Interesting Idea!

My neighbor burns wood, but is seriously thinking about coming over to the dark side after seeing my setup. That or the fact that he's approaching 70. Yesterday he showed me his newest toy...a window mounted pellet stove.

ME: huh, a what?!?

HIM: Yup a window mounted pellet stove!

ME: this I gotta see!

Actually, it's pretty interesting, it's really a small (24K BTU) stove that looks like an AC unit! All you have to do is set it in place, secure it, fill it with pellets, plug it in and use the remote. Might be an interesting alternative to "shoulder season".

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_20 ... _200446397

I got interested in pellets three years ago when I was still burning wood. Came very close to buying one. But I seldom jump on anything without thorough investigating. What I discovered was; the retailers always neglect to tell you that the unit has to be shut down completely til cool enough to clean the burn-pot and a few other components. Usually on a weekly basis, some bi-weekly. Come Dec,Jan, and Feb; the furthest thing from mind is shutting down my heat.
Now if that window unit burned rice coal; that would be horse of a different color!

My father-in-law (rest his soul) bought a pellet stove and was trying to convince me to do the same. I almost pulled the trigger on one until he realized; without battery backup you lose your heat in a power outage. Then, his igniter (or whatever it's called) would burn out every three weeks. So, for nearly three seasons I continued to burn wood until I discovered coal.

Oh, and for the price of that little window pellet stove you could buy a decent coal stove.

That was talked about previously on here. that's pretty neat idea.

U.S.Stove Eco Aire Window Pellet Stove

I think it's real interesting to look at and it would fit in the right situations. I am just getting started burning coal in the TLC-2000 I just installed and thanks to the mild fall we're having (I'm rooting for global warming!) I have yet to light my first coal fire. I purchased a truck load (approximately 1.5 cord) of maple/ash hardwood for $75 and will use that for my shoulder season heating. I know my chimney will get a bit dirtier doing it this way but even if I pay someone to clean my chimney, I don't think that unit could ever justify its expense. The one thing I did notice is that it used a lot of electricity (175watts operating and 425w igniting). But I will say, it's really cool and I agree that if they made a coal version of that thing it would be amazing.