Different from a woodburner

Most pellet burners look like a conventional woodburner and are available either as a free-standing model or an insert into a fireplace. You can even get a basement-furnace model for central heating.

But pellet burners burn only compressed wood pellets (pictured right), which you buy in 15kg or 20kg plastic bags or in bulk. The pellets are loaded into a hopper at the back of the unit and are fed into the fire through an automatic feed system.

Adjusting the rate the pellets are consumed gives you control over the amount of heat produced.

In some models, a thermostat can be used to keep an even room temperature – and a timer can provide automatic switching-on and -off.

In freestanding and fireplace-insert models, a hopper load of pellets lasts for around 24 hours of continuous burning – and these models produce a similar amount of heat to a conventional woodburner. Basement furnace models product much more.

Running costs

Shop around for the cheapest source of pellets – there are big variations in price. If there's a pellet mill close to you, try them first.

To get a good price, consider buying a year’s worth of pellets.

Rule of thumb
The dollar cost of a 20kg bag of pellets roughly equals the running cost in cents per kWh. So – for example – a 20kg bag of pellets at $12 a bag will give you heating at 12c per kWh; a $15 bag would work out at 15c per kWh.

If you can source pellets from the mill at $450 per tonne (the equivalent of $9 per bag), running costs are 9 cents per kWh.