Well the bride & I went to the Fireplace Showcase in Seekonk early yesterday evening. We looked at several pellet stoves which would be great replacements for our current Quadafire wood stove. The Sales Rep gave us a demonstration of the operation of the stove and fired it up. It had nice even heat while the stove itself remained just warm to the touch. We spent the better part of 30 minutes there and we both came to the conclusion we would rather keep our current wood stove.

There's nothing wrong with pellet stoves but we just didn't like how the fire looked through the glass as compared to our current stove. The Sales Rep explained you should cool the stove down once a day and clean out the area at the bottom of the fire pot of residue. He also advised that these stoves are not maintenance free. He further advised we would probably have to reline our current chimney to accommodate this stove. The cost for everything would be around $4500.

I had my chimney relined about 10 years ago at a cost of approximately $1300. One of the things we enjoy about our current stove is being able to view the fire. If we were just interested in a stove's ability to heat, we would probably purchase a pellet stove. Operational costs aren't that much different between pellets and cord wood.

I thank the Sales Rep for being as honest as he was. He could have easily stretched the truth to make a sale, but he didn't. He told it like it is. I'm not sure all sales personnel would have done that. Needless to say, we're sticking with what we have. Many thanks to all who answered my inquiries on pellet stoves.

Bob