Can You Really Make Your Own Wood Pellets?

One of the big disadvantages of pellet stoves is as a home owner couldn't just go out and cut down a tree and make your own wood pellets. This is one area where traditional firewood stoves had an advantage since many home owners can produce their own firewood at a very low cost.

Pellets are simple a compressed form of the original material. They can be made from just about any form of biomass but wood is the most common material to use for heating. Making pellets is a fairly simple process but it takes specialized precision machinery. Because of this most pellets are made in commercial pellet mills that can invest tens of thousands of dollars or more into this kind of machinery.

In recent years pellet mill technology has developed small pellet mills that are lower production but are more affordable. This allows small pellet businesses to enter the market and even as a consumer there are small models that you can buy to make your own wood pellets.

With this, pellet stoves are becoming more appealing as an alternative to wood stoves. You get the convenience of a thermostatic controlled self fueling source of heat and the comfort of wood heat.

In order to make your own wood pellets you will need a source of raw material. But you need that with firewood too. With pellets you can use the same material you use to make firewood plus more materials that you wouldn't use for firewood. You can use the whole tree including limbs and leaves. You can use yard waste and grass clippings and many forms of biomass.

Now that you can make your own wood pellets, this form of heat is becoming more practical and affordable.

Learn more about how to make wood pellets yourself and how to select the right pellet mill.