Pellet stoves are a popular form of stove used to generate heat for a home. Although similar to wood stoves, there are a number of differences between them.
One of the major differences between a pellet stove and a traditional wood burning stove is that a pellet stove will contain a number of electrical components running various parts of the stove, and so do pellet stoves need electricity in order to work?
The vast majority of pellets stoves will need an electricity supply to operate. Only a handful of approved non-electric pellets stoves are available. Pellet stoves will need an electricity supply in the form of a standard home electrical plug outlet.
Our own pellet stove needs to be plugged into a standard electric outlet in order for it to work. The stove was supplied with a power cord and was easy to setup, but in the case of our own pellet stove there’s no backup battery in case of a power outage.
We’ve explained in more detail below using our own pellet stove as an example whether pellet stoves:
- Need electricity, and why
- Can simply plug in
- Can be used without electricity
- Have backup batteries
Do Pellet Stoves Need Electricity?
Pellet stoves contain a number of electrical components that require an electrical supply in order to work, and these parts can include the hopper auger motor, intake and exhaust fans, and central control panel.
Unless you’re buying a very specific and niche non-electric form of pellet stove, a pellet stove will always require an electricity supply in order for it to work.
Unlike traditional wood burning stoves, pellet stoves utilize a range of electrical components to help make the process of heating your room or home more automated.
The components that typically require an electricity supply in order for a pellet stove to work can include, but not limited to:
- The control panel
- The motor driving the pellet hopper auger
- Air intake and/or exhaust fans
- Heater blower
In order for all of these main components of a pellet stove to function, a pellet stove must be served by a dedicated mains power supply.
Pellet stoves will come with a power cable supplied either attached or separate.
In the case of our own pellet stove, a power cable was supplied with the stove but wasn’t attached to it.
The end of this power cable simply plugs into the back of the stove.
Do Pellet Stoves Plug In?
Pellet stoves will have a power cord with a standard plug that can be plugged into any home electrical outlet. A pellet stove should not be plugged into any form of extension cord and should be plugged directly into a wall socket.
As pellet stoves are an electrical home appliance, they’ll come with a standard plug that can simply be plugged into any of your standard home electrical outlets.
In the case of our own pellet stove, once the power cord had been plugged into the back of the stove we could then plug it into a nearby electrical outlet. As our stove had been imported, we also had to use a plug adapter so that it would plug in.
If you’re looking to have a pellet stove installed in your home then you’ll need to take into account that it will need to be located near to an electrical outlet, or an electrical outlet will need to be installed near to where you’re proposing to put a pellet stove.
We’ve placed our pellet stove in the corner of our living room where there’s an electrical outlet on the wall right next to it.
Although the user manual for our particular model of pellet stove doesn’t state whether or not an extension cord can be used with a pellet stove, we’ve not used one just to be on the safe side.
Can You Use A Pellet Stove Without Electricity?
A pellet stove cannot be used without electricity. An electrical supply must be provided to a pellet stove for it to be turned on and operated, for the hopper auger to deliver pellets to the combustion chamber and for any fans and blowers to work.
Electricity must be supplied to a pellet stove in order for it to work.
As an example, if we didn’t plug our pellet stove into the home electrics using a standard electrical outlet, or if there was a power outage:
- The control panel wouldn’t operate
- The stove wouldn’t turn on
- Pellets couldn’t be delivered to the combustion chamber
- The fire couldn’t be started
- The air intake fans couldn’t work
- The heater blower wouldn’t work
Do Pellet Stoves Have Battery Backup?
Pellet stoves do not typically have built-in battery backups, but a battery backup system may be available as an optional extra accessory for certain models of pellet stove.
Pellet stoves are electrical appliances and rely on a mains electricity supply in order to work.
Pellet stoves typically won’t have a built-in backup battery, and our own pellet stove doesn’t have one. The manual for our pellet stove also doesn’t state whether a backup battery can be used.
However, certain models of pellet stove are available with backup batteries as an accessory, and backup batteries can also be bought from third parties to work with most types of pellets stoves.
Discuss with an installer or supplier of pellet stoves to confirm whether your preferred model of pellet stove comes with an integrated backup battery or can be used with an external backup battery in case of a power outage.
Is There A Pellet Stove That Doesn’t Require Electricity?
A small number of pellet stoves are available that don’t require electricity, with some being fully EPA approved. Non-electrical pellet stoves use a gravity-fed hopper system rather than an electronically controlled pellet delivery system.
An example of a pellet stove that doesn’t require electricity is the Wiseway GW1949 Non-Electric Pellet Stove.
Pellet Stove Electrical Requirements
In order to be provided with electricity to operate. pellet stoves will require a nearby standard home electrical wall outlet to plug into. Pellet stoves should always be powered in line with the manufacturer’s guidelines, and the use of an extension cord may not be allowed.