Stove room vs Living room

  • Active since 1995, Hearth.com is THE place on the internet for free information and advice about wood stoves, pellet stoves and other energy saving equipment.

    We strive to provide opinions, articles, discussions and history related to Hearth Products and in a more general sense, energy issues.

    We promote the EFFICIENT, RESPONSIBLE, CLEAN and SAFE use of all fuels, whether renewable or fossil.
Status
Not open for further replies.
Not trying to be arrogant, and I certainly have no right to be. However, when I read about someone who has installed their stove for the THIRD TIME IN A DAY, my spider sense goes off telling me that there could not have been much thought put into the placement. The phrase "Measure twice, cut once" keeps going through my mind, which seems to be what you had done. The fact that the OPs home is being filled with holes in the wall, does not make me arrogant.
i never said it was in the same day...each install was over a month of trying to make it work
 
it takes more than a few snarky remarks (if they were intended to be) to discourage me. i would not be burning pellets if i was afraid of getting my hands dirty. from what i have seen this forum offers a lot of good advice and has been huge in helping me both buying and using pellets. i know that with 3 installs THIS YEAR that it seems hard to believe that they were planned out but the reality is i did a lot of research on here and other sites about being a basement dweller and that failed, i then moved on to what seemed like an easy answer using my mud room with the pellets in the garage 10 feet away (seems like a good idea) but again my hallway killed any air movement. i knew from day one that if all else fails that i could move it into the living room and i was willing to patch a wall to find out if i could keep everything in the mud room out of our way completely (i have 3 children under 3). i guess i just wanted to share my experience so that if anyone was considering something similar that could have some more information. i am not the most knowledgeable person on this site but i thought i could offer the little bit that i have learned so far! as i also said in the post before...i have kept a bag count from day one and in a few weeks i will post on here about how many fewer bags i have been able to use as a result of the living space install...and i hope that maybe if someone that is considering a remote install that they will see the hassle that i have experienced and the savings that can be created and just give up the corner of the living room!
thanks for everyone that posted encouragement! it is the people on this forum make noobs like me able to burn pellets!
 
How many people would of installed the stove, and then when it did not work, would of blamed the stove? or just lived with it feeling he was ripped off by the stove seller. This guy actually TRIED an SUCCEDED to fix his own problem. So he made a couple extra holes, no big deal. He is obviously capable, being he has moved his stove 3 times, patching some siding will be a breeze. Guess what he now knows the best place for his stove and has 2 backup locations ready to go. ;em
 
I have mine installed in a basement as well. Admittedly, it's always warm in the basement and cool upstairs - pretty much as most basement installers will tell you. :(

In hindsight I would have installed it in the main living area upstairs but I honestly thought a stove of this size (Eco-65) would heat both levels with no issue at all. Plus I wanted a dry basement. Oh well, live and learn!
 
That is true. I started with the Harman in the basement, and I too found that heat doesn't rise well in my house (regardless what all the experts assured me) even with lots of fans - it was 80+ downstairs, mid 60's in the warmest rooms upstairs. Thought about moving the Harman upstairs but I have FHW pipes in the basement that I needed to keep at least marginally warm. Plus, with only 950 sq/ft,of living area, the clearance that stove needed to combustibles would have taken away almost 10% of my space, which I was not keen on. I put another, smaller, stove in the living room this fall and with just 2 fans, have all of the living area at nice temps.

However, I have read of plenty of people that had their stove in their unfinished basement and it kept their house nice and warm. So you really never know until you put it to the test.

I've installed registers but it's only helped minimally. I was looking into register "fans" though to force the heat up. Not sure how well they work...
 
I've installed registers but it's only helped minimally. I was looking into register "fans" though to force the heat up. Not sure how well they work...
when i was in the basement i hooked up 2 in duct fans in hopes of moving more heat upstairs but i received very little benefit. the best method i came up with was blowing the colder house air down the stairs with a fan at the top and bottom of the stairs (bottom of the stairs blowing at the stove) which allows your warm air to move back upstairs over the top of the stairwell. we did have nice warm floors while trying the basement which is something i miss now but i think we are happier and much warmer with it upstairs (just waiting on the ups guy to bring me a gate to keep the kiddos back).
 
I installed mine in the basement and never looked back... Had I installed it upstairs, I bet I would never wear pants. The upstairs was 23C yesterday so I actually had to turn the stove off for 8 hours... Granted the house is insulated to the nines.
 
when i was in the basement i hooked up 2 in duct fans in hopes of moving more heat upstairs but i received very little benefit. the best method i came up with was blowing the colder house air down the stairs with a fan at the top and bottom of the stairs (bottom of the stairs blowing at the stove) which allows your warm air to move back upstairs over the top of the stairwell. we did have nice warm floors while trying the basement which is something i miss now but i think we are happier and much warmer with it upstairs (just waiting on the ups guy to bring me a gate to keep the kiddos back).

Hmm interesting. I'll have to give that a shot.
 
That is true. I started with the Harman in the basement, and I too found that heat doesn't rise well in my house (regardless what all the experts assured me) even with lots of fans - it was 80+ downstairs, mid 60's in the warmest rooms upstairs. Thought about moving the Harman upstairs but I have FHW pipes in the basement that I needed to keep at least marginally warm. Plus, with only 950 sq/ft,of living area, the clearance that stove needed to combustibles would have taken away almost 10% of my space, which I was not keen on. I put another, smaller, stove in the living room this fall and with just 2 fans, have all of the living area at nice temps.

However, I have read of plenty of people that had their stove in their unfinished basement and it kept their house nice and warm. So you really never know until you put it to the test.

I've installed registers but it's only helped minimally. I was looking into register "fans" though to force the heat up. Not sure how well they work...

I cut 6 holes in my floors, then used register fans as well as a fan forcing cold air down. They helped some, but not nearly what I needed. I tried all kinds of configurations, without any improved results. Actually sledge hammered the wall out of my stairway to my living room to help heat go up (I had already removed the door) - that didn't help any at all (that's okay, that wall was coming out anyway - just sooner than I had planned). All of these remedies suggested by "experts". The next thing they suggested would have had me tearing out my garage ceiling (bedroom floors) to install cold air return ducts. No thanks, much easier to buy and install another stove. And, no danger of sleeping on the couch for another winter because another their considered opinions didn't work.

EDIT: I just want to make clear that the "Experts" that I refer to are not people on this forum, but a contractor friend, another person that built his own house, the stove retailer and the installers.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Big papa
The biggest savings with pellet stoves is moving the stove to the area you spend the most time. All of sudden its ok then for it to be 62 in far corners of your house you dont go in.
 
How many people would of installed the stove, and then when it did not work, would of blamed the stove? or just lived with it feeling he was ripped off by the stove seller. This guy actually TRIED an SUCCEDED to fix his own problem. So he made a couple extra holes, no big deal. He is obviously capable, being he has moved his stove 3 times, patching some siding will be a breeze. Guess what he now knows the best place for his stove and has 2 backup locations ready to go. ;em
We're all mad because the OP didn't ask US for help before figuring out a solution to his own problem! How dare he!
(sarcasm)
 
  • Like
Reactions: jdinny and barger44
I put a safety gate around my stove to prevent small children and pets from getting to close.
 
We're all mad because the OP didn't ask US for help before figuring out a solution to his own problem! How dare he!
(sarcasm)



good thing, he would of wound up with 6 holes with "our" help
 
I made the move from basement to upstairs this year with no regrets. I am very happy I did it.
 
i never said it was in the same day...each install was over a month of trying to make it work

Ah...reading comprehension. Got it.
 
...(i have 3 children under 3)....

If you are worried about the stove and the young children, you can get gates to put around them (the stoves not the kids;lol) My oldest girl grew up with a woodstove in the living room - guess what her first word was? Hot ;)
 
I moved my stove from a basement to the living room and I love it.I was worried about the noise the stove makes but I've gotten used to it.Nice and toasty now.:cool:
 
I am going to drive my wife crazy! today I installed our stove for the 3rd time today. we started as basement dwellers (not enough heat upstairs) then moved to our mud room (still burning on high 24/7) which is down a hall from the main part of the house (my wife hated the two fans running right in the doorway to her laundry room!), and now I have moved it into the main part of the house. we have a very open floor plan other than the mud room and I am hoping that I can burn a lot less pellets with this set up. (and yes i now have some siding and drywall to repair)

i am curious if anyone has any experience with moving their stove from a restricted area to the main home area and what kind of benefit they saw. i have been tracking my pellet supply weekly so i should have some decent numbers on the impact it has in a few weeks but i can tell you already i am burning on a 5 instead of a 9!

let me know your thoughts!
There has been many stoves installed in the basement and after the first season found out that idea doesn't work. Sometimes it is because we are not willing to cut a hole in the side of the house for a exh pipe and sometimes the dealer is a little optimistic as to how much heat that stove will produce and really wants to make a sale. I put my first stove in the basement figuring a warm floor would overcome cold Minn temps. Next year I figured a bigger stove in the basement would cure the problem. Nope that didn't work either. The following summer I was looking over the house and thought why don't we put it upstairs where the dining room table is. So brought it up to the better half and she said that would be a great idea as we don't entertain that much anyway. So she went to work and after a little measuring The trusty sawzall went to work and in 5 minutes had my hole ready for the sleeve and 3 inch pipe. Bribed a few neighbors with a little adult beverage and the stove leaped up from the basement to where it sets ever since. My fuel use is close to 40% less and am very comfortable.
 
  • Like
Reactions: John Fortier
If you are worried about the stove and the young children, you can get gates to put around them (the stoves not the kids;lol) My oldest girl grew up with a woodstove in the living room - guess what her first word was? Hot ;)
i have a gate coming tomorrow in the mail! right now i have a bunch of furniture blocking it off until the gate arrives!
 
  • Like
Reactions: Lake Girl
Status
Not open for further replies.