What are wood pellets made from? Wood pellets are made of sawdust.  Harwood, softwood, and blends.  Currently pellets are made of wood waste from sources such as furniture manufacturing, lumber mills, log processing plants, etc.  Wood waste is ground to a specified size, dried to 4%-8% moisture content, then extruded to form pellets.  Lignin in the wood binds the pellets together.  Minute amounts of soy oil, or corn starch may be used to lube machinery, but there are no additives or binders used in wood pellets.

How are they packaged? Wood pellets are most commonly sold in forty pound bags.  They are clean, compact, and easy to carry.  Fifty forty pound bags are stacked on a pallet making a one ton unit.   This ton is approximately 4' x 4' x 4 1/2'. Variations may include 30 pound bags by some manufacturers, and an option of a 70 bag stack pallet.  There are a few bulk feed applications, but they are at this point mostly restricted to commercial use due to added equipment and delivery costs.

How are wood pellets delivered? Stove Keepers offers mutilple options.  Pellets are offered year round at the store for pick-up or delivery.  If you pick your fuel up Stove Keepers will help you load using a forklift, or by hand as fits your need.  For delivery a pickup can delivery a single pallet.  A specialized trailer is available for two pallet deliveries that leaves the pallets intact.  The most popular delivery method is a flatbed truck delivery using a piggy-back forklift.  This will take the ton, still in it's factory wrapping, and move it to your final destination with ease.

Where do wood pellets fit in the carbon cycle? Wood pellets are considered carbon neutral.  No additional carbon is released in use of wood pellets over having trees decompose in the forest.

What are the basic components of a pellet stove? Wood pellet stoves have three main components.  

A combustion blower pulls in combustion air by pushing out exhaust.  This allows pellet stoves to be direct vented (not reliant on natural draft and long pipe runs).  This also allows the pellet fire to burn hot enough to leave on average 1% ash or less.  No creosote is formed at this high temperature.

The Auger Motor helps regulate and distribute fuel into the burn pot. By controlling the quantity of combustion air and fuel fed into burn pot precise temperature settings and heat can be achieved.  This gives a pellet stove maximum flexibility.  A P68 can produce as little as ~7,500 Btu's, as much as 68,000 Btu's and any Btu in between.  Compare this control to a standard furnace with two settings- Off and On (high).

The Distribution Blower blows air across heat exchangers to efficiently and effectively transfer heat from stove into your home.   Convective heat heats the air and circulates well.  This also makes the stove cool to the touch, and allows for clearances of as little as 1" in the back of the unit, and 6" on sides.  Note: Glass that is inches from pellet fire will still be hot!

What are the power requirements of a wood pellet stove? The ability to control combustion air, feed rate, and distribute heat through your home are what set the pellet stove apart.  A Harman pellet stove uses 96-340 while running.  Most people who are using it as a primary heat source will average 1-2 bags a day and ~270 watts.  For comparison a pellet stove uses about the same electricity as your computers monitor which averages 140-330 watts.  Other heating/cooling comparisons include an electric hot water heater at 3800 watts, or a window air conditioner at 500-1500 watts.  A central heat system, or air conditioning system has energy use in the range of 3000-5000 watts! 

A pellet stove will use on average 1/5 the power of your home's central heating system.  The low power requirements on a pellet stove not only save many people money on their electric bill, but it also gives them an advantage if the power goes out.  By adding a battery backup system you can have a fully functioning convective heat source using your pellet stove!  

How will the pellet stove affect my allergies? Wood pellets come off the mill sterile with a low and consistent moisture content.  They are transported in clean plastic bags, and deposited into Harman's sealed hopper.  The combustion blower creates a negative pressure in stove and the air in the burn chamber does not mix with your room air.  Distribution blower channels air over heat exchangers outside the burn chamber using your room air.   There is no smoke during the run cycle of a pellet stove and particulate counts are EPA exempt they are so low.

How do I control my wood pellet stove? Most pellet stoves today have automatic operation.  You simply set the desired temperature for your room using a remote or stove centered thermostat and the stove self-regulate to give you the heat you desire.  Harman offers many manual options as well such as a pound per hour feed rate, full fan control (some stoves have the ability to turn fan off altogether), and auto-ignition disable.  You choose.

How do I vent my new pellet stove? Wood pellet stoves are most commonly installed on an outside wall with the pipe extending straight from unit through to outside terminating with a jet cap.  Direct vent is a unique option offered by Harman to reduce clearances from windows, doors, and other inlets to 18".  You may also adapt venting into existing Masonry or Class A chimneys.   Here are a few examples:

Can I purchase my pellet stove through this web site and have it shipped? Stove Keepers and the manufacturer's it represents do not allow or recommend purchasing your wood pellet appliance online.  Service and support are very important to Stove Keepers and we want you to be happy with your stove purchase.  Stove Keepers is a full service shop that provides warranty, cleaning, and maintenance support to it's customers.   Therefore, we do not particpate in online sales.  We encourage you to shop locally for the highest quality sales, service, and support on your new wood pellet stove.   Our service area is in Southern NH, and Northern Massachusetts.  Please call or visit our showroom for more details.  Thank you.

How often will I need to clean my pellet stove?  That does depend a little bit on which stove you purchase.  At less than 1% ash for a premium pellet you can expect 1/4 to 1/2 cup ash (depending on volume) per bag of pellets.  This light fluffy ash will accumulate in the stove's ash pan.  The size of the ash pan and how much fuel you use determines cleaning frequency.  For example, in the P61you will burn a ton of a premium grade fuel before you need to clean unit.  This would work out to 25 days if you were burning two bags per day.

What is the cost of pellet fuel relative to other fuel types?  Pellets have remained very price stable over the years, with most increases coming from freight costs.  Each installation is likely to have a different efficiency.  If an efficiency is published for an appliance it is in a lab setting with ideal fuel and conditions.  Variances in delivery of heat also affect comparison as in the case with changing from a central heat system as primary to a single point heat source such as a stove.  All of that said the cleanest comparison we can recommend is a pure btu rating.  From there you can determine (but keep in mind it that for the most part you are guessing or speculating which will be more/less efficient) how one might compare to the other for your situation.  

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A Btu comparison can be achieved using 1 bag of pellets = 2.5 gallons heating oil = 3.75 gallons propane.  

Example:  If a bag of pellets costs $5.00 the heating oil equivalent of 2.5 gallons at $3.35 a gallon would cost $ 8.37 and the propane equivalent at $3.00 per gallon would cost $11.25

Pricing Information:

As a guide we have listed general pricing for stoves, and installations.  However, since each home, and installation, is unique we encourage you to call or come in for a free customized quote that will fit your lifestyle and budget.  Please note that these are minimal costs and may or may not reflect the actual cost of your new Stove Keepers hearth system.

The Stove Keepers offers a large choice of hearth systems.   Please feel free to  stop by our showroom for exact pricing on the stove and installation you desire.  We will be happy to spend the time to help you determine which unit will best suit your needs.

General stove pricing:

Installation pricing: Please note that these are minimum labor fees only for NH installations.  Prices will vary by job.

* Damper installation is not available in many areas or if chimney is cracked or in any way degraded.

Other services offered within our service area: