# Pellet or Gas?



## HONEY (Mar 13, 2011)

Do you have a preference?

I live in Canada and we would like to make this our main source of heat and if needed emergency heat source. 

What do you do if the power goes out, to make the blower/hopper still work? Battery back up?

Sorry for the dumb questions, but I am still a newbie. 

Also if you have a gas stove, is the oven gas?


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## DJgang (Apr 10, 2011)

I know nothing about pellet. Does that require you to purchase? Or do you make pellets?

Is wood not an option?


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## rynophiliac (Nov 19, 2012)

Honey,

for what its worth I've always thought it is best to rely on others as little as possible. With gas you are definitely relying on others. With pellets, you can at least stock up on pellets before hand to last for several months to a year. But if I were in your position I would use a wood burning stove. Have you considered wood? I would imagine in Canada there are wooded areas all around where you could get wood. At least on the east coast where I spent two years in PEI and New Foundland there was plenty of wooded areas to harvest wood from.


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## cowboyhermit (Nov 10, 2012)

If you have a gas stove the oven is gas and can be used as a heat source, not supposed to be the primary source since it isn't vented. Newer ones usually have an electric element that heats up and ignites the burner which kind of sucks for grid down, it doesn't take much power if you have an inverter/generator. Stove burners usually have electric igniters too but not an issue because you can just light them.
Barring a truly catastrophic event gas is much more reliable that power most places and often cheaper. Propane is a good option but a bit pricy if you use a lot.
It isn't really that hard or expensive to set up a pellet stove with some backup power, if you do some searching or even ask a dealer. Then of course you can stock up a lot of pellets and your set.
Actual wood is definitely my favorite though, but not right for everyone.


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## UncleJoe (Jan 11, 2009)

If wood (which would be my first choice) is not an option, gas would be my next choice. You can cook as well as heat with gas. I have a friend with a pellet stove. He burns a pallet plus every year. A pallet is 40 50lb. bags. When the power goes out, it's worthless without a generator to run it. A gas stove would be able to heat at least a small section of your house in the event of a power outage. If you can get a 500 or a 1000 gallon tank, it will last a long time.

With that said, this is what we have.

Wood is our primary heat. 

There is an oil furnace as a back up. It can be powered with a generator if needed.

Then we have a propane stove/oven. We can seal off one end of the house and the oven could heat 3 rooms as well as cook our meals.


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## Padre (Oct 7, 2011)

Both make you dependent on the grid for warmth, which up here in the North is more important than water; and it seems silly to burn fuel (generating electricity to power
either a gas or pellet stove) to burn fuel.


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## hiwall (Jun 15, 2012)

You can buy non-electric gas space heaters that work fine. Vented and non-vented. Propane does not degrade so you could buy/rent a large tank.


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## Caribou (Aug 18, 2012)

I have been in the heating business for a number of years. I recommend at least two heat sources. It is better if they are of different fuels and at least one should be able to operate without electricity. A pot burner oil stove is a viable option. The addition of a circulating fan can improve efficiency and comfort while still allowing a functional heat source with the power off. The furnace mentioned above that turns on when the wood stove cools is a perfect solution for saving money and not getting up in the middle of the night to stoke the wood. Oil, propane, natural gas, electricity, and pellets are convenient heat sources. Wood, if you have a local source, can have cost and reliability advantages. 

Pellet stoves are just wood stoves that allow you to go to work or sleep through the night. For this convenience you require a source of electricity. This can be the grid, a generator, or a battery and inverter. You also need a pellet mill or a source of pellets. Each fuel and each appliance has its own set of advantages and disadvantages. Having at least two heating systems helps minimize these disadvantages.


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## BillM (Dec 29, 2010)

I owned and operated a Heating Cooling Business also and I have two sorces of heat in my home. The first is an air to air electric heat pump and the second is two ventless propane heaters , (one upstairs and one downstairs). We have a propane gas stove and oven to cook with. I have a 1000 galon propane tank that I keep full.
This is enough to cook and heat for an entire year.

I keep six ricks of wood for the fire pit and /or the wood stove in my insulated garage and workshop.

Everyone should have two seperate resources of fuel to heat with. One of them should not be grid dependant.


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## jsriley5 (Sep 22, 2012)

Throw another option out there is a pellet stove designed to also use corn. The corn burners need a slightly different set up for th ecorn but will burn pellets just fine, pellet stoves wont always work well with corn. Corn is a easy to produce on your own fuel source. And does still require some electric input but should be well withing the reach of a small solar/wnd generation set up. And I don't thinbk you would need anb inverter for most as you could skip the stoves transformer and just wire it direct DC. I don't yet have any experience with this but it is on my list of things to look for when we get a new home. I will also have a wood burner totally non electric heat source and due to somtimes getting laid up a few days here and there have a propane heat pump frunace and some propane non electric area or space heaters. 

As for the Range you can get hybrids that are gas tops and electric ovens or vice a versae Just about everything takes electric to run now a days have to be careful as some even need electric to open the valves to let the gas flow. YOud want to make sure NOT to have that option so you could at least still light with a match. I personally paln to set up a basement canning kitchen in our next home and will go find a really old totally non electric range and oven for it.


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## backlash (Nov 11, 2008)

We had a pellet stove and it worked well.
Pellets were around $120 a ton back then.
Now they're around $220 a ton.
We switched to natural gas and it was great.
Way cheaper and much easier.
We've moved and there is no NG so we use a propane furnace.
Filled the tank yesterday at $2.40 a gallon.
I really would like a free standing stove but it's not an option right now.
When I do buy one it will probably be propane.
My wife is getting too old to be moving 40 pound bags of pellets.


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## Skeeter (Nov 7, 2009)

My question is, when, in an economic collapse does the natural gas company quit supplying it? Then what?


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## Freyadog (Jan 27, 2010)

We are using our pellet stove for the first time this winter and I love it. We purchased the stove from Harbor Freight, that came from New England Stove. then we called the manufacturer and order the pipe from the stove to the wall. Just ordered what we needed. N.E. told us that the kits have a bunch of stuff that you don;t actually need.

We are loving this stove.

since we have 10 acres and most of it is woods we are going to invest in a pellet maker.


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## HONEY (Mar 13, 2011)

We have a wood stove in the basement. It heats the whole house if needed, but I dont go down there unless needed. It is our long term solution. I also have lots of wood, and plenty of forests to cut more down if needed.

We are just looking for a source that we could use in non emergency times, and short term power outages.


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## UncleJoe (Jan 11, 2009)

HONEY said:


> We have a wood stove in the basement. It heats the whole house if needed, but I dont go down there unless needed. It is our long term solution. I also have lots of wood, and plenty of forests to cut more down if needed.
> 
> We are just looking for a source that we could use in non emergency times, and short term power outages.


In that case my choice would be gas/propane for the duel purpose capabilities.


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## talob (Sep 16, 2009)

I used to heat the house in MI with a corn stove but with the ethanlol plants being built and farmers contracting to them price of corn went up till wood pellets became competitive in price, corn/pellet stoves can be had that have battery backup for short power outs, now if you had a means to charge a twelve volt battery you could run for a prolonged period.


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## Immolatus (Feb 20, 2011)

We have a pellet stove also that we dont use very much. It will almost heat the whole house also, but I dont like it because it needs electricity. Since were not staying here forever were not replacing it. Pellets are much more convenient than wood (I grew up with a wood stove), but here in the burbs they arent exactly self sustaining.
Unless you have a backup electrical system, the pellet stove wont help you come lights out.

My vote:wood stove.
EDIT- That wasnt one of the options. Go with the pellets, since gas requires more work on the front end, and if SHTF youd still be able to use the pellet stove. Not so with the gas.


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## Homegrowngirl (Apr 19, 2011)

We have an electric furnace, but we have a wood cook stove in the kitchen also with the electric range. Also, the chimney is in place for a wood stove to be added to the livingroom. The idea that we are having is a wood burning furnace outside of the house that will have a radiator type to heat water in place of a water heater that can be pumped into the house and the heat will be pulled into the house also. I had an uncle who also ran his clothes dryer on wood heat, and got his electricity from a creek that ran through his property. Unfortunately he passed away quite a few years ago, his knowledge would be greatly appreciated now when we are trying to get going on our own projects.


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## hiwall (Jun 15, 2012)

(Homegrowngirl) "The idea that we are having is a wood burning furnace outside of the house"

Think real hard and investigate alot before you do this. My vote is no.


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## Erick3758 (Aug 9, 2011)

Multiple sources of heat ...we heated with fuel oil for many years.then we added on to the house and also added a propane furnace.last year i installed a pellet stove.we love the stove.with 10 small doorway fans to move the heat we keep the whole house toasty.we will burn about 5 tons per season.that is much cheaper than what I was spending on oil.i do have a back up power source.i also have a large Woodstove and miles of woods around us.


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