Wood pellet burning stoves

[nomoss]

We are finding it more of a chore each year to stack, store and haul logs into the house, and dispose of the cinders every couple of days. The local saying that logs warm you three times is very true !

Does anyone here have direct experience of pellet burning stoves? The smaller indoor type with a self-contained hopper, not the monsters usually installed in outbuildings with a storage bunker for bulk pellets.

I am considering getting one which also provides central heating, with boiler and pump built into the unit. We have several suppliers of the pellets, price depending on how far we go from here to get them - we can save on the local retail price if we go to a producer about 120 Km away.

Besides the reliability of supply of pellets, what other snags, if any, have been encountered?

I have read stories from Canada of the fire burning back up the feed system to the hopper, causing extreme smoke damage to houses, but smoke warnings should safeguard against that, ours even squawk if we make toast, and I would never leave it operating if away from the house.

 

[Ssc]

A friend who has one is very pleased, as like you she tired of hauling logs. However one drawback, as she found out when we suffered a three day power outage was , no power, no fire.