Steady pellet heat for Hanwell's long, forested winters.

Most pellet installations here land between $6,000 and $10,000 CAD, which is a narrower range than wood or gas because pellet venting is simpler, a small-diameter PL vent through an exterior wall rather than a full masonry chimney. An insert replacing an existing wood-burning fireplace, common in Hanwell's older bungalows, tends to sit at the lower end. A freestanding stove in a home with no existing hearth, requiring a new hearth pad and wall penetration, runs closer to the top. Either way, a permit through the municipal building department is required, and your dealer typically handles that paperwork as part of the quote.

New Brunswick has a genuine pellet industry rather than relying on imports, and Groupe Savoie and Shaw Resources are the two regional brands most Hanwell dealers stock. Expect to pay $400 to $575 CAD a tonne, with price mostly tracking how early in the fall you buy and whether you're getting bagged pallets delivered or picking them up yourself. A typical home here burns two to three tonnes over a full heating season, so storage matters, a dry garage bay or basement corner that holds a season's worth of pallets off the concrete floor is worth planning for before the stove goes in.

With winter lows averaging -15°C and a heating season that runs a full five months here, most Hanwell homes do better with a mid-to-large pellet stove or insert rather than a small supplemental unit, especially for a main living area or an open-concept main floor. A unit rated for 1,500 to 2,200 square feet with a decent-sized hopper covers a typical two-storey without constant refilling. Smaller units are fine for a den or a well-insulated addition, but undersizing is the more common regret in a climate zone 6A winter than oversizing.

Yes to both. New pellet installations go through the municipal building department, and the appliance and venting need to meet the CSA B365 installation code. On top of that, most home insurers in New Brunswick want a WETT inspection on file for any wood or pellet appliance before they'll add it to a policy or before a house sale closes. It's a routine step, not a red flag, and a trusted local dealer arranges it as part of a normal install.

Wood has a real cost advantage in Hanwell: a household cutting permit through New Brunswick Natural Resources (DNRED) runs about $6.10 per cubic metre, and a full annual allotment of 14 cubic metres costs roughly $85, hard to beat if you're already set up to split and season sugar maple, yellow birch, or red maple. Pellet stoves cost more to run, closer to $400-$575 a tonne, but they load from a hopper instead of a woodpile, hold a steady output without tending, and produce far less ash and creosote. A lot of households here end up choosing pellet for the main living space precisely because it doesn't demand the daily labour that a permit-cut woodlot does.

Not without help. Pellet stoves rely on an electric auger to feed fuel and a blower to move heat, so a power outage stops both, worth knowing given that NB Power's rural lines here do go down during ice storms and nor'easters. Some dealers offer a battery backup or small inverter setup that keeps a stove running for several hours on a single charge, which is worth asking about if you're choosing pellet as your only heat source rather than pairing it with a wood stove or fireplace as an outage backup.

Pellet appliances vent through a small-diameter PL-rated pipe, usually straight out an exterior wall rather than up through a full Class A chimney the way a wood stove requires. That makes them a practical retrofit for a Hanwell bungalow or split-level with no existing masonry flue, you're not opening up a roof or building a chimney chase, just running venting to the nearest exterior wall near where the stove sits. It's one reason pellet installs often land at the lower end of the $6,000-$10,000 range compared to a full wood or gas chimney project.

Plan on cleaning the burn pot and ash pan every few days during heavy winter use, a deeper vacuum of the hopper and exhaust passages monthly, and a full professional service once a year, ideally before the season starts rather than mid-January when local dealers are booked solid with breakdown calls. Units burning New Brunswick pellets from Groupe Savoie or Shaw Resources tend to run cleaner than some imported pellets because of consistent moisture content, but the auger motor and igniter are still wear parts worth having checked annually.

Natural gas is available through Liberty Utilities (Gas NB), so a gas fireplace or insert is a real option for homes on their network, typically running $6,000 to $15,000 CAD installed with the advantage of instant on-demand heat and no fuel storage at all. Pellet stoves cost less to install, run on a renewable, provincially produced fuel, and give more of the visual and radiant feel of a live fire, but they need a hopper refill and occasional cleaning that gas doesn't. Homes already on the Gas NB network often lean gas for convenience; homes off that network, or anyone who likes the idea of heating with New Brunswick's own forest byproducts, tend to land on pellet.

Because a fireplace is an iceberg—there's more behind the wall than in front of it. A low quote often covers only the unit; the full scope includes vent pipe, gas line or electrical, framing, and the tile or stone that has to come off and go back on. Make every bidder price the whole job. If a dealer can't speak to the full scope with confidence, that's your signal to keep looking.

Ask three questions: Is it ugly? Is it drafty? Does it actually work? Most old fireplaces fail at least two. Beyond looks, an old unit leaks air around the damper year-round and—if it's gas with a standing pilot—quietly burns a couple hundred dollars a year. A modern replacement seals the wall, heats the room, and changes how the whole space gets used.

Three things separate the field: how easy the burn pot is to clean (trapdoor designs let the ash drop straight into the pan), how the auger moves pellets (top-mounted augers that pull instead of push jam less and wear slower), and diagnostics (self-diagnosing control boards tell you exactly which part needs attention instead of leaving you guessing). Heat output is table stakes—livability is in these details.

In most jurisdictions, yes—fireplace and stove installations involve venting, clearances, and often gas or electrical work that gets permitted and inspected. That's a feature, not a hassle: the inspection protects your family and your homeowner's insurance. A professional installer pulls the permit, installs to code, and stands behind the inspection. If someone suggests skipping it, keep looking.