Need help choosing pellet stove. Two story house, 6500sqft.

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1wired1

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Jan 12, 2012
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Not sure what is the best way to go here. Part of me thinks the best thing to do would be just turn up the heat a couple degrees and be done with it.

Basement and first floor are heated with propane. Upstairs is a heat pump (complete trash).

At first I was thinking replace the wood fire place with a propane insert, but since what we have now is a small builder grade fireplace we would need to do a lot of work to put in anything useful. So now I'm thinking a pellet stove in the basement and try and vent it up to heat as much of the rest of the house as possible. House is an open floor plan, I guess that could help with heat circulation?

We normally keep the heat around 68, but with two small children a little warmer would be nice. I guess turning the heat up to 70 would cost a few hundred extra per year, that might be better then $5k+ for a pellet or other type stove install.

Can feel cold air blowing in all around existing fireplace.

Any opinions would be appreciated.

Thanks
1w1
 
Wow, 6500 sq ft, is that right? And I thought I had a big space with 4000 sq ft. I'd be thinking about a pellet stove on each floor. The maintenance with more than 1 stove would be a headache along with having to feed them all the time. The upside to a traditional heating system is the pushbutton convenience and with a smartphone enabled thermostat you can change the temp from wherever you sit. I have my stove in the downstairs and use a heat pump for the upstairs.
 
Well......A heat pump is almost useless much below 25 degrees....and 6500 sq/ft equates to a commercial sized building, so multiple pellet stoves would be needed. I can't imagine what the yearly propane cost would be to heat. With the limited info at hand, I would start with improving weatherproofing and insulation.
 
We go through approx 800-1000 gal of propane a season, roughly $1500-$1800. Plus whatever it costs to run the heat pump upstairs. Just guessing but $100-$150/month. Having to deal with multiple pellet stoves seems like more trouble then it's worth. I guess I could just replace the fireplace with a propane insert for more heat in the family room. Doesn't help any with the kids rooms, but a pellet stove in the basement wouldn't either.
 
1wired1 said:
Not sure what is the best way to go here. Part of me thinks the best thing to do would be just turn up the heat a couple degrees and be done with it.

Basement and first floor are heated with propane. Upstairs is a heat pump (complete trash).

At first I was thinking replace the wood fire place with a propane insert, but since what we have now is a small builder grade fireplace we would need to do a lot of work to put in anything useful. So now I'm thinking a pellet stove in the basement and try and vent it up to heat as much of the rest of the house as possible. House is an open floor plan, I guess that could help with heat circulation?

We normally keep the heat around 68, but with two small children a little warmer would be nice. I guess turning the heat up to 70 would cost a few hundred extra per year, that might be better then $5k+ for a pellet or other type stove install.

Can feel cold air blowing in all around existing fireplace.

Any opinions would be appreciated.

Thanks
1w1
Click to expand...
I know you said "open", but the more info on your layout and the actual areas you'd like to heat the better suggestions. My first thought is that $1500 to $1800 in propane is not exorbitant, and I'd seriously just consider turning up the heat and figuring out how much more that costs you.

For example, if the simple act of turning up the heat costs another "few hundred extra", then how much can you really save by adding a pellet stove, not to mention all the time and labor involved. It sounds like break-even would take over a decade, which to me makes no sense.
 
Like all the others have said, there is NO WAY that you would want to try to heat that mansion with pellets because you would need 3 stoves since most are in the 30,000 to 45,000 btu range and they are SPACE HEATERS. You might be better off replacing that propane furnace with a pellet furnace OR (here goes my coal rant) a new model coal stoker furnace that typically put out 105,000 btu's as a minimum (Keystoker warm air furnaces go up to 450,000 btu's! http://www.keystoker.com/products.php#waf ). I'm sure you can find coal dealers that will deliver it in bulk. Bags are much more expensive. Today's coal furnaces are NOTHING like what people remember them as. Coal is not any dirtier than pellets if you use your head about what you are doing. Many, many more btu's per pound. Furnaces are very reliable. Don't believe the BS that people tell you about coal if they haven't burned it in the last 5 years! Go to that nepacrossroads site below to learn what modern stokers can do.
http://www.keystoker.com
http://www.readingstove.com
http://www.leisurelinestoves.com
http://nepacrossroads.com/

http://www.buildinggreen.com/calc/fuel_cost.cfm Plug in the costs!!!!
 
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I have a 1400 sqft ranch and can easily go through 1000 gal in a season. If you're heating 6500 sqft...Id thank my lucky stars. That's way reasonable as far as Im concerned.
 
I agree with what others have said. A 6500 square foot house is WAY too big for a pellet stove. In my opinion, two P68's would have trouble keeping up with that much square footage. I live in a rather large home, and my home is only half the size of your house. Not to mention, if you actually went through the trouble and the expense of putting in two pellet stoves, I can't imagine how many ton of pellets you would go through in a season. I suspect 12 ton would be just your starting point, and you'll be occupying two of your garage spaces just to store all of those pellets. Good luck.
 
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Do you get the feeling that someone is jerking our chain just to get a reaction? I think he slipped up when he gave his propane usage for the year. No way in Heck does he just use that amount. Maybe he missed a '0'???
 
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tjnamtiw said:
Do you get the feeling that someone is jerking our chain just to get a reaction? I think he slipped up when he gave his propane usage for the year. No way in Heck does he just use that amount. Maybe he missed a '0'???
Click to expand...
Or have know idea of square footage?
 
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I could see a super insulated house sipping on the propane...but that still seems out of this world.

This is outdoor wood boiler territory imo.
 
tjnamtiw said:
Do you get the feeling that someone is jerking our chain just to get a reaction? I think he slipped up when he gave his propane usage for the year. No way in Heck does he just use that amount. Maybe he missed a '0'???
Click to expand...
something doesn't add up
 
mikkeeh said:
I have a 1400 sqft ranch and can easily go through 1000 gal in a season. If you're heating 6500 sqft...Id thank my lucky stars. That's way reasonable as far as Im concerned.
Click to expand...


No way can he be using only 800-1000 gallons a season. I was going through over 500 gallons a month with a house a little over half that size.
 
C'mon guys.Fix the obvious first,the leaks at the fireplace?If you felt a draft,would you turn up the heat or shut the back door?Just sayin.
 
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I did a little research. Seems the OP posted a similar post back in Jan of 2012. His house was 7000sqft then. I don't know what the motive of the thread is................doesn't make sense to me
 
mikkeeh said:
I did a little research. Seems the OP posted a similar post back in Jan of 2012. His house was 7000sqft then. I don't know what the motive of the thread is................doesn't make sense to me
Click to expand...

That just means he had some removed and hasnt resolved his heating issues right?

:)
 
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