Unlike regular wood burning stoves, pellet stoves burn wood pellets, a compressed scrap wood and sawdust waste that comes from saw mills and other wood handling facilities. These pellets are dried out and compressed by heat into small cylinder forms no bigger than one inch. When burned, the pellets emit practically no smoke, meaning no chimney is necessary, but, some stoves may require an outside vent. Because of the high burning efficiency, pellet stoves do not get hot on the outside metal, which allows you to put a pellet stove within an inch from any wall in your home, and offers a safe environment for kids and pets.
Pellet stoves are extremely simple, convenient, and safe to operate in your own home. To fuel a pellet stove, you simply pour 30 to 140 pounds of wood pellets into a device called a hopper which hold the pellets. Many pellet stoves will then automatically transfer the required pellets from the hopper to the combustion chamber by utilizing a corkscrew shaped device called an auger. Air is required inside the stove to provide combustion to burn the wood pellets. There are two ways to force air into the combustion chamber, by pulling air in or forcing air in from the bottom vent. Fully loaded pellet stoves can usually run for one or two days, and they are simple to clean, since there is barely any smoke residue inside.
There are two types of pellet stoves you can buy. Free standing stoves that can be put anywhere you want in your home, or insert stoves that can replace your current fireplace. These pellet stoves will usually cost you $1,700 to $3,000, depending upon where you buy them. Wood pellets are sold in 20 to 40 pound bags, and can cost anywhere from $2 Coopers .50 to $4.00 for a bag. If you live in a colder climate, then the costs will usually be cheaper for both pellet stoves and wood pellets.
For a small investment, you can free yourself of paying an additional high energy bill to warm your home. Not only will you be saving money, you will be making use of an ecologically safe energy source that is practically smoke free.