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
.
