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*Question & Answer Woodstoves*

Dear Bob

We want to install a wood burning stove in our den to help warm the house in the winter. A salesman we met was really pushing us to buy a wood pellet stove. I have never heard of these stoves. He seems to think they are the best thing since sliced bread. Can you give me your take on them?

Dear PVB

Wood Pellet Stoves are a new and very popular way as a means to provide heat. Pellet Stoves use wood pellets as its primary heat source. These wood pellets are tightly compacted and dense which causes it to be burned very efficiently and powerfully. Pellets usually come from the byproduct of sawmills and are very easily transportable due to their size (about half and inch) and their weight. These days, the prices of stove burning sources such as fossil fuels, chopped wood, natural gas and electric gas are gradually going up and wood pellets are a very cheap and easy to manufacture resource and has a very low pollution rate.
Pellet fuel is a renewable, clean-burning and cost stable home heating alternative currently used throughout North America. It is a biomass product made of renewable substances - generally recycled wood waste. There are approximately 800,000 homes in the U.S. using wood pellets for heat, in freestanding stoves, fireplace inserts and even furnaces. Pellet fuel for heating can also be found in such large-scale environments as schools and prisons. North American pellets are produced in manufacturing facilities in Canada and the United States, and are available for purchase at fireplace dealers, nurseries, building supply stores, feed and garden supply stores and some discount merchandisers.
In short, pellet fuel is a way to divert millions of tons of waste from landfills and turn it into energy.

Dear Bob

I just read a news article that stated you can burn corn in a wood pellet stove. Is this a good idea?

Dear JZ

Yes it is true, you can burn corn in your pellet a wood pellet stove. A mixture of 25% corn 75% wood pellet is the max. Corn has a higher sugar value which causes more soot build up and clinkers in the burn chamber so it plugs off the air. The corn will burn well with a mixture of pellets to offset the soot build up as wood pellets burn very clean.

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