Pellet stoves

Anyone have any advice? Planning on getting one and just curious about others experiences with the installation.

Traeger , but lots of nice options out there now.
Stopped buying propane for a grill a long time ago: highly recommend.

I guess I should mention a pellet stove for heating not meat smoking. Btw I have a green mountian grill and it kicks ass

haha thats what I was thinking
Im looking to get one also, I have looked at a few but undecided right now.
I will let you know on what I decide by nest week.
I live in New Mexico. not sure if that matters but just throwing it out there.

Kind of a pain in the butt. Definitely nice heat but some maintenance if your on natural gas I’d say go gas.

Not a fan of pellet stoves. They just don't seem to have the longevity and as stated they do require maintenance.

My wife worked at a hardware store for many years that sold pellet stoves. Over the years she heard enough complaints from customers that she decided we would never go to a pellet stove for heating the house. Instead we installed a gas-propane Lopi free standing stove that was rated at 84% efficent and was very pleased with it's performance including a low rate of gas use.
RELH

Harmon is the best

Mine would be a secondary source. I have a propane furnace.

I've heard from quite a few people that pellet quality has a big influence on heat output and maintenance. Lots of people buy cheap pellets and have less than satisfactory results.

Natural gas is going to skyrocket if we're going to build back better under the Democrats plan. I just go with the old fashioned wood stove because I get free wood but there is a lot of work involved. I have no knowledge about pellet stoves but that would be an option I would look at.

My wood burner is my choice

I have a New Englander....not sure how long we've had it, at least 15 years. Every month or two, you take your shop-vac and vacuum the heck outa the soot/ashes....otherwise, it will get clogged and not circulate enough air. Once a year you have to pull the exhaust pipe and vacuum it. I unscrew the pipe going thru the wall, then I can un-screw the top elbow and I stick my vacuum's hose down in the pipe. Starting about Thanksgiving, it is gonna run for about 3 months straight. It will burn about a bag (about $6 at the City Market) a day when you turn it up. Right now it is running on 1. I lit it at 5p, and it will run till about 11a tomorrow....so, a bag is lasting about 3 days now. It was just below freezing last night, and got up to about 50 today.

This year, so far, we've burned around 6 bags. We have not bought any this year (this heating year), and are burning last years leftovers. We've been burning for at least 2 weeks..

It used to run better turned up, not sure why. I replaced the air-feed fan last year, so it should be getting enough air.

2 years ago, or so, I had to pull it out and clean the screen over the hot air blower.

When it gets cold, I'll set a little fan on the floor and blow air on it....this helps out.

WE have a hot water boiler for baseboard heat. We will use that when it gets cold...when it doesn't get above freezing.

They make them that will have a thermostat...but why? It uses a red-hot, electrically heated, rod that starts it off. Right now, the hopper is about 1/2 full, that way, tomorrow morning, it will shut-off by itself....when the hopper goes empty.

I light it with, diesel, alcohol, Charcoal lighter fluid and if I can't get the others at the Hazardous Waste place at the dump....Vaseline (from the DollarTree). You stick your finger in and get a glob, wipe it off w/TP and then light the TP. My wife prefers to use Vaseline.

It requieres less maintenance than a fire place. More maintenance than my boiler and other set-ups, But, it heats our house for a $1,000 less, a year, than when we were using propane.

But, if the power goes out, we have no heat....but, since 4/2000, that has not happened, when it cold/

It is pretty simple to fix, and NE has pretty good customer service. When the blower went out, it was outta service for about 5 days.

Not sure that I love it, but I am reasonably pleased w/it.

Castle Serenity pellet stove owner here. You become an expert on your model. No one will come work on it here in South Routt County, CO. It is pretty good source of heat but has its quirks. Burns all pellets well, have never had a problem due to pellet quality. $7 per bag, burn about one per day most of the winter as only heat source. Must get an ash vacuum and clean about once a week. When power flickers or goes out it goes into shut down/ cool down mode and 30 min before u can relight ( if power is out, u get nothing). I would choose wood burning stove over pellet stove.

I'm not the OP, but I've been looking into stoves as a backup emergency heat source. It seems from the advice here, and the requirement for electricity, that a wood stove is probably better for me. Thx for all the input everybody.

It's kind of a trade off, IMO. You have to buy firewood or cut it yourself, split it, stack it for at least a year to dry. It's dirty and I always bring in spiders on the wood. My wife loves spiders, lol. Pack rats and squirrels always build nests in the woodshed too. Then you have to build the fire and tend it. You have to have nice dry kindling. Clean your chimney once a year. Pellets are nice and dry and clean. Load it once a day and you're done. You have to buy pellets and you need electricity.

No free ride.

I would prefer a wood stove, but, given my ortho challenges, I opted for a pellet stove. A couple 40lb bags will last 2-3 days, if it is on constantly. I clean it once a week. Chimney guy cleans the pipes once a year. Gotta grease it once a year.

Nice even heat, no real ash build up to get excited about.

I have central heat, but, haven't fired it up in 12 years. We also have an IR propane heater in the dining room just in case power goes out.