How Does A Pellet Stove Work?

Pellet stoves do a great job of keeping you warm by maintaining a cozy room temperature during the extreme winter season.

In the past, people used to burn woods for heat energy, but over time, they have realized the bad effects of burning wood, and have now found new sources of fuel.

As opposed to wood, pellets have become a very popular source of fuel in the homes and is considered as one of the main sources of renewable energy.

Being environment-friendly, the demand for pellet stoves has increased drastically over the past few years. They emit less harmful gases as compared to wood stoves and are more secure both for residential and commercial use.

So, before we jump into discussing how a pellet stove works, let us discuss a little about what exactly a pellet stove is, its parts and benefits.

What Is A Pellet Stove?

A pellet stove is similar to a wood stove with the only difference that it uses a pellet instead of wood. These are specially made compressed wood or biomass pellets, which burns and produces heat to make your living space cozier.

Wood pellets are made by using residual waste wood or the log of sawmill, wood factory, and furniture factory.

Parts Of A Pellet Stove?

Below is an overview of the main parts of a pellet stove:

The Hopper

Hopper is the part of the pellet stove where the pellets are poured. It is located on the top or bottom of the stove. An average-sized pellet stove has a hopper, which has a holding capacity of 50 to 150 pounds of pellets.

The Auger

Your pellet stove is motorized with electricity and a metallic spiral structure. This part is known as the auger, and its job is to transfer the pellets into the burn pot. The speed of the auger dictates the stove’s temperature. Higher the speed, the higher will be the temperature.

The Burn Pot

This part of the pellet stove is ignited, and only then the pellets begin to burn and produce the heat. Since pellet stoves are more compact, they produce very intense flames and result in more heat. The ash leftover is deposited into the ash pot, which can be separated from the pellet stove and emptied into the bin.

Heat Exchanger

The heated air from your pellet stove is directed into the heat exchange, which is responsible to transfer clean air into your home via the room blower. It is one of the key components of a pellet stove.

Venting

During the combustion process, exhaust fumes are produced, which if inhaled, can be harmful to your health. This is why pellet stoves have a venting system that helps to isolate and transport all such toxic fumes out of your home safely.

Thermostat

Pellet stoves are controlled via a thermostat. As mentioned above, the auger speed will tell how hot your pellet stove will become as it feeds more pellets into the burn pot within the combustion chamber.

How do Pellet Stoves work?

A pellet stove operates with electricity. As we have mentioned all the parts of a stove above, you will load the pellets into the hopper of your stove. Again, the hopper is usually located at the top or bottom of the unit.

Next, the auger, which is a motorized device, will deliver those loaded pellets from the hopper straight into the burn pot. The higher you set the speed of the auger the higher will be the temperature of the stove.

Once the pellets are loaded into the burn pot, it is then ignited. Burn pot serves as the carburetor for the stove as it mixes the air and fuel in order to create combustion and result in the process of burning.

As the pellets burn, ashes will emit from them, which are collected in the ash pot. You need to manually clean it periodically.

Unlike your standard fireplace, pellet stove heats the room via convection. It is basically the process of transmitting the heat the occurs from the forced combination of cool and hot air currents.

The convection blower pulls the cool air in from the room, passing over the fire inside the burn pot and makes the flame hotter. This way, the pellets burn evenly and more efficiently.

After that, the heater air moves across the heat exchanger. This heat exchanger is designed specifically for the transmission of clean air inside your home via the room blower. It acts like a furnace when it is used during the combustion process and is also located in the combustion chamber that helps prevent the outside of the stove from becoming hot.

The exhaust blower also forces the gases out through a narrow pipe, which is located in the back of the pellet stove. You can vent this pipe into your existing chimney or connect it to the outside by drilling a small hole.

Tip: Exhaust blower works the best when the pipe is installed at a vertical angle.

Lastly, comes the thermostat on which your stove is operated. The thermostat is responsible for controlling the number of pellets that the auger of the stove feeds into the combustion chamber. In simple, more pellets equal more heat.

For instance, if the pellets delivered at one pound per hour produce a very gentle flame, it will last for a long time. However, at five pounds per hour, you will get a blazing fire.

Final Words

Pellet stoves sure are a very costly home appliance and only a few can afford it. It is best recommended that you have enough knowledge about it even before you decide to buy one for your home

We hope this article gave you proper knowledge on what exactly a pellet stove is and how it operates.

Let us know if you have any questions in the comments section below, and we will get back to you ASAP.