Pellet Heating vs. Propane Heating
When choosing how to heat your home, it is essential to compare your options. Get the facts with a propane and pellet heating comparison so you can understand the differences between the two.
What Is Pellet Heating?
Pellet heating is the process of burning wood or other biomass materials in a pellet form to create heat. When you want to use your pellet heater, all you have to do is load pellets into the hopper and let the heater do the rest. With automatic internal functions, a pellet heater will work and maintain itself on its own — all you have to do is clean it afterward.
Types of Pellet Heating
When searching for a pellet heater, it is crucial to find the option that best fits with your home. Pellet heaters can be freestanding or insert. Freestanding units can be installed anywhere in your home, as long as there is the option for proper ventilation. With a freestanding pellet heater, you can heat any room in your home. Insert heaters go inside a preexisting fireplace. While these are ideal for heating central areas of your home, insert pellet heaters also allow you to use your chimney or fireplace piping for your pellet heater.
Depending on the size and function you want for your pellet heater, it can either serve as a central heating unit or a heater for an individual room. A pellet stove heats individual rooms and larger spaces. Based on your needs, you can likely install these units in living rooms, bedrooms or your kitchen.
If you want something larger and more central, you’ll likely need a pellet boiler. Pellet boilers are more substantial and have larger hoppers to last for extended periods of time. Further, pellet boilers can connect to radiators in individual rooms to best warm your home.
Pellet Stove Heating Benefits
Pellet heaters are easy to use because they are largely autonomous. Complete with sensors and a thermometer, your pellet heater will monitor how many pellets to use at any given time to achieve a specific temperature. All you have to do is turn it on and off and regularly fill up the hopper with pellets to keep it running.
With a pellet heater, storing your pellets is easy and takes up less space than other biomass options. Pellets are small and uniform in size, and they come in bags that make them easy to stack and store in a location with easy access. A pellet heater can be a hands-off heating solution that provides maximum warmth with minimal effort.
Pellet heaters that are certified by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) may offer 73%-80% efficiency. This is more efficient and convenient than many typical wood stove or fireplace heating options.
Pellet heaters are also beneficial for the environment. Because pellets contain recycled biomass materials like sawdust that would otherwise break down in landfills or nature, pellet heaters are carbon-neutral. These materials would decompose and release carbon regardless. However, the amount of carbon is relatively the same in a landfill or pellet stove, and repurposing these materials for a new use is better for the environment.
What Is Propane Heating?
Propane heating is a type of gas heating system that uses propane as fuel. Propane is a gas that is derived from natural gas, another common heating agent. Many cities offer pipelines for propane heating, and homes can come with propane heating already installed — whether by request or from previous owners.
Propane can serve as a form of heat, and you can also use it to power other appliances like stovetops, water heaters and fireplaces.
Types of Propane Heating
Like pellet heating, propane comes in several different forms, and each type of propane has its own functions and benefits. Propane heating options include:
- Central: Central heating is a great way to heat your entire home using propane, especially since central propane units can heat water and power other appliances as well.
- Outdoor: An advantage of propane heaters is that they are more flexible in how and where you can use them. With an outdoor propane heater, you can heat large outdoor spaces, like a deck, backyard or even outdoor restaurant seating. They are a great way to continue to enjoy the outdoors without sacrificing your warmth.
- Wall-mounted: If you want something smaller and more local, you can get wall-mounted heaters that warm individual rooms, much like pellet stoves can.
- Portable: With a portable propane heater, you can bring your heat with you wherever you go. If you only need to heat one room at a time, portable heaters that you can carry as you move from room to room are a great option. If your place of work is often chilly, investing in a portable propane heater can be a great solution.
Propane Heating Benefits
A propane heater is simple and easy to use. When you want to use it, you just have to turn it on and remember to turn it off again later when you finish using it. Propane heaters are easy to maintain as well — you only need to have annual inspections of your vents to keep them functioning at their best.
Propane heaters are better for the environment than other oil and natural gas alternatives. Compared to oil, propane heating cuts carbon dioxide emissions by more than 13%. When using your propane heater, you can rest assured knowing your heat is clean and good for the environment. Propane is clean in the home, and the Clean Air Act lists it as a clean source of energy. Like with pellet heaters, you can help the environment and heat your home with propane.
Because propane comes in a variety of options, it offers a way to heat your entire home and power some of your electrical appliances. Heating and powering your home can be easy and efficient when using propane.
Explore Your Pellet Heating Options With Energex
When searching for ways to heat your home, it is always good to compare your options to find the best solution for you. At Energex, we provide top-quality wood pellets for your pellet heater with approval from the Pellet Fuels Institute. When you heat your home with our wood pellets, you and your pellet heater can benefit from their quality.
Search our inventory of the wood pellets today!
