How Does a Pellet Stove Work

Warm, cozy homes are becoming more difficult to manage and maintain during the cold months with the continued fluctuations in the prices of oil, natural gas, and electricity. But don’t fret. There is another option: pellet stoves.

But what is it and how do pellet stoves work?

The pellets used as fuel for these stoves come with a cheap price tag because of the low cost of the raw materials used in making them and the low cost of the manufacturing process. Thus, it does not cost that much to operate these powerful home heaters. But cost-efficiency is only one feature of these heaters that many people have come to love. They are also environment-friendly hearth products. But we’ve got ahead of ourselves. Let’s take a step back and explain.

What are Pellet Stoves?

A pellet stove is a heating unit that uses electrically-controlled blowers, combustion system, and heat exchangers. In layman’s terms, this means that stoves burn fuel slowly, release as much energy as they can from the fuel source; pellets. The blowers draw in cool air and release it out as hot air due to the heat exchanger.

How do they Work?

To use a pellet stove, pour the pellets into a holding area, which is called the hopper. If the hopper is very big, enough fuel that can burn for several days can be accommodated. Most models can produce heat for one to two days on just one loading of pellets.

Within the stove is an auger, which is an automated feeding system. It controls the pace at which the pellets are fed to the fire. For instance, if the rate is one pound an hour, a slow fire is generated, thus heating the room for a long time. If the rate is higher, say, four to five pounds per hour, the fire will be bigger so the room will be warmer.

Some units are self-lit, while some are needed to be manually lit. Regardless of the method of how it is lit, the heat exchanger is heated to about 250 degrees Fahrenheit. The cool air from the room is warmed as it is passed through heat exchanger. The blower then releases back the warm air into the room.

Stove Cost-Efficiency

These heaters are the perfect heating alternative for people that have expensive home heating bills because of the fluctuation in energy prices. In fact, more and more people are installing them in their homes as a secondary heat source in order to help reduce their heating expenses.

The main reason behind this huge savings is the fuel that is being used. They burn cheap pellets that are produced from recycled sawdust. Because of the efficiency of the production process and the low price of the materials used, pellets are very economical. Moreover, the stoves are designed to be extremely efficient at generating heat. They may look like traditional wood stoves but they are actually engineered to burn the pellets in such a way that they squeeze all of the heat of it, thus warming your homes at a low cost.

Thanks to their feature that helps manage the fuel-to-air ratio, an almost full combustion of the pellets is guaranteed. That same feature also helps minimize wood smoke, making them the solid-fuel burning heating products with the least emission. This is very important especially in places where the quality of winter air is an issue.

Environmental Credentials

Nowadays, caring for Mother Nature through using green product alternatives is among the big issues that are being advocated by environmentalists. As such, an increased awareness in how we could go about protecting the environment has prompted a lot of people to evaluate the commercial products that they are using and switch to those that are safer for the earth. Pellet stoves are one of those environment-friendly products.

Use recycled products as fuel

The wood pellets used to fuel these stoves are produced from recycled sawdust. This sawdust would otherwise have been dumped in landfills, thus creating more waste that has no other use. It could also have been incinerated in the waste burners of sawmills. Wood is a natural renewable resource. By utilizing wood pellets as your fuel source, in a way you are helping recycling the waste or by-products of forestry activities.

Very little waste from the fuel

Pellet stoves are a clean-burning home heating product. As opposed to wood stoves that produce a substantial amount of soot and ash even just after a use, they can burn for several days at a time and still not create as much residual ash as what wood stoves make in one day.

Very easy to clean

They are very easy to clean. They have ash pans that need to be removed and cleaned every few weeks. Moreover, you don’t have to sweep huge piles of ash and bark scraps.

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Easy to use

The auger that delivers the pellets into the combustible chamber is motorised and delivers the pellets on a consistent and regular basis. This means that your source of heat is steady and consistent for up to three days before you must refill the hopper, which is the holding area of the pellets. These units are not like wood stoves that you have to feed chopped wood every few hours with no guaranteed steadiness of the heat, having volatile hot and cold heating cycles.

Highly efficient

We like efficient heating systems. Pellet stoves are a great example of an efficient home heating product. An average stove has a burning efficiency rating higher than 85%. Because of a pellet stove’s state-of-the-art technology, the fuel-to-air ratio is controlled so a full combustion of its fuel source is guaranteed. It is designed to burn the wood pellets in such a way that it would squeeze all of the heat that it possibly can out of those pellets.

Minimal smoke emissions

Pellet stoves produce minimal wood smoke emissions. Many of the models on the market nowadays have no problems in meeting strict air quality standards, both local and federal.

Once you have tried using a pellet stove, you would most probably refuse to go back to using the traditional wood stove. Because they’re economical, environment-friendly, and automated, they provide a convenient way of warming your home.