They'll have to improve the technology before we get one. For every story of someone happy with their pellet stove, there are three stories of difficulty and annoyance. We looked into buying one several years ago and the salesman talked us out of it. He was part owner of a stove store, and once he was aware i'd be alone with it a lot of the time, he warned us of the problems many people were having.

People have trouble with the augers, pellets getting jammed. Poor quality pellets can mess them up and you can't really know whether the pellets are good before buying. The biggest downside is the fan system and other electric components - we lose elctric power far too often to bother with a heating system that requires power.

Wood stoves are messy and labour intensive, but very reliable. And though wood's gotten more expensive in recent years, at least you can always get it. In lean years, we've burned slabwood and old pallets - can't do that with a pellet stove.