I have pellet stove in our lower level that we use to heat our bar / rec room area, so it isn't used all the time. That said, #1 if power goes out it will actually run off of a car battery, so there are models out there that will run when power goes out. My biggest problem with the pellet stoves now is how much the cost off pellets has gone up the past few years. they heat well, burn pretty clean are pretty simple to maintain, and if you buy the pellets by the ton you can save some $$$ that way, but I still don't know how cost effective they would be to use as a primary heat heat source. We rely on our wood stove when it gets cold ( Dec / Jan / Feb ) and heat pump the rest off the time .