Has this winter?s energy bill burnt a hole right through your wallet? You may be missing out on a cheaper alternative way to heat your home. Pellet stoves are a new and growing resource used to provide heat throughout your home or to a single room of your choice. You can ultimately shut off your heater and run a pellet stove 24/7 to provide just as much heat to your home as a central heating system. Not only can you save money on your next bill, but you will be helping your economy by not relying on foreign oil and gas to heat your home. Unlike regular wood stoves, pellet stoves burn wood pellets, a compressed scrap wood and sawdust waste that comes from saw mills and other wood handling facilities. These pellets are dried and compressed by heat into small cylinder shapes no bigger than one inch. When burned, the pellets release virtually no smoke, which means no chimney is necessary, but some stove may require an outside vent. Because of the high burning efficiency, pellet stoves do not get hot on the outside metal, which allows you to place a pellet stove within an inch from any wall in your home and provides a safe environment for children and pets. Pellet stoves are very easy, convenient and safe to operate in your own home. To fuel a pellet stove, you simply pour 30 to 140 pounds of wood pellets into a device called a hopper which hold the pellets. Most pellet stoves will then automatically transfer the needed pellets from the hopper to the combustion chamber by using a corkscrew shaped device called an auger. Air is needed inside the stove to provide combustion to burn the wood pellets. T there are two ways to force air into the combustion chamber, by pulling air in or forcing air in from the bottom vent. Fully loaded pellet stoves can generally run for one or two days and they are easy to clean, since there is hardly any smoke residue inside. There are two types of pellet stoves you can purchase. Free standing stoves that can be placed anywhere you want in your home or insert stoves that can replace your current fireplace. These pellet stoves will generally cost you $1,700 to $3,000, depending on where you buy them. Wood pellets are sold in 20 to 40 pound bags and can cost anywhere from $2.50 to $4.00 for a bag. If you live in a colder climate then the prices will generally be cheaper for both pellet stoves and wood pellets. For a small investment you can free yourself of paying another high energy bill to heat your home. Not only will you be saving money, but you will be using an environmentally safe energy source that is virtually smoke free.