Pellet stove: how long can a 15-kg bag of pellets really heat your home?

A 15-kg bag of pellets promises steady warmth, but will it truly cover an entire day? Many stove owners swear it does and others grumble it melts away by dinner. The answer dances between machine efficiency, house insulation and the way the dial is nudged on a frosty night.

Pellet stove burn time: can a 15-kg bag last a full day?

On an average stove running mid-power, that bag glows for 15 to 24 hours. Turn the heat down and it stretches toward 30 hours, crank it up and you might wave goodbye after 6 hours. Fresh models built after 2023 sip pellets with up to 88 % efficiency, while older cast-iron beauties chew through fuel faster, so results swing wildly.

Insulation keeps the magic in. A Munich apartment wrapped in new cellulose boards needs barely half the pellets a draughty farmhouse outside Verona gulps. And don’t forget pellet quality: low-ash premium logs give hotter BTUs, fewer clinkers, longer glow. Simple as that yet easy to overlook!

Key factors shaping burn duration: stove, setting, insulation

Stove efficiency sits first in line. An 85 % unit throws more heat into the room than a 75 % twin and therefore feeds less fuel. Next comes the heat setting; low feed rates of roughly 600 g per hour mean a slow burn, while high power runs over 2 kg per hour and empties the hopper in a blink.

The hidden hero is home insulation. Triple-glazed windows, draft seals and proper roof batts allow a thermostat set to 20 °C to stay there quietly, whereas thin walls push the stove into overtime. Finally, moisture-free pellets matter: damp fuel loses calories, smokes and you pay twice, first in pellets, then in chimney sweeping.

Estimating your own consumption without headache

Grab the burn rate from the manual. If it reads 1.5 kg per hour, a 15-kg bag lasts roughly 10 hours. Drop to 800 g per hour during mild spring evenings and the same bag now glows for 18-19 hours. Easy math, no fancy spreadsheet needed.

For those who prefer pounds: a 40 lb sack equals 18 kg and at 3 lb per hour it lives about 13 hours. Translate back and you see why friends report anywhere from 12 to 72 hours—they simply run different stoves in different moods.

Stretching every pellet: smart habits from Bavaria to Sicily

Keep the thermostat honest. Many owners bump settings high, then open a window when it gets toasty—pellet madness! Instead, settle near 20 °C, let the fan spread heat gently. Clean the burn pot every morning coffee time, ash builds fast and steals airflow.

Store bags off the floor, dry as a Bavarian lager hall in mid-August. When pellets stay crisp they burn like little stars. One more trick: zone heating. Close guest-room doors, focus warmth on the living area where life happens, the bag suddenly seems larger.

Costs and climate: what a bag means in 2025 winters

In most European cities a 15-kg premium bag hovers around 7 € in early 2025. Run a medium-size stove eight hours daily and a well-insulated flat eats 60 to 80 bags per season, roughly the price of one family weekend ski pass. In colder Canberra or Québec, count on double that unless the house shell is tightened.

Yet every euro invested in roof insulation or window seals pays back fast. Drop daily consumption by a single kilo and you save thirty bags across the season! That’s money redirected toward pizza dough, craft beer or simply a lighter energy footprint—quite a cozy trade-off.

Élisabeth-Sophie Bonicel

At 38, I am a proud and passionate geek. My world revolves around comics, the latest cult series, and everything that makes pop culture tick. On this blog, I open the doors to my ‘lair’ to share my top picks, my reviews, and my life as a collector