When it comes to heating your home - wood and pellet stoves are some of the most efficient and sustainable ways to keep your living space warm on even the coldest winter nights. Pellet stoves offer an excellent source of continuous heat - as long as pellets are loaded into the stove, letting you rest easy while your pellet stove does all the heavy lifting. Wood stoves are even more sustainable, with some manufacturers like Blaze King producing stoves that can provide up to 40 hours of continued heat on a single load of wood.
Needless to say, both wood and pellet stove options are excellent ways to keep your home warm, but despite this, there are still common misconceptions and myths about both of these heating options. In this blog, we cover and debunk the most common myths about pellet and wood stoves - so if any of these myths have had you on the fence about purchasing one, we've got you covered with the facts!
Myth One: Wood And Pellet Stoves Harm The Environment
This is in fact, not true, but it's an understandable worry to have when considering a pellet stove - and especially a wood stove. When it comes to how these stoves affect the environment, the carbon emissions are significantly lower - in fact, modern-day stoves are built with this in mind, more than ever, and many features are built-in to help reduce emissions.
With wood stoves, you can get an even cleaner output depending on the kind of wood you burn. Factor in moisture with the wood you burn - if you have the means to do so, it's best to wait between 6 - 12 months before burning wood to ensure that there is no moisture. This way you're not only getting the best heating experience but also ensuring that excess smoke isn't flowing up your chimney and into the air outside - it minimizes wear and tear on your chimney, too, so it's a win-win!
Myth Two: Wood And Pellet Stoves Require More Maintenance And Cleaning
This is partially true. On one hand, it is recommended that your chimney is swept once a year, but on the other hand, those with something like an oil heater are recommended to get their heaters serviced once (sometimes even twice) a year. Cleaning ash pans and ensuring that your ventilation is clear can be a difficult, time-consuming obstacle that's keeping you from considering the purchase of a wood or pellet stove (especially a wood stove in this case), but we assure you that your efforts are well rewarded.
In places like New Hampshire and Vermont, where the winters are long and cold, having an efficient source of heat is key. With an option like a Blaze King wood stove, where you can get continuous heat from a SINGLE load of wood for up to 30 - 40 hours, the extra maintenance and effort are well worth the return. The same can be said for a pellet stove! With a single bag of pellets, you can enjoy 24 hours of continuous heat! Simply set a time or temperature to heat your home to, relax, and enjoy a warm, cozy home.
Myth Three: Wood And Pellet Produce Less Heat Than Gas Fireplaces
In most cases this is not true - granted, the answer may vary depending on the wood/pellet stove manufacturer and model. While gas fireplaces and similar gas heating methods often provide the simplest form of heating, often requiring only a simple button press on a remote, they can also prove to be the most expensive form of heating, especially in colder climates. If you live in an area known for its particularly intense winter weather, you may be more susceptible to power outages - and that means no heating (more on that in myth four!) for your home.
Oftentimes you'll find that gas fireplaces can provide effective heating - and they look nice and fancy when you've got guests over - but compared to pellet and wood stoves, you'll find that the heating is not as effective.
Wood stoves, for example, may use soapstone, which holds heat for much longer and radiates heating across a long square footage that can often keep an entire house warm and toasty much easier and for much longer. Pellet stoves work great in such cases too! So long as you've got pellets, your pellet stove will pump out consistent and effective heat that covers plenty of square footage If you're looking for the most efficient and reliable form of heating, you'll definitely want to consider a wood stove.
Myth Four: Wood Stoves Are The Least Reliable Form Of Heating
You may be thinking: a wood stove is a handful to use - requiring a consistent load of wood each time you want to start a fire, and if you don't have a supply of wood on hand, purchasing wood yourself might be expensive. You may also be thinking that pellet stoves are in a similar boat - requiring a consistent supply of pellets to keep running - which can also prove to be an expensive venture. However, don't mistake their extra steps for unreliability! Both forms of heating are some of the most effective methods out there.
Imagine this: it's the middle of winter and a cold blizzard rolls through your area. Thousands of power outages occur and power doesn't get restored everywhere for three days. Worst of all, the temperature for the next few nights will reach as low as -20 degrees! In this scenario, unless you've got a battery backup add-on or feature ready to go, gas stoves, gas fireplaces, and pellet stoves will all be knocked out of commission from a lack of power, so if those are your only forms of heating, you'd better bundle up! While this may sound like a worst-case scenario, it's far more common than some may think - and hundreds of thousands of people are affected by this scenario each year.
In cases like that, a wood stove proves to be the most reliable form of heating. Requiring no electricity, you can use your wood stove regularly as if it were just another day. But imaginary scenarios aside, a wood stove isn't just convenient for power outages and blizzards - it's the most reliable way to keep your house warm no matter the situation. If you don't have wood on standby either, and you don't feel like cutting some yourself, you can just as easily purchase plenty en masse to suit your winter needs.
Myth Five: Wood Stoves Are The Most Outdated Heating Method
In a world where technology makes life significantly more convenient, it's easy to assume that wood stoves are going the way of the dodo. Whereas pellet stoves and gas-heating appliances can be controlled with a remote or a thermostat (granted your pellet stove has been loaded with pellets), wood stoves require being manually loaded and monitored to make sure temperatures are stable. That doesn't mean wood stoves are becoming obsolete! New wood stove models are released often - bringing improvements to things like heating retention and aesthetics. Take Blaze King for example - some of their products can retain heat for up to 40 hours!
Think of wood stoves like your favorite drink - chances are that there are plenty of other flavors or brands of drink that check similar boxes to your favorite. But despite constant streams of new and updated flavors from other brands, that tried and true drink remains your favorite. It's always reliable and it's always good, and as they say, if it ain't broke, don't fix it!
Myth Six: Pellet Stoves Don't Need Servicing
The appeal of pellet stoves is often the simplicity and efficiency of them. Simply get a skid of pellets and you've now got enough fuel for your pellet stove to keep your home warm and cozy all winter long. All you need to do is pour a few pellets in every now and then and nothing more, right? Truth be told, pellet stoves may not run as efficiently without servicing and especially without professional cleaning. It's a lot like keeping up with a car - and every now and then, you'll need to take your car for professional servicing, inspecting, etc. The same thing applies to pellet stoves!
Whether you need a professional cleaning in the form of a chimney sweep or components within your pellet stove are beginning to wear out and need replacing, a professional servicing of your pellet stove helps keep your stove running smoothly, safely, and to the best of its ability. If you haven't gotten it serviced in a while, go ahead and schedule a servicing! We assure you the difference before and after will be night and day!
There are plenty more myths to debunk for both wood and pellet stoves, but we've covered the general gist of the industry's most pressing myths and debunked them with some facts. Did any of these catch you by surprise or cross your mind in the past? We'd love to hear!
Still have questions or concerns about wood or pellet stoves? Let us know over on our website by chatting with us, or swing on over to our showroom for all your hearth and heating needs!