Wood Pellet Stove Blog

A freestanding pellet stove can be a great way to add heat to your main living spaces while also enjoying the look of a lovely new piece of furniture. Pellet stoves come in all sorts of shapes, sizes, and styles, and one that stands on its own can be a great way to add a focal point to your living room, dining room, or even large kitchen. Before you buy a pellet stove like this one, though, you need to know exactly what it takes to install one in your home.

First, check out the specifications on any stoves that you’re looking at to see how much space you need to leave around the stove. Freestanding stoves will do best if they are in a large area, which will allow for more regulation of heat and better circulation throughout the area you need to keep warm. Different stoves will, obviously, have different space needs, and you should be sure you have enough room to safely install your stove.

Second, figure out what you need to have on the floor. Anytime you’re installing a pellet stove, you’ll have to have some sort of protection on your floor, whether it is tiles set into the floor or a more traditional-looking hearth. Again, the specifications for the floor covering will be different depending on what type of stove you buy and how large it is.

Thirdly, you’ll have to figure out how to install vents for your freestanding stove. Depending on where you need to install your stove, you will probably have to knock a few holes in your walls or ceilings, which could be more or less complicated, depending on the area around the stove. Before you buy a stove, figure out how large of a vent it will need, and plan out where you will install the vent in your walls or ceiling.

Finally, you’ll have to find a place to install your stove nearby to an electrical outlet, since it will need electricity to run properly. Setting your stove up right in front of an outlet might be the best option so that you will have less cords to deal with. If you can’t put the stove right in front of an outlet, you should consider how you will hide the cords that will trail along the floor, for the sake of both safety and appearances.

Chris Brown is a co-maintainer of Pellet Stove Review and owns a pellet stove himself. Chris’ decided to share his research of both free-standing pellet stoves and fire place-insert pellet stoves through this website.

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Things you will need:

• Tape measure & pencil
• 1/4″ X 12″ pilot bit, holesaw (size will vary according to size of pipe you use), drill
• Drywall saw
• Caulk gun, high temperature sealant

If you’ve just bought your first wood pellet stove or pellet insert, congratulations! Your next step after getting it home is the installation. Now, if you bought it from a store, a lot of them will include installation on the unit at a discounted price. It usually ends up being around $400, depending on your location for the stove.

If you bought the stove online, or got a used one from friend or local paper, you can always locate a local store that can install it for you. If you are at all unsure on whether or not you can do it yourself, I highly recommend just having it professionally done. It may cost a bit more, but it may be worth saving yourself a lot of headaches.

However, if you are pretty handy, and somewhat a do it yourselfer, you can save yourself a little cash and install it yourself. If you decide to do this, make sure you follow all instructions very closely. If you bought it used, you should be able to find some instructions for the particular stove/insert online.

If you purchased a free-standingwood pellet stove, you’ll need to make sure the stove is located in a central spot. This is to ensure that the heat will be distributed more evenly. Pay close attention to the manufacturers guidelines regarding the placement of the unit. The wood pellet stove will need to be set a certain distance away from the walls for the stove to work with maximum efficiency. Also make sure you have an outlet nearby, as it will require 120 volts to power it.

The floor where the wood pellet stove is sitting on will need protection, such as tile, brick, or some sort of hearth pad. This is to protect it from the extreme heat, and hot embers that may fall on it. Instructions will tell you what types of floor you need to use, and how big of an area you will need.

Keep in mind that some stoves can hold up to 85 pounds of pellets. You add that to the weight of the actual stove, and you have quite a heavy load on your floor. My point is to make sure that the floor is strong enough to hold the additional weight. If you are unsure, you can have a carpenter check it out for you.

Once you have located where exactly you want the stove, you need to route how it will be vented. Take your pipe pieces, and determine how you want it vented outside, making sure it’s not near any windows or doors. Mark your center of the vent pipe on the wall. Drill your pilot hole with a drill bit. Using a holesaw, drill a hole from the outside. Cut the interior hole using a drywall saw. Make sure to fit the wall thimbles into the holes. These will provide a noncombustible surface to pass the exhaust pipes through. Use the same method to install the fresh-air intake vent. Attach outside vent hoods to the siding and caulk with a high-temperature sealant.

The thermostat would be the next thing to install. Then, move the stove into position, attaching exhaust pipe together and flexible pipe to stove for the fresh air.