For as long as I have owned my house I have been heating it with fuel gas. Not by choice, but simply because I felt I had no other real options available. Since my house is ancient, switching to natural gas would have cost more than I can save in a year’s time, as I would not only need a new hot water heater and furnace, but pipes as well throughout the house.
The thought of putting in a wood stove frightened me, as I live in an area where there are many fires during the winter months caused by malfunctioning wood stoves. On top of that they are extremely messy to use, calling for constant clean up after each log is added to the stove.
However, with the cost of last winter’s heating bills my husband and I knew we had to do something. That something turned out to be a wood pellet stove.
At first, I was a little hesitant, thinking that though the pellets might be cleaner than actual logs, the fire hazard would be about the same. Research into these stoves convinced me I might be wrong. I still wanted to actually see for myself, but as we didn’t know a single person who owned this type of stove, we decided to go ahead and invest the money and hope for the best.
I am extremely glad we did! Not only is my house warmer than it has ever been, but I can now enjoy the sight of a burning fire as well. This is great for those quiet romantic moments.
Safety is the real issue, however, and I was truly surprised once this stove was in and running. First, you can regulate the heat the same as you can with a furnace by installing a thermostat. When the heat in the house reaches the set temperature, the stove turns itself off until the temperatures drop. This keeps both the stove and the house from overheating.
It is extremely safe if you have small children as well. Regular wood stoves and even my old furnace would get hot on the outside, making it painful to touch and even causing burns. I am not sure what they did when designing the wood pellet stove, but I can lay my hand flat on the top of it, and barely feel any heat at all. I do not have to worry about my great nieces and nephews getting too close to the stove and suffering burns when they visit.
Using this stove will also cut my heating bill in half! Which in the case of a house this size computes to a $1500.00 dollar savings!
While I am sure that this little stove does not rank up there with finding a solution for world hunger, or a cure for AIDS, I do find it one of the best inventions of the 21st century. At least for me.
After all, what else can I buy that will keep me warm, be safe, save me money, and make for many romantic evenings by the fireside.
