Fireplaces and wood stoves are popular heating options in cold snaps, even if they aren’t the most convenient. Wood pellets are simple and more efficient, and you no longer need a pellet stove to burn them. Pellet baskets are add-on products that convert a fireplace or wood-burning stove into a pellet stove.
Why Pellets?
Pellets are typically made from compressed sawdust and wood waste products. Their lower moisture content helps them burn cleaner with less ash and creosote buildup. The high energy density also means using less material for the same heat.
While pellets are more foolproof than normal firewood, you should still follow proper storage practices. Keep them in a dry, covered area that’s off the ground, and use airtight containers for added protection against humidity.
Pellets burn so efficiently—at such high temperatures—that they create virtually no creosote and only a tiny fraction of the ash produced by a traditional wood-burning stove or fireplace. As TOH reported in its guide to pellet stoves, high-quality pellets limit ashpan cleaning to once a week or less.
What to Look For: The Pellet Fuels Institute grades pellets as either premium or standard. Premium pellets are usually made of only wood and contain 1 percent ash or less, while standard pellets may contain other materials. When buying, check the bag label for grade, ash content (look for less than 1 percent), and fines (less than 0.5 percent) to ensure you’re getting the best-burning fuel.
Pellet Basket Features
Pellet baskets offer an appealing low-tech alternative to full pellet stoves, which are essentially high-tech devices. As TOH contributor John Morell explained in the magazine’s comprehensive guide to pellet heating, pellet stoves “look like traditional woodstoves but operate more like a modern furnace,” requiring an electrical outlet to power the feed system and fans. A pellet basket, by contrast, gives you the benefit of burning efficient compressed-wood pellets—available nationwide in 40-pound bags—without any of that mechanical complexity, making it an ideal retrofit for an existing fireplace.
Pellet baskets are usually made from steel and fit inside your fireplace or wood stove. Their sides and bottom feature weaving or dense air holes, divided into sections by front-to-back channels. You can purchase different sizes of baskets to accommodate different hearth sizes and fuel capacities. Some products can hold 10 to 18 inches, for around 10–20 pounds of fuel.
Pro Tip: When shopping for pellets to burn in your basket, check the bag label carefully. The Pellet Fuels Institute grades pellets as either premium or standard. According to TOH’s pellet fuel guide, premium-grade pellets are usually made of only wood and produce 1 percent ash or less, which means less cleanup in your basket and better overall burn quality.
How To Use a Pellet Basket
Pellet baskets are more convenient, but they don’t change the important safety steps you should take to prevent injuries or fires from spreading where they shouldn’t.
Loading the Pellets
Position the pellet basket toward the front of your stove, and use a shovel to load pellets inside. Some may fall through the holes, which is normal.
Lighting the Pellets
Light your pellet fire using a starter block. Open the draft to heat the stove more quickly, then close back on it as needed to keep the fire going. If the pellets smoke, that’s a sign you need more air. Open the draft to move it inside.
Refueling Pellets
Fuel Quality Matters: For the best burn, look for pellets graded “premium” by the Pellet Fuels Institute, which are made of only wood and contain 1 percent or less ash. Lower-ash pellets mean less buildup in your basket and more efficient refueling between burns. The bags, typically sold in 40-pound quantities, are available at hardware stores and home centers virtually all over the country.
The pellets will burn down to a thin bed of embers. Drag them toward the front of the basket, then fill pellets behind the burning embers with your shovel. To prevent smoldering, don’t completely cover the embers with pellets. Open the draft to help ignite the new fuel, then adjust it as necessary to prevent smoking and keep the fire going.
