Pellet stoves: take care of the environment and keep your home warm during the winter

The pellet stove has achieved a great position in the market, becoming one of the most purchased products during the winter season. Apparently, this is due to its simple start-up, the quite interesting internal workings and the green power supply. 

Perhaps you have heard about pellet stoves, but you are not sure what it is. These are ecological type heating equipment, which use pellets as the main source of energy. It is a fuel in the form of small tablets that are easy to incinerate, made up of wood chips, sawdust and other waste of organic origin. In this sense, we can say that we are in the presence of a heater that works with an environmentally friendly and sustainable biofuel.

About its operation

The operation of a pellet stove at first glance is quite simple, since you only have to fill the tank with fuel and press the power switch to stoke the fire and after a few minutes begin to enjoy the volume of radiated heat. However, internally the process is a bit more complex. Do you want to know?

It all starts when the device is turned on, since the pellets previously accumulated in the tank begin to be automatically sent to the burning chamber. Then, thanks to a small electrical impulse, this biofuel begins to be slowly incinerated. In this same module there is a small ventilation access that directs the flow of cold air towards the stove’s ashtray, designed in this way to maintain combustion stability. 

When burning begins, the heat generated is sent to the top where the structure’s grid system is located. It is at this moment that the hot flow passes through the exchanger and the heater automatically turns on an integrated fan, whose function is to attract the cold air concentrated in the room and simultaneously evacuate the hot air.

Best of all, the device has some thermal type sensors, which determine the level of heat necessary to calm the cold in the room and then stop the combustion process. But don’t worry, since the sensors, detecting the drop in temperature, quickly resume the aforementioned boot.

It is important to mention that this type of pellet stove not only generates heat based on the air flow, but also through the radiation emitted by the window arranged in the front area of ​​the incineration module.

Get to know the pellet stoves that the market has for you

The market for heating items offers you a wide range of heaters, so deciding which is the best pellet stove could be a time-consuming task. The models vary with respect to the aesthetics of their structure, format and power supply. Here’s a little about some of the options:

Ductable pellet stoves

If during the cold days of the year you want to heat two to three rooms in your home simultaneously, you should know that ductable pellet stoves make this task possible. The equipment has been provided with a special internal mechanism that allows the distribution of hot air through ducts.

hydro stoves

These heating equipment are also known as boilers. Its function is not only to heat the environment but also the home’s sanitary water system.

Forced air pellet stoves

This is one of the models most purchased by buyers who want to heat a specific room in their home. The operation of the device is quite simple, since it only incorporates an air inlet and outlet to the structure. In this sense, the cold flow enters through a conduit to the burning module and the hot air that will set the room is expelled through the second exit.

Pellets: a friendly, clean and sustainable fuel

The pellets are in the category of biofuels, because they come from wood waste, offering us the chemical energy concentrated in it. In this way, by incinerating, we can take advantage of all its caloric potential and thus heat our home during the winter days.

Its use, although it seems new, is not, since if we take a look at the past, we will find that this type of fuel had been used since prehistoric times. What happened was that with the passage of time and the evolution of man, fossil fuels such as gasoline, gas and a series of derivatives began to emerge, which provide greater efficiency but are highly polluting. In this sense, biomass was delegated to the background.

However, with the environmental problem so strong that we are experiencing due to the deterioration of the ozone layer, the different environmental organizations took on the task of promoting a “green culture”, which has made us return to ecological guideline fuels.

After the use of pellets there are many myths and questions. Is it really a sustainable resource? How harmful are the CO2 emissions from its burning?

Biofuels such as pellets are completely sustainable, since there are special crops for their production. In other words, in this system, just as trees are cut down, they are also planted, so that at no time is the integrity of our vegetable lungs, the forests, threatened.

With regard to polluting emissions, we have to say that it is true that the pellets, when exposed to a combustion process, generate a quantity of toxic air, which in fact is separated from the hot air and expelled through the rear compartment of the stove. 

However, some researchers strongly defend the theory of the neutrality of these emissions. This is how they state that at the time of burning, the CO2 thrown into the atmosphere does not generate any environmental damage, because it is compensated with the CO2 load absorbed by the tree before being felled. In this sense, we speak of clean and sustainable energy.