Wood vs Pellet Stove: What’s Best for Heating in 2026?

Comments · 540

• RO

  @rogerjustice8835 · 1 year ago

  I’ve been heating my house for the last 30 years with a 1970s fisher mama bear wood stove I bought used for $300 it’s saved me literally thousands of dollars. I cut and split my own wood so it also helps keep me in shape. My mom and dad heated with a buck wood stove they bought new in 1978 until my dad’s death in 2013. My dad and I spent some very good memorable days cutting wood back on the mountain. Some of my most memorable and enjoyable memories was made spending time with him, I still have and use his antique chainsaw a few times a year to keep it running and for all the memories it brings running it. I’m currently passing the memories down to my now adult son as he helps me with the wood duties . So wood stoves are more than just a heater, they can also be memory makers as well. Thank you for making this video as I’m sure my wood cutting days are going to end and I may be looking at a pellet stove one day.

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• TR

  @Treeplanter73 · 1 year ago

  Woodstove for the win. No electricity, no problem.

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• BE

  @beathompson4412 · 8 months ago

  We have an 1890s farmhouse.  Our wood stove is not cutting it.  Have to babysit it every hour.  We leave the house and come home to a cold house, go to bed, wake up to a cold house.  Go away for the weekend, come home to a cold house.  We're done.  Ordered a Quadrafire Classic with an 80 pound hopper and I am so excited to not freeze all the time, less mess, no splitting and being able to work upstairs for a few hours and not have to run downstairs every hour and see where we are at.  It's literally exhausting.

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• MU

  @muskyful · 10 months ago

  We used a wood stove for 18 yrs, but for last 14 yrs we have been burning a pellet stove. The biggest factor for moving to pellet stove for us was 1. Consistent quality source for clean dry fuel. 2. Ease of use, 3. Less mess, and 4. Temperature control. At age 79 I still can manage the 40lb bag, but do use a small Harbor Freight collapsible dolly cart to bring bags in from the garage. When time comes that I can't lift the bags, I will just get a big 85oz Flour scoop to shovel pellets into hopper. We do have a backup power supply for any power outages. As for maintenance, I do regular required weekly & monthly cleaning and then the annual overhaul. I also keep backup parts stocked for any necessary replacement (igniter, blower & exhaust fans, door seal, vacuum switch and burn pot). Overall, we prefer the pellet stove over the wood stove days in the past. We don't have to stack wood and hope its really seasoned when we get it! Pellets are delivered on two 50 bag pallets and stored clean & dry in our garage by the vendor for a $78 charge!

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• JA

  @janking2762 · 11 months ago

  A pellet stove commits you to an industrial supplier while a wood stove lets you use your own wood or a local firewood supplier (helping support your neighbor) or free wood from utility tree trimming crews or Craigslist free firewood sources.

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• DA

  @davidspringham3962 · 11 months ago

  I've had both. When I turned 65, 6 years ago I installed the pellet stove. Carrying 1 40 pound bag of pellets is much easier than several arm loads of wood and I never have to split wood again. Pellets are around $300.00 per ton ( 50 bags ), but I only use 1 bag per day. Will never go back to cord wood.

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• CC

  @CCBurton-qt6cc · 8 months ago (edited)

  It’s nice to hear the different views…. For the first 15 years of my life used a wood stove, for near 20 years now with a pellet stove, a battery pack up and generator, no cutting wood, no mess, no storing wood, pellets delivered to my garage. ($550/year), lower insurance costs, closer tolerance for install so doesn’t take up so much room….. the list goes on…..I would never go to a wood stove again.

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• DA

  @davidolsen9098 · 1 year ago

  They make 20 and 22lb bags now. Cost i bit more for convenience but for us older people those lighter pellet bags are easier to lift.

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• KE

  @keylargo2001 · 1 year ago

  I started out with a wood stove. I would cut and split and stack 4 cords a year by hand. The down size was the amount of effort it took to prepare the wood. Second was bringing in the wood to burn and having extra in the house to add in the morning. The wood in the house was messy with peices of bark or wood falloing off. It's also a real eye opener when you wake up in the morning and find black ants every where. Because the made a home in a peice of wood. In the 7 years I had the stove I had 2 chimney fires even with yearly cleaning. I then bought a pellet stove and replaced the wood stove. I bought the pellet stove in 2005 and still use it to this day. In the 20 years I have replace one combustion blower and one room convection blower.. I store my pellets in my shed 30 feet from my house. At night I bring in 2-5 gallon buckets of pellets. One goes in the stove for the over night and the other goes in the stove in the morning. I do not have to woory about bringing in pest from outside nor the mess from the wood. I do not need to woory about a chimney fire because the pellets are kil dried. If there is a blizzrd coming. I simply fill my bucketss and bring in 2 bags. Which is enough to hold me over for 3 days. I have 2 generators so I'm not without power.

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• CR

  @Cranberry-47 · 8 days ago

  No talk of the labor in getting wood delivered and stored

• CR

  @criticaltemperature3343 · 1 year ago

  Im an hvac guy. I do all my maintenance and repairs to my own pellet stoves. Had to learn how to take them apart / assembly for proper cleaning.

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• AF

  @AFVETERAN1234 · 8 months ago

  When I was growing up,  my parents had a wood furnace.  As a teenager with a bedroom on the second floor,  I would get up around 2 a.m. and fill the furnace back up with plenty of wood to last till 9 a.m.   When my dad was in an accident and could not do anything,  my mom and I split wood.  Thank goodness my dad invested in a log splitter. Many times before a storm came in.  My mom and I would split enough wood for a week.  Bring enough wood into the basement to last three days.  That was a godsend to have an unfinished basement to store wood for a few days.  This furnace kept us warm in -20 below degrees.

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