Going bigger.....seeking selection and placement advice. Sorry long!

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meisen

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Feb 24, 2014
31
Hudson Valley, New York
So overall I'm happy with our choice to install a pellet stove (well "choice"....a boiler breakdown sort of forced that sooner rather than later). We put in a bosca spirit 500 stove this December and considering a larger stove. Anyway, wanted advice on which stove to get as well as where to put it. Any input is helpful, criticism is ok. Maybe this is a totally stupid plan? Something I didn't consider? I don't intend to run solely off pellets indefinitely but if we can get through another winter with pellets we'll hopefully be able to hook into natural gas and get a baseboard/boiler system installed next summer. I'll keep using at least one stove.

Thinking of a drolet 65, enviro maxx or austroflamm Rika integra II all for their large hopper capacity. I love the look of the rika. I like our Bosca, wish they were more popular, easier to get parts for etc but that issue leads me away from the rika. Really would like to be able to leave the house for a few days without having to get a pellet stove babysitter so that's a key feature (120 lb plus hopper). I really dislike how the harmans look with the hopper extensions...so despite their excellent reputation they are off my list. Perhaps someday as a second stove. Are there other large stoves I'm missing from my list? It seems like there are significant negative reviews out there for nearly every stove.....as well as positives.

The setup:
The setup of our farmhouse is a bit odd. We have a main house part that is pretty standard, about 1,500 sq ft, three floors, small rooms, average ceilings, lots of doors. Then we have a 500 ft extension that was once a two car garage. It still uses the old garage entry into the house. It's on a concrete slab. The floor of the room is about 3' below the level of the rest of the house. As such it's somewhat insulated and cut off from the rest of the house. We can open the door to let heat transfer but mostly what seems to happen is that room gets up to about 58 degrees and the main house has trouble staying 65. I am sure it's a combination of the layout and a fairly small capacity stove...of course heat doesn't go down. We do have a vermont castings propane stove in the extension that can keep the room as warm as we like but as you know propane is jacked up right now. I had the tank filled three times. Finally I decided just to stop keeping the room heated all the time to the tune of $250/month. Which is significantly more than we have been spending to heat the entire rest of the house btw.

The bosca has kept us warm (70-74) in the main part of the house all winter even with the extra cold days. We keep the third floor and extension closed off most of the time as well as the bedrooms...opening everything definitely makes nothing warm on the coldest days we've had...ie 62-65 degrees. It's still liveable just not toasty enough for the SO.

So my thoughts:

Plan A move the bosca into the extension and use it on low all the time out there. Get a larger hopper, larger capacity stove for the main house and just be warm all the time, third floor included. With the larger stove and using the bosca on low it should mean only one fill per stove per day and it also means we can fill the larger stove and go away for 2-3 days.

Plan B keep the bosca in place and add a large pellet stove to the extension. Probably would need to put an active vent fan between the rooms but use that to transfer the heat. Probably less efficient to have all that heat pouring out in the farthest part of the house.

Plan C replace the bosca with the big stove, keep the propane for emergencies and put an active vent fan between to push the cold air from the extension into main house.

Plan D just stick with what I've got for another year then consider upgrading when the bosca gets longer in tooth and we have the gas boiler installed.
 
What is the temp in the ceiling of the room that was once a garage when you open the door? Maybe a ceiling fan in that room to spread the warmth if it is warmer in the ceiling. Then get a bigger stove to handle the main and the old garage area. Option 2 the Bosca could then go in the old garage with a ceiling fan, but with concrete floor it will take a while to get up to temp if you move it up and down in temp but could still leave it on low with the door open as well to maintain even temp throughout. I put a Harmon P68 in my main living room but it was working hard to keep the back side of our house warm. A put in a P43 in the back side and a second stove works great and the larger P68 did not have to work so hard. I use gas when the temps fall into the teens or below to just supplement the stoves in colder weather. It may kick on a total of 1 hour in a 24 hour period and mostly at night. I have 3000 sq. ft. with 11' ceiling, large rooms on two floors so you may not have to use gas at all with a 2 stove set up. Your pellet use may vary. You will use more as you currently not heating the main and garage area at the same time at the desired temp. To offset this I lowered the temp of the main stove since I did not have to heat the back side with it so my pellet use was the same in a 24 hour period and evened out. A second stove will even the house out without drastic changes in temps from one side to the other.
 
Well thanks for being smart to shut down part of the house,grew up that way in western md.All kids in 1 bedroom in winter.I am fond of rikas but is not a "larger stove".Your bosca is 40k btu,so is the rika.These also are not small stoves,just normal stoves.There are big ones made,will let others inform you.Put xtra padding and carpet(if not already there) on old garage,will save a ton of heat and warm up time.Heat does not rise as well as a lot of people think,especially around corners,through doors.I do it with vents and fans.(more expense).Running 2 stoves is more expensive.If you want good convection heat upstairs without floor and ceiling mods,it will be 100 degrees downstairs.You have a boiler,if baseboard or ducted air,take a look at a pellet furnace,they make some really nice ones.Also,most pellet stoves do not do well running on low constantly.Just some food for thought,others will give input.Bob
 
Why not consider a mini split heat pump for your 2nd source...just as cheap to operate and no maintenance.
 
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:)We have have the enviro maxx going on 3 years and the oil has not been on in 3 years, not one problem with stove, on 24/7 from mid oct to mid april just remember a clean stove is a happy stove.
 
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You mentioned boiler breakdown--why not a pellet boiler to heat the whole place? I love mine and now that I added a bulk storage/feed unit I can be away for more than a week without worry of running out of pellets.
 
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You mentioned boiler breakdown--why not a pellet boiler to heat the whole place? I love mine and now that I added a bulk storage/feed unit I can be away for more than a week without worry of running out of pellets.


Some pellet boilers are 90-95% efficient, which saves you in the long run, and self cleaning, but the initial cost is very expensive only drawback. If he wants to only use a stove for a short time the eco-65 is pretty cheap compared to other stoves on the market, which is can use ducts. On t-stat mode you can maintain the temps well, and run for 2-3 days on the big hopper, however it should be cleaned after 2 days anyway for better combustion.
 
Two stoves are the best plan.

We have three stoves in a 2400 ft ranch style.

When one is not enough, turn on another.

I would set up your current stove in the remote part of the house, and get another slightly larger unit to handle the main house.

With this setup, you can keep the entire house up to the SO's specs:)
 
So overall I'm happy with our choice to install a pellet stove (well "choice"....a boiler breakdown sort of forced that sooner rather than later). We put in a bosca spirit 500 stove this December and considering a larger stove. Anyway, wanted advice on which stove to get as well as where to put it. Any input is helpful, criticism is ok. Maybe this is a totally stupid plan? Something I didn't consider? I don't intend to run solely off pellets indefinitely but if we can get through another winter with pellets we'll hopefully be able to hook into natural gas and get a baseboard/boiler system installed next summer. I'll keep using at least one stove.

Plan D just stick with what I've got for another year then consider upgrading when the bosca gets longer in tooth and we have the gas boiler installed.
So, you have a radiant baseboard installed, but the oil boiler failed. You may have NG available in a year. The Bosca is a bridge to a NG boiler.

I'm thinking you should wait a year, to find out if the NG boiler option becomes available and then install that. If the NG boiler option doesn't materialize, I'd consider a pellet boiler like a Kedel, or Biowin, or other.
 
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Well thanks for being smart to shut down part of the house,grew up that way in western md.All kids in 1 bedroom in winter.I am fond of rikas but is not a "larger stove".Your bosca is 40k btu,so is the rika.These also are not small stoves,just normal stoves.There are big ones made,will let others inform you.Put xtra padding and carpet(if not already there) on old garage,will save a ton of heat and warm up time.Heat does not rise as well as a lot of people think,especially around corners,through doors.I do it with vents and fans.(more expense).Running 2 stoves is more expensive.If you want good convection heat upstairs without floor and ceiling mods,it will be 100 degrees downstairs.You have a boiler,if baseboard or ducted air,take a look at a pellet furnace,they make some really nice ones.Also,most pellet stoves do not do well running on low constantly.Just some food for thought,others will give input.Bob
Good to know, somewhere I thought I read they were larger, perhaps I confused it with a different model? They do have a big hoppe though? Thinking might still work if the two stoves run in tandem. And considering the advice to not run stove on low in the extension....two 40k btu stoves might do the trick with some better air movement?
 
Great advice so far, I'm formulating some follow up questions :)

Anyone have experience with the drolet 65 or even other drolet stoves they care to share?
 
Good to know, somewhere I thought I read they were larger, perhaps I confused it with a different model? They do have a big hoppe though? Thinking might still work if the two stoves run in tandem. And considering the advice to not run stove on low in the extension....two 40k btu stoves might do the trick with some better air movement?
Integra 2 has a very large hopper.120 lbs I think.Not going to get into moving air around,too many threads on here about that.Also,just as pellet stoves do not like running on low for long times,most mfg's also reccomend not running on high for long times.Newer stoves with good thermostat control are great.
 
Oh and one more piece of the puzzle...boiler system is (was?) very old single pipe steam with radiators. Well designed but more than half a century old. If it wasn't one thing it was going to be another with it according to everyone I talked to.

But no baseboards or useable components to hook a pellet boiler up to. New system would be hydronic baseboard system and gas appeals for a lot of reasons there. If I continue to use pellet stove I can choose between favoring one of two of the cheaper heating options as the market dictates. Downsides I'm not thinking of?
 
Twice as much work with 2 stoves.I am starting to look at the newer mini splits.Then I can have 4 types/options!
 
Actually two or three stoves as is our case is not that much more work, plus we will likely never find ourselves without heat in the event a stove has an issue.

During COLD weather, come cleaning day, we can still keep the house warm while letting one stove cool off sufficiently to clean it, then do the other one.

During nasty weather these things still need maintenance, and a cold house sucks

If I could get away with it, I would have a fourth stove that was 12V only for use during power outages

Multiple stoves are a very good thing.

Remember what Mama used to say ??


Never put all your eggs in one basket. :)
 
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