How Do Pellet Stoves Work
Pellet stoves are a lot similar to wood stoves when you look at it from the outside, but inside they are sophisticated combustion appliances. The device holding the pellets is called the “hopper,” while the device that transfers it to the next chamber is an “auger.” To use it, you just need to load pellets into the hopper. The size of the hopper varies for each stove, and obviously, the bigger the hopper the more pellets you can load. There are two types of pellet stove:
- Top Feed – where the auger serves the pellets from the top. This type lessens the risk that the fire will burn back to the hopper. Although there is a chance that the ash gets caught up in its firebox grate, build up and cause the fire to die.
- Bottom Feed – where the auger serves the pellets horizontally and its ash moves to the sides where there is an ash pan to make cleaning and maintenance easy and safe.
Some stoves are automatic while some will require you to manually light it. There is usually an internal thermostat to determine the heat and signals you when you need to add more pellets. The process of heating begins when the air in your room is sucked in with a built-in fan, and then transferred to the heating chamber. The resulting hot air will then be brought back into the vent system of your room or house.
Warm, cozy homes are becoming more difficult to manage and maintain during the cold months with the continued rise of the prices of oil, natural gas, and electricity. But don’t fret. There is another option: pellet stoves.
How Do Pellet Stoves Work?
Pellet stoves are hearth products that make use of electrically-controlled blowers, combustion systems, and heat exchangers. In layman’s terms, this means that pellet stoves burn fuel slowly, release as much energy as they can from the pellets, and draw in cool air and release it out as hot air.
To use a pellet stove, pour the pellets into a holding area, which is called the hopper. If the hopper is very big, enough fuel that can burn for several days can be accommodated. Most pellet stoves can produce heat for one to two days on just one loading of pellets.
Within the stove is an auger, which is an automated feeding system. It controls the pace at which the pellets are fed to the fire. For instance, if the rate is one pound an hour, a slow fire is generated, thus heating the room for a long time. If the rate is higher, say, four to five pounds per hour, the fire will be bigger so the room will be warmer.
Some pellet stoves are self-lit, while some are needed to be manually lit. Regardless of the method of how it is lit, the heat exchanger is heated to about 250 degrees Fahrenheit. The cool air from the room is warmed as it is passed through heat exchanger. The blower then releases back the warm air into the room.
Cost-efficiency of Pellet Stoves
Pellet stoves are the perfect heating alternative for people that have expensive home heating bills because of the fluctuation in energy prices. In fact, more and more people are installing them in their homes as a secondary heat source in order to help reduce their heating expenses.
The main reason behind this huge savings is the fuel that is being used. Pellet stoves burn cheap pellets that are produced from recycled sawdust. Because of the efficiency of the production process and the low price of the materials used, pellets are very economical. Moreover, pellet stoves are extremely efficient at generating heat. They may look like traditional wood stoves but they are engineered to burn the pellets in such a way that they squeeze all of the heat of it, thus warming your homes at a less expensive cost.
Thanks to their feature that helps manage the fuel-to-air ratio, an almost full combustion of the pellets is guaranteed. That same feature also helps minimize wood smoke, making them the solid-fuel burning heating products with the least emission. This is very important especially in places where the quality of winter air is an issue.
Once you have tried using a pellet stove, you would most probably refuse to go back to using the traditional wood stove. Because they’re economical, environment-friendly, and automated, they provide a convenient way of warming your home.