Pellet Stove for the Cabin?

[Macchina]

The suffix of this subforum is "The stuff that keeps you warm..." so I guess this is the right place!
We recently stayed at a place in the mountains (A Rifugio in the Italian Dolomite Mountains) with a tiny/cozy (an actual WWI Bunker) dining room. The rustic room was kept warm simply by a small pellet stove in the corner. It made a little sound every now and again and the flames piped up and kept us warm and happy. It was really cool and really added to room in the way a full fireplace might (but without the mess or wasted energy).

I have a cabin that was built in 2008. It is well insulated a very efficient propane central-air furnace. It's only about 900 square feet and we almost never use the about 200 square feet (spare bedroom). We also like to keep our bedroom cooler. We are contemplating putting a pellet stove at one end of the main 500 Square Feet room (kitchen+dining room+living room), however I don't have a clue where to start. Are they an efficient means of heating or a returning fad from a few decades ago? Are there huge differences in brands and styles? Anything to watch out for or bad experiences?

We use the cabin almost every weekend (Friday night to Sunday morning/night), including in the dead of Michigan winters (10°-20° F). The propane furnace currently maintains the cabin at a minimum of 45 degrees during the week and we bring it up to about 66 degrees on the winter weekends. Including cooking we go through 280 gallons of propane per year. I'm not really looking at saving any money here, I just don't want to loose money using it. I'd love to turn it on when I get there and keep the main room toasty for the weekend with the main heater set to 45 degrees all winter.


This is where the Pellet Stove kept us warm (Rifugio on the top of Monte Rite):

The View:

 

[sideways]

Wikipedia is usually a good place to start. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pellet_stove

From there I can't help you. The fireplaces I have gone through over the years have all used split wood.

Pellets are highly efficient and easy but sourcing the pellets can be difficult. If you have a reliable source of pellets nearby and pellet stoves have been adopted widely in your area... go for it. If not I would go for some sort of masonry fireplace, furnace or wood fired central heating system. Don't forget to match the heating output of your fireplace for the space you need to heat. Not too big, not too small, you want it just right.

Some videos on pellet stoves:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFEbxVk8wUU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B50srdNmJpo

Masonry heaters:
http://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2008/12/tile-stoves.html

 

[Angus McGunnigle]

there is a certain high-tech to them that can, IMO and experience can be a hassle.
Inside there is a small electric motor that turns an auger that drops the pellet and timed intervals. That motor can go, the controller can go, the auger can get jammed. Certain pellet brands burn dirtier than others.
The need power of course, so that is another issue. Useless in a power outage if you have no backup power.
The ash needs to be cleaned out regularly also.
I had one for about 8 years And got tired of the maintenance.

 

[Angus McGunnigle]

Double post

 

[lazy otter]

Well I don't know if all pellet stoves work the way mine did but this is my exp. with 1. It was electric so if the power went out and you weren't on a generator you were kinda screwed but you seem to have a back up of propane heat. Mine had a blower and settings to control fan speed and temp and electronic feed hopper. 500square feet should be easy for a good pellet stove. Lowes,Home Depot had pellets and I'd get them by the pallet don't remember the price though. The cost of putting 1 in is atleast in my case was cheaper than a traditional fireplace. You do miss out on splitting wood and toasting marshmallows and the sounds of a fire so there is some loss too looking back I'd probably gone with a traditional fireplace just for the feel of it if that makes sense. Hope this helps!

 

[Macchina]

That's a good point: if the power goes, so does my furnace (electric blower as well).
I'd love to put in a traditional wood stove, but it seems like a serious step up (dirty, needs shielding, wood shed, etc.).
On the other hand, I love the Smell and rustic work involved with a cast iron wood stove...

 

[Angus McGunnigle]

IMO, I think a traditional wood stove is the way to go. It forces you to do "chores" daily, which IMO is good for the soul.

 

[The Warrior]

I recently purchased a micro cabin: http://bushcraftusa.com/forum/showthread.php/126220-Micro-Cabin

I plan on purchasing a 2 dog stove for it, from the four dog stove company. Made for a tent, but will work fine: http://bushcraftusa.com/forum/showthread.php/126220-Micro-Cabin

From a reviewer:

Keeps me cozy

Posted by Unknown on 16th Dec 2013

I installed my stove a couple of weeks ago in a 9x 22 foot cabin in the middle of a snow storm. It heats the place up in about 10 minutes, and can burn a couple of logs all night long, still cozy in the morning. I love it. I don't have a damper on it yet, but the adjustable air intake seems to do the trick for controlling the heat.

 

[Bo T]

I recently purchased a micro cabin: http://bushcraftusa.com/forum/showthread.php/126220-Micro-Cabin

I plan on purchasing a 2 dog stove for it, from the four dog stove company. Made for a tent, but will work fine: http://bushcraftusa.com/forum/showthread.php/126220-Micro-Cabin

From a reviewer:

Keeps me cozy

Posted by Unknown on 16th Dec 2013

I installed my stove a couple of weeks ago in a 9x 22 foot cabin in the middle of a snow storm. It heats the place up in about 10 minutes, and can burn a couple of logs all night long, still cozy in the morning. I love it. I don't have a damper on it yet, but the adjustable air intake seems to do the trick for controlling the heat.

Neat little cabin. I only read 1 page of your link. Did you ever put in the shutters?

To the OP. We have a simple wood stove. When the power is out in the winter it supplies us with enough heat to keep the front room toasty and the far reaches of our house above 50 F. But, no blower so the heat diffuses throughout the rest of the house. If you don't have power for the hopper or blower for the pellet stove, propane or CNG is the way to go for cleanliness. If you live near a source for wood a good wood stove with glass is the way to go. BTW - I like chopping wood. The wood stove with the ash cleanup and wood cutting is more of a hassle.

 

[Bufford]

If wood is available get a wood stove. I heat my home entirely on wood except for 15 to 20 gallons of oil when away at the remote cabin a few times during the winter. Stoking a wood stove will connect you with nature; I can tell what the temperature is outside just by how my fire behaves in the wood furnace. Recently I had the house re sided with foam board insulation added and it changed my entire routine operating the wood furnace. When it is -20 outside now, my fire behaves like it does when its only -10 and requires far less stoking. Last winter was big and wide but I used far less wood than otherwise, and it would compare to what the house used during a milder winter prior to the renovation.

 

[nevertwice]

Well most of the ups and downs of a pellet stove have been covered. negatives are the need for electricity, sourcing pellets (never had this problem anywhere i've lived in canada) and there are lots of moving parts that can go.
-maintaining a pellet stove is FAAAAAAAR simpler than wood (particularly when including wood sourcing and delivery, wood chopping, stacking, and hand bombing into the house on the daily)
-starting a pellet stove is simpler (i know this sounds like a stupid thing to add, but i know a lot of ppl, even country living folk, that stink at starting fires)
-keeping a pellet stove going is FAAAAAAR simpler than a wood stove. throw a cup of pellets in the hopper. tadaaa!!! no need to mess with firewood and fire pokers all day and night. (getting up a few times a night to put another log on the fire can be tiring, if that's something you will need to do at your place) and no cold toes in the morning while you get a wood stove going.
-The single most important 'positive' in having a pellet stove is safety. it is WAY safer than a wood stove. you can leave the house, go ice fishing for 5 hours, come home, and the pellet stove will have the place toasty for you when you arrive. easy breezy.

now granted, most of us on this forum love chopping wood, stoking fires, starting fires, and so on and so forth. however, as an example, i know my mother loves her wood stove for when my father is not at their home. so spouses and youngish kids can be a good reason for getting a pellet stove in some cases. my parents also have a pellet stove in their garage (detached from the house) they can light it to thaw things out in there, or to make it comfortable for work (my mothers wood carving shop is there)

safety, ease of use, and low maintenance. that's what pellet stoves offer in short.
ambience, tradition, and reliability (no electricity) is what wood stoves offer.

personally i have all wood stoves at my places. but i rarely have electricity there.

 

[adamm]

I have a pellet stove that was given to me in my apartment. They are pretty low maitence amd they pretty much run themselves. On the diwnside i would think fur a cabin you would want somthing that you can burn thats around you like wood. If it were me at a cabin id put in a wood stove so you have a resource of fuel right around you.