Excellent review. Not many people have both stoves at the same time to compare. Looks like the pellet was about double the consumption cost. Does it put out more btu’s than the wood stove?
Thanks, Harold. Excellent question about the BTUs. I should have included that info in the video. The consumption cost for the pellet stove for us is more than double the cost - since typically our firewood is "free" (time, labor, chainsaw, splitter, gas, oil, etc.) Harman P68 specs: Efficiency= 78.5% Emissions= 1.3g/hr Feed Rate= 1.7-7.8lb/hr Venting Size= 3" BTU/Hour: 15800 - 71200 Heating Capacity: 1500 - 3900 sq. ft. Hopper Capacity: 76 lbs Buck Stove Model 91 specs: 34-1/4" W x 23-3/16" H x 28-7/8"D Weight: 620 Lbs Firebox volume: 4.4 cu.ft. Firewood length maximum: :22" (front to back) 23"(side to side) Flue diameter: 8" Efficiency: 80.4% Heat capacity: 1,800 - 3,200 Sq. Feet EPA Tested Output BTU/H: 10,400-62,745 Emissions G/H: 1.9
@@PurpleCollarLife Did you look at just replacing the stove, the one i was just looking at was Efficiency 95%, Im sure most must be near that now, And the same with the wood stove, with new EPA laws the new version must be a lot more Efficient ?
A pellet stove is never going to throw more heat than a conventional wood stove. They are two totally different animals. Also the wood on your own property is not free. You need a chainsaw, axes and or wood splitter to process the wood and you need to be thinking years in advance because the wood you cut and split today is for use one to two years in the future. Also my time is worth something so all the time you spend cutting, splitting and stacking should be taken into account. Not to mention any doctors visits for the poison ivy you are going to encounter sooner or later. Heating with wood can save you money over time, lots of money but it isn't one of the easier things you will do in life.
That is the input Btu’s for the Harman, to get output you need to calculate loses for efficiency. A p68 maxes out around 56000 btu of output if running at peak efficiency.
When I was a younger man, I chose a wood stove and loved it and would do it again. It took a lot of physical work to maintain the wood supply. Now in my 8th decade on this planet, I see my limitations. I will be getting a pellet stove when my addition is completed. I know a bit about solar and have the things needed to power the fan and auger when the inevitable power outages come.
BTW and FYI, I installed a propane wall heater this year for the first time, and so far, I'm loving it. Easy, convenient, not dependent on electricity, warms the room very quickly, just turn a knob and it's doing its job. I also put in a PROPANE LEAK DETECTOR, which is a MUST!
I have both a pellet stove and a wood/coal combination stove. Make no mistake, a pellet stove is a lot of work and can be temperamental. My Enviro has a lot of electronics and parts are expensive. Handling 40 lbs bags of pellets is not easy nor inexpensive. I cannot imagine my wife taking the pellet stove apart to do weekly and monthly cleanings. She could not handle acquiring the 40 lbs bags of pellets nor harvesting wood. Split wood could be delivered and she could deal with bringing a log or two in by herself if needed. I was really excited to get a pellet stove but I would no longer recommend a pellet stove.
I very much appreciate your comments and experience and recommendation. Since my original post a year ago, a propane stove was recommended, and I installed it. It requires no electricity, and after one full year, I am happy with it. With all our power outages here in central Maine, it saved me last winter, one time for 44 hours of no power in zero F temps. @@mepag102
Keep in mind that I've only used it for a couple weeks, that being said, so far so good ru-vid.comUgkxAU9pOCSV9Y5JprooHvfxTpOrt4hx8uRM . Using it at 8 ft. by 8ft. deer blind that is insulated. I have to keep the door cracked for it to get enough air to burn, but that is very likely the wood I've used. Much better quality than I expected for the price. Now if I can just take it easy in the beginning it won't be 90 degrees in my blind. All in all it seems like a keeper.
Probably the best video that I have ever viewed for comparison between a pellet stove and wood stove. No fluff just the facts. Great job. Helped me to make my decision.
Good analysis...we burn 3 cords of wood every winter and the satisfaction we get from good ol' fashion hard work cutting, splitting, and stacking our own peace of mind means when the power goes out our house is still warm and cozy
Good thorough review. My house here in NE US came with a pellet stove. I swapped it for an American Eagle wood stove. I’m glad I did. A couple times the power was out five days . My home was toasty.
Definitely in a power outage - I’ll take my wood stove over our pellet stove any day. In fact, just the other day our power went out in an ice storm. I knew it would be out a couple hours, but not long enough to be worthwhile/necessary to start up the generator and switch the power over. Of course, the pellet stove went right out - but the wood stove kept on burning and easily kept the basement and 1st floor warm.
Hello Chad, I have had 2 pellet stoves for heating our house, now we have 2 wood burning stoves, and there is two more beneficial things over looked about the wood stoves over pellets. When power is out we can cook on our wood stoves, and 1 no longer belong to the local gym. As for fire starting, I start with a top down fire build theory and use wood shavings (noodles) from wood processing during the summer. As far as the size of mu fire wood, I split, I keep it mixed, small kindling, up to 4- 5 inch splits, and a few solid 6 inch pieces ( over nighters) never an issue with burning a wood stove! The pellet stoves had their place, but maintenance and supply of pellets and parts became an issue here a few years ago and we needed to burn more then our standard 6 ton, and were having to buy “bedding material pellets” (soft wood)! So if you own one of these pellet stoves, have an extra ton or two in storage if possible, and a generator with fuel and a camp stove for cooking ! If the power goes out, or even if in the worse time repair is needed, pellet stoves can become a larger hassle then the wood burning stoves, i have never had to replace any parts of my wood burners, but with pellet stoves, augers, sensors, and blowers have all let me down at the worst time!
Hi Pat - I love the idea of the top down fire build. I just can't get it to work. Maybe we don't have enough draft up our chimney? Using the noodles as kindling is a great idea!
@@PurpleCollarLife the way I do it is largest logs on bottom, and a layer of noodles, medium logs crossing in a “log cabin” style, more noodles and top with kindling, light the noodle and leave door open for a few minutes to create draft, then replenish firewood as needed!
Hey Chad. Nice review! Could I respectfully suggest one thing? In your large addition room that contains the pellet stove, you should continuously run that big ceiling fan to distribute the ceiling heat throughout the room. Run on lowest speed pushing air up against the ceiling. The warm air will gently come down the walls to more evenly heat your actual living space. Good luck!
Thanks for the tip! I've actually tried using that large fan to push the heat down, but it makes too much draft and we actually gets chilly. I didn't think about pulling the cool air up and allowing it to move the hot air down the sides. Great idea!
@@PurpleCollarLife I also find if I run my ceiling fan pushing the heat down the draft created is a little chilly and if I reverse it the result is unnoticeable so I rarely use it. Very nice video by the way, I also have a wood stove in my basement and get free wood. I love wood heat and watching the fire, cutting ,splitting ,stacking , hauling and dealing with the mess not so much fun but the savings make it well worth the while plus the advantage of having heat during power outages.
I "upgraded" once from a woodstove to a pellet stove. The pellets were costlier and took up more storage space, the dust inside was unbearable, the pellet stove required electricity to function, and the auger frequently jammed in the middle of the night, leaving us to wake up to a freezing house. One winter of this thing and we put the woodstove back into the house, and moved the pellet stove into the shop.
Thanks for sharing your experience! I have heard that same story several other times - people give a pellet stove a try and after a year or two, replace it with a wood stove. But I've also heard of people who switch a wood stove out for a pellet stove for the convenience.
A wood stove that needs electricity omg when the power goes out and it will next month I'm trying to find a wood stove good too know one needs electric lol smh
Thanks for a great review of stove types. We have heated with wood for 30 years but added a pellet stove about 15 years ago. The combo gives use a balanced heat, no cold mornings. Your video does well at hitting the pros and cons. I love heating with wood, domestically produced fuel and carbon neutral, it doesn’t get any better. Cheers!
Glad it was helpful! It is always our intention to provide valuable information. Thank you for leaving the comment and letting us know you enjoyed the video.
Good video, we heat our house with a wood stove. We cut, split and store our fire wood and get great exercise doing that. Thanks for sharing this video.
This is an awesome video, but I think the saddest part is hearing the price difference from you just two years ago.Today here in NH land of wood and even a pellet factory. I pay around $375/cord for seasoned good firewood. Pellets are $349/cord delivered. Insane how prices have gone up so much, I don't believe the reasoning is necessarily real and sadly this is pushing folks away from both and going back to oil/propane/heat pumps which isn't terrible but the suppliers are khurting their own markets. But again awesome info and such a well done video!
My parents had both pellet and wwod....when both needed updated....they abandoned both. My parents retired and went propane...huge $. But its instant heat. I really miss the wood stove. It was amazing for basement cleanup.....and wood stove heat was FANTASTIC.
We had a pellet in the mountains of western NC. I blasted two hours in the morning and two hours at night and the house was 75-78°. We got a ton of pellets in October and had about 120#, 3bags left over after winter. I think it's the better deal.
Great review. It's nice to have an honest review! Just one suggestion re the generator. Unsure how long it takes to kick in, but I put a small UPS on my heater so that it keeps running until my generator kicks in.
I lived in Pennsylvania and wanted a stove for auxiliary heating. One thing that impressed me about the pellet stove was that the exhaust was fairly low temperature, so you didn't need a full chimney with all the associated maintenance, but only a vent similar to what a clothes dryer requires. I eventually decided against the pellet stove, though, because of the power outage issue.
That is certainly a benefit of the pellet stove - a nice little exhaust and intake pipe right through the wall, rather than a full-scale chimney with foundation. I'm wondering if today's newer battery packs (solar generators) would be able to power the pellet stoves in a power outage situation. I may get one of the larger solar generators like the Jackery 1000 or the new Bluetti packs and see if they will power the pellet stove.
Purple Collar Life. I have to ask isn't/wasn't Pensilvania the centre of the US anthracite mining industry? Anthracite is like trying to light a brick, but the fires can be low tech, don't necessarily need fans and are also great for water heating and a wet central heating system. Are the mines all close to closing or has the price become prohibative?
@@COIcultist There were coal mines around years ago. There are still some in West Virginia. But locally - the only place to get coal around here is Agway, and the price is REALLY up this year. I know a family that heats with coal - and they’re trying to figure out different options for this winter - it would cost them over $800 per month for the coal they need to heat.
@@PurpleCollarLife Wept, that sounds expensive. I just looked up the figures, and it looks like that in 2020 NE Pennsylvania was still producing in excess of 4.5M tons of anthracite per year. In the 1980s I sold anthracite, manufactured fuels and bituminous coal to wholesalers in the UK. The technology has existed to burn bituminous coal smokelessly since the 1980s, but no one seems to want to go there. Anthracite doesn't have an attractive flame pattern, but boy does it bang out the heat.
Thanks, Mike. Definitely wood pellets need to be dry. If they get damp - they expand and won’t burn. They also can clog the auger and system. Moisture in firewood makes creosote in the stove and chimney, and does not burn as hot. It uses some of the BTU to get the moisture out of the wood.
Thanks for the review. The running cost is quite a bit more than I thought it would be. Seems like a mini-split heat pump may be another option to consider.
Very interesting, but I would like to know a comparison of cleaning the different stoves, plus installation cost comparisons, especially do you need a chimney or glue with a pellet stove?
Excellent job. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I loved my wood stove when I lived in Ossipee New Hampshire. I’m 15 miles north of Kitty Hawk North Carolina now. Not really cold enough here for a wood stove. Also want to let you know that your videos have gotten better with each one. Keep up the good job and keep the videos coming.
Very cool! Thanks for the compliment, Richard. We do really enjoy making the videos. We took a trip up north through Vermont and New Hampshire last year with the 5th wheel camper. What a great area! I'd like to do that trip again sometime and spend more time there. North Carolina is a bit too warm for me for the summer time. I don't like to be too hot. :)
very nicely done comparision. I installed the Harman ACCENTRA 52i PELLET INSERT back in 2015 due to the failing { 22 year old } heat pump system. INSERT is rated at 52,000 btu's. I've been heating a 2000sq" home for the last 9 seasons. in 2022 installed new heat pump system. i still use the insert on nights that the temp drops below 38 degrees and when we what warmer temps in the house during the daytime. {cloudy cold days} for start up mine usually takes 15-20 minutes till the distribution blowers come on. I use 1/2 to 2 bags a day for temps between 25-60 degrees in NC. like you stated a pellet stove required more maintenance than wood stove. A Daily scrap of the fire box before starting or when refilling hopper. A full clean takes me about an hour to an hour and a half including sweeping the exhaust duct flue. I dump the ash pan approx once every 2-4 weeks, or as little as weekly if in use full time . one thing not stated was the accessories needed to preform the maintenance . an ASH VAC , 3" and 4" flue brush set with 8-12 foot extention rods {for insert flue that goes up my chimmy}. for insert only a maintenance fixture so you can pull the insert out of fire place approx 30" to access and clean flue, plus mis tools. Harman dealers will normally know a chimmey sweep that will do the service for you. unit weighs approx 250-275 lbs. Also I purchased a heavy duty scraper from EARTH SENSE {on youtube / amazon} that works better than Harman's scraper. after all that I STILL LOVE THE HARMAN INSERT. NO WOOD TO CHOP, NO DIRT / BUGS IN THE FUEL . SET IT AND ENJOY THE HEAT. FEED IT ONCE /TWICE A DAY. one thing i learned was after lighting and the blower is on, move the IGN switch to off . the fire will adjust as needed, but will not go out. {unless it runs out of pellets or you turn it off} this allows the stove to adjust to room temp changes much faster and keep the room temp more even. EARTH SENSE also has several videos on operation and maintenace of pellet stoves to assist new onwers. thanks for your review. Harman does recommend a battery backup power source incase of a power outage to allow proper shutdown of stove. even a small generator {locate outside home} will allow you to run the stove to have heat in a powwr outage.
Thank you for the thoughtful and detailed comment. I totally agree about the fact that I should have mentioned the tools required for cleaning. Like you, I use a combination of the Shop Vac, extensions, brushes, Norwex cleaning cloths (Enviro cloth), and a good flashlight/work light. It's hard to see in all the nooks and crannies of the stove - especially back the inlet and exhaust. Interesting tip about flipping that ignition switch to off once the stove is running. I've never done that. Thanks again for watching and leaving a comment.
We live off the grid in central Alaska and use a diesel stove one one end of the house and a soapsstone woodstove on the other end of the house. We did run out of wood for the first time this winter, so we bought a pellet stove like yours to go beside the woodstove.
I've ran both and I prefer a wood stove. Mine doesn't break a lot but when it does it's really inconvenient to find the bad part, pay for it, wait a week or two for it to come in, then installing the part.
Good video. I am from across the way in S Jersey. There is one thing that rarely ever gets mentioned in a lot these comparisons. With the new EPA standards and building codes, in most existing houses you can't put a wood stove. Access to the chimney is usually in the basment or in an area that is not the primary heating area. Most houses from the 30s through the 80s have a chinmey and fireplace. But most fireplaces are built to create a natural draft and you can't run a 6 inch flue. Old old homes have fireplaces with a straight run chimney, but not modern day homes. But because pellet stoves have a much smaller flue 3-4 inches they can exhaust out of almost any chimney, allowing the use of them almost anywhere.
Great point. I often wonder how the old houses with straight run chimneys had much heat from the fire. I would think that the heat would mostly escape up the chimney!
You could not have done a better review. I was afraid this was just going to be another sales pitch for one or the other. I watched the entire report. I thank you for that.
Great review! We have a pellet stove and love it. We had a wood stove growing up and bought our own wood. Both are very nice but the pellet stove works best for us as we get older. Thanks for the video!
Nice video. I have the Harman xx in white. This is my 3rd season. Love it. Not sure if I missed if you mentioned the other disadvantage if a wood stove. You are constantly bringing bulky wood inside your house. Big PIA. Can make a mess. Could have ants in it. And this is compounded if you’re wood stove is in the living area
That's absolutely true. There is the added mess of any dirt (or bugs) with the wood. Thankfully our wood stove is in the basement, on concrete flooring, so it's easy to take a shopvac or broom and clean up the space. I will say though that I've made some pretty good messes during a thorough cleaning of the pellet stove. Taking all the piping apart, getting into the blower, and cleaning all the inside of the pellet stove has made a few pretty dirty days in the living room. I've had to get the carpet scrubber out a few times to clean up some ash messes that have ended up on the carpet. Thanks for watching and commenting!
Thank you for letting us know you enjoyed the video. I've often considered building a small off-grid cabin back deeper in our woods. Sounds like a great project!
Good video. I also have a wood stove in the basement and a pellet on the main floor. Wood stove is good for weekends, snow in days, power outages, Holiday gatherings etc It's a great fun hobby. Full time heating, it is just a big burden. No need for newspaper, kindling or even small pieces of wood. Three pieces of split wood (Any size), a fire starter stick and a propane torch and you can start a fire in less than 30 seconds.
Thanks for the tips! In our house, to get the wood stove going takes a bit more effort than your experience. I think it is because our chimney is so tall, and our house is so tight. It takes some newspaper and kindling to get the flue warmed up enough to create an up-draft and keep the smoke from backfilling the basement. We made a video about it here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-adK-Pbif-mg.html
@@PurpleCollarLife Just try it with a propane torch, even two sticks...you'll be amazed. Two split pieces on the bottom and one on top. when my wife and I go camping , I start green wood with the same method.
Thanks for watching rom France!! I never would have imagined that we would be creating videos that people all over the world would enjoy. Thank you so much!
We used to burn almond wood in our wood burner. A beautiful wood to burn. Smells nice, almost no soot... I could go two year between sweeps when burning almond and then only get about two cups of chimney soot when I did brush. Pine was brushing twice a year and clearing the spark screen 4 times a year.
We had a Harmon pellet stove insert. We got rid of it and installed a Lopi wood burning insert. The pellet stove was very noisy and we couldn’t hear the tv well. So far I’m very pleased with wood for heat. I usually have 4 cords of wood seasoned at all times. Pellets near me are around 7$ per bag. Since I make my own wood it’s virtually free minus operation costs of my equipment.
Excellent info! We were shocked at how loud the pellet stove is (background noise) in a living room area. It definitely makes it difficult to hear the television. Pellets there are pretty expensive. What area are you in?
@@mikeshobbyhomestead8917 Hi Mike - that's really a steep price! I saw some places around here had the bags for 3.99 per 40 lb bag during the black Friday sales.
wow...I paid 2800 for my p98 yrs ago, they really have gone up. YOur agway deal is a gift I go to my local agway in w pa and paid 249 a ton and in had to load them and unload them. And I bought them on their august "sale"
We paid over $600 for two tons delivered this year. But still worth every penny to not have to handle each bag twice loading and unloading, and carry them around to the basement.
Thanks. Very informative. I learned alot and it answered a lot of my questions. Besides maintenance ... power requirements during power outages which is one of my main concerns. Namaste. Jay
Yes very helpful. My 2000 sf home in central Illinois also is baseboard electric heat (primary) it's a 50 yr old house, and the chimney needs extensive repairs. 8k to redbrick and mortar rebuild it from roofline to peak. A chimney inspection found another 5k needed to fix below roof problems. So $13k in chimney repairs were needed (buyer beware) prior to any additional sinking money into an alternate heat source, as what could be needed in a power outage scenario. Thanks, ..James
Very true! But convenience is also a factor - and the Pellet stove is more convenient and less dirty than splitting firewood, storing firewood, carrying firewood, and burning firewood.
Great video and very helpful. I am familiar with wood stoves, but the pellet stove is what I'm considering in my shop. It will be very well insulated, and I seen one at Rural King - Cleveland Ironworks, which perked my interest. Thanks for making this video, it was very helpful!
Thanks, Jake. No doubt about that - if we’d insulate those basement walls, the basement and whole house would heat faster and stay warmer. Thankfully the basement is almost entirely underground (which helps keep those walls at least 55 degrees). The only thing I worry about if we insulate the basement, is moisture/mold building up under the insulation. Thanks for watching!
@@PurpleCollarLife You still have a huge heat loss with no insulation in the basement walls. If it is insulated/ vapor barrier properly you will not get mold from insulating.
It's a valid review - great stuff. My cost for wood is zero finance but just physical so that's a huge plus. Pellets come at a cost prohibitive for my budget and in addition the space that has to be dry for the storage of the fuel is unaffordable, wood is less fussy in a covered area outside. Having a 'Room-sealed' stove also means that it is also drawing a max of 5% air from within the room keeping the drafts (necessary for health of the old building - 1782 - as much as the inhabitants) at bay. Yep - good on the wood stove as being totally analogue when those people in control of the smart meters shut you off!
This was a great review and comparison. I don't think there was a thing you didn't cover. I have two wood stoves, a Jotul and a Summit. I'm in southern Maryland and seldom need to use the Summit unless it gets really cold like it did last week. i have a heat pump and oil furnace. i filled up two months ago at $6.00 a gallon. i have enough property here to get my wood and now that i'm retired, i work it when i can. Thanks again for a great video.
Great content. I really liked it. One remark tho. In newer models all the parasitic noises were reduced (pellet feeder noise, pellets landing etc) its just about the noise from the blowers nowadays.
I own both as well, that Harmon pellet stove and a Blaze King "King" wood stove. The PS first: I agree with much of your comparison. In essence, the PS is easier to live with and is possibly safer. The fuel is easy and clean to handle (other than the pellet dust), the PS can be hooked to a real wall mounted thermostat (which is nice!), but it is noisy, requires power, and fully cleaning it (and the ducting) once or twice a season is dirty and a PITA. Also, to get a lot of heat out it, it will go through pellet$ fairly quickly. Keep that in mind if you plan on running it at higher outputs. The other thing you did not mention is the amount of electricity it uses. While they aren't major electrical consumers, they are always pulling load as long as they are running, which is typically many months at a time. Again, this adds to the overall cost of use. The Harmon PS is possibly the best on the market. I've tried the cheaper box store brands, they run dirty and don't hold a candle to the Harmon's. thermostat
Great video, Chad. A few points.... Would a ceiling fan above the pellet stove help to move all the heat from up at the cathedral ceiling back down to the floor space?? And, I like to see that you are still using the "traditional" method of newspaper and kindling to get a wood fire going. All my favorite channels are going ROGUE. Mike Morgan uses that "fire-starter mix"... Northern Seclusion uses about a half-bottle of lighter fluid.... and Simple Alaska Living uses a small propane torch to blast the wood!!!! HAHA!.... Us newspaper/kindling friends must stick together and never give in to the new fangled fads!!! I can't believe there is so much maintenance and cleaning involved with the pellet stoves. Thanks!!
Hello! We actually do have a big 6-foot ceiling fan in the great room. The idea when we put it there was to blow the heat down out of that high ceiling. But we found it creates a chilly draft. BUT then - someone left a comment and suggested I run it in reverse, puling the cooler air up and pushing the warmer air down the slopes of the ceiling and against the walls. That method works great! Yes - we're still traditional paper and kindling people here. I watch a couple of those other channels too. It's certainly interesting to see everyone try different things. It looks like the stuff that Mike is selling is pretty good. But our method has worked for my entire life. I'm not ready to make a change to buying something to start fires.
When our furnace died I decided to get a pellet stove. I love it. Does a great job heating our home. I live in upstate NY where it gets pretty cold in the winter. If I need extra heat I use a kerosene heater which isn't very often. I use 4 ton per winter. We did get a new furnace a few weeks ago because my health is not the best and if something happens to me my wife doesn't want to mess around with the pellet stove. I was going to use the furnace only for a month to see how it was and I only made it 2 days. I like the pellet stove so much more. I like seeing the flame and it's more like a white noise so it's really not that bad. We've had it for 15 years.
Thanks for sharing your experience, Tom. Since we've never heated with a furnace, I can't compare it to that. But I will say that both the wood stove and the pellet stove put out a beautiful heat, and really give a nice ambiance to the room (with the flame). Thanks for watching and commenting. Stay warm up there! Today here in northwest PA, it's in the 60s! That's crazy for December 11th.
@@Tom-yj6mt I still enjoy the snow, but Jennifer really doesn't. If it were up to her, we'd probably move south to where it never snows. But I wouldn't be able to take the heat down there!
You can put a thermostatic fresh air damper on a wood stove. I put one on a Hearthstone and it's worked well for 15 years. It controls the heat and conserves fuel. It took a year to adjust it... I wouldn't have thought a pellet stove would be noisier than a wood stove.
Thanks for the tip! The pellet stove is definitely louder than the wood stove (at least the pellet stove we have, when compared to the wood stove we have).
I don't know if anybody else had commented this. But when you're getting wood for free unless it comes pre split and cut to the specified size. You want for your individual stove it is not free. I'm not looking to place an argument to suggest my opinion I Have a fireplace in my house. I get a lot of wood for free. But then I have to spend the time to cut it. Stack it so you're talking fuel for the vehicle fuel for my saws. If you get some dirty wood, you're talking about either sharpening and/or purchasing a new chain. Getting wood from your own property is definitely a lot cheaper. But again in my opinion it is not free. I do like your review though. Thank you for taking the time showing us the differences
Thanks for the stove comparison Info. FYI: for storage, a standard, full cord of wood is a volume of 128 cubic feet. It is measured as a pile 8 feet long, 4 feet high and 4 feet wide. A full cord can weigh up to 5,000 pounds.
Thanks for watching! Lots of people often wonder what is a cord, what is a face cord, how much fits in a truck, how much in an IBC tote. We're thinking about doing a video about that in the future.
There are no dry full cords of wood that weight anywhere near that. A full cord of wood is 128 cf, but a good portion of that is air. Even black Locust is only going o come in around 4K lbs / cord.
Outstanding, comprehensive review and comparison. I suppose the corn-burning stoves are as complex as the pellet stoves, and it's that complexity and cost that make me prefer wood stoves. Nicely done video.
You got it right I love my pellet stove and live in the woods where fire would be free and a lot of work,, so I spend a thousand bucks a year on pellets and burn a bag a day 3 to 3 1/2 ton a year so 150 to 250 bags a year I have a cheap Serenity pellet stove cost me a total of 1200 buck what a bargain that you home Depot and they make the pellets here in Western Pennsylvania so I support local jobs
I have a Harmon P68 pellet stove as well..when they installed it, the tech mentioned to use cold fresh air from the outside to the inlet of the stove... More efficient and why use your room heat for that ... Besides, colder air aids in better combustion... Fyi..
That’s the best way to do it. Ours is installed the same way - pulls outside air in through an intake vent. Thanks for watching and leaving the comment. Many people may not know about the inlet for the outside air.
Both more efficient than a fireplace. That's what I have and it's just not efficient at all. It's pretty to look at, but since fireplaces are on an outside wall, most of the heat just goes right up the chimney. Very good comparison! 👍 Both seem like great choices! Question: With the dangers of asphyxiation, how are these vented to allow for plenty of oxygen? Open windows or vents? Thanks for sharing Chad!
A nice fireplace certainly is beautiful. I really like the ones that are in the center of two rooms (in between a living room and a bedroom for example). Glad you liked the video about the pellet stove and wood stove. These are exhausted through a chimney. The Pellet stove draws in outside air through a vent. The wood stove draws in air through the air intake (adjustable) and all exhaust/smoke goes up the chimney. Obviously, we do use smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors throughout the house. Thanks for watching!
@@PurpleCollarLife The pellets off gases co2, people have died from walking into a store room with them, do the bags not have a safety warning on them?
> It's worse than that. A conventional fireplace sucks lots of heated room air into the fireplace and then up the chimney. Every cubic foot of room air is replaced with a cubic foot of outdoor air infiltrating into the house. It's quite common for people to notice that the room where the fireplace is located is toasty warm ---anjd the rest of the house is distinctly cold. That's the infiltration of that outdoor air. In addition to that, little of the heat produced by the fire in a fireplace actually gets into the house. A fireplace doesn't extract much of that heat--- what you get is mostly radiant heat directly from the fire and coals. By contrast, a wood stove sharply reduces the combu8stion air taken from inside the house, and extracts much of the heat from the combustion gasses. For those reasons, a wood stove is FAR more efficient at heating than a fireplace.
@@PurpleCollarLife heavily leaning towards a pellet stove. We are building a cabin so it’s not constantly in use, and sounds relatively quick to fire up and get heating when we show up!
Nice review. How cold is it in Pensylvenia in january and february? I ask it because in Quebec is between -4°F and - 20°F during this time. In this period i burn about 2, 21/2 40 pounds bags per 24 hours. I agree with you about the maintenance of the pellets stove. It is a way lot maintenance than a wood stove. I hate that side. It is the only thing that i do not like.
I'd say our average temperature in northwest Pennsylvania in January and February ranges between 0°F and 30°F. We don't get as cold as you do. We do have some sub-zero temperatures on occasion, but not that often. Thanks for watching!
Some years we cut our own wood...we owned a big farm...but very hard work. Some years my dad had wood brought in...we took a basement window out....we easily filled 1/4 of our basment. There was nothing nicer than a woodstove.
Thanks for sharing! I remember doin that same thing at my uncle’s house. He had a chute and when you removed the basement window, you could just slide the firewood pieces down to where he stacked it in the basement. As a kid - I remember thinking it was so fun to slide the firewood down the “sliding board”. It never seemed like work. :)
Thanks for watching! A wood stove is certainly a nice way to heat a home. And it's nice to watch! Think about how many people watch videos on their television of fireplaces!
Just say $300 extra dollars a month plus regular light electric bill, that would be costly to me. Think I would stick with regular wood stove at my location. Very explained video appreciate you taking time to go over all this.
I use just a couple of peace's of apple wood on 10 below 0. Apple wood is a hotter btu.; burning wood. Charry wood is also a hotter burning wood for btu's only just a couple peace,s. Though
If you loose power your pellet stove fan will stop like you said, but if you extend the exhaust pipe up outside of the house it would provide the draft needed like a wood stove. You need a duct from the peak of that large room down to the floor with an internal fan to circulate that wasted hot air. Not sure if a ceiling fan would be able to reclaim that heat.
New EPA certified Rocket Stove gravity feed uses pellet fuel heats over 2000 sq ft the GAP 2020 you should check it out. Perfect for anyone off grid or anyone else for that matter. Out performs any pellet stove.
SO, how much did the pellet stove repair cost? A lot right! Pellet prices go up significantly year after year. As a former pellet stove owner I can say 'never again will I buy a pellet stove'. You mentioned the cleaning, maintenance, and repair cost, all easier on a wood stove, good for you. When the power goes out and you dont know for how long, better have the wood stove! One good thing for the pellet stove, if you or your children have allergies, the pellet stove is cleaner.
My dad is tired with electric heaters. He used to use propane stoves but that stuff is expensive to run. He is researching for a good quality pellet stove. I still think wood would be better option.
There are definitely advantages and disadvantages to each pellet stoves and wood stoves. But overall - I prefer the heat from either of these sources better than electric, propane, or gas heat. Thanks for watching!
Have you ever thought to put the nice looking wood stove upstairs & the pellet stove downstairs? No more lugging the 40lbs up the stairs and just have to load it 2 times a day. I would think the wood burner flame would be much nicer to look at...I realize the venting issues, but just thought I'd put that out there...
I actually thought about putting a 2nd wood burner in the upstairs when we put that addition on - instead of the pellet stove. The 2 things that prevented it were: 1. that I would have had to dig down and have a foundation poured for a chimney, and then have a chimney installed and 2. that I would have to store some firewood upstairs. I wouldn't want to make my wife carry it to the wood burner on evenings that I'm not home until late.
Very nice review. Have you ever thought of putting in hot water heat in the house and using a outdoor gasification boiler? You could heat the shop and house all while keeping the mess outside. They are pricey though.
Yes I have! The problem is the up-front investment. Since our house is currently all electric baseboard, we would need to run all the piping throughout the house, and hot water baseboard heaters.
My wood burning brother- Informative video you made as I was curious how pellets compared to wood. I've been a wood burner for over 40 years, and had 3 different stoves in our various houses over that time, all having glass doors. You'll get more heat into the room if you kept those glass doors cleaner plus I've heard of the glass cracking if too much creosote accumulates. Peace out.
Thanks for the tips! I do try to keep the glass clean, but it probably should be cleaned more than the 2-3 times per year that I do it. We love the warmth and relaxing glow of a wood burner.
Well a ton of pellets went up from $210 per ton from last year to $300 this year. I decided to put in my minisplit heatpump in my shop that I had from my old business. It will be 2.5 times cheaper to heat my shop with the heatpump vs pellets thanks to the cost going up. It would have been 2x cheaper if the cost was the same as last year so it would be worth it either way. There are a few nights of the year that drop. Below 5°f so I'll have to burn pellets at that point because my heatpump doesn't heat below 5f(or -5f since the user manual says either or) newer heatpumps can heat to -22°f but mine is 7 years old and I have only used it as an AC unit in the summer.
Thanks for sharing about the heat pump. I had no idea they were so much more efficient/cost effective than the pellet stove. You're right about the pellet cost. I think we just paid about $630 for two tons.
Holy moly. I hear you say you use 1 to 2 bags a day and think no way I could afford that here in Australia. We pay $100.00 for 3 bags of pellets for our traeger smoker
Wow! Just Wow! $100 for 3 bags? I bet smoker pellets are different than heat pellets. Probably have to be safer and approved by the food inspectors? Maybe?
Having both stove made for a great review. I can see how a pellet stove would be the best option for some people whereas the wood stove would be better for others. While I do have central ac/heating I never use the heating part, I have a huge wood stove in the main room and medium size wood stoves in each bedroom which are rarely needed since the main stove heats the entire house, I also have two workshops each with a medium size wood stove. Since I live on a farm with a tree farm too fuel is free. I do like the sound of that pellet stove though and would have like one in my last house.
Bonsoir mon ami 😉👌 You did and OUTSTANDING DETAIL review video Sir 🧐👌👍and I realy like the way you compare both of these heat source 👍👌😉 Full Watch Sir and Keep warm Cheers 🍻
Thanks! Appreciate the full watch and comment. We've got both the pellet stove and the wood burner going to keep us warm. What's the temperature there now?
@@PurpleCollarLife We have mixte precipitation ( 30f up to 35f ) it is going to be like that until early December, no real accumulation on the ground,,, Cheers
So ... if both of the stoves needed to be replaced at the same time would you replace them with two wood stoves or two pellet stoves? I'm thinking this might be a good indication of your preference.
Great question - just off the top of my mind (6 seconds after you post the comment), I'd do wood stoves in both locations. The only hangup would be the amount of dirt/grime we'd be carrying into the living room area.
I used to use a pellet stove, but the price of pellets went up so much some years ago it just wasn't worth it vs the forced hot air using propane. Recently we got our furnace replaced and took the opportunity to get a heat pump with the new furnace. It will still use propane when it get too cold out for the heat pump. Although my electricity prices suddenly more than doubled so I'm not sure how much the heat pump will save me. But considering the price of propane these days it just might.
Prices of everything are up. Pellet prices went up quite a bit this year. I've heard that coal is up. I know that firewood is up (if I had extra I'd sell it!).
@@PurpleCollarLife After we stopped using our pellet stove we had a ton of pellets left over. We ended up selling them for a profit a couple years later!
So far (knock on firewood) - we haven’t managed to bring any flying squirrels or snakes into the house with the wood. I have had some bugs (but not too bad) and I have had a few field mice get out of the wood when I was moving it inside. Thankfully - they always get out before I make it inside. Thanks for watching!
@ralan350 no. We had a lean to that we could pot about 4 cords of wood under, and kept About 4 cords in the basement. As the basement would have room, we moved wood from the lean to, to the basement. Then wood stored in the open would be moved under the lean to. We burned about 12 to 14 cords over the winter.
@@TheHavocdog what I was saying is if you bring it into a warmer environment that’s when the bugs come out if your basement is not heated that is not a problem I personally have a woodshed by my back door I’ll bring it in and it goes straight into the stove that way the wood don’t warm up and the bugs don’t have time to wake up……. I learned that lesson the hard way when I brought some in and said it next to the stove and next thing I know I had an ant nest start waking and crawling all over that wood inside the house.
No draught in the in the chimney ? Mt Fisher had two draught controls. One in bottom of the fire box & one in the flue, & between them there was reasonablecontrol of the heat.
I just installed a Harman P35i in place of pass through fireplace. I used the Harman P35i ZC. To heat my whole home. Now I’m in Texas so cold winter nights only drop into the 20’s rarely go lower although they do. I use 5gal buckets for pellets (takes about 3 buckets for 80lbs of pellets 2 bags) Harbor Freight/Lowes, Home Depot has free buckets from time to time. Or if you have cats the plastic litter tubs can be used as well like I do. I found pouring pellets from bucket in lieu of bag is easier, since you have to push pellets to back of the insert hopper and once the bag hit the stove and melted making big mess. I’m going to get a Jackery as an UPS for the stove. As for the pellet bags I’ve been repurposing them as outer bag for used cat litter as they are durable but do have holes. My question is what kind of generator are you using for the pellet stove. Is it a portable generator with modified sine wave , an inverter generator with pure sine wave. Since you have outlets wired I’m assuming you don’t have a whole home generator system. Oh I forgot I think pellet inserts aren’t as noisy as free standing units because the hearth/ZC with wall acts as a baffle to 3 sides where all the motors are. This comes at the cost of having to slide the insert out for cleaning and maintenance. However Harman inserts come with rail slides making it easier and a extension kit if stove is to high off floor.
It sounds like you have a good system figured out for refilling the pellets in the stove. I think a Jackery would be perfect for backup power to the stove. Are you thinking the Jackery 1000? We have a couple generator options - typically we use the a Briggs generator that powers most of the house - we made a video about it: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-IXNFg6MBAiY.html - it uses the Generalink transfer system. For shorter outages, we've also actually just used our Honda EU3000is generator. Good point about the pellet stove inserts - I do imagine they would be more quiet. Thanks for watching and sharing your experiences! I'm sure your tips and input in these comments will help others who are considering a pellet stove.
@@PurpleCollarLife actually the 2000 PRO it’s a UPS this way if a power loss happens when I’m sleeping or not home the stove will keep functioning. My house generator is the Predator 9000 which can power 90% of my home less AC, HW heater, and stove. However it’s a modified sine wave as it’s not an inverter so I’m hesitant to power the pellet stove. But the Jackery 2000 PRO should be able to power the pellet stove. With 2100 Wh even if stove uses the igniter it can power it for 5+ hours. However if not using the igniter it would probably run it for about 15 hours. Of course if during prolonged outages could be problematic
@@PurpleCollarLife just watched your other video. Wow your Briggs is a most likely a modified sine wave as it’s not an inverter generator. That makes me happy knowing I’m not going to fry the motherboard on the pellet stove. It was my biggest concern. Me being an electrician I added another panel that housed only the circuits to be powered by the generator (all lighting, refrigerator, kitchen outlets, well, and microwave. In that panel I use a generator lockout/transfer breaker switch. Then the generator shed houses the generator power hook up. Much like your system it’s virtually impossible to back feed power to the grid unless I remove the breaker lockout/transfer switch. The other reason I like the 5 gallon buckets is it allows dry storage for the pellets and easier storage I think as the bags need to stacked a certain way but the buckets allow direct vertical stacking. Another plus is the handles allow easier carry and eliminates the occasional weak bag seam that seems to break at worst moment.
