Benni wrote:
Its a 900sf rancher, My open fireplace works great..

If you stuff enough wood in there, you'll get some heat. What people are trying
to tell you and you are denying is that the efficiency of a fireplace is quite
low. When it comes to wood:

- Open fires (e.g. bonfire) are extremely inefficient.
- Open fireplaces are very inefficient.
- Closed fireplaces (not well sealed) are next.
- Properly sealed fireplaces and stoves are more efficient.
- Well-designed, sealed stoves used according to best practices are
moderately to very efficient.
- Kachelovens are the most efficient and the best approach that of
the most efficient petroleum-based (oil, natural gas etc) heaters.

Pellet stoves and similar wood or vegetable matter burning devices are somewhere
in the middle of that list depending on their quality of manufacture and use.

Price increases as you go down the list. Fuel demand goes down accordingly.

As they say, a smart person gets heat from a good fire. A fool gets hot
chopping a lot of wood.

Mike