Wednesday, March 07, 2007

Pellet Stove or Gas Fireplace?

We're trying to heat the bottom floor of our house more efficiently. I'm not sure which is a better way to go. Initially I thought a gas fireplace, however it was suggested to me on a frugal forum to go with a pellet stove. A family mentioned buying 4 tons of pellets for $1k and it lasting all winter.

Now that sounds like a great deal, however I'm not sure about the feasiblity of either. DH thinks the gas fireplace would be easier to install since we have a gas line for the stove. I concur. He also thinks a pellet stove might not work because it needs air to run so it would deplete the oxygen in our house and would need to vent somewhere, preferably outside. If not it would potentially lead to increased carbon monoxide in the house.

I haven't done much research but the pellet stove and a gas fireplace appear to run about the same price, especially if we get a pellet stove insert for the fireplace. However energy is required to run the pellet stove.

I also am debating between a gas log and a gas fireplace or fireplace insert. The running costs of logs is about $1000, but for a fireplace/insert it is $2500. Pellet stoves start from $1200-$3000 depending also on installation. I guess we'll do more research, but any input would be appreciated.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I would suggest going with the pellet stove insert. We have used a pellet stove as our primary heat source for two years and have enjoyed the warmth it brings to the entire house. We have an 1890 Victorian 2-story home we heat with the stove. As a backup we also use hot-water heat on very cold days (if we purchased a larger unit, probalby could get by without other heat). Our costs last year in North Iowa were about $700 for pellet heat and $500 for gas, which includes hot water heater (80% efficient). We order our pellets at the beginning of the year because we have space to store 3, 1.2ton pallets.
Hope that helps!