The wood pellet stoves or pellet

See other types of wood stoves

Appeared for the general public in the early 2000s, pellet stoves quickly spread. Their look, power and performance are very varied. They cost, not fitted, between 1500 and 6000 € (hydraulic model) and weigh between 100 and 250 kg. The granules are contained in a tank located above, on the side or at the back of the appliance. An endless screw pushes the fuel directly to the burner.

Their use is fully automatic, managed electronically. The yield varies from 80 to 90%.

They offer an improvement in efficiency compared to the best wood stoves and increase the comfort of use of wood heating but also have some drawbacks.

Benefits of pellet stoves compared to firewood stoves:

- Electronic temperature regulation,
- Semi-automatic operation (periodic recharging required),
- Integrated tank, autonomy from a few hours to several days (in the best case, a mass stove has 12 hours of autonomy),
- Very high efficiency (from 80 to 95%),
- No chimney necessary: ​​a hole in the facade is sufficient. We can even imagine putting a pellet stove in an apartment on condition that it has a balcony or a terrace to place the exhaust duct (and that the property manager obviously allows it!),
- Available in a version with hydraulic connection to central heating or for DHW,
- Less ash and less maintenance than a conventional stove,
- Cleaner: both in handling wood and in pollution,
- Generally eligible for the tax credit or has more aid than a conventional stove (but this does not should not be a major selling point from the seller).

Disadvantages of pellet stoves compared to firewood stoves:

- Requires a socket and therefore electricity consumption and may have no heating in the event of a power failure,
- For regulation purposes, the air in the room is mechanically stirred by the stove (mechanical blower) and the combustion air is also forced. The operation is therefore (much) noisier than a log stove (almost silent by nature),
- Can only burn pellets: in the event of a supply failure you no longer have heating (a log stove can burn any type of wood ... except pellets),
- Fuel more expensive than wood in logs but generally less expensive than fuel oil. Read the types of firewood for a comparative,
- More expensive than a wood stove of equivalent power,
- Limited lifespan especially because of the electronic part (a cast iron wood stove is "indestructible" if the fuel used is suitable).

There are also, but hard to find in the trade:
- pellet inserts
- pellet stoves
- pellet stoves that can burn logs

Read more (examples of links, if not do a search):
- Choose a stove or insert?
- Comparison to choose a quality wood machine
- Forum wood heating