When my parents passed away, they had a pellet stove in the house that was used all the time. I ended up with it. My house does not have a fireplace, so the pellet stove made perfect sense to me. If I was to install a wood stove, I would have had to come up with an exhaust system that went up over the house. With the pellet stove, make a 4-inch hole through the wall, run an exhaust pipe through the wall, and about 3-feet up the outside wall, plug it in, load the hopper and turn it on. Done. It makes great heat, and I don't have to run the furnace at all. Pellet stoves can be a little pricey but lucky for me, I inherited one. All in all, for me it is cheap heat.

Thanks for the well spoken, knowledgeable videos. I will have to put my 2 cents in though....I heat my home, 1700 sq foot ranch solely with wood. You are right on with the costs, pros and almost all the cons. I know alot of people who keep all their wood outside, as you say, "You don't want to come home from work in good clothes and lump wood in from outside everyday, or get up at 4am to light the stove." I don't do either. I have an indoor woodbin that gets replenished every 3 or 4 weeks. That keeps me from even putting shoes on to get wood everyday. Also, I never have to restart the stove in the morning. I load the stove at 10pm before I leave for work, load it again, depending on outdoor temps, at about 7am. The house is always still warm at 7am. Again, depending on temps, I may load again at 3pm, or just rake the coals up, and most likely toss a few pieces in about 7pm to keep indoor temps up until I load it again at 10pm. I seldom babysit it, usually gets going in about 10 minutes, then I can set the dampers and leave it for 8 hours or so. I agree with the mess also, but certain areas of the home get cleaned every 3 or 4 days anyway. Sorry for the long comment, just wanted to add my 2 cents. I should really start making some more videos....kinda shy on camera. Anyway, thanks for your videos, and keep em coming!!!

We live in Northern Maine and we have a pellet stove and use 5 tons a year. We turn the stove on any time we feel cool. That may be in late August or late into May. We have a 11 room house that is well insulated. It cost me around $1250.00 a year. We use to use oil and we used 900 gals a year and that includes hot water heating as well. Depending on the price of oil that was costing around $2700 and the house was never as comfortable with oil as is is with Pellets. This pellet stove heats the entire house. We also have had the pellets stove for 15 years.

I've had both and i keep going back to wood logs. I don't want anything that has to have a specific fuel from a store at their asking price during business hours. Pellets are a little cleaner and easier to handle but i spend a lot of time in the woods. I bring home hardwood almost every time i go out. AND i can cook on top of my woodstove. Even burn pallets if i desire. Just keep a chainsaw in your pickup and you'll have plenty of wood. Neighbors offer me wood all the time. Never had anyone offer me pellets. Lot of differences. I can burn some coal if needed. To me it's a no-brainer. I like seasoned birch here in Idaho. Tamarack and red fir are good too. By the way ,when the power goes off, so does a pellet stove. Augers need electricity.

Definitely well spoken! Appreciated from Mongolia.

This is got to be the bob ross of wood stove comparisons. Probably the most relaxing and informative comparison video of anything I've ever watched.

Good job, you are right on your comparisons. I use wood pellet because I developed an allergy to wood smoke when I used wood stove for years. I also use LP gas to heat, Cook, close dryer. My pellet stove is gravity fed from hopper, does not use electronics ,( Wise-way & US Stove company). I use 2 tons a season in the mountains of western North Carolina, pay $4.45 a bag ( better price if you buy pallet and haul them yourself) , use 300 gal LP gas a year at $1.97 per gal , ( pre-buy deal in summer ) . Pellets is great heating, not maintenance free, but manageable. 1500 sq ft house. I still think good season firewood is best if you are able to harvest/cut/split yourself, and is more economical.

Good Video! Few points from my experience: A Wiseway Pellet stove eliminates all the electronics. Our local hardwood pellets (which are made by a local oak wood company, but only sold through local retailers) are $205 per ton. They are low dust and low moisture. We should use about 3 ton or so per winter, but we have a smaller house. The farm supply we are purchasing them from will deliver them still sealed and wrapped on the pallet, which will provide a good amount of weather protection. But we are going to use a heavy duty tarp to add additional protection. Last winter local wood delivered cut and split _(even though we still had to re-split a good portion of it)_ was $50 a rick here, and that is the average price. But we couldn't find anyone who had good seasoned wood. Almost all the wood we purchased was wet and/or green. Had a really hard time burning some of it. With that said, in the past we have always used a regular wood burner. And until last year, we have for the most part always went out, cut, and split our own wood. But my Dad is 80 years old, and doesn't need to be getting up during the night to reload the stove. And I had two major injuries in the last year and half, and just not able to go cut and split wood anymore. So I'm going to have to switch too. We always liked a wood burner not only because how warm the heat is, but also because it works no matter what, especially if and when the power goes out, which has happened here fairly often, some times for days or even a week. But Most pellet stoves do not work without power, and a "power backup" for them is more or less a ridiculous option unless you just want a few extra hours. A small fuel efficient honda generator would be a much better back-up power option than the pellet stove "battery inverter" systems. However, we found a NON-Electric pellet stove, the Wiseway Pellet Stove, which is now being sold by US Stoves. Really Nice Design, a lot of people like it. But since it is not electric, It does need to be installed correctly. As its proper operation is completely reliant upon it creating a proper self driving draft since there is no blower. Which to do so the vent pipe must be installed correctly for your application (chimney size, length, ect). If the proper draft isn't achieved, then you'll have issues. Just thought I would throw that out there as another possible option for some :-)

As I am getting older the woodstove becomes harder to maintain. But I have found ways to keep it going. I bought a small luggage handcart that I use to wheel a basic Walmart bin of wood in and out of the house from the wood rack. So I no longer have to lift bin. This also keeps all the bugs and dirt and everything inside . It may not look the nicest but it’s functional. I also have an electric wheelbarrow that makes moving the wood From the wood pile to the wood rack much easier. Because I sit at a desk all day I do enjoy splitting the word on the weekend, but it is getting more difficult. Thank God for a painkiller. Besides having an electric wood splitter, 3 mauls and several axes, I just purchased the best thing ever which is called the Kindle cracker. It’s great for splitting kindling. No more chopping my fingers off. Excellent review. Thank you.

This is pretty much dead on. I heated with a wood stove for 18 years but when I built my new home I went with a pellet. A cord of wood is about the same as a ton of pellets. I still have a lot of dead trees on my property, all seasoned oak. I'm now 73 and the chain saws have gotten really heavy but my younger friend is 65 and healthy so he helps a lot as in doing most the cutting. I do a lot of the splitting and my wife burns the slash. I end up helping her though. Now days my friend takes the wood, he still uses it. The 40 pound bags of pellets get transferred into 5 gallon buckets so my wife and I can haul it in and load 20 pounds into the hopper. My home is 2000 sq ft with a vaulted ceiling. We use a ceiling fan too. The stove heats the front half of the house just fine, the back half not so much, neither will a wood stove so no difference. I prefer the constant heat from the wood burner but the pellet stove isn't bad, just different. In power outages, we have a generator. Because of PG&E we need the generator all year long. I also have forced air if needed? So, in my younger days I preferred a wood burner, in my dotage I prefer the pellet. My pellets are delivered and stacked. Those days are also over. I order two ton a year, never use that much but I have them. Last year I had almost a ton from the previous winter. This year I have 10 bags left. I'm outside of Yosemite at 2000 feet, It does snow and get cold!

Very helpful video. I am moving from Britain to France and the house has a pellet stove installed so this was very helpful. Thank you. Best wishes for the future.

i was just pondering this subject the last couple days. got a 2400sq ft shop and wanted something to break the chill in the winter there in eastern washington. Great comparison and information.

Perfectly explained, clear, smart, you are a fire source professor 👏👏👏👏👏

I have a good wood stove, and I have a pellet grate. Bradley Burner seems to have gone out of business, so now I’ll have to fabricate a pellet grate every season or two, but I like the flexibility of being able to use pellets or firewood. Good video. I’m actually wanting a comparison of wood vs pelllets in my stove. This helps. Thanks.

really great video with easy to understand differences.

Excellent review. Pellets are subject to availability in supply chain. With any disaster or national crisis like COVID, depending on demand, may have temp shortages in future if pellet manufactures are challenged within their Ops.

I've run a Pacific Energy Spectrum wood stove for the past 30 years with excellent results. No need for electricity and dead silent. But this is for a seasonal cottage where continuous heat during the winter is not an issue. FWIW, I have burned both dry and really wet birch and have not had an issue with creosote in the chimney. Reading the comments here my concerns with a pellet stove would be the dust from the pellets and the noise of the auger and fan. I hadn't even thought about circuit board or motor failures but those or real considerations. The only maintenance on my wood stove has been the replacement of the firebricks for a cost of about $30.

Thanks.... good info. crunching the numbers, very helpful!

Excellent video! I totally agree with the first pro of the wood stove: "It's charming!"

THANK YOU!! I am looking at purchasing a Pellet Stove. However, I wasn’t sure of the comparison.

I have in the past while researching pellet stoves seen some that had a battery backup. Pellet stoves do tend to be noisy. With a blower and auger to feed pellets running and the plinking sound of the pellets dropping in the burn pot. I would suggest a Harman pellet stove. Probably most expensive on the market. But if their pellet stoves are even close to as efficient as their wood stoves. I would recommend them. Due to heating my home since 2004 with a Harman wood stove. Outstanding stove pure and simple. Also their pellets stoves feed into the burn pot not drop them in. They have videos on their web site. And thanks again for a great informative video. You`re teaching an old dog some things.

Thank you! Just the information I needed.

After living in the northeast for 28 years and having used both a wood stove & pellet stove to heat a home, I can honestly say that for me, the pellet stove is by far the better option when it comes to convenience, maintenance and cleanliness. I much prefer handling 40 lb. bags to chopping, splitting and carrying wood into the house. As long as you have a dry place to store your pellets, you don't need to worry about bringing bugs into your house either.

I have been in the stove business for 28 years, working out of my house selling and personally installing stoves. I am in Vancouver, WA. I am Jeff's Contracting. I am 72 old and it is about time for me to retire. If someone is local enough and you need to save money I may be able to help you. I can get products for people and explain how to install if you are handy enough. I have done wood , pellet, gas,electric, and gravity fed non-electric pellet stoves and ductless heat pumps.

Good video ! I have burned both firewood and wood pellets and you are correct when you say that there is no heat like a wood burning stove. I do feel that the pellet stoves can be a good second in this respect. Another thing to keep in mind is that with a wood pellet stove you are using a waste product that may not get used otherwise. In some areas the pellet stoves are modified to burn corn, making them a dual fuel stove. Keep up the good work.

Very interesting I appreciate the time you took to put this video out to educate people also I'm not quite sure if I missed it I could probably watch the rerun but the benefits of having the wood cook stove is also being able to cook on it and warm up water which is also saving on electricity bill if you have to do that with electricity and I'm sure you cannot do it with a pellet stove how can you

Excellent video. An honest and informative review.

Great, truly useful and informative video.

Great video, answered all my questions. I think having a pellet stove and a wood stove would be ideal.

Thanks, very good info, I live close to the 53rd parallel of latitude, 1200 sf house and average 4 tons of pellets a year for my Hartman furnace, yes there is maintenance of cleaning about once every two tons, takes me about an hour for a real thorough cleaning, I have a shout to slide them into the basement and need two people. At my age now I hire able bodies. Last year the price was $965 for a years worth.

Good info. Thanks for the video. In my areas a cord of seasoned oak is $450 per cord. At that price I haven’t lit my fireplace in 3 years. We are using gas furnace central heat. Thinking of converting wood burning fire place to natural gas insert. Love burning wood but at $450 per cord in my area, it doesn’t seem worth the expense.

Very helpful thank you!

Solid info thanks helped me make up my mind.

I have a pellets basket into my woodburning stove. Works perfectly. Very conventient and clean with the pellets.

Bless you too for a very informative video

This is very helpful. I have been curious about pellet stoves but never knew that they needed electricity to work. Makes one nervous about the too common power outages that happen in my area. Seems like one more thing to stress about.

Video starts out "This is Part 4 of a 3 part series." Ok ..... :-)

Hello. Thank you for the well discussed video. I like how you compare wood vs pellet. Thank you and God bless!

Excellent video. Keep it up!

thanks so much i needed this,,,no pellet stove for me ,,,

no one mentioned that if your firewood gets wet , it will still burn fine but if pellets get wet , now you have sawdust , which your pellet stove WILL NOT be able to use

Good info thanks!

I have a regency f3502b (Kingston) I regularly get 18plus hours burn time with it here in Australia,No 4 am wake up for me, load it right up at night get it roaring and turn it down. It’s 87% fuel efficient and 1.1grams an hour. It uses their hybrid technology and has a catalytic converter on it. I totally recommend it. If you want American and not Canadian, I think the lopi cape cod is similar.

Just found your channel and subcribed. Excellent content cheers m8!

Used a 15 year old pellet stove(Lopi) to heat about 1200sq-ft at 8000' elevation in CO. Winter is at least 7 months long. When it was zero degrees, I used about 50-60 pounds per 24 hours to maintain 67 degrees in the home. On average, I spent about $140 per month on pellets($5/40#). Clean up was easy. Dump the ash box about twice a month. That was my experience with a pellet stove.

great video thank you

great stuff Thanks

very educational Have you ever heard of a Rocket Mass Heater ? Now this a very efficient way to heat a home with either wood, pellets even coal. Also you will use far less fuel than conventional wood stoves or pellet stove and no electricity required.

4:09 "pellet stoves require electricity to run" Not the Wiseway. It is also EPA certified. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/gdCpmZeVp7zNmZc.html It is also easy to make your own pellets. A pellet machine is only a couple hundred dollars. All you need is access to softwood trees or fall leaves to make your own.

Interesting. I have a wood stove that is over 40 years old. It has a blower and is ducted into my oil furnace plenum. Still have the manual and it states that is 80% efficient. It was may by a now defunct family owned company called Johnson Energy Systems. It keeps the house warm and will maintain an inside temp of 74 whenever the outside temperature goes down to 0°F.

There is absolutely nothing like the heat of a wood stove, I’m so lucky to have grown up with traditional home heating

Sir, you did some serious damage to my wood-stove vs pellet stove ignorance factor. So well done. Now, can you do a video series on One WIfe vs. 2? I bet you could pull it off. LOL kidding of course.

Our gas furnace bit the dust in November leaving us with only our pellet stove as a heat source. Our electric use to power the pellet stove went up by about $60 per month, higher during the coldest period. So, as well as the cost of the pellets ($4 a bag here), we had added electricity costs as well. We also lost power 4 times and woke up to a very cold house and used blankets until the power came back on and the stove could be used again. Not a very nice thing since we live in Northern Idaho and pipes can easily freeze while there is no heat. Needless to say, we are trying to figure a way to use the stove without power or how in the world we could afford one that doesn't use electricity. Without a blower, the rest of our home would be mighty cold. So, we are doing research to figure this out.

I have a wood stove. We all love it. My kids, my wife, the dog the cats everybody who lives in the house.

Love our 100 year old Crown wood stove and water heater, so cheap if you can go get the timber yourself direct from the bush.

This guy is sharp! Knows his stuff.

Pellet stoves are becoming more common over here in Bulgaria. Everyone heats with wood outside of the cities. Pellets may be convenient but with the added electronics, reliance on someone to make/supply pellets (of a useable quality) and need to fit an UPS to the power supply, I still like wood. I can cut my own if required and no electrics to fail. The one thing I do look to is the gasifying wood stoves. They use standard wood and can be programmed to a point like a pellet boiler.

My brother in law has used a pellet stove to heat his house (1200²) for the last 15 or so years. He uses an inverter and one deep cycle battery, power outages is not an issue. We live Canadian winters and his cost is about $5/40lbs. He's probably firing up the stove as I write these words as the cold temps have made their way here (0c or 32f). I personally don't care for all the trouble heating with wood involves......I love my thermo-pump (free outside ambient air to heat my 3,000² house). By the way, I was blown away when he mentioned that he pays $250 a cord of wood, again wood around these parts goes from $90 to $125 a cord. Interesting topic !

Informative.

a lot of pellet stoves can burn corn as well. They are great in the corn belt here since farmers have corn.

Just got one.thanks

We’ve used wood before in an old home so when we moved, we looked into buying a pellet stove for maybe the convenience. After exploring our options there was an all out deal breaker for me in not choosing a pellet stove. And that was that we have power outages here and there in a Season... once we learned that if you have no electric..you have no Pellet stove without having to run a generator, we just stopped our research. We have a generator but only run it if power is out for an extended period of time. And I can live without lights and most other modern conveniences but Ive always been comforted in knowing we didn’t have to worry about being without heat when those occur... Although wood is generally a co-heating source throughout the year and not our only one, we try to use the wood more - especially when oil prices soar...but we aren’t strapped to getting up at 4 a.m. to reload the stove or stuck making sure it is lit every minute of every day if we go out or away....But I do love the smell and look of a wood fire... a win win all around for me! Wood all the way.

I live in Ma . 1300 sq.ft. ranch . Pellet stove only . I go through 4-5 tons (Nov-Apr) . $1000-$1250 annual fuel cost . Electric cost to run stove is relatively low . I think $20 a month .

I would also be curious on seeing a comparison of wood to Anthracite coal

Very happy you didnt just rip into pellet stoves. I have both pellet stove and a wood stove. The pellet stove is great when we are gone for 15 hours a day. But the wood stove is tremendously better to sit near comfortably. Pellet stoves are LOUD.

Do wood/hay/straw have same heat value or do they wary and by how much?

Its all about heat retention and minimizing the heat losses in your property. The subject is seldom covered. Seriously research the subject and insulate to the maximum and watch your fuel consumption plummet. Great video thanks.

hi...i live near montreal canada i used to burn 10 cordes of wood at 125$ each plus delivery i switch to a pellet stove last year and my cost is 125 bags at 750$ tx included,i have a drolet edison model top of the line witch cost me installed 1600 $ (cheaper then my wood stove) battery back up included it can run 20 hours whit out power from grid witch give plenty of time to start the generator if need too,i don't know where you take your numbers?? and i heat my house at 25c -77f whit 30 ponds a day

I HAVE OWNED MANY DIFFERANT PELLET STOVES THE HARMAN P 68 IS LIKE A WOOD STOVE ITS THE BEST ON THE MARKET THE HARMAN P 68 IS EXPENSIVE BUT WELL WORTH IT . YOU CAN BURN ONE TON OF PELLETS BETWEEN CLEANING . I BURN 3 TONS EVERY WINTER

do you know if someone makes a multifuel stove that can burn wood, pellets, bio fuels like corn etc all in one unit?

I can re-use the pellet bags for trash bags reducing the trash bags I would normally purchase. The ton of pellets I purchase cost less than the maintenance of the chainsaw I once used.

Very good presentation and as a pellet stove owner/operator, you are accurate as use and cost, however, I have a wiseway( now owned by US Stove Works), that is gravity fed pellets, no electricity required to operate. I dearly love my stove, 2 years now, 40,000 btu

I prefer my woodstove. I can burn some paper waste, cook on it, it works well with any wood I find, often at low cost or free. Low tech, dependable and beautiful to watch.

I have had wood stoves my entire life. the kitchen wood stove was a sole source of heat when i was a child at the cabin. i see as my entire family ages, the pellets maybe better no cutting and splitting. ---- im just tring to figure out a way to kick start with a generator and not have to run it continuously during a power outtage.

Nice Video ,Only Experience I Have With Pellet Stoves Is ,Two Of My Neighbors Had Them ,Constantly Replacing Electronics,Not Reliable , I’ll Take My Wood Burner ,It Doesn’t Care If The Power Is Off ,Just Feed Me Once In Awhile ,Thank You For Your Videos !!!

i would totally agree that red oak bar none is the best to burn. that wood burns like Hades itself lol. the density of red oak is where it's at, ash runs a good second, leaves a large coal bed.

I have a neighbor with a pellet stove. He buys a pallet of however many bags each year. I was shocked to learn it's pellets or nothing, and the power goes out sometimes. I think he must have a wood backup because of the huge wood pile he has also.

March 2020 - Due to the Covid-19 Plandemic pellets were not available within a 100 mile drive of Boston. I had to drive all the way to Maine. This year I ordered 6 tons to be delivered in October just to be on the safe side as the lock-downs will be even worse in Blue states this year.

There are some central heating pellet burners and you can heat the entire house only with a fire and are very efficient

I’ve had both and they’re both great systems. Either is going to beat electric, gas and oil every time.

@4:39 ended my interest to ever have a pellet stove. But, I see someone is comments mentions non-electric pellet stoves. I would consider that. I have central heat and air and gas logs . Interesting and informative video.

can you run pellet srove off small solar panel and how

Let’s not forget about the maintenance of pellet stoves vs a wood stove, this is something that the sales men never mentions when purchasing a pellet stove. And can be quite extensive or expensive, also how long do they last. Let’s not forget that the bags of pellets is also loaded with dust that when you open the bags escapes into the room. Are you going to do something on a wood boiler?

The thing is I have oak firewood coming out of my ears. I can't sell enough. I do give it away but I try my best to burn as much as I can in my Jotul 600. Even with 28 ft vaulted ceilings I usually keep my house close to 76 degrees.

I was going through 12 to 15 cord of wood per winter here in northern Canada. Now I have a pellet furnace and go through around 9000 lbs of pellet that cost me 1400$ cad including sale taxes.

👍

The hauling of bags of pellets is moot. Yes, you have to split, stack, dry, then haul that wood into the house. Not much clean up with a bag of pellets, with wood you have a mess all around your indoor storage and stove area.

Hold on, if you’re saying that the home would consume one bag per day, then how do you end up with 7 tons for 4 months of heating? Hypothetically, say you have 4 months of 30 days of heating. That equates to 120 bags consumed in those 4 months. One ton consists of 50 bags. So you would actually only be consuming about 2.5 tons, not 7.

How about using both wood and pallets at the same time? I do

That cord of wood for 250 must be a bush cord which is 3 face cord, most people up here in northern Canada pay 100 buck a face cord or 300 a bush cord plus delivery if you don't cut your own or pick it up your self. Face cord is 4 feet high 8 feet long by 16 inches length of block or wide, bush cord is 4 feet high x 4 wide feet x 8 feet long

When your electricity goes out during a Winter storm, you know, when you MOST need a woodstove heat, what good is a damn pellet stove?

Pellet stoves are more environmentally friendly yes, I also live near a big pellet mill and it has a big stack running 24/7 so im not sure why they advertise "clean energy ". Its only clean when you're burning them. I can see the smoke from that stack for miles lol

I have a propane furnace, a pellet stove by Comfort Built and a new wood burner open not an insert. I cut my own wood on my land or get it free. My labors fuel and time along with fuel for log splitter equal $10 per full cord. Long story short I heat my 2300 square foot home in Northern Michigan for almost nothing! And when I’m tired or don’t feel like it i run the furnace or pellet stove.

Just 3 cords of wood a winter wow. In a house we used to have with a combo electric and wood furnace we were going through 10 plus bush cord a winter of mixed hard and soft wood but mainly hard. I hated living in that house!

did you know that it takes more btus of energy to make a pellet than you get out of it. To promote research in feasibility of using renewable fuels the government issues grants that pay for half of the production of pellets. if they didn't the price of a pellet would be double.

I have come to like both. At the camp I love the wood stove (pacific energy super 27 in my opinion the best stove i've ever had) and at home a harmon p43. im too busy at home for wood full time, and the pellets the kids can turn on, you can turn it off if it gets too hot, and run it in thermostat mode if you wish (i dont, i find it easiest to adjust the burn and blower). My only beef with the pellets is the constant noise of the blower... but its not bad if low, and the harmon unlike other stoves has a thick top and actually does radiate heat like the wood stove. I also enjoy the lack of mess with pellets... theres no dust throughout the house, and depending if i run the stove all night or not, i can go a couple days with a bag of pellets... they are incredibly easy, clean, and pretty efficient... I also don't have to store 3-4 cords of wood... i can get 10-20 bags at a time and throw them in a closet... pretty freaking easy.

Pellet Stove installation is cheaper. Some Pellet Stoves do not require electric, US Stove GW1949 Wiseway Steel Pellet Stove.

What about bar-b-ques ? Compare charcoal versus pellet.

"4 of 3" . . . Like!

Thank you. My brother's girlfriend had a pellet stove and it breaks down several times a season.