The Robot Stove

Our robot pellet-stove insert was installed on December 27th, just in time for a cold-snap.  It's a good looking Quadra-Fire Santa Fe nested inside the fireplace and vented up through the chimney.  The idea is that I can fill it up with renewable biomass about once a day, and the robot stove should do nearly everything except empty the ashes.  Our old fireplace, useless for heat, would eat $5 of wood in about an hour, while this efficient machine might go for 24 hours on low.  Once we get all the kinks fixed, I plan to find good locally produced wood-pellets.

Installation is tricky, and includes climbing on the roof, so we had the dealer handle it.  This robot has fancy switches, motors, and modes of operation that add-up to a fair amount that might shutdown the heat.  We got a bad hopper switch that needs to be fixed, and since I've had to do most of the trouble-shooting myself it still feels like a DIY project.

Eventually I would like to add battery backup and a digital thermostat to fully trick it out.  When we lose power in our annual winter storms, it would be great to keep the heat on.  I need to measure the electrical usage with my watt meter.