This post is sponsored by Forge & Flame. All opinions are my own.
When my husband and I first started construction plans for finishing our basement, choosing a heating solution for the space was our top priority. When you live in Wisconsin, the cold months are long. We knew that if we were going to spend good money on creating a lower level in our home, that the temperature needed to be comfortable while also being cost-effective. Our research led us to purchasing a pellet stove. We knew it was the perfect choice for an affordable and sustainable heating solution that complimented the design and aesthetic of the space we desired.
What is a Pellet Stove?
A pellet stove is an appliance for home heating with pellets which are a renewable fuel made of condensed biomass materials. How cool is it that sawdust from wood processing industries (like furniture, pallets, and lumber) are used as an energy source?! We quickly learned that a pellet stove was our ideal solution for providing cost-effective supplementary heating in our basement between seasons.
How do Pellet Stoves Save Money?
Pellet stoves save money by using high-efficiency technology and renewable fuel. Depending on the pellet stove you choose, you can also take advantage of a Biomass Tax Credit; which was a huge deciding factor on the brand and style we purchased!
High-Efficiency Technology
We chose the Harman Absolute43 pellet stove – known for its smart technology, high efficiency and low maintenance. It comes with an easy-to-use programmable thermostat and controls. These controls help optimize heating schedules and temperatures for better efficiency.
You can fill the stove with pellets, set the schedule and desired temperature, and forget about it! There’s no heading out to the backyard to chop wood or having to find paper or kindling to start the fire. It’s incredibly convenient for busy moms like me. Let’s be honest, we don’t need another thing to have to nurture and care for in our homes. We just need some things to be EASY!
All stoves on the market today are EPA-certified, meaning each unit undergoes stringent tests to ensure high efficiency and low emissions. However, not all stoves are made alike. The Absoulte43 exceeds these standards, qualifying it for the Biomass Tax Credit.
Renewable Fuel
Pellet fuel is made from compressed biomass or organic materials, which are renewable resources. These materials can be sawdust, wood chips, crop residues, and other agricultural by-products. We use Lignetics Premium Plus wood pellets which are manufactured at the highest quality control levels. They produce a consistent, high BTU output and produce less than 1% ash. This translates to a hotter, more efficient burn, which means less wood pellets burned, fewer wood pellets purchased, less space needed for storage and less waste to clean up!
Lignetics makes their pellets from waste streams generated by the manufacturers of primary and secondary forest products, like lumber, hardwood flooring, wood pallets and cabinetry. Much of this waste would end up in a landfill if it weren’t for pellet production. By upcycling in this way, the demand for newly harvested wood fiber is reduced. Existing forests are able to mature longer and absorb more fossil fuel carbons in their life cycle. It’s an amazing way to recycle what would otherwise be discarded as waste.
Pellet stoves also provide carbon neutral heating – meaning burning pellet fuel releases the same amount of carbon dioxide that the biomass absorbed during its growth. This results in a minimal net increase in atmospheric CO2 levels, which is a win for the environment!
Bonus! We have even found that since heat rises, our regular home furnace runs less often for the main level of our home! Using our pellet stove for heating has reduced our dependency on fossil fuels, therefore lowering greenhouse gas emissions.
Biomass Tax Credit
A huge incentive for pellet stove purchasers is the Biomass Tax credit. This credit covers 30% of the purchase and installation costs (up to a $2000 annual credit) for tax years 2023 through 2032. Our Absolute43 meets the tax credit eligibility by having 77% HHV efficiency.
By taking advantage of the tax credit, we were able to budget for the highest-quality pellet stove and bypass the lower-quality stoves we started our search with. The quality of Harman stoves has surpassed our expectations and I’m so glad we went with a better investment.
Zone Heating
Zone heating focuses on warming the most used areas of your home and reducing heat in less frequented spaces, saving you money. This is ideal for homes in cold climates like Wisconsin. Pellet stoves offer a traditional and efficient method of zone heating, using renewable resources to generate the heat that radiates into your main living areas.
In our home, we have our pellet stove installed in the living room of our basement, where we spend most of our time. It’s also closely situated by my office so that I can be completely comfortable while I work at my computer. We wanted to make sure our basement was not cold and clammy like a typical basement. Our pellet stove has helped us achieve that cozy warmth we were looking for. It’s truly a comfortable lower level, making our investment in finishing our basement even more worth it, since the majority of the year it’s so cold here in the Midwest!
Harman’s Key Technologies
Harman’s key technologies help save money. The EASY Touch Control provides a scheduling feature that surpasses our expectations. We reduce our temperature settings while we sleep, but we schedule our pellet stove to start running just before everyone wakes up. The kids wake up to a warm cozy fire making their morning cartoon time that much more enjoyable before having to get out the door for school.
Harman pellet stoves come with a Wireless Room Sensor which communicates with the EASY Touch Controls. I can place it up to 30 feet away, so that my heat is measured across the room. It’s so accurate that it keeps your space within 1 degree of your set temperature. It communicates with the EASY Touch Control every 17 seconds, which keeps our warmth setting as accurate as possible all day long.
The patented PelletPro™ System makes it possible to burn any grade of pellet fuel with maximum heat and efficiency. A bottom-up feeding system burns each pellet completely, allows for 24-hour heating and constantly maintains the fire within 1 degree of the set temperatures—helping achieve industry-leading performance and efficiency.
The flame reactive mirrored glass is another feature worth noting, especially for those of us who appreciate beautiful design. The glass makes it pretty even in the summertime when not in use. When there is fire, the mirrored look magically disappears, showing off the flames. There’s even an illuminated hopper. When you open the hopper to add wood pellets, a light automatically turns on allowing you to easily see the pellet level.
These features are all Harman exclusives – Harman has truly thought of everything!
Why I Chose a Harman Pellet Stove
We chose a Harman pellet stove to heat our newly finished basement for its cost savings, sustainability, efficiency, quality and overall aesthetic. We knew that if we were going to invest in creating a usable and beautiful lower level in our home that the space needed to be comfortable (while still looking good with the design!)
The Absolute43 helped us achieve each and every one of our goals. We tell everyone who asks us that it’s our favorite part of the basement. It creates that sought after hygge living during those long cold weather months. I love to curl up on the chair next to our stove with a book and a steaming cup of coffee. We gather for family movie nights while enjoying the glow of the fire and the warmth it creates. (Don’t worry about it being too loud, just tap the “Whisper Mode” button while you’re watching a movie!)
Another cool feature of our pellet stove is that it comes with the option to purchase a protective flooring plate. This Harman Floor Protection is made to meet the minimal size requirements to protect your floor. Many people find it a smart choice if they don’t have an existing tile, stone or otherwise noncombustible floor. I preferred this option so that we could keep the area looking seamless.
In comparison to a traditional wood-burning stove, a pellet stove has smaller clearance requirements, which makes it possible to fit the pellet stove into a tighter space. The simplicity of requirements allowed us to have that more modern look we wanted in our room.
There are so many cool features that our Harman Absolute43 includes! Did I mention that it tells us when it needs to be clean?! Yep, a message pops up on the control panel, letting us know it’s time for a cleaning. It doesn’t get any easier than that! And, because Harman pellet stoves burn so efficiently, there’s very little ash to clean up.
Explore the Absoulte43 for yourself. I promise you’ll fall in love with the coziness and beauty it adds to your home!
The Forge & Flame website provides so much more information about pellet stoves to complete your research. Please feel free to ask me any questions you may have and follow along on Instagram at SUGAR MAPLE notes. You’ll often find our pellet stove in the background of my stories, as it’s truly a big part of our everyday lives at home.
Make sure to see my Absolute43 in action as it will be featured on the TV show Designing Spaces! Check your local listings to watch the segment, airing this spring on Lifetime. Take a sneak peek of what the filming process looked like behind the scenes in this Instagram Reel.