Pellet Furnace

Does the home have forced air ducting? IMHO you won't get much heat upstairs going the radiant route. The average basement will suck up all the heat once it gets cold out. Isolating the heat in the ducting will get more useful heat upostairs. Or do you just want to heat the basement?

Both the furnaces you mentioned are manual light. If your OK with that they will do pretty well. I give the edge to the SCF-50, The magnum workmenship isn't as good and doesn't offer return air. If you want auto lighting, Check the St Croix Revolution-Fahrenheit 50 units. We have member here that own them and are pleased with them.

We could help more with some more info. Like what is the primary heat source(forced air or bioler). Conditions in the basement or is it finished?

jrd1990zr1 said:

Sorry for the lack of info. Yes, Hot air oil is primary system, so I could tie in to duct work. Basement walls are insulated and sheetrocked. Basement floor is on bedrock so it never gets below 55 degrees. I have been essentially heating my upper floors with a Harman P38 for the last two years using oil as back-up. Problem is one end of the house is about 15 degrees cooler, so I was thinking of going with the furnace route for more efficiency/even heat.

I have a spare chimney, 8x8 flue so venting should not be a problem.

Local dealer has suggested I look at a Keystoker coal furnace, he claims it is cleaner and cheaper to operate than wood pellets.

Thanks for the thoughts.

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I have about the same setup. I'm heating with the P-38 upstairs, but as you say it doesn't get back into the hard to reach places. I'm looking at the Drolet Eco-65 in the basement and duct it to the back rooms.

The Magnum isn't a unit in my top 3. I own aFahrenheit, so I am biased. But the St. Croix SCF-050, Revolution, the Fahrenheit Endurnace 50F, and Harman PF 100 would be my short list.

CL can be a good place to look for used. I highly suggest one of the above 4. Magnum made a decent stove, but most needed some tweaks.... To say the least

I own a St Crux Revolution and couldn't recommend it. We got it the first year it came out and have had constant issues with it. Manufacturer support is lame and although our reseller ( wood and sons corn bin)has worked tirelessly to assist us, we have never been satisfied with it. Replaced the circuit board twice, the blower motor also replaced and its only working now with the vacuum switch bypassed with a jumper. Inside some of the walls are warping also. We have never been able to run it at the highest #5 setting due to overheat warnings and shut off! so its currently on setting 3 and burning wood pellets as its crashing when trying to run on corn or even a mix of wood and corn. (crashing = pot overflows , smokes out the house, changing feed rates and air flow doesn't fix)
we are on the verge of replacing it with a Fahrenheit Endurance 50F if we can get a good price on one. apparently Fahrenheit are MUCH BETTER AT SUPPORTING THEIR PRODUCT.