Gas or pellet stove - looking for your input

[Madocmike]

Just in the process of moving to Airdrie and the house we bought has a beautiful recroom in the basement where likely I'll spend evenings watching a few hockey games and playing pool. We would like to put in a supplementary heat source. The house has a new gas furnace and I am looking to either have installed an old fashion corner NG stove, or a pellet burning stove. Does anyone have any experience with the pellet stoves? We haven't really done any research as to price difference just yet until we take possession. I'd be interested in hear both pro's and cons and general information on a good dealer in the area?

Best,
Michael.

[Drewski Canuck]

Is this for heat or is it for appearance?

If you say both, then don't you want a free standing wood stove where you can see the flames and feel the heat?

There is an outfit called Osburn, that makes a bay window wood stove or fireplace insert, the model used to be 2200.

I was able to install an Osburn in a basement fireplace and it was installed in 2005. It has burned between 3/4 and 1 1/2 cords of wood every winter since. Very nice to look at and does about 40,000 BTU equivalent.

We have a gas fireplace upstairs, and it is nice, and has heat, and a standing flame that does not look too much like a gas stove top, but it simply is not close to the appearance of a wood burner.

Pellet stoves have not really impressed me, as it is not a log burning look to it.

Just my 5 cents. (remember when you still had pennies in pocket change??)

Drewski

[jungleboy]

I had a gas fireplace in our basement for a few years and then took it out to put in a pellet stove .

I really liked the pellet stove and ran it for about ten yrs. it would actually heat the house if necessary although the far corners of house upstairs were not as comfortable.

Ours is a free standing unit with door and glass window and looks the same as an airtight word stove.

Pellet stoves are quite efficient but the pellets can be expensive and they are a pain to store because they have to be inside away from any moisture.

I would buy pellet by the pallet load as that was the best price . Pellets run about $6 bag around here and the stove will burn about 1.5 bags in 24 hrs if you are wanting decent heat out of it.

I have now taken out the pellet stove and am putting a gas fire place in again just because I got tired of lugging 40 lb bags of pellets into the basement .

I don’t think the pellet stove runs any cheaper than the gas fire place but the wood heat is nice even in pellet form.

Gas is way more convenient and cleaner as well.

Lots of moving parts in a pellet stove with the auger and the fan.
Ours had a self igniter on it but it constantly failed and eventually I gave up on that and just lit the thing manually.

[Immigrant]

I have a pellet stove in the basement for backup heat (that can also run off a 12v car battery).
The only downside I see are the loud fans - they do move a lot of air. I have to turn up the TV quite a bit if the stove is running. I only run it when it gets really cold, so only keep a few bags of pellets around. Don’t know I long they stay “fresh”. I get about 36 hours on a bag. It does keep the whole house pretty warm.
I have a NG fireplace in the living room. It also has a fan in but not as loud. I would go with NG just because of the fans being quieter.

[Commander B]

Price out chimneys to code either way plus install and decide accordingly

B.

[dewalt18]

If you’re looking for heat, go with wood. If you’re looking for cosmetic, go with gas. I would personally never recommend a pellet stove to anyone, even if I don’t like the person. They can be pellet picky, they don’t burn clean, they’re expensive as hell to install (basically a wood burner, plus the cost of electrical) and frankly they are just an ugly fake flame.

I know this is just my two cents, but I have installed over two thousand wood stoves and fireplaces. . .

And

[Arty]

I had a gas fireplace in a place on the North Shore of Burrard, which put out a lot of welcome heat in the cold damp winter marine air. Went on with the flick of a switch, and didn't look too bad. Exhausted out the side of the building. If you already had a gas furnace in your place, I'd go with a gas fireplace. Otherwise not.

I don't see the point of wood pellet stoves at all. It appears a good coal furnace burning oiled stoker coal will be more dependable, higher output, and cheaper in the long run. And it might even have better ash handling.

You could just improve the gas furnace heating for that part of the basement and play an internet fireplace video on a big TV screen near the floor all night

[esher]

Doesn't a pellet stove just use like a dryer vent for exhaust, should be cheap install.

[jungleboy]

Originally Posted by dewalt18

If you’re looking for heat, go with wood. If you’re looking for cosmetic, go with gas. I would personally never recommend a pellet stove to anyone, even if I don’t like the person. They can be pellet picky, they don’t burn clean, they’re expensive as hell to install (basically a wood burner, plus the cost of electrical) and frankly they are just an ugly fake flame.

I know this is just my two cents, but I have installed over two thousand wood stoves and fireplaces. . .

And

Not sure what pellet. Stoves you have experience with .

Mine was very clean burning. No visible smoke out the vent and very little residue on the ground near the vent ,even after ten years of use.

Not expensive to install at all compared to an airtight wood burner.

My pellet stove used a B vent out the side of the house which was very simple and inexpensive to install.

My wood stove on the other hand cost more for the chimney than it did for the stove plus installation.

My pellet stove would produce about 2 gallons of powdery ash from about 1000 lbs of pellets.

My stove had the glass door on it so the fire was visible and pleasant to watch if you are into that

Electrical amounted to a simple outlet on the wall that the stove plugged into and you will need a power source for a gas fire place as well so that is moot.
I never had an issue with different brands of pellets, they all burned just fine although some pellets were of better quality and produced more heat.