Wood vs. Pellet Stove - NO OTHER HEAT SOURCE

[begreen]

It was a memorable day. 1983 I think. Seattle got a big wind storm that knocked out power for most of the city on Thanksgiving day. We didn't try to cook the bird, left it in the fridge. But we did cook a nice simple dinner instead. I loved that Resolute, fine stove.

 

[lzambas]

Thanks for all of the input. We have a mild temperature here - at night it only goes to the low 30's in winter; high in daytime is upper 40's low 50's. We have wet weather in spring making things damp - need heat to dry out. Even in summer, we have fog and we don; usually go over 75 -80 degrees. There aren't pellet manufacturers here, but there are some in So. Oregon I believe. We have to purchase ours from a local hardware store for approx. $260/pallet and we go through about 1.5 pallets each year. A cord of wood (of course it depends on the type of wood) was quoted at $238 for alder. There are cheaper cords through individual sellers (with better wood like eucalyptus).

You have all given me great points to think about. One question - How long does it take a wood stove to start to heat up a room from cold start?

Also, we had 2 power outages last year - one was approximately 2-3 days; one was 7 days. We don't live in an urban area and a tree fell, etc. ... we were one of the last areas to have power return.

 

[begreen]

You have all given me great points to think about. One question - How long does it take a wood stove to start to heat up a room from cold start?

Depends on the stove, but usually within 20 minutes a cast iron stove will start giving off meaningful heat. Soapstone stoves take a bit longer, and steel stoves a bit quicker.

 

[MrWinkey]

Wow.....2-3 days and 7 days? Ouchie!

I would almost swing towards the wood stove. If you do go pellet make dang sure you have a small generator and battery backup!

It was not a big deal for me as I will have to turn on the generator 1-2 times a day to pump the water into the holding tanks from the well so I might as well recharge the batteries for the stove at that time. If you dont have to do that the wood stove really might be the best option.

I think they said a pallet of pellets is about 1.5 cords of hardwood? The prices of hardwood in my area are quite a bit more than pellets for most times less than quality wood.

Good luck

 

[Cath]

...
1) pellets. you need to store them somewhere dry, not always an option for everyone. if they get wet then they are no good. [/i]
Wood doesn't burn to well if wet either. Storing wood takes more space not an option for many people in urban areas. ...

BeGreen,
What happens to pellets when they get wet, not just damp on the outside but really wet? Can they be used once they are dry?

ETA - Ooops. It looks like someone already answered this, sorry.
~Cath

 

[tradergordo]

In a real emergency, if you don't have a generator, you could probably get by using a cheap power inverter (you can buy one for $15 just make sure it can handle the watts required by your stove or whatever else you want to run) hooked up to your car or lawn tractor - thats really all a generator is anyway (an engine+alternator+power inverter). I've had one in my car for years and use it for laptops, various chargers, etc. they come in very handy.

 

[Dunadan]

You said -

we are not able to get wood free at this time.

Does that mean at some point you might be able to get free wood? If so, factor that in. You'll never get free pellets.

We bought our Lopi Revere (wood insert) last year. We used it solely to heat the 1600 sq. ft. main/upper level of our split-level ranch. The only oil we burned was to heat the downstairs finished basement.

We have 3 kids. Our girls (11 & 9) know enough not to go anywhere near the insert, and our little man (1 in December) wasn't mobile last year, so we didn't worry about anything last year. This year the little guy is crawling everywhere (walking soon) so we put up a Hearth Gate to keep him away.

I think if you have kids who may be curious, or not know better, you'll need some protection whether you go with a pellet or wood stove. I don't think that should really factor into it much.

If you decide to look at wood, make sure you look at the medium size Lopi and Avalon models. I have nothing but good things to say about mine. For the record, if I start a fresh fire, my insert will start throwing off heat (and lots of it) within about 20 minutes. To heat the entire house, though, does take a good bit longer. This is why we try to burn 24*7. Last year when we would leave for work for the day, we'd load the insert with wood to insure we had coals waiting for us when we got home.

[Edit] I almost forgot, I can't say enough about the ambiance of burning wood. There's nothing quite like watching the flames in a stove/insert, especially when it's cold/snowy out. Add a good beer or glass of wine, and you've got the perfect setting :coolsmile: