Wood Stove Enjoyer Turned Pellet Head
Written by a third generation fireplace shop owner who has been a lifelong wood stove user. Excuse the soot and dust, this wood stove and pellet stove get a lot of use.
Wood stoves represent traditional, reliable heat to many homeowners. Folks grow up using wood stove and wood fireplaces to stay warm throughout the winter. In Pennsylvania, we use our wood stoves for over half the year from September to March. Wood creates heat without any barriers beyond putting a piece of wood in a metal box. Our customers love the peace of mind and do it yourself nature of wood heat.
Over the years, wood heat has become challenging for some longtime wood burners. Tending a fire takes time that many people do not have, especially if they are out of home for work or tired of lugging wood around. Remote work suits many wood stove enjoyers, but if you need to go back to the office and keep the rest of your family warm, a pellet stove is an incredible purchase.
If you have a basement that is cold and unwelcoming, you can do what I did in my home! Install a pellet stove in your basement.
What Do You Know About Wood Stoves?
Ryan Family: A Legacy Built on the Hearth
My Pop and Dad started The Stove Shop on Saint Patrick’s Day in 1977. I’ve spent my entire 35+ year life living and breathing the wood stove industry. We didn’t just sell stoves; we pioneered the industry in our state, becoming Pennsylvania’s very first dealer of Vermont Castings by 1979.
Our Mission Today: Independence & Savings
Today, our mission in Phoenixville, PA remains exactly what it was when I was a kid: helping our neighbors stay warm and save money. For decades, that meant traditional wood stoves and fireplace inserts. But as heating needs evolve, many of our lifelong wood customers are discovering the benefits of pellet stoves and pellet fireplace inserts.
Learn more >> Wood Stoves vs. Pellet Stoves (Breakdown)
Wood & Pellet Create Peace of Mind During the Winter
While gas is an easy choice for some, it doesn’t offer the true energy independence or the deep cost savings achieved by biomass-fueled appliances like wood and pellet stoves.
Learn more >> How Much Does a Pellet Stove or Pellet Fireplace Insert Installation Cost?
- The Wood Experience: Nothing beats the ambiance and the raw heating power of a traditional wood fire.
- The Pellet Evolution: Pellet stoves offer that same biomass-fueled independence but with automated convenience and precision temperature control.
Can a Pellet Stove Heat My Home and Actually Lower My Heating Bill?
YES!
If you have oil heat:
I have oil heat in my old Pennsylvania farm home. Our windows are leaky and our home is poorly insulated. (We are working on it, I promise!) For now, the money we spend on oil heat seeps right out the windows, wasting money and fuel. We also use oil to heat the water for our home and go through a lot every year.
Heat where you live. Oil heat is everywhere. When you turn up the thermostat, your whole home gets hotter. That is a waste of money, you can’t be everywhere at once! (Did you know? Most sleepers enjoy a cold bedroom throughout the night!) Why spend money heating your whole home when you could heat where you live most with a fireplace or stove?
If you have electric heat:
This might not be your situation, maybe you have electricity as your primary heating source. If yes, you could have a heat pump that offer unimpressive 60 degree heat during the dead of winter. If you only had a heat pump through this most recent snowstorm in Pennsylvania, I guarantee you will benefit from a pellet stove. Your overall energy bill will be lower and the heat you experience will be four times more impactful. A traditional electric heat pump can not output more than 10,000 BTUs compared to the 40,000 BTU average of a pellet stove.
With pellet, it is all about the fuel! Burning quality pellet fuel makes a huge difference when it comes to service frequency. Good quality fuel = less service challenges and significantly more uptime for your pellet appliance.
Learn more >> What is your favorite pellet fuel?
How Do I Know if I Will Love Owning a Pellet Stove?
Pellet stoves create direct warmth. If you have a space in your home that you wished you used more, a pellet stove is a great answer. Basements are often great places for a pellet stove because of the inexpensive installation and venting. Pellet stoves are not as beautiful as a wood stove, that is certain, but they do create more convenient heat.
If you are a new parent like myself, a pellet stove or pellet fireplace inset will serve you much better than a wood fireplace insert or wood stove. Automatically starting a fire and having heat that you do not need to tend every 3-4 hours is a God send as a new Dad. I love the peace of mind my wood stove provides if I run out of pellet fuel (for example) but the overall convenience and heat output for the cost can’t be beat.
Pellet offers the ability to set and forget your stove. This is one of my favorite benefits of as a new pellet stove owner. Quality pellet stoves can be set on a schedule so that your living space is warm before your feet ever hit the floor in the morning. Personally, I enjoy my pellet stove heating up my basement to 76 degrees Fahrenheit before I wake up. The old, cold wood floors in my home are toasty warm before I ever get out of bed. My wood stove gets plenty of use, but it never automatically starts nor does it greets me in the morning with warmth.
Learn more >> How often do I need to get my pellet stove serviced?
