The BIG PICTURE, differences between stoves.

[Mark8]

That depends on your perspective. I like cutting wood. I hate working on pellet stoves.

Please share your experience about pellet stoves being a pain in the ***

 

[Mark8]

Good point - but then you are also including a vendor (pellets) and pricing that you have no control over. Wood actually grows on trees. Part joke but part serious.

And then there is those tiny little chainsaws to make the pellets.... (all joke).

But if you don't have a forest to cut wood from does it make a difference, don't you need to pay for wood as you wood for pellets, (would/wood)

 

[Tar12]

Please share your experience about pellet stoves being a pain in the ***

Go to the Pellet Mill forum and start reading...auger problems..convection issues..no ignition...wont shut off..error codes..ect...ect...it appears to me that the durability compared to a wood stove is simply not there.I have several friends that went the pellet stove route and none of them still own them and they all went to using various wood stoves for the peace of mind that it is not going to fail.

 

[Mark8]

Go to the Pellet Mill forum and start reading...auger problems..convection issues..no ignition...wont shut off..error codes..ect...ect...it appears to me that the durability compared to a wood stove is simply not there.I have several friends that went the pellet stove route and none of them still own them and they all went to using various wood stoves for the peace of mind that it is not going to fail.

You would think if there are so many problems with pellet stoves the manufactures would of fixed them or stoped making them, can the technology not be improved upon.

 

[Rearscreen]

Let's elaborate about pellet stoves, is the maintenance not worth the convenience of not cutting wood.

We are talking radiant versus convective and I personally prefer the feeling of radiant. I think that's why so many of us flock to the beach to fryolate ourselves. Difference is: the light factor with the sun and it's waves and particles can give us cancer. Not so with a radiant woodstove. I hope.

 

[lsucet]

I used to have two pellet stoves connected at the same time. On tstat, and when they did good I don't want to go back to them. I still have one connected and in working order cause I want to have it for just in case. But looks like it has been retired.lol. I use to get the pellets straight from the company that supply Costco stores around here. Brand are tiny-timber and calientitos. 200 for the ton or so. I prefer wood stoves.

 

[begreen]

Folks come here mainly because they have a question or problem. Many pellet owners have pellet stoves that have been operational for years. We had one for 5 yrs and it worked well. I sold it when I removed the fireplace. It worked fine then too. My main objection was the noise, it's a small wood furnace, it was not the servicing or maintenance. If it was in a basement then I would have not minded it.

 

[Tar12]

You would think if there are so many problems with pellet stoves the manufactures would of fixed them or stoped making them, can the technology not be improved upon.

I am sure there are some better than others out there but there is simply to much involved mechanically/moving parts for them to ever be trouble free or claim that they are as durable and trouble free as wood stoves.I want heat and reliability not a constant lets see if we can keep it running or wait for it to fail project..

 

[Jags]

But if you don't have a forest to cut wood from does it make a difference, don't you need to pay for wood as you wood for pellets, (would/wood)

I don’t own a wood lot and have never paid for wood. But I do have lots of friends.......

 

[HomeinPA]

I have a Quadrafire 5700 which replaced a 3100. I love this stove. It'll hold 22" wood and I load it full front to back, top to bottom every night before bed and if it had to, it would have plenty of coals after 12 hours to get it going again. It's the older style 5700 with 2 air control dampers. I think the design changed a number of years back to a single air inlet and the new style doesn't have the same positive reviews that my style has. We heat our entire 2 story house with it (furnace is disconnected) along with the help from the forced air blower system.

Finding a place to cut wood can be a challenge sometimes and getting older doesn't make it easier. Fortunately I still have one son left at home in college who helps mom and dad out any way he can. Once he graduates and leaves us to fend for ourselves and we can't keep up with wood cutting I have a reconditioned Harman Invincible pellet stove in the shop covered up with a blanket that will go in place of the Quad.

As for pellet vs. wood, the biggest issue I will have is when the power goes out the stove is useless. Well, that and the price of pellets. I haven't looked to see if there is a way to hook up a deep cycle battery on an invincible yet so maybe that'll be an option.

 

[bholler]

I am sure there are some better than others out there but there is simply to much involved mechanically/moving parts for them to ever be trouble free or claim that they are as durable and trouble free as wood stoves.I want heat and reliability not a constant lets see if we can keep it running or wait for it to fail project..

Yes harman makes fantastic pellet stoves. They are reliable and easy to work on. Which makes their wood stoves confusing because they are neither

 

[bholler]

I have a Quadrafire 5700 which replaced a 3100. I love this stove. It'll hold 22" wood and I load it full front to back, top to bottom every night before bed and if it had to, it would have plenty of coals after 12 hours to get it going again. It's the older style 5700 with 2 air control dampers. I think the design changed a number of years back to a single air inlet and the new style doesn't have the same positive reviews that my style has. We heat our entire 2 story house with it (furnace is disconnected) along with the help from the forced air blower system.

Finding a place to cut wood can be a challenge sometimes and getting older doesn't make it easier. Fortunately I still have one son left at home in college who helps mom and dad out any way he can. Once he graduates and leaves us to fend for ourselves and we can't keep up with wood cutting I have a reconditioned Harman Invincible pellet stove in the shop covered up with a blanket that will go in place of the Quad.

As for pellet vs. wood, the biggest issue I will have is when the power goes out the stove is useless. Well, that and the price of pellets. I haven't looked to see if there is a way to hook up a deep cycle battery on an invincible yet so maybe that'll be an option.

The newer quads are as good. I just dont like the way they changed the tupes an baffle they are much harder to service. But they seem to have fixed the cracking issue.

 

[Mark8]

So if Blaze King has this special Technology compared to other stoves, is it only a matter of time before all the other manufacturers go out of business. What is so special about a blaze king compared to other cat stoves, pros and cons. Is there any negatives about a BK compared to other cat stoves. Remember when VHS won over BETA

 

[Jan Pijpelink]

I don’t own a wood lot and have never paid for wood. But I do have lots of friends.......

I wish I had friends.

 

[lsucet]

I don't think other manufacturers are going to be out of business, cause always going to be somebody purchasing their products.
Some will sacrifice a percentage of performance for looks, other long/low burn doesn't mean anything cause they have other heat sources to compensate, etc. Others have their wives telling them, YOU WILL NOT PUT THAT UGLY STOVE IN HERE. Always will be different markets due to those details.

 

[Knots]

That's a lot to sum up and as you said, added variable is what is important to each person.

I put a large importance on having the stove work in an extended power outage. As a result, I want something that is as simple as possible. I use the stove all the time, but when that big ice storm is coming, that's when it really earns it's keep.

The Jotul F55 fits the bill for me since it's just a steel box, a door, and a damper. I'm cobbling up a fan for it (Jotul wants over 300 for theirs!), but it has worked fine for a few seasons without one.

I fill it full of big splits most of the time.

The big "glass" and the secondary air burn are big improvements in modern stoves that I like and don't affect my primary goals.

At the extended end of the brutal 2015 winter here, people were lined-up at the stove store waiting for the pellet shipment to come in. Of, course this can be avoided by stocking up, but I just want to point out that you need that product to make your pellet stove work. From what I've read, there's different quality with different brands. I like being able to walk out my front door and cut up a tree instead of being dependent on a manufactured product.

 

[Tar12]

Yes harman makes fantastic pellet stoves. They are reliable and easy to work on. Which makes their wood stoves confusing because they are neither

You know where they are spending the R&D money then!

 

[edyit]

So if Blaze King has this special Technology compared to other stoves, is it only a matter of time before all the other manufacturers go out of business. What is so special about a blaze king compared to other cat stoves, pros and cons. Is there any negatives about a BK compared to other cat stoves. Remember when VHS won over BETA

from what i've read here the main advantage of a bk is the low and slow burn ability, being able to turn it down and not roast yourself out of the room. if that is what you need then great, for me personally i'm not looking for low and slow heat so the biggest feature really doesn't do much for me. a tube stove system works best for my particular set up. i don't think other stove manufacturers are going to go out of business due to bk. my 5 year old niece would ask you what a vhs is ...

 

[Bootstrap]

Pellet stoves are for people who want supplemental heating without much of the work of a wood stove. In reality though, you only save the harvesting work. You still have to lug bags inside, though its less work than lugging logs inside. You still have to clean it out, though its also less. I don't like the dependency factor of a pellet stove. You need electricity. And you need repair when it breaks.
Quite honestly though, I wouldn't get a pellet stove. I would get a anthracite coal stove if I wanted to reduce work load. An anthracite coal stove will heat much like a wood stove, but with a work load similar to a pellet stove. They don't stink like a bituminous coal stove, they burn really clean. Clean out of such a stove is more frequent than a wood stove is, but not hard at all.
Unlike a wood stove, you cant dump those ashes in your garden. They need to cool off then throw in the garbage.
Someday when I don't feel like cutting wood any more, one of two things will happen. 1: buy wood and have it delivered-still cheaper than oil or 2: install a anthracite coal stove insert.
Pellet stoves are a joke compared to coal stoves.

 

[Bootstrap]

Oh and if you plug all the numbers into a fuel cost calculator, %efficiency, cost of the fuel, etc....you find out that pellets are more expensive than gas and right up there with oil.
The pellet companies are laughing all the way to the bank.

 

[Tar12]

So if Blaze King has this special Technology compared to other stoves, is it only a matter of time before all the other manufacturers go out of business. What is so special about a blaze king compared to other cat stoves, pros and cons. Is there any negatives about a BK compared to other cat stoves. Remember when VHS won over BETA

Nope....different strokes for different folks..different income levels...different price points...different heating requirements and mind sets...some homes are not insulated very well and they feel that non-cats can provide overwhelming firepower...Not sure I would agree with that as I had no problem maintaing 80 plus on those -30 mornings we had and yes the stove was run harder as any stove would be in those conditions... ..some are scared of the alien technology...no need to be as it is ultra reliable...if you have a reasonably insulated home a cat stove will serve you very well indeed while drastically reducing your wood consumption and associated costs.Thats very important to me as I have other things to do! I have ran non cat stoves and hated the temp fluctuations and relative short burn times.I like to load this cat stove and set and forget it till I get home. I feel the 2 top dogs in the cat game are the BK and Woodstock stoves...while I chose a BK Princess the Woodstock ran a very close second! The BK won out as it fit my situation better and I have not regretted it for one second!....but if my situation were to change I wouldn't hesitate to drop in a Ideal steel!

 

[bholler]

Oh and if you plug all the numbers into a fuel cost calculator, %efficiency, cost of the fuel, etc....you find out that pellets are more expensive than gas and right up there with oil.
The pellet companies are laughing all the way to the bank.

That is another reason i am switching to fas over pellet. If i had natural gas available i would burn allot less wood to.

 

[KennyK]

One thing that I don't think anyone has mentioned yet, which was a factor for me in going wood over pellet was the visuals of a real wood burn over pellet. A wood stove's fire is beautiful to watch, calming, peaceful and majestic. From the pellet stoves I have seen, the fire is jumpy and frenetic. I just got my first wood stove installed and we love it! While I knew I would find myself sitting beside it a lot, I found it attracts my kids too, who are drawn to the room not only for the warmth, but for the beautiful glow!

As I said, I'm new to this and also recently got my first cord of wood delivered (yes, I made the mistake that everyone on this site warns newbies against, which was not stocking up on wood early and even before getting a stove!). They dumped it in my driveway and I had to wheelbarrow wood one load at a time through my fence door and stack it. It was a lot of work, I won't lie! But, good exercise and felt good to be outside and felt great when it was done. In the future I'll do this in the spring and I'm sure it will be more enjoyable. I guess with pellets I'd have been lugging bags, so not sure if that's much different. I bought a nice log carrying bag on amazon for about $20 and I don't mind loading that a few times to bring wood inside from the pile every few days. Good luck!

 

[Mark8]

i don't think other stove manufacturers are going to go out of business due to bk. my 5 year old niece would ask you what a vhs is ...

LOL so true. DVD won.


Everyone's personal experiences is awesome info, keep posting.

 

[Highbeam]

You can buy wood! When comparing wood and pellet stoves you do not need to bring chainsaws, hard labor, and lack of an available forest into consideration. You can buy natural wood, manufactured wood, and wood pellets all ready to burn and all delivered to your storage spot.

The pellet stoves offer automation. Room temperature thermostatic control and some models offer a large hopper for every other day refills. Sure they need power but so does my refrigerator. I suggest a little generator if you are concerned with warm food or a cold house from a power outage.

When considering money, a pellet stove requires parts replacements alarmingly often. Motors, computers, and deep cleaning. They are also more expensive to buy. The fuel cost is only part of it.

The noise!