[fabsroman]

Yep, pellets do cost money. Depending on where you live and who you know, wood can cost money too. Even if the wood is free, it still costs something because with pellets you don't have to spend time, diesel, and gasoline cutting pellets, not to mention chain and chainsaw upkeep. I have been around pellet stoves plenty. A friend of mine had one in law school and that thing really put out some heat. Plus, the burn rate was adjustable on it by having it drop more or less pellets into the stove automatically. He would reduce the burn rate at night when everybody went to sleep. Another guy on a farm I hunt at has two pellet stoves in the house. One is in the basement and the other is upstairs. He uses them to heat most of the house, but he does have a heat pump for when the stoves are just not enough.

I have also been around a wood stove and that thing made the basement of this guy's house so hot that I had to be in short sleeves during the winter to stay down there. Man, was that hot.

Personally, I prefer a wood stove and all the mess it makes (e.g., lugging wood in and out of the house and storing it somewhere around the house). I also have the ability to get wood for free from a couple of places about 5 minutes from me, and another couple of places 30 minutes from me. With that said, I don't have any type of stove in this townhouse except a cooking stove because I have no where to keep pellets or wood. When we buy a house, I will have two wood stoves in it.

Skinny, Harman also makes some wood stoves that I have been looking at for my parents. Those are really nice looking stoves regardless of whether you go the wood or the pellet route.