# Pellet or Wood Burner



## Roy C (Sep 29, 2012)

We are deciding on whether to get a wood burner or pellet burner. I prefer the pellet but my wife is saying if there is a power cut ( and they seem to happen a lot in Spain) we would have no heating, we don't have gas. So she wants a wood burner. What does happen if there is a power cut, as in are they usually a short period of time and what would be the best option? Any advice would be welcome, thanks.


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## cermignano (Feb 9, 2017)

I dont know the answer as everybody has different priorities. My sister has both. i think the pellet one is cleaner and easier to manage. But, it is in a hallway area to give heat to various parts of the house. There are different pellet stoves and hers is far noisier than her wood burner, others may be quieter, we dont know. But for sure if it was in her living room, it would be awful.


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## Lynn R (Feb 21, 2014)

We have a couple of friends who have woodburners and one who has a pellet stove. All are very effective in providing heat, and i haven't noticed any difference in noise (perhaps different models of pellet stove vary in this respect). If I was choosing one I would go for the pellet variety, not only because they're clearner and less messy to clean, but because you need so much less storage space for a few sacks of pellets than for a delivery of wood.


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## snikpoh (Nov 19, 2007)

I wouldn't say we have a lot of power cuts - in fact I can't think of the last one we had ( been here 10+ years).

Regarding fires - we have a wood burner but then this came with the house. If I could have my time again, I would go for a pellet stove that did the hot water AND the central heating.


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## Rabbitcat (Aug 31, 2014)

Why does a power cut stop these pellet stoves from working?

I am a stove virgin so need educating


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## snikpoh (Nov 19, 2007)

Rabbitcat said:


> Why does a power cut stop these pellet stoves from working?
> 
> I am a stove virgin so need educating


As far as I am aware, it doesn't - it just stops it igniting in the first place.


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## Rabbitcat (Aug 31, 2014)

But why not just light it manually?


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

Do a search for _pellet_ and a couple of threads on the wood v pellet question come up.


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## Rabbitcat (Aug 31, 2014)

Cheers

By the way in Spain can you get the fire lighting gel ?


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

Rabbitcat said:


> Cheers
> 
> By the way in Spain can you get the fire lighting gel ?


Nasty stuff. Just get good kindling instead.
You probably can get it though.


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

We used to get power cuts regularly when we first moved here, but these days they are rare. It sometimes drops for a couple of seconds in bad weather (just enough to disable the router!) but I can't remember the last time it went off for more than five minutes. Depends where you are I suppose. 

Likewise the decision between pellets and logs. Pellets are I believe much more expensive, and where I live people tend to have woodburners because we are next to a huge forest and logs are cheap and easy to acquire. That might not be the case where you are though.

EDIT just noticed you are in Casares so I can't imagine there would be a problem getting logs.


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## paintersmate (Dec 1, 2015)

I have a pellet burner, when we bought the house a year ago, we needed to replace the fire,so, after a lot of thought, we went for pellet burner. You need electric for ignition, mine has no facility to light manually, but also needed for fan. I have just had 20 bags of pellets delivered ( there are different qualities) for 70 euros, and put just where I wanted them, bonus against collecting them yourself from AKI etc.Im not using as many bags a day now, will probably be all I need now for rest of winter unless it turns very cold again. As a back up I do have a gas fire ( the moveable, gas bottle type) in case of power cut


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## Rabbitcat (Aug 31, 2014)

And what about my fire lighting gel query Amanda, eh, eh????


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## snikpoh (Nov 19, 2007)

Rabbitcat said:


> And what about my fire lighting gel query Amanda, eh, eh????


Plenty available in most fereterias or DIY stores.

However, why not use pine cones (excellent fire lighters due to the resin in them) and good, old-fashioned paper?


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## peedee (Aug 30, 2015)

snikpoh said:


> Plenty available in most fereterias or DIY stores.
> 
> However, why not use pine cones (excellent fire lighters due to the resin in them) and good, old-fashioned paper?


And light our wood burner very quickly. We collect them whilst walking the dog - he 'helps'.
We are up the mountain behind Gandia and have had power cuts this winter- the longest less than an hour


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## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

Rabbitcat said:


> And what about my fire lighting gel query Amanda, eh, eh????


That gel ran off with the boots, doncha know. That's the trouble with gels these days they are all floozies who drop their keks as soon as someone looks at them.


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## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

We have a log burner which costs us, on average between 250€ and 300€ per year to run.

We had though about a pellet because the logburner only heats half the house and doesn't provide hot water BUT using a pellet to heat water and provide c/h means a lot of pipework and radiators or ducting (if using hot air)


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## paintersmate (Dec 1, 2015)

Rabbitcat said:


> And what about my fire lighting gel query Amanda, eh, eh????


Have no ideas about your gel, sorry


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## Rabbitcat (Aug 31, 2014)

No probs 

We are too poor now anyway to add a pellet burner at this stage

I will just have to wrap up warm and get a good set of those combinations with the trapdoor at the bum


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## paintersmate (Dec 1, 2015)

Rabbitcat said:


> No probs
> 
> We are too poor now anyway to add a pellet burner at this stage
> 
> I will just have to wrap up warm and get a good set of those combinations with the trapdoor at the bum


Thats an image we won't easily get out of our minds, haha


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## Roy C (Sep 29, 2012)

Okay, thanks for all the answers and advice. I think it might be a pellet burner, well hopefully.


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## pedro6 (Aug 4, 2016)

have a look at Sweep's Library - What about pellet stoves?


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## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

pedro6 said:


> have a look at Sweep's Library - What about pellet stoves?


Difficult to make comparisons since they are all in the US and even the raw materials are different. 

We use a logburner that heats half the house (about 200 m³) and we normally use between 2.5 and 3 tonnes of logs (mostly olive but a few rogue pieces of cherry/peach/almond included) per year at a cost of 110€ per tonne so between 275€ and 330€ per year. That price includes cutting to length, delivery, hand porterage (down two flights of steps) and stacking in our store.


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## pedro6 (Aug 4, 2016)

i agree the info is US related but it does explain the basics regarding power cuts etc.
At the end of the day it depends on storage facilities as if you live in a piso maybe a pellet burner would be preferable.


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