Wood Pellet Fireplace and Pellet Stoves

To use wood pellet fuel in your place they are two options. Firstly to use a simple pellet basket, and burn the wood pellets as an open fire or within a stove. The second option it to install a pellet stove also known as a pellet stove insert into the fireplace. A pellet stove insert has the same components and internal design of a pellet stove. However the exterior of the pellet stove has been designed to fit into the fireplace as more of an integrated unit. The only other changes which may be made is the access to fill the wood pellet hopper.

So what sort of heat output should you expect to get from a wood pellet fireplace insert. Well really this depends on the type of unit you purchase, but you can get between 5 up to 15Kw units. The smaller units will be used purely to heat the room where the fireplace is located. This means convection heat into the room, with most wood pellet fireplace inserts having fan assisted units pushing the air around and heating up the colder air. There are some wood pellet fireplace stoves which also have an integrated back boiler. The back boiler can be connected up to your existing central heating system to heat the rest of your property. Therefore a wood pellet fireplace can turn a heating source which has been very inefficient for generations into a highly efficient heat source to heat the whole property with a low carbon fuel source.

Wood Pellet Insert and Maintenance

The amount of maintenance the wood pellet stove fireplace requires, will depend on the type of fuel used, and features and abilities of each unit. Obviously, the two main areas of maintenance are loading the stove with fuel and remove the ash after combustion. Therefore two obvious features to pay attention to when buying a wood pellet fireplace is the size of the fuel hopper and the ash draw. Depending on your available budget, an external fuel hopper could also be installed to feed the smaller hopper on the pellet stove. The size of external hoppers is very variable, however you have have a hopper installed which will hold an entire years worth of fuel. However, even if an external hopper is not currently within your budget, the standard hopper on the wood pellet fireplace will hold at least a days worth of fuel, with some designs which can hold up to a weeks worth. Again when choosing a wood pellet fireplace, ask about the size of the ash draw and how often it will have to emptied on different pellet fuel.

Wood Pellets Fuel and Biomass Pellets

As well as the features of the pellet stove itself, the level of maintenance required also depends on the type of fuel being used. For example, premium pellet fuel is the most common and produces on 0.5% ash. However, they are also by far the most expensive. Lower grade wood pellets and other types of biomass fuel pellets are available, which are much cheaper compared to premium pellets and generate the same levels of heat. The main issue is that the ash content of these fuel pellets can range from 1% up to around 7%. Therefore, to able to use these fuels without having to empty the ash bin every ten minutes requires a unit with a large ash bin. However that is not to say a wood pellet fireplace can burn all forms of wood and biomass pellet fuel. The design of the burn pot is also very important, and lacking in many pellet stoves.

 The Wood Pellet Production Guide © PelHeat Ltd - Wood Pellet Fireplace