have a heat source when the power goes out.
