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Choosing A Pellet Fire For Your Home

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Choosing A Pellet Fire

Choosing a Pellet Fire

There are lots of good reasons to use a pellet fire to heat your home, and good on you for going for wood pellets.

Wood pellet fires give you a real wood flame with much less cleaning and less mess in the house. A winter’s fuel of wood pellets takes up a fraction of the space a winter’s stack of firewood takes up. Plus, wood pellets are at a consistently low moisture level, so more heat ends up in the room instead of just boiling off all the moisture that comes with fire wood. Also, wood pellet fires “drip-feed” the fuel into the flame as it is needed, and can be turned off when you don’t need the heater on. So pellet fires are more fuel efficient than log fires. In a log fire, once a log is put on, it will burn away, even if you don’t need all the heat out of it.

As you will probably already know, pellet fires have very low particulate emissions, and meet or exceed NZ National Emissions standards. Installation is usually less expensive because you can often use smaller diameter exhaust pipe and the run may be shorter, too.

Steps to Choosing the Right Pellet Fire For You

So you are interested in buying a pellet fire, and want to know how to choose the right one for you.

First, decide on how much you are willing to spend on a pellet fire. If you are replacing a log fire, and hope to buy a pellet fire for what a basic log burner costs, forget it. Log fires are basically steel boxes, whereas a pellet fire is an electronic appliance, often with computer chips and thermostats to control the whole burn process. If you aren’t willing to spend at least $4,000 on the unit and maybe another $1,000 on the installation, maybe you should think again. In fact many pellet fire models cost much more than that, and in my experience are usually worth paying the extra for them. Sometimes you are paying for a particular style that fits your decor, but I think the extra amount also gets you a long lasting quality product that will save you money in the long run.

Next, find the retailers of pellet fires close to where you live, because pellet fires are electronic appliances, and will need back-up now and then. You won’t want to be a long way from your service technician.

Visit the retailers’ showrooms, and let them ask you questions. If they don’t ask you about the size of space you are looking to heat, or the location in the room where you plan to place it, then I would worry that they won’t be able to properly size the pellet fire you need or figure out what sort of installation you will need. Maybe ask to see the manager, or try some other shop.

Find the units that fit your budget, and discuss the workings of the machine. Most pellet fires at the low end of the price range will not have thermostatic control or timer start/stop. But I find that most Kiwis are comfortable with a bit more interaction with their pellet fire than maybe Americans or Europeans. So you may not need some of those extras. Also, the most common method for putting pellets into the flame for the lower priced units is by dropping the pellets in from above the fire pot. Mechanically it is quite a simple process, but pellet fires that push the pellets into the fire pot from below are usually better performers. This is because any clinkers that develop are broken up as the pellets are pushed in from below. The top feed system can result in more cleaning being needed to ensure that a clinker doesn’t interfere with the combustion air. But again, Kiwis seem okay with this.

Because pellet fires have augers and fans, they are not silent. It would be good if you could have the pellet fire brought to your home, placed on the floor where you plan to have it installed, and then turn on the fans. Now, when the fire is on high, it is considerably more noisy than on lower settings, and the fire won’t be on high too often. Once the room is warmed up you will lower the firing rate and it will just tick over keeping the room warm. So try the fans on medium and low settings. If you find it too noisy, try another model or brand. Pellet fire manufacturers have worked hard over the past ten years to get the noise level down. Some have succeeded better than others.

The warranty offered with your new pellet fire is quite important. If possible get a very long warranty on all the electronics and moving parts. That is the control board/computer chips, the auger or augers, and fans. Often manufacturers try to make a warranty sound great by saying “5 years on the firebox”, and then quietly say “1 year on electronics, auger and fans”. I think 3 years would be reasonable on the electronics and moving parts. Perhaps also negotiate one, two or three free annual services.

Before you do start negotiating the price, don’t forget to get them to price up the installation and a hearth if needed. Get the likely total before you start negotiating. Otherwise they may be able to drop the unit price but recoup a lot on the installation and the hearth. So make sure the shop has put the grand total figure on paper before you start pressing. If necessary, have the installer visit your home before you make a commitment so they can firm up the installation price. Remember, the one who gives a dollar figure first, loses!

And once you do complete your purchase, you should probably consider having your retailer or their recommended maintenance technician do an annual service before each winter, to ensure there are no problems when the weather does get cold. Hopefully you have negotiated at least one free annual service. Three would be much better!

Sourcing the Fuel for Your Pellet Fire

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