[NeilBlanchard]

The main problem with pellets is the very fine ash dust inside the stove. Another problem is the plastic bags and water seepage. I have see a system with a 5 ton storage hopper that can be filled with a vacuum, but the furnace (which is for a radiant floor system) still has to be manually cleaned out.

My family heated with wood for several years when I was in high school. A small (1100sq ft) cape house took ~3.5 cords of mostly apple and maple. That required a good size shed and a lot of hauling. The land my parents owned was ~14 acres that was an old apple orchard; with approximately 150 Baldwin trees and all sorts of volunteer trees. There were 5 of us with strong backs, and we did it with a chainsaw and splitting maul and a large Gardenway cart, a homemade trailer for the family Volvo.

The chimney needed cleaning and I'm sure the soot was there, but not too bad. The chimney was a triple insulated metal 8" flue with an straight vertical run of ~18'-20'.