Pellet stove pellets: an answer
to the skyrocketing fuel prices?

Pellet stove pellets are small tightly packed form of wood that resembles rabbit food. As the name suggests, they're used in pellet stoves as fuel. They can be made up of sawdust, wood shavings, corn, walnuts, peanut shells and other biomass wastes. The advantage of using pellets over other fuels are that they are economic and environment friendly than the fossil fuels such as gas, coal and oil. Moreover, since the pellets are made by wood byproducts and biomass waste, no trees are felled to produce these pellets.

Before coming to us in their usable form, these pellets go through a series of processes such as grinding, compressing and extrusion. Just like rabbit food, the length of the pellets varies from 3/8 inch to 1 inch. To make them conveniently portable, the pellets usually come in 40-pound bag packing.

An economic alternative

The price of oil is shooting up day by day. Consequently, energy bills are also getting higher. People have started looking for alternative heating solutions. Pellet stove pellets are here to offer some respite from high-energy bills.

A cursory comparison of prices of rock wood and pellets may give you the impression that pellets are more expensive. Price of firewood ranges from $100 to $175 per cord whereas the pellets range from $130 to $200 per ton. However, comparing a ton to a cord is not fair. We must take into account the spaces between the stacked logs, and the 20% to 30% moisture in the wood cords that is not going to produce any heat. According to estimates, one ton of pellets are approximately equivalent to one and half cord of wood in terms of heat produced.

When we compare prices of pellet stove pellets with cordwood, we must also consider the annual consumption. An average pellet stove will use 1 to 3 tons of pellets per year. If you use a wood stove you may need about 3 to 4 cords of wood per year. That clearly shows that pellets are less expensive than cordwood.

Advantages of Pellet Stove Pellets

Pellets require less time and effort to stack and carry than the wood. Pellets need less space for storage. When compared with space required to store wood, pellets need only one-third the space.

Another advantage of using pellets is that they reduce the dependence on oil. Had we not converted sawdust, wood shavings, corn, walnuts, peanut shells and other biomass wastes into pellets, they would have been dumped into landfills. By using pellet stove pellets, we are encouraging conversion of waste material into useful form of energy.

More Efficient and Cleaner

Pellet stove pellets burn more efficiently and cleaner than any other fuel. Combustion mechanism of the stove and the consistency makes pellets burn hotter than wood or other fuels. Intense compression process makes the moisture level fall below 8%, making it very dry. This dry fuel simply produces more heat than wood because it normally has 20% to 30% moisture. Let us now compare particulate emission also. A pellet stove has particulate emission of 1 gram per hour while that of a wood stove is about 5 grams per hour. Pellets also produce very little quantity of ash as compared to wood.

Considering the aforementioned advantages, we can conclude that pellet stove pellets are economic, convenient, safe and environment friendly alternative heating solutions for your home. By using pellets, you not only save money but also contribute towards greener earth and healthier environment.

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