Fall is the perfect time to start thinking about how you’re going heat your home throughout the winter. When going over options, wood burning stove and pellet stoves are among the most popular choices.
Which option would be best for your home? If you’re stuck on which option you should go with, here are some pros and cons to each and come see us for your fireplace needs.
Wood Stoves
When you think of a traditional wood-burning stove, you probably envision the basic metal firebox that burns wood. Logs are placed inside the box and burned to create heat. Wood stoves are connected in the back to a chimney flue, which vents the smoke outside of the home.
However, modern wood stoves are much different and are much better in energy efficiency. In fact, they require less firewood, and produce almost no smoke and very little ash. Additionally, wood stoves can be freestanding or fireplace inserts.
Wood Stove Pros
• More fuel options – You can burn almost any type of wood in a conventional wood stove, including firewood or scraps.
• No electricity required – Again, you burn just about anything in the stove and that doesn’t require the use of any electrical components.
• Cheaper to operate – Wood stoves are cheaper to operate if you have easy access to cheap firewood or can cut your own firewood.
Wood Stove Cons
• Dirtier – Wood stoves don’t burn as cleanly as pellet stoves, despite all the progress toward efficiency. They produce more ash and smoke and will leave you with bark and wood chips to clean up.
• Less efficient – In a lot of cases, the most efficient wood stoves are on par with the least efficient pellet stoves.
• Expensive to install – Wood stoves usually require a fully insulated chimney system, which makes them more expensive to install.
• More maintenance – Because the fires can die out quickly, wood stoves must be constantly monitored to maintain a consistent level of heat. You’ll have to continuously add wood to the stove.
About Pellet Stoves
Another great option for heating your home is pellet stoves. Pellet stoves are newer and more efficient than wood stoves. Instead of big, bulky logs this option relies on wood pellets. These wood pellets are typically made of waste such as sawdust and wood shavings.
Like wood stoves, pellet versions can be freestanding or fireplace inserts. However, they offer more modern features, including hoppers that store pellets and automatically load them into the stove. This makes loading up the stove much easier than it’s wood burning stove counterpart.
One of the best features for pellet stoves is they can be connected to the thermostat and they can adjust themselves to produce the proper amount of heat.
Pellet Stove Pros
• Cleaner – Pellet stoves produce less smoke and ash. And you don’t have to deal with cleaning up leftover bark or wood chips.
• More efficient – Pellet stoves are almost always more efficient than wood stoves, wasting less heat and fuel.
• No chimney required – Pellet stoves can be direct-vented to the outdoors. This eliminatesthe need for an expensive chimney installation.
• Cheaper to install – Most pellet stoves only need a direct vent or small chimney system, making it much more cost effective to install.
• Less maintenance – With most pellet stoves, simply fill the hopper, set the thermostat and walk away. There’s no need for constant monitoring.
Pellet Stove Cons
• Expensive to operate – Pellet stoves typically cost more to operate. Pellets are generally more expensive than firewood.
• Require electricity – Because pellet stoves require electricity to operate, they won’t work during a power outage.
Come see us Today!
When choosing the heating option for your home, trust our experts to help you make a decision. Please call Rusty’s Fire Place & Chimney at (540) 338-1266 with any questions you have. We are happy to help you keep your home warm and comfortable!
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