Electric pellet stoves are fully automated meaning that they can control all of the processes required to burn pellets to produce heat for a home.
The fuel to air ratio required for a pellet stoves to provide the cleanest burn possible is controlled by a central control unit on the stove. Settings on the control unit of a pellet stoves can typically be adjusted for burning times and required room temperatures, and so how long can pellet stoves burn for?
Many models of pellet stove allow for 24 hours continuous burning each and every day as long as the hopper has a sufficient supply of pellets. Many pellet stoves also allow users to input certain times of day in which to generate heat.
Our own pellet stove allows for continuous burning, meaning that it can be on for 24 hours a day 7 days a week if we wanted it to, as long as it was topped up with pellet fuel when required.
We can also programme for it to come in at certain times of the day for each day of the week.
We’ve explained in more detail below using our own pellet stove as an example:
- How long pellet stoves can burn for.
- Whether a pellet stove can run all day.
How Long Do Pellet Stoves Burn?
Many modern pellet stoves provide the ability for the user to input times and days for which the stove should automatically turn on and start generating heat. Pellet stoves may also incorporate the ability for continuous burning for up to 24 hours or more.
Our own pellet stove allows us to do two things in terms of burning duration:
- Set start and stop times for the stove to operate on certain days of the week.
- Allow for continuous burning 24/7 without any downtime.
As we personally only use our pellet stove to heat our living room when we’re sat in it, we don’t have the stove set to turn on at certain times, but simply turn it on and off as we need.
However, out stove does incorporate a number of features that would allow us to either have it on all day every day for continuous heating purposes, or to set it to warm the room at particular times of each day, for example in the morning on weekdays.
Many modern pellet stoves have a control panel on which all of the burn duration settings can be input by the user. For example, our pellet stove has a touch screen control panel location on the top of the unit.
It’s from here that we can:
- Turn the stove on and allow it to burn continuously until it’s tuned off.
- Set the stove to come on at certain times of each day.
It may also be possible to link many forms of pellet stove to external thermostats to have it integrated as part of the central heating system for the whole house, which can be especially useful when buying a pellet boiler rather than a standard pellet stove used for space heating.
A pellet stove is able to undertake the automated and continuous burning of fuel to generate heat for a home thanks to a number of mechanical and electrical components to control the fuel and air supply, and using a central control unit to take information from sensors inside the stove to always be analyzing and optimizing these processes for a clean burn.
Pellet Stove Continuous Burning
Many models of pellet stove allow for continuous burning meaning that as long as there’s a supply of pellets within the hopper then it will burn all day every day.
In the case of our pellet stove, once the entire hoppers worth of 24kg (53lbs) of pellets have been burnt then the stove will automatically turn off until the hopper is stocked back up with enough pellets, but can run continuously as long as the supply of pellets are kept topped up.
If a pellet stove has thermostatic control (like our does) then it will continuously read the room temperature and keep it at whatever is set on the stove’s control panel.
For example, we can set the desired temperature of the room using the touch screen control panel on our pellet stove and the stove will use the built-in room temperature sensor to ensure that the rooms gets to this temperature and stays there.
As each model of pellet stove is different you’ll need to speak to the manufacturer or seller of that specific pellet stove to confirm what continuous burn settings are available.
Pellet Stove Programmed Burning
Pellet stoves can also have times for which the burn durations can be set for each day of the week.
Depending on the model of stove and settings available, it may be possible to input times for each day of the week, Monday through to Sunday, in which you want the stove to turn on and provide heat.
For example, we can set the days of the week in which we want our pellet stove to come on by using the settings on the display panel.
We can then set what times the stove is to turn on and off on each specific day (at 30-minute intervals).
Can A Pellet Stove Run All Day?
Many pellet stoves have the ability to run all day without any user input as long as the hopper within the stove is large enough and that there’s enough pellets within the hopper to sustain a burn for at least 24 hours.
Although the manual for our particular model of pellet stoves doesn’t specifically mention the ability for a continuous burn, it’s stated on the manufacturers and sellers’ websites that the appliance can operate continuously for at least 24 hours.
This would be subject to the stove’s hopper being full of pellets before ignition.
A pellet stove will burn through a certain number of pellets per hour depending on the efficiency and heat output setting (such as low, medium or high) and so a pellet stove can only operate as long as is what is possible depending on the storage capacity of the pellets.
The amount of time a pellet stove can burn for, whether it’s all day and all night, without manual input can be dependent on the model of stove and it’s always worth checking with the manufacturer or reseller of a pellet stove before buying to check what is possible with a particular model of stove.
Further Reading
Are Pellet Stoves High Maintenance?
How Much Do Pellet Stoves Weigh?