What Is It?
Just as they used to do, alternative heating stoves will heat a home through burning materials. They are set up to disperse the heat that they create throughout the home, not just in the room that they are placed. When properly controlled and maintained, they can safely and effectively heat a home all winter long. Yet, they do require you to maintain them by feeding them a fuel. You do have some choices here in which heating elements you would like to use.Wood
The most common type of heat producing stove are those that burn wood. While you can just head out to your backyard and find wood to burn, taking the time to know the different types and how well they burn is necessary to get the most bang for your buck. Most people don't have the ability to find wood in their backyard though. Wood can often be purchased through home improvement stores or local landscaping companies. This can help you to get the highest heat value from the heating choice.Pellet
Many of us usually think about coal for our grills to give our food that real fire grilled flavor, but it is also an alternative heating source. Coal also raises some concerns for people because of the volatiles that are produced from burning the coal and the fact that in order to burn the coal an accelerant needs to be used such as oil or gas. Then coal will burn as long as it has fuel to burn. If you are considering installing a coal burning system, though the cost of coal may be more economic then oil you may want to think about the extra labor that will go into the cleaning, care and maintenance of your coal burning system along with the importance of following EPA guidelines.Biomass
Another type of alternative heating stove is the pellet burning stove. These are clean burning and dust free. This will allow you to burn in the stove without the worry of your home becoming full of soot. Also, they do not provide any harmful toxins to the air. As an added bonus, they do not smell at all. Pellet burning stoves are easy to operate as all you need to do is to pour the pellets into the stove and then light them. What is a pellet, you ask? They are not actually pellets but they are recycled sawdust or wood shavings. They can be made of walnut or peanut shells. They are then ground up and compressed into small pellets. They are generally sold in forty pound bags.If you do go with the alternative heating stove that uses pellets, you will need to keep a stock of them on hand. It will cost you about $150 to $200 per ton (about fifty bags of pellets) during the average winter, you could use up to one to three tons of pellets. While this seems like a lot, it is actually much less than what the average home spends on heating bills during winter months.
There are some drawbacks to these alternative heating stoves. The pellet stoves will need some electricity to run. This can be a drawback if and when the power goes out. In this case, it is very necessary for you to carefully consider this choice (backup systems now exist where a battery is used to light the pellet during a power outage). On the good side, you can control the amount of heat that the stove produces because of this electric factor. Yet, they do produce quite a bit of creosote. You’ll need to insure that the chimney is kept clean and cleaned frequently if you plan to use this type of Key alternative heating stove. Whether you go with a wood or a pellet burning heating stove, you’ll find that it is quite natural and enjoyable to have. And, with the ever rising cost of energy bills, you’ll be happy that you have a better way to heat your home. Today’s stoves burn much cleaner than older models. They are easy to use and are better for the environment than any type of fuel burning system such as a gas, propane or oil furnace. They are better for the environment and better for your pocket book. An alternative heating stove could be the best choice for your home.
