Pellet Stoves
In the effort to find ways to heat our homes at lower cost, and free ourselves from foreign oil, the development of the pellet stove has been a fine addition to the more traditional wood and coal stove.
A pellet stove consists of a storage hopper, auger and combustion chamber (called a burn-pot), two blowers, (one for combustion air and the other to circulate room air for space heating) and various controls to safely regulate the units operation. The wood pellets are fed from the hopper to the burn-pot via the auger. There, the pellets are burned almost completely by injecting air from one of the blowers into the flame. The result is a very clean burning flame with only fine fly ash and no creosote. They are very efficient heaters. Because they have a storage hopper and wall thermostat, the automatic operation is very convenient and requires less tending.
There are good selections of pellet stoves from various companies with features that will suit almost any home heating need. They can be free standing or inserted into an existing fireplace. They also offer more versatility in their venting requirements. You don’t need to have an existing chimney.
Pellet stoves offer some advantages over wood or coal:
- 1. Less ash & mess.
- 2. More convenient because of automatic operation.
- 3. Easier storage of the bagged pellets.
- 4. Clean burning and no creosote.
Of course, the disadvantage is the cost of pellets varies during the year and as more folks use pellet stoves the price will rise.
If burning wood or coal doesn’t appeal to, but you still want an alternative heat source, I suggest you look into pellet stoves. Do some research at your local stove shop and check out the available equipment.
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Tags: clean burning, foreign oil, pellet stove
