when I first went pellet, I was working 1.5 hours away form home, 9+ hours a day. Sheer logisitics of being gone for 12 hours a day meant i'd have to rely on the oil pig to keep the house warm after the wood stove burned out. Perhaps a retired man or someone working from home, or someone with a spouse at home, etc to feed it, this becomes a better solution. the pellet stove allows me to top it off before I leave for work and come home to it still burning and keeping the place warm. I also don't have to wake up in the middle of the night to stuff it, poke it, or wake up to a cold house either.
Also, while great for the winter, it doesn't do a thing for keeping my meat from spoiling in the summer. I'd argue that I have more power outages in the summer from T-storms and such than I do in the winter from snow and ice.
While I do have an insert, my fireplace is a working unit. If it REALLY came down to it in the winter, I could easily rip the stove and pipe out and burn wood directly in the fireplace. I do have about a 1/2 cord of wood in the yard stacked that I use mostly for summer firepit stuff. Should get me through a couple days at least, and there's tons of woods near by with deadfall to scavenge if necessary. My old man lives just a mile away and has a few cords split from sandy havoc hat brought down a few trees in his yard. And since his fireplace doesn't work (leaks smoke like crazy), pops can bring the heat over here! lol I have 3 propane tanks at the house now. 1 on the grill, 2 as spares. That will supply cooking for a little while at least.
I've considered getting a 2nd stove, and it would be a wood stove, on the level2 below my pellet stove. I have a split level that is 2x2 if you will, half stories each. flight.
======== 4 (bedrooms)
............========3 (pellet level, kitchen, livingroom)
========2 (den/living/playroom/office/etc behind at garage level)
..........=========1 (basement)
level 1 stays warm enough from the oil pig running the hot water... mid 60s without anything else. it is a finished area. tv room, man cave, whatever you want to call it. I currently rent it out to a buddy of mine and he uses it as a studio apartment type deal. The oil pig also runs to heat level 2 to 55* most the time when i'm not using it (which is basically never....) I'd like to put the wood stove at this level to a, help heat it to get me even further off oil, but also provide another heat source option.
The problem is venting. I don't know how to clear the bedroom windows with a wood stove up out, and up over two stories + roof pitch without it looking hideous. This is also the street view side of my house too. my furnace and chimney are on the complete other side of the house.
Anyway, ultimately, the generator was to run the fridge and freezer to keep my meat from spoiling. anything above and beyond, is pure 'nice to have'. I'd LIKE to run my pellet stove, LIKE to have some lights, laptop, etc etc, but none of it is actually required.
I have powered the essentials for a week at a time three times with no drama but that doesn't mean things were done right.
