When the power goes out and you need a reliable heat source in the middle of winter, certain types of heaters will continue to operate while others won’t. While some heaters may utilize an alternative form other than electricity to actually provide the heating, some also use electricity to operate and pellet stoves fall into that category.
A pellet stove requires electricity to operate the automated pellet feeder and blowers for heat and exhaust flow which means they won’t work during a power outage without use of a generator. While gas fireplaces use electricity to pump heat out, they will still produce heat with no power.
What is a pellet stove?
A pellet stove is a fireplace that is designed to burn pellets made of recycled, dried and tightly compressed sawdust. Each pellet is around 0.25″ in diameter and 0.75″ long and is sold in 40 lb bags.
So rather than throwing large blocks of firewood in your fireplace, your pellet stove uses a hopper that you fill with the pellets which burns them off automatically as required to keep the fire going. Quality pellet stoves have thermostat controls for consistent heating.
Unlike a regular fireplace or wood-burning stove, a pellet stove requires electricity for several key functions:
- An electric igniter to turn the stove on and start the fire.
- An electric sensor(s) that monitors the pellet supply and alerts the system when another pellet is required.
- An electric auger that automatically feeds wood pellets into the burn chamber as required to keep the fire burning.
- A combustion blower to pull fresh air from outside the home into a vent and removes smoke through an external exhaust vent out of the home.
- A second blower which brings air from within the home into the stove and blows hot air from the stove throughout the home.
You manually fill the hopper with pellets as required. A 40 lb bag of pellets will last around 24 hours in a continuously running fire.
Without electricity many of the key parts of the pellet stove would cease to work rendering it useless.
Pellet stove generator back up
A pellet stove like any other heating device will of course be used during the coldest months of the year and especially in winter when weather is the harshest. With tough weather comes the chance of a power failure during a major winter storm. Because a pellet stove requires electricity to run properly, a back up generator is often used to ensure that the pellet stove can still operate. Some people choose to install a sine wave power inverter instead.
Determining the size of generator that you need for your home during a power outage requires you to determine which appliances you want to use while the power is out ie. pellet stove, fridge, stove, etc. A typical pellet stove may use 400 – 800 watts for the fans alone.
Your best bet would be to speak with your chosen pellet stove supplier before installation to ask about emergency options that they recommend as they likely have experience dealing with this issue in your local area. They may have experience with both generators and sine wave power inverters or other alternatives.
Will a pellet stove heat a whole house?
Depending on the size and design of your home, you can choose pellet stoves that can:
- Heat an individual room(s) in your home
- Heat the entire home through connected air ducts or pipes throughout the house, depending on your home size
- Be connected to your water system to heat all hot water in the home for bathing, showering, washing, etc
- Heat underfloor heating systems
- Power your radiators for heating
Higher end pellet stove models have additional functionality beyond just being a fireplace replacement.
Is a pellet stove cost effective?
A 40 lb bag of wood pellets will cost around $5 on average and generally ranges in price from $4 – $9 depending on where you live and the materials used to make it. A 40 lb bag of pellets will keep a stove running for 24 consecutive hours so if you run your fireplace 12 hours per day in the winter, expect to pay around $75 per month for pellets (0.5 bag per day x $5 = $2.50 per day).
The cost of a pellet stove itself runs from around $1,700 – $3,000 which is more expensive than a wood-burning one but the venting costs and total install costs are often less for a pellet stove.
You similarly can expect to pay around $120 – $180 per cord of wood (128 cubic feet). Prices can range as high as $220 – $400 per cord depending on the specific wood and where you live. For many typical wood fires, a cord may last 30 – 60 days depending on how often you run the fire.
Are pellet stoves more efficient than gas?
EPA-certified pellet stoves are generally rated between 70% and 83% efficiency. This means that between 70% – 83% of the heat that is produced is actually used and the remainder is wasted in the heating process. Higher end models can reach 90% efficiency however.
High efficiency furnaces by comparison are in the 90% + efficiency range and generally go up to about 98% at the high end. In that regard, the best and most expensive furnaces even with ducts that may lose heat are still more efficient than the best pellet stove.
Pellet stoves have heating capacities that range between 8,000 and 90,000 British Thermal Units (BTUs) per hour and are suitable for use in both homes and apartments.
As with any fireplace, you should contact your insurance company ahead of time to inquire about how they treat them. Your insurance premium may go up as fire always carries a risk and your insurer will undoubtedly want to know that you are building one.
Pros and cons of a pellet stove
| Pellet Stove Pros | Pellet Stove Cons |
| Very efficient, smokeless and relatively clean certainly compared to ash-producing wood stoves and fireplaces. | Uses electricity to operate so it won’t work during a power outage. |
| Produces very consistent levels of heat through a thermostat control. | More maintenance is required than traditional wood-burning fireplaces. |
| Largely automated with the exception of the pellet hopper which is manually filled and typically holds between 35 lbs and 130 lbs of pellets. | Blowers, switches, sensors and other electrical parts means it’s higher tech than regular wood fireplaces with more things that can break. |
| Unlike wood fires, a pellet stove can be started and left on its own to run without constant supervision and filling of wood. | Pellets stoves are usually more expensive to purchase than wood stoves. |
| Some pellet stoves may burn non-wood pellets such as corn pellets. | Pellet stoves aren’t as efficient as very high efficiency furnaces. |
| Modern pellets stoves are Wifi-capable and can be remotely controlled with a smartphone app. | Pellets themselves may be disadvantageous to asthma sufferers due to the potential for wood debris to enter the air. |
Health-related concerns for pellets stoves
Wood pellets should be stored outside the home to avoid exposure to carbon monoxide
(CO) according to the New York State Department of Health. They recommend storing bulk pellets outside the home in a vented separate structure. It does beg the question though:
Since pellet hoppers for stoves may hold 35 – 130 lb of pellets, how tightly shut does the hopper door close?
An average bag of pellets is only 40 lbs which is at the bottom end range of the hopper sizes meaning the amount of pellets in the stove at anytime could be much greater.
An interesting but potentially worrisome concern for the use of wood pellets could be among people who suffer from asthma or other breathing-related ailments. A study of workers in a wood pellet plant noticed a higher frequency of nasal symptoms, dry cough, and asthma medication when compared to the general population. While these workers would obviously be working among the raw materials during the process of the wood pellets, it is worth considering if you suffer from breathing or other respiratory problems.
While finished wood pellets are stored in bags and held in a closed hopper, the are poured loose by the consumer into the hopper from time to time which could potentially introduce wood debris into the air to be breathed in to those in the area of the pellet stove.