Accessories
There are two main accessories that are a must have once you have a pellet stove. First you need a good pellet and second you need an ash vac to make your life a lot easier.
Pellets
A good pellet is very important to the efficiency, savings, less maintance and longvevity that your pellet stove should provide. Pellets are made of compressed sawdust that is dried out and binded into these long rods that are then cut into little that rods that can range anywhere from a quarter of an inch to an inch and a half. Softwood pellets actually provide the highest caloric value meaning they will produce the most heat. A pellet stove is able to burn soft wood efficiently unlike a traditional wood stove because it operates in a vacuum sealed control enviornment. With that being said in the Northeast we have been brought up with burning hardwood and that is what we have an abundance of. So you will not see many softwood pellet here like you will out west. When you are choosing a pellet you want to make sure that there is a testing chart on that bag, there are many manufacturers that will not test there pellets and there is no way to determine if you are buying a good product or not. It is like buying gasoline. There are different grades your car many run on regular but over time if you used premium your car will run longer with out service. If you are burning pellets of lower quality you will have more ash buildup which leads to more frequent maintance, auger jams and less heat output these problems usually lead to service calls. So in the long run it might be wiser to spend a little more up front for a quality pellet. When looking for a pellet you want something that is low in ash and high in btu's.
Your best friend when you own a pellet stove is going to be your ash vac. I cannot tell you the numerous times that we have had a husband come in for an ash vac in a huff becauce they just tried using their regular vacuum or shop vac and now the house is filled with dust. Pellet ash produces such fine powder that most standard vac do not have a strong enough filtration system to handle the fines. We carry two different brands of ash vacs; one is by Loveless Ash Company and the other is from A.W. Perkins. The Loveless "Cheetah II" vacuum has a dual filtration system, in a metal can with a non-combustable hose. This design allows for use even when the ash is still hot. It has an optional accessories kit that is great for people who service their own stoves. The vacs come in a standard black , green, red or winter scene. We only stock black of the winter scene. The Perkins vac is a smaller can with a really strong single filter but this vac cannot suck up hot ash and only comes in black.
