Cost-effective, when used for supplementary heating,A cost-effective fuel,Easy to use,Excellent performance…
No need for a traditional chimney,Low emissions of particulates,Carbon neutral
Pellet stoves are CO2 neutral, automatic, easier to use than wood-burning stoves, and low in emissions of particulates. As such, their success has been well-deserved. But the health crisis has made them (perhaps temporarily) less competitive.
Pellet stoves are ideal for providing supplementary heating between seasons. As such, they represent good value (even though pellets have become more expensive than other sources of energy), because using a stove avoids having to restart the central heating at the beginning of winter and allows it to be stopped earlier at the end of the heating season.
It also provides relief for the central heating system during the cold season.Pellet prices have been remarkably stable over the past decade, while all other energy sources fluctuate sharply with the market.
Forget paper, kindling and matches: pellet stoves have electric igniters.
All models have at least a thermostat, so they switch off and on again automatically. Some models also have advanced functions: programming, remote control, smartphone/internet control, and more.
more than a classic wood fireplace, the efficiency of which is only 40 to 50% (60 to 80% for recent high-efficiency stoves)
a lot more than an open fire, which has an efficiency of only between 5 and 15%.
You won’t need a chimney with a good draw for your pellet stove: smoke is expelled to the outside by forced ventilation via an 80 to 120 mm tube, placed vertically or horizontally. The tube can even have a bend in it. The stove can therefore be installed almost anywhere, against or near an outside wall and plug socket or under a ceiling.
Pellet stoves consume either room air or outside air (on models with a double exhaust and suction tube or a separate exterior air supply).
Pellet stoves emit few particulates, as shown in this comparison of average PM10 particle emissions in grams per gigajoule (g/GJ):
| Fireplace | 840 g/GJ |
| Wood stove installed before 2000 | 760 g/GJ |
| Old coal stove | 450 g/GJ |
| Wood stove installed between 2000 and 2014 | 380 g/GJ |
| Modern coal stove | 240 g/GJ |
| Wood stove installed after 2014 | 95 g/GJ |
| Mass heater | 95 g/GJ |
| Pellet stove | 60 g/GJ |
| Oil heating | 1,9 g/GJ |
| Natural gas heating | 1,2 g/GJ |
This is only an average. According to Test-Achats, some (good) appliances do 200 times better than the current Belgian standard, and no particle emissions can be detected! Others, obviously, do less well…
Pellets are made with sawdust from the wood processing industry (furniture, pallets, lumber, etc.).
Pellet stoves are carbon neutral because the carbon released during combustion is equivalent to that absorbed by the tree during its growth.
Quality pellets meet quality and environmental standards: the most important are DIN+ and EN+.
In order to be sold in Belgium, they must also comply with a Royal Decree relating to their quality, the absence of chemicals, their calorific capacity, and more.
