We have a free-standing (fake logs) earth stove type, that uses propane. It is vented through a chimney (pipe). It is a great source of heat. It heats the whole house (2600 sq. ft, single story, 10 foot ceilings, lots of windows). The only drawback is the fan requires electricity. Without electricity it would still generate heat, just wouldn't circulate as well but still keeps the house quite toasty (we experiemented with the fan off). We have a generator in case electricity goes out which it has a couple of times this winter (downed trees due to storm). The only reason we turned on the generator was the power was off all day and I wanted to use the computer (gee, imagine that!) If you had a wood stove, or pellet stove electricity would not be an issue. We have some neighbors with a pellet stove and they love it. Heats the whole house. We also live in cold/snow country. Snow on the ground 4 months out of the year.
Another advantage of propane (IMO) is other uses. If we are without electricity we still have hot water and the stove/oven still works as they are all propane and electricity is not an issue with the hot water heater or the stove/oven. Hope that helps.
I thought that pellet stoves had to have power to feed the pellets. Don't they have a hooper that feeds the stove via an auger or push shceme run by a motor?