How much will a wood pellet stove cost me?
With fuel prices rising almost daily, savvy homeowners are looking for ways to stay warm on a tight budget. Installing a pellet stove can help! A pellet stove is exactly what it sounds like; instead of wood, oil or natural gas, it burns pellets. A good pellet stove typically costs between $1,500 and $3,000, and can cost anywhere from $400 to $500 to install.
A small screw, called an auger, turns the granules into the combustion chamber, where the fire is concentrated in the center and burns very hot. A blower sends air through and around the pellets once they’re ignited, either by you or an optional auto igniter. This air keeps the fire burning (remember, oxygen is an essential ingredient for combustion). The blower also creates a slight vacuum that draws combustion gases (that dangerous carbon monoxide byproduct) out through a vent. Because of these moving parts, pellet stoves can be a bit tricky to maintain, so hiring a service is a good idea.
To operate your pellet stove, pour the pellets into a container called a “hopper” that sits on the top or bottom of the stove. Hoppers have a capacity of 35 to 130 pounds of granules. Depending on the size of the hopper and how cold it is, a single load of pellets can last one to two days.
Where do those granules come from? Manufacturers grind recycled sawdust, corn, walnut and peanut shells, wood chips, or other biomass waste, then compress the dough and extrude the pellets.
At first, heating your home with pellets instead of wood may seem more expensive than heating with wood, as pellets can cost $130 to $200 per ton, compared to $100 to $175 for wood cable. But that’s really like comparing the proverbial apples and oranges, experts say. When you buy a cord of lumber, you typically get 128 cubic feet (4X4X8) which includes the spaces between the logs that you can’t use for heating. In addition, wood contains moisture that does not burn.
Home improvement experts say it’s best to evaluate pellet fuel versus wood for use. If you use firewood, you consume 3 to 4 cords of wood per year, compared to burning 1 to 3 tons of pellets per year. You can easily do the math on that!
Pellets also save you time and energy, because you don’t need to stack or transport wood. Those 40-pound bags of pellets hold about a third of what is needed for cordwood in one space. However, be sure to check with your stove supplier for the nearest pellet source, as freight is a large part of the cost of pellets.
Pellet stoves are definitely an alternative way of heating your home that is worth looking at.
