Pellet stove wattage is 300 to 425 watts for igniting and 125 to around 200 watts per hour when running. By comparison, most hair dryers are 1500 watts per hour, but of course you don’t run those appliances for hours at a time.
In terms of electricity use and amps draw, pellet stove amp use is 2.5 to 3.0 amps when running.
Do pellet stoves need electricity? Yes. Most do. Very few light manually and heat with radiant heat, like a wood stove.
How Much Electricity Does a Pellet Stove Use?
When considering home heating, homeowners want to know if a pellet stove will save money on heating cost during winter. Electricity use is a major part of the cost equation in addition to pellets, and that is what this page answers.
Pellet Stove Watts or Wattage
Pellet stoves are low wattage appliances. The power is used to power a fan to draw in combustion air and exhaust combustion gasses, run the fan to circulate air across the heat exchanger to heat it and to deliver it back into your living space. If the stove has a hopper with an auger, also called a pellet feeder, the auger will use a small amount of power too.
Additionally, a surge of wattage is required for the igniter, but the extra power is used very briefly.
It won’t surprise you that the larger the heating potential of the stove based on hopper size, generally the more electricity they use.
Pellet Stove Wattage Chart (Samples)
| Brands/Models | Hopper Capacity | Wattage (operating) | Wattage (igniter running) |
| US Stove 5501s | 20 lbs | 125 watts | 310 watts |
| Ashley ap5660 | 45 lbs | 180 watts | 346 watts |
| US Stove 5710 | 50 lbs | 125 watts | 310 watts |
| Ashley ap60 | 60 lbs | 180 watts | 350 watts |
| King/Ashley 5501 | 60 lbs | 175 watts | 425 watts |
| Golden Eagle 5520 | 120 lbs | 175 watts | 425 watts |
| VOGELZANG kp130 | 130 lbs | 175 watts | 425 watts |
Note that watts listed are watts used per hour. And 1000 watts equals 1 kilowatt. 1000 watts/hour = 1 kWh or kilowatt hour.
The models used in our Pellet Stove Wattage Chart are very representative of the pellet stoves available across the US.
If you have a stove from another manufacturer, you can be sure that it falls pretty close to the range given for stoves with its capacity as reflected in the charts.
Pellet Stove Electricity Consumption – Continuous Use
How much power does a pellet stove use?
Pellet stoves use 2,400 to 7,200 watts per day or 72 kWh to 216 kWh per month.
The chart shows how much electricity a pellet stove would use if it ran continuously. And in some very cold winter weather, your stove will run all the time or nearly so.
kWh = Kilowatt hours
Pellet Stove Electricity Consumption – Continuous Use
| Wattage (operating) | Power Consumption per Day | Power Consumption per Month |
| 100 watts | 2.4kWh | 72 kWh |
| 125 watts | 3.0 kWh | 90 kWh |
| 150 watts | 3.6 kWh | 108 kWh |
| 180 watts | 4.3 kWh | 130 kWh |
| 200 watts | 4.8 kWh | 144 kWh |
| 250 watts | 6 kWh | 180 kWh |
| 300 watts | 7.2 kWh | 216 kWh |
The Power Consumption per Day column is for 24 hours of continuous running. If you run your pellet stove less hours during some parts of the year, use the left column and multiply by the number of hours the stove is in use to get the daily energy consumption.
Log the hours: You can log the run-time of your pellet stove fan if you wish, and that will give you a more precise answer to the question of how much electricity does a pellet stove use. Of course, the auger or pellet feeder, if the stove has one, will use a very small amount of electricity too.
Pellet Stove Electricity Consumption – Part Day Use
How long does it burn each day? That’s another way to determine electricity consumption.
If it runs for this many hours, divide the numbers in the chart by:
- 4 hours per day / divide by 6
- 6 hours per day / divide by 4
- 8 hours per day / divide by 3
- 12 hours per day / divide by 2
And then multiply by 30 for monthly power consumption.
Pellet Stove Voltage
All pellet stoves run on 110/120 volt circuits. 115 volts is a common voltage for appliances that falls within this range.
Most pellet stoves do not use a lot of amps, as detailed in the section below, so they can be plugged into most common outlets or, if desired, wired directly into a 110/120 circuit breaker in your electrical panel. One experienced HVAC installer reminds us that, “It is considered good practice to have a dedicated circuit to a heating/cooling appliance. Don’t forget the surge protector.”
Pellet Stove Amps
Most pellet stoves are listed as requiring between 2.5 and 3.0 amps. This is a maximum amperage. All manufacturers rate their pellet stoves with a higher number of amps than they will need.
This gives consumers a built-in cushion when knowing the electrical requirements of the pellet stove they purchase.
The pellet stove amperage of 2.5 to 3.0 amps can be checked by using the formula for converting watts to amps.
- Watts divided by volts equals amps, or:
- Watts / volts = amps
For example, a stove with wattage use of 180 watts divided by 110 volts equals 1.64 amps, well within the range given.
A stove using 300 watts that runs on a 110 circuit would require a maximum of 2.72 amps, still within the range of 2.5 to 3.0 amps.
What is the Cost of Running a Pellet Stove?
The energy.gov website says pellet stoves use around 100 kilowatt hours, or 100 kWh, per month.
That’s on the low end of our Power Consumption per Month ratings for most stoves.
But remember that the chart above is based on the stove running 24/7 for an entire month, which is unlikely. The Energy Department figure of 100 kWh per month is a good average.
The current US average cost of electricity is around $0.15 or 15 cents per kilowatt hour. It varies from around 10 cents per kilowatt hour to nearly 40 cents per kWh in Hawaii. Rates are up by 3% to more than 20% in states across the US.
The US Energy Information Agency offers the most reliable data. It gives lower rates, but its data is from 2020. An update is coming in December 2022, so use this link to check the latest state data.
Given the average cost of electricity of 15 cents per kilowatt hour, then the average cost of running a pellet stove is $.15 x 72 kWh to $.15 x 216 kWh, or $10.80 to $32.40 per month.
As you can see, power consumption isn’t the biggest cost of using a pellet stove. Buying the pellets is the major cost.
