Wood stove vs pellet stove, the summer heat bill made me switch

I ran a wood stove for 12 years in central Mass, cutting and splitting maybe 4 cords each fall. Last February I got tired of the ash mess and bought a pellet stove for $1,800, figuring the bags were easier to stack. Now my electric bill for the furnace backup dropped from $210 to $90 a month, but pellets cost me $320 per season versus about $40 in gas for the chainsaw and splitter. The real trade-off is time: I save 30 hours of splitting work but lose the satisfaction of a roaring fire. My neighbor swears his wood stove pays for itself in 5 years, but my back disagrees after hauling those logs. Anyone else made the jump and regret it or stick with the old way?

2 comments

2 Comments

oliviahenderson1mo ago

My folks have the exact same setup up in New Hampshire, wood stove for 15 years before they switched to pellets three winters ago. Dad was doing 5 cords a year and his knees just gave out, so the pellet stove was more about survival than savings. The one thing nobody warns you about is the auger noise at 2am when it kicks on, that thing sounds like a coffee grinder full of rocks. But they went from hauling logs every weekend to just grabbing a bag from the shed, and that trade was worth it for them. He still keeps the wood stove for power outages, but honestly the pellet stove runs on a tiny generator just fine. The math never works out perfectly either way, but my dad says his back is the real calculator.

hayden_rivera1mo ago

Read that pellet auger noise drives dogs nuts too.