Ian Sams, Commercial Director at Specflue, extols the virtues of pellet stoves and highlights how they can help developers deliver an efficient, economical heat source in new homes – whilst also adding a touch of style.
Pellet stoves offer all the advantages of wood burners – including reliability, energy efficiency, elegance, fuel economy and the environmental performance associated with renewable heat sources – with the added benefit of complete controllability.
Users of pellet stoves have far greater control over the amount of combustion that occurs because, unlike wood burners, their burners modulate up and down depending on demand. They are also ‘heat-on-demand’ appliances just like gas boilers. The upshot is that they are the best way to getcontrollable heat from wood. That makes them the ideal heat source for new build homes.
How they work
Pellet stoves burn compressed wood or biomass pellets to create a source of heat. By slowly feeding fuel automatically from the storage container (the hopper) into the burn tray, a constant flame is created and monitored to ensure maximum efficiency. Indeed, probably the biggest benefit of pellet stove is its ease of use thanks to automatic ignition, power modulation and the fact that these stoves can be programmed.
Pellets are renewable and widely availble. They can be sourced locally, contributing to security of supply and, as a locally available resource, they do not need to be imported. This reduces the environmental impact associated with transport. Pellets are also relatively cheap and release fewer harmful emissions into the environment than fossil fuels.
Pellet stoves are also more energy efficient than wood burners – more than 90% efficient, in fact. There are essentially two reasons for this – they burn renewable fuel (small pellets that typically measure between ⅜ and 1 inch in length, comprising a mix of sawdust, wood chips, bark, and other materials from plants) and they emit a relatively low level of airborne particulates.
Other benefits include:
- Produce little ash and chimney creosote, thus reducing the need for daily cleaning.
- Offer greater control over the amount of combustion that occurs because their burners modulate up and down depending on demand.
- Require very little involvement, fuel replenishment is typically required once every 2-3 days, as opposed to every couple of hours with a wood burning stove.
- Include a built-in hopper that allows them to operate autonomously for about 12 hours under full load.
- Come in a wide range of styles, colours and finishes, so you can choose a model that fits in with your decor.
Pellet stoves from MCZ Group, supplied by Specflue, allow you to heat a single room, or even the whole house. They are also easy to set up and maintain, and come in a wide range of models. Comprehensive after sales support is also available. This gives that important peace of mind that your supplier is in a position to support you, as well as the end user, throughout the entire journey.
Additionally, as pellets cost half as much as methane and a third as much as diesel oil, householders can save money on their utility bills.
