If you have a large area or house and want a big pellet heater to meet your heating needs, then say hello to the Bass 09 pellet heater. It’s also sold by Bass Pellets in Launceston and the Bass 09 is basically the big brother of the Bass 02. This means everything is pretty much the same, such as the overall design and features it comes bundled with. However, what you do get is a slightly higher heat output and a larger hopper to handle the increased burn rate of wood pellets. Is the Bass 09 worth the extra money and does it pack enough heat for your needs? Read on to find out.
The Bass 09 pellet heater is pretty much identical the the Bass 02 but comes with 12kw of heat and a 20kg hopper compared to the Bass 02 9kw heat and 16kg hopper. There’s only a small difference in price between the two, so I’d say the Bass 09 would be my preference because you get more heat and more hopper capacity for a few hundred dollars. Here’s a quick overview of the specs for the Bass 09:
- Price $3400
- Heat Output: 3kw to 12kw
- Hopper Capacity: 20kg
- Burn Rate: 600 grams to 1.8Kg an hour
- Heating Area: 100m2
- Electricity Consumption: 70 – 380 watts
- Dimensions: 55cm x 97cm x 48cm
Just like the Bass 02, you can only buy this pellet heater in Tasmania. If you live in other states outside of Tassie, please check the pellet heater retailer list to see which retailers are in your state and the models of pellet heaters they sell.
Bass 09 Features
The Bass 09 has two features that make it stand out from more generic Chinese pellet heaters, just like the Bass 02. The double door design and the reflective glass.
Double Door Design
The double door design serves two purposes. First, it adds an air gap, which in theory, increases efficiency. The extra layer of insulation helps keep heat in the firebox, making it more efficient as it prevents this heat from escaping out the glass. Second, the double glass door design helps reduce how hot the glass door gets while the pellet heater is running. This is naturally a good thing if you have small children who like to touch things when you aren’t looking. The extra layer of safety is practical and useful if you have little ones in the house.
Again, as with the Bass 02, I’m sure this double door design does increase efficiency. This kind of design is seen in quite a few pellet heaters, especially European models like Palazzetti pellet heaters and even other Chinese brands. However, I personally think you’d only see a very minimal increase in efficiency at best. This isn’t a bad thing but I don’t believe it is as great as manufacturers want you to believe. Instead, the double door design makes the pellet heater safer as the glass door isn’t as hot.
Reflective Glass
Like the double door design, reflective glass is popular on many pellet heater brands today. When the heater is off and fire isn’t going, the glass acts as a mirror, making the inside of the heater invisible. When the heater is running and the fire is burning, you can see the fire. While the reflective glass is an attractive feature, it doesn’t offer any practical benefits other than hiding the dull burn box when the heater is off. I personally wouldn’t consider reflective glass the deal clincher but I understand some people may find it a nice thing to have.
Bass 09 Heat Output
The Bass 09 pellet heater can crank out up to 12kw of heat on high, which is a significant improvement over the 9kw offered by the Bass 02. However, the question is whether 12kw is necessary for your heating needs. As I’ve mentioned many time before, most pellet heaters, regardless of how much heat they can put out, do not run on high heat for extended periods of time. Most would probably run on high for an hour or two then switch to low heat once the room as reached the set temperature. Low heat on both the Bass 02 and Bass 09 is 3kw, so that’s how much heat the Bass 09 will be putting out most of time.
However, in my opinion I prefer to have more heat than I’ll need. I own a 12kw pellet heater, and I know that most of the time it isn’t running on high heat. However, I like knowing that when I need heat and I need it fast my pellet heater can deliver. The Bass 09 will heat up an area quicker than the Bass 02 can simply because it’s got 30% more heat. Keep this in mind when comparing any pellet heater. For most people 9kw would be fine and you’ll not notice much difference between 9kw and 12kw for the majority of situations. It’ll just heat up an area faster in a shorter amount of time.
Bass 09 Heating Area
In addition to great heat output, the Bass 09 naturally can heat a much larger area. It is suitable for heating areas of up to 100m2 in size. That’s equal to a room that was 10m by 10m, which is large. My house, including the kitchen and all of the rooms is 100m2. The Bass 09 would be suitable for heating most houses. The only thing to keep in mind is the layout of your house. If you have an open plan house then the heat will transfer throughout the house much better and more evenly than it would in a house that had lots of corridors and doors that tend to restrict air flow.
Regardless, the Bass 09 should be suitable for the majority of houses other than multi-story ones. If you do live in a very big house or have a multi-story one, then don’t forget pellet heaters are space heaters. Wood heaters and heat pumps are also space heaters. The bigger your house and the further away other rooms are from the pellet heater, the cooler they will be. This doesn’t mean they won’t be warm but you will not get evenly distributed heat throughout all rooms in a house with a space heater.
The Bass 09 would be fine for most houses but if you absolutely must have all rooms in your house the same temperature or set to a specific temperature then a hydronic pellet heater would be a better option as it is a central heating system. However, the Bass 09 would keep the majority of people regardless of house size warm throughout winter with 12kw of heat.
Bass 09 Hopper Capacity
A 20kg hopper in the Bass 09 is a nice step up from the 16kg in the Bass 02. However, a 20kg hopper size is standard in most 12kw pellet heaters and some have slightly larger ones. This extra hopper size is needed because of the extra heat it can put out. You burn more pellets on high heat so a larger hopper is required. You’ll fit just under 1 and a half bags of pellets in the hopper, which despite everything is definitely nice. I love large hoppers and the bigger the better. A bigger hopper means you’ll spend less time filling it up with wood pellets.
In theory you could get about 33 hours out of a 20kg hopper but in reality it would be around 25 hours because your pellet heater won’t be running on low all the time and it can be difficult to burn every pellet in a hopper because some will stick to the walls of the hopper and not slide down into the auger. Regardless, I think you’d be refilling the hopper once every 2 or 3 days unless its the middle of winter and you run your pellet heater 12 hours a day.
Bass 09 Design
Just like its little brother the Bass 09 comes in the three colours: red, black and white.While this isn’t exactly a huge range and choice of colours, it is better than the usual black, black and black that you get with many Chinese brand pellet heaters. Even though you do get some choice in colours, the design is still the typical squarish shape with corners found in Chinese brands. If you absolutely must have perfectly rounded edges with a beautiful design, then I’d strongly recommend checking out Piazzetta pellet heaters or other European brands. This isn’t to say the Bass 09 is ugly but it’s definitely more about function than fashion with this heater.
Bass 09 Burn Rate
The burn rate of a pellet heater is directly related to the feed rate of a pellet heater. Burn rate refers to the number of pellets that are consumed by the heater per hour to maintain the fire. A higher burn rate means more heat, but also a quicker consumption of pellets. Just like the Bass 02 and most pellet heaters nowadays, the Bass 09 pellet heater has a burn rate of 600 grams to 1.8 kg per hour. Again, this isn’t good or bad. It’s just pretty much standard on most pellet heaters nowadays, especially the 1.8kg on high heat output for 12kw pellet heaters.
Since most pellet heaters operate on low heat to maintain the temperature of a room and rarely run on high heat all the time, the Bass 09 will be burning about 600 grams of pellets an hour. With a 20 kg hopper, the heater could last for around 33 hours on low heat. However, and as I already mentioned above, it’s nearly impossible and also not practical to run a pellet heater dry of pellets, so you are probably going to get around 25 hours before the heater shuts down due to no pellets. However, this is definitely more than enough for most people and you’ll be refilling the hopper once every 2 or 3 days at most.
A quick way to calculate how much a pellet heater costs to run is take the burn rate and divide it by a 15kg bag of pellets. At 600 grams an hour, a 15kg bag of wood pellets will last about 25 hours. If you ran your heater for 8 hours a day then that’s about 3 days. We can buy wood pellets in Tasmania at about $8.50 a bag, which is much lower than wood pellets in other states. At $8.50 a bag its about $3 a day in heating. Find out how much wood pellets are where you live and you’ll have a good idea of what you’ll spend on wood pellets in winter.
Bass 02 Electricity Consumption
The Bass 09 pellet heater is similar to most other pellet heaters on the market in terms of electricity consumption and how much power the igniter draws during startup to light the fire. When the heater is started up, the igniter uses the most power, typically around 380 watts. However, this high power usage only lasts for a few minutes until the fire is lit, at which point the igniter switches off. Once the fire is going, the two fans that run to distribute the heat consume very little power, approximately 70 watts per hour. Again, you’ll find that most pellet heaters today use around this much power.
Bass 09 Size
The Bass 09 has dimensions of 55cm x 97cm x 48cm, which makes it only slightly larger than the smaller Bass 02 pellet heater. Keep in mind the heater is about 1 metre high. If you have difficulty lifting 15kg bags of pellets then you may want to consider a different, lower pellet heater or possibly putting your pellets in a container and then using a small bucket or scoop to load them into the hopper.
Bass 09 Pellet Heater Summary
If you told me to pick between the Bass 09 and Bass 02, I’d go for the Bass 09. It’s 12kw of heat output means it’ll heat rooms and areas faster. The larger hopper of 20kg also means you won’t have to refill it as often. Also, it’s only a few hundred dollars more than the Bass 02. This isn’t to say I think the Bass 02 is no good but the Bass 09 only costs a little bit more but offers much more in terms of heat output and pellet storage.
If you’d like to see what other pellet heaters are out there then please check out my pellet heater review article. I take a look at plenty of heaters from around Australia which I think you’ll find it useful in deciding on what pellet heater to get.
Resources:
Bass Pellet Heaters (website)
