Pellet stove - colonial house - newbie

sweetsncheese · Jan 2, 2009

We just had a Quadra Fire Mount Vernon AE pellet stove insert installed in our colonial house earlier this week. To give you an idea of the style of our house we have a living room on one end and a family room on the other. The house is about 2,100 sq, ft. The pellet insert is installed in the living room fireplace and the family room is above our garage and has a fireplace that is not currently being used. The kitchen and dining room are in the middle of the first floor. There are two entries/exits from the living room (that has the pellet insert) - one goes to the bottom of the staircase to the bedrooms and also the small front foyer and dining room and the other entry/exit goes into the kitchen and if you kept going, into the family room.

The pellet stove works wonderful with delivering heat to the living room. Of course, I'm struggling with a way to get that heat into the family room (which has one entry/exit door). I've put an oscillating fan at the living room entry/exit to the kitchen, pointing towards the family room (on a small table to bring it up higher) and that seems to help somewhat. I've done spot checks and if I have the pellet stove thermostat set at 72, I can get the living room up to that temp (obviously), the kitchen is about 67-68 and the family room is not getting above 61. I tried the fan thing to see if it will move the air around but I'm not sure that's the ultimate solution. I've also researched the small box fans that are for the tops of doorways and those might work for us.

I'm writing this to see if anyone else has this type of stove in a colonial-style house and what they've done to help move the hot air from one end of the house to the other. I'm sure I'm leaving out some detail that may help you help us *L*, please feel free to ask away. I'm liking the pellet stove idea, just need to configure it to best work for us. The TV is in the family room and I'd like to try to get that room above 61.

Thank you.

hossthehermit · Jan 2, 2009

Consensus is that it's easier to move the cold air to the warm spot. Try turning the fan around, blow from the cooler area toward the warm area. Good luck.

sweetsncheese · Jan 2, 2009

I tried something similar to that - I put a box fan on the floor of the colder room and blew it towards the warmer room. It didn't seem to work. I'll try turning the fan around in the living room instead. Thanks.

sweetsncheese · Jan 3, 2009

Hmmm...seems to work better when the fan it blowing the warm air out of the room. Can't seem to get the other end of house higher than 62. Would ceiling fans do anything?

Doocrew · Jan 3, 2009

The only way you are going to get anywhere is to create a convection. It sounds like your plan to move heat to the family room is not going to be that easy. You have an awful lot of square footage that you are trying to heat there. Ceiling fans can help move air and it wont hurt to give it a try. Remember that pellet stoves are space heaters. You may want to consider doing something else to put some heat into the family room. What is your primary heating source? If you have forced hot water it wont hurt to run some heat into that area once in a while anyway so the pipes wont freeze. My house is half the size of yours and I am able to keep my kitchen/family room where the stove is at a comfy 72 and the bedrooms down the hall around 62-65. I kick the heat zone on in the bedrooms once in a while when it gets real cold to stabilize the temps when we are home. I have only burned about 75 gallons of heating oil so far this year by doing this which includes hot water for showers.

sweetsncheese · Jan 3, 2009

Thanks for the reply Doocrew. It looks like we're from the same area.

Our primary source of heat is a boiler (oil). Our hot water is also from our oil boiler.

I'm actually not looking to heat the upstairs with the pellet stove but appreciate that it does travel somewhat up the staircase. Our house is on two zones with the boiler (upstairs and downstairs). We also like it colder at night for sleeping.

Doocrew · Jan 3, 2009

sweetsncheese said:
Thanks for the reply Doocrew. It looks like we're from the same area.

Our primary source of heat is a boiler (oil). Our hot water is also from our oil boiler.

I'm actually not looking to heat the upstairs with the pellet stove but appreciate that it does travel somewhat up the staircase. Our house is on two zones with the boiler (upstairs and downstairs). We also like it colder at night for sleeping.

I'll try a ceiling fan perhaps in the kitchen which is central on the main floor. We have also thought about putting a smaller woodstove or another pellet stove in the family room to cut the chill. I'd rather go with pellets since I don't like the thought of dirty wood being carried into the house, rodents, etc. I suppose we could also put an electric heater or such in the family room to cut the chill as well. I can't imagine the cost of electricity will exceed the price we're paying for oil, even at the price it's at now.

Be real careful not to let your pipes freeze. It is not going to hurt to kick those zones on once in a while to circulate some water through especially in the cold spell that we have had for the last few days.

sweetsncheese · Jan 6, 2009

I'm posting again tonight because hubby and I are still trying to figure out how to move the warm air from the living room (Mont Vernon AE pellet stove insert) into the rest of the downstairs at least. He's not sold on the idea of a bunch of fans around the house but is willing to try a few things. The insert can generate a lot of heat but we haven't really been successful with moving it around. If we have the thermostat set (on Auto) at 72, we can barely get the kitchen, which is right next to the living room up past 66-67. We're really frustrated so far.

On the flip side, we put two window AC units in the downstairs in the summer. One goes in the family room and one goes in the living room and cools the downstairs just fine. Even if we turned one off and let the other crank, we'd still feel the cool air mostly on the first floor. Why isn't this same concept true for the heat (pellet insert)? You'd think if it was cranking the heat in the living room, it would at least make the kitchen and dining room tolerable and not chilly.

If anyone should shed some more light for us, that'd be great. By the way, we are burning Energex Premium pellets and programmed the fuel to 'soft wood' per the installers recommendation...if that matters.

Thanks.

Skunk · Jan 7, 2009

The Energex pellets I had weren't particularly hot burning.

At the moment, we have one fan on the floor blowing cold air towards, AND a fan above blowing warm air away from the stove into the rest of the house. This seems to work better than just one either way.. in our case. Trial + error as to positioning the fans.

Have a thermometer in the center of the house, bottom of the stairs, outside of the room the stove's in... 74 - same temp as the rest of the house (warmer near stove). 70 upstairs. Outside temps pretty mild.

MButkus · Jan 7, 2009

Didn't I see some fans for doorways.. your heat is at the top of the ceiling. Getting it from the top of one doorway to the bottom of the other room is what you need.
I do remember seeing (in the 80's) a fan with a pipe up to the ceiling. The fan sucked the hot ceiling air down to the cool bottom. Maybe design something like that with a bottom tube going to the next room (so the heat would rise)
Doorways always create problems.

MButkus · Jan 7, 2009

One link on hearth.com
http://www.woodheat.org/planning/heatdist.htm
How about some wall grates between the rooms? Allowing the air to circulate between the rooms. Possibly a fan in the grate ?

sweetsncheese · Jan 7, 2009

Latest update ... results not good.

Before making major mods I thought it far simpler and less intrusive to try a couple muffin fans. I put one at the top of the doorway leaving the living room (stove room) and one at the top of the doorway leading into the family room (farthest from the stove). Sure enough, warm air pulled quickly from the living room and circulated throughout the downstairs. Unfortunately this completely overwhelmed the stove. I don't believe the specifications were mentioned before but this stove is supposed to put out 60K BTUs capable of heating a 3K sq. ft. living area using soft wood pellets. We are using soft wood pellets and only heating the 1K sq. ft. downstairs area. If I set the thermostat to 70 degrees the stove never shuts off and even the living room (stove room) won't reach the set temperature (70). I have either been totally mislead by specifications or there is something seriously wrong with this stove.

We aren't super insulated but are certainly somewhere near average as far as walls and windows are concerned. For reference our forced hot water boiler takes about an hour to bring the house from 60 degrees to 70 in the winter and 20K BTUs of air conditioning cools this same area from 80 degrees to 70 in about the same amount of time. The stove runs for 4-5 hours and can't raise the house temperature even 1 degree. Very frustrating ....

control1 · Jan 7, 2009

I think everyone has that problem I have a split level with the stove downstairs in the family room I have to get that room to 75 degrees in order to get the rooms (3 steps upstairs )to 68 degrees.I see it as a big space heater and always a disparity of about 7 to 10 degrees between the room the stove is in and the rooms upstairs I sometimes turn on the oil heat for a 1/2 hour to even out the temps in the house.Once the temp in the house is evened out the stove tends to keep it that way.

Racerx009 · Jan 7, 2009

sweetsncheese said:
We just had a Quadra Fire Mount Vernon AE pellet stove insert installed in our colonial house earlier this week. To give you an idea of the style of our house we have a living room on one end and a family room on the other. The house is about 2,100 sq, ft. The pellet insert is installed in the living room fireplace and the family room is above our garage and has a fireplace that is not currently being used. The kitchen and dining room are in the middle of the first floor. There are two entries/exits from the living room (that has the pellet insert) - one goes to the bottom of the staircase to the bedrooms and also the small front foyer and dining room and the other entry/exit goes into the kitchen and if you kept going, into the family room.

The pellet stove works wonderful with delivering heat to the living room. Of course, I'm struggling with a way to get that heat into the family room (which has one entry/exit door). I've put an oscillating fan at the living room entry/exit to the kitchen, pointing towards the family room (on a small table to bring it up higher) and that seems to help somewhat. I've done spot checks and if I have the pellet stove thermostat set at 72, I can get the living room up to that temp (obviously), the kitchen is about 67-68 and the family room is not getting above 61. I tried the fan thing to see if it will move the air around but I'm not sure that's the ultimate solution. I've also researched the small box fans that are for the tops of doorways and those might work for us.

I'm writing this to see if anyone else has this type of stove in a colonial-style house and what they've done to help move the hot air from one end of the house to the other. I'm sure I'm leaving out some detail that may help you help us *L*, please feel free to ask away. I'm liking the pellet stove idea, just need to configure it to best work for us. The TV is in the family room and I'd like to try to get that room above 61.

Thank you.

Hey buddy, Listen I have a colonial home Astoria bay pellet stove in living room with 4bdrms upstairs and 2 full baths. I have doorway fan at end of hall back bed room then one in front hall for master bedroom I use 2 doorway fans in living room to push out heat into lower hallway which upper staircase is located. In other words use the fans where ever possible I get my up stair around 70degrees and the same for downstairs all the rooms !! Play with your stove use oven therometer to measure heat output mine is blowing out almost 300degrees.
Goodluck,

Anthony

doghouse · Jan 7, 2009

sweetsncheese said:
I'm posting again tonight because hubby and I are still trying to figure out how to move the warm air from the living room (Mont Vernon AE pellet stove insert) into the rest of the downstairs at least. He's not sold on the idea of a bunch of fans around the house but is willing to try a few things. The insert can generate a lot of heat but we haven't really been successful with moving it around. If we have the thermostat set (on Auto) at 72, we can barely get the kitchen, which is right next to the living room up past 66-67. We're really frustrated so far.

On the flip side, we put two window AC units in the downstairs in the summer. One goes in the family room and one goes in the living room and cools the downstairs just fine. Even if we turned one off and let the other crank, we'd still feel the cool air mostly on the first floor. Why isn't this same concept true for the heat (pellet insert)? You'd think if it was cranking the heat in the living room, it would at least make the kitchen and dining room tolerable and not chilly.

If anyone should shed some more light for us, that'd be great. By the way, we are burning Energex Premium pellets and programmed the fuel to 'soft wood' per the installers recommendation...if that matters.

Thanks.

Question(s). How far away is the stove from the stairs? Do all the rooms downstairs open-up to each other?

Garry P · Jan 7, 2009

I don't think you will ever be able to heat your house to an even 70 - 72 degrees. In order to raise the temp in your family room to 70, you are going to have to heat the living room to more than 72. On my first floor there is a 4 degree difference between the stove room and the room farthest from the stove, and the upstairs has a 5-8 degree difference depending on outside temps. If I want my upstairs to be 70 then I definitely will need the stove room to be in the high 70s.

You are trying to move heat a long way witout it cooling off and it just won't happen. Imagine a forced hot air furnace, the air coming directly out of the furnace is a lot warmer than when it reaches the vents in the rest of the house. I think it is the same for your stove, you say you got the heat to move, but the stove wouldn't keep up, then I say you need to turn the stove up.

sweetsncheese · Jan 7, 2009

GarryP said:
I don't think you will ever be able to heat your house to an even 70 - 72 degrees. In order to raise the temp in your family room to 70, you are going to have to heat the living room to more than 72. On my first floor there is a 4 degree difference between the stove room and the room farthest from the stove, and the upstairs has a 5-8 degree difference depending on outside temps. If I want my upstairs to be 70 then I definitely will need the stove room to be in the high 70s.

You are trying to move heat a long way without it cooling off and it just won't happen. Imagine a forced hot air furnace, the air coming directly out of the furnace is a lot warmer than when it reaches the vents in the rest of the house. I think it is the same for your stove, you say you got the heat to move, but the stove wouldn't keep up, then I say you need to turn the stove up.

I understand I need to get the stove room hotter than the others and I also understand there will be temperature differentials in the different rooms. This is where the stove failed me yesterday. I will try to clarify better.

If I put a fan in the upper part of the doorway to blow heat from the stove room, the stove room itself can not maintain the set temperature. If the house starts out at 60 degrees and I set the stove thermostat to 70, I can't get the stove room above 64 degrees. If I turn the fan off, the heat will build up in the stove room and eventually it reaches the set temperature. Turn on the fan and again the heat in the stove room drops to 64 degrees. That tells me I am able to move the heat, but my heat source (stove) isn't able to meet the demand.

You're correct, I need to turn the stove up. So, how do I do that? I would think when the thermometer reads 64 and the thermostat is set for 70 it would call for max heat. How do I turn it up more than that? Setting it for 80 or 90 shouldn't be any different than setting it to 70 when the stove room is 64, right? I am hearing options of changing the fuel settings to trick the stove into generating more heat. Is this common? How about turning the flame height above manufactures recommendations? Again, is this common? How do I "turn it up"?

Perhaps I'm causing this problem by letting my house cool down? I'm not home during the day so in the past the automatic thermostat on my oil furnace dropped the temperature from 70 degrees to 60 degrees while I was away then brought it back from 60 to 70 an hour before I returned. Is this temperature recovery too much for the pellet stove? Do people turn them down while they're away then up when they return or is this too much heat demand for a stove? Is 10 degrees too much? Is there a more efficient temperature differential to use between away and home? If so, how much lead time should I allow the stove before I come home to a warm home? I'm sure I could use the oil furnace to warm the house quickly then have the pellet stove take over at that point (assuming I figure out how to "turn it up" enough to maintain a temperature).

Thanks for all the help so far. I am hopeful that I will soon join the rest of you as happy stove owners and operators. Perhaps then I'll have this experience to share with other stressed newbies as they charge down this unknown path like myself.

Doocrew · Jan 8, 2009

sweetsncheese said:
GarryP said:

I don't think you will ever be able to heat your house to an even 70 - 72 degrees. In order to raise the temp in your family room to 70, you are going to have to heat the living room to more than 72. On my first floor there is a 4 degree difference between the stove room and the room farthest from the stove, and the upstairs has a 5-8 degree difference depending on outside temps. If I want my upstairs to be 70 then I definitely will need the stove room to be in the high 70s.

You are trying to move heat a long way without it cooling off and it just won't happen. Imagine a forced hot air furnace, the air coming directly out of the furnace is a lot warmer than when it reaches the vents in the rest of the house. I think it is the same for your stove, you say you got the heat to move, but the stove wouldn't keep up, then I say you need to turn the stove up.

Click to expand...

I understand I need to get the stove room hotter than the others and I also understand there will be temperature differentials in the different rooms. This is where the stove failed me yesterday. I will try to clarify better.

If I put a fan in the upper part of the doorway to blow heat from the stove room, the stove room itself can not maintain the set temperature. If the house starts out at 60 degrees and I set the stove thermostat to 70, I can't get the stove room above 64 degrees. If I turn the fan off, the heat will build up in the stove room and eventually it reaches the set temperature. Turn on the fan and again the heat in the stove room drops to 64 degrees. That tells me I am able to move the heat, but my heat source (stove) isn't able to meet the demand.

You're correct, I need to turn the stove up. So, how do I do that? I would think when the thermometer reads 64 and the thermostat is set for 70 it would call for max heat. How do I turn it up more than that? Setting it for 80 or 90 shouldn't be any different than setting it to 70 when the stove room is 64, right? I am hearing options of changing the fuel settings to trick the stove into generating more heat. Is this common? How about turning the flame height above manufactures recommendations? Again, is this common? How do I "turn it up"?

Perhaps I'm causing this problem by letting my house cool down? I'm not home during the day so in the past the automatic thermostat on my oil furnace dropped the temperature from 70 degrees to 60 degrees while I was away then brought it back from 60 to 70 an hour before I returned. Is this temperature recovery too much for the pellet stove? Do people turn them down while they're away then up when they return or is this too much heat demand for a stove? Is 10 degrees too much? Is there a more efficient temperature differential to use between away and home? If so, how much lead time should I allow the stove before I come home to a warm home? I'm sure I could use the oil furnace to warm the house quickly then have the pellet stove take over at that point (assuming I figure out how to "turn it up" enough to maintain a temperature).

Thanks for all the help so far. I am hopeful that I will soon join the rest of you as happy stove owners and operators. Perhaps then I'll have this experience to share with other stressed newbies as they charge down this unknown path like myself.

You are just going to have to play around with it sweets. I leave my stove running on low while I am at work. If it is a little cool in the house when I get home I turn it up. I do not use a thermostat at all. I manually adjust it to suit my needs. If I need more heat, I turn it up.

Racerx009 · Jan 8, 2009

sweetsncheese said:
We just had a Quadra Fire Mount Vernon AE pellet stove insert installed in our colonial house earlier this week. To give you an idea of the style of our house we have a living room on one end and a family room on the other. The house is about 2,100 sq, ft. The pellet insert is installed in the living room fireplace and the family room is above our garage and has a fireplace that is not currently being used. The kitchen and dining room are in the middle of the first floor. There are two entries/exits from the living room (that has the pellet insert) - one goes to the bottom of the staircase to the bedrooms and also the small front foyer and dining room and the other entry/exit goes into the kitchen and if you kept going, into the family room.

The pellet stove works wonderful with delivering heat to the living room. Of course, I'm struggling with a way to get that heat into the family room (which has one entry/exit door). I've put an oscillating fan at the living room entry/exit to the kitchen, pointing towards the family room (on a small table to bring it up higher) and that seems to help somewhat. I've done spot checks and if I have the pellet stove thermostat set at 72, I can get the living room up to that temp (obviously), the kitchen is about 67-68 and the family room is not getting above 61. I tried the fan thing to see if it will move the air around but I'm not sure that's the ultimate solution. I've also researched the small box fans that are for the tops of doorways and those might work for us.

I'm writing this to see if anyone else has this type of stove in a colonial-style house and what they've done to help move the hot air from one end of the house to the other. I'm sure I'm leaving out some detail that may help you help us *L*, please feel free to ask away. I'm liking the pellet stove idea, just need to configure it to best work for us. The TV is in the family room and I'd like to try to get that room above 61.

Thank you.

Hey buddy, Listen I have a colonial home Astoria bay pellet stove in living room with 4bdrms upstairs and 2 full baths. I have doorway fan at end of hall back bed room then one in front hall for master bedroom I use 2 doorway fans in living room to push out heat into lower hallway which upper staircase is located. In other words use the fans where ever possible I get my up stair around 70degrees and the same for downstairs all the rooms !! Play with your stove use oven therometer to measure heat output mine is blowing out almost 300degrees.
Goodluck,

Anthony

Hey buddy, Listen I have a colonial home Astoria bay pellet stove in living room with 4bdrms upstairs and 2 full baths. I have doorway fan at end of hall back bed room then one in front hall for master bedroom I use 2 doorway fans in living room to push out heat into lower hallway which upper staircase is located. In other words use the fans where ever possible I get my up stair around 70degrees and the same for downstairs all the rooms !! Play with your stove use oven therometer to measure heat output mine is blowing out almost 300degrees.
Goodluck,

Anthony

Racerx009 · Jan 8, 2009

sweetsncheese said:
We just had a Quadra Fire Mount Vernon AE pellet stove insert installed in our colonial house earlier this week. To give you an idea of the style of our house we have a living room on one end and a family room on the other. The house is about 2,100 sq, ft. The pellet insert is installed in the living room fireplace and the family room is above our garage and has a fireplace that is not currently being used. The kitchen and dining room are in the middle of the first floor. There are two entries/exits from the living room (that has the pellet insert) - one goes to the bottom of the staircase to the bedrooms and also the small front foyer and dining room and the other entry/exit goes into the kitchen and if you kept going, into the family room.

The pellet stove works wonderful with delivering heat to the living room. Of course, I'm struggling with a way to get that heat into the family room (which has one entry/exit door). I've put an oscillating fan at the living room entry/exit to the kitchen, pointing towards the family room (on a small table to bring it up higher) and that seems to help somewhat. I've done spot checks and if I have the pellet stove thermostat set at 72, I can get the living room up to that temp (obviously), the kitchen is about 67-68 and the family room is not getting above 61. I tried the fan thing to see if it will move the air around but I'm not sure that's the ultimate solution. I've also researched the small box fans that are for the tops of doorways and those might work for us.

I'm writing this to see if anyone else has this type of stove in a colonial-style house and what they've done to help move the hot air from one end of the house to the other. I'm sure I'm leaving out some detail that may help you help us *L*, please feel free to ask away. I'm liking the pellet stove idea, just need to configure it to best work for us. The TV is in the family room and I'd like to try to get that room above 61.

Thank you.

Hey buddy, Listen I have a colonial home Astoria bay pellet stove in living room with 4bdrms upstairs and 2 full baths. I have doorway fan at end of hall back bed room then one in front hall for master bedroom I use 2 doorway fans in living room to push out heat into lower hallway which upper staircase is located. In other words use the fans where ever possible I get my up stair around 70degrees and the same for downstairs all the rooms !! Play with your stove use oven therometer to measure heat output mine is blowing out almost 300degrees.
Goodluck,

Anthony

Garry P · Jan 8, 2009

sweetsncheese said:
GarryP said:

I don't think you will ever be able to heat your house to an even 70 - 72 degrees. In order to raise the temp in your family room to 70, you are going to have to heat the living room to more than 72. On my first floor there is a 4 degree difference between the stove room and the room farthest from the stove, and the upstairs has a 5-8 degree difference depending on outside temps. If I want my upstairs to be 70 then I definitely will need the stove room to be in the high 70s.

You are trying to move heat a long way without it cooling off and it just won't happen. Imagine a forced hot air furnace, the air coming directly out of the furnace is a lot warmer than when it reaches the vents in the rest of the house. I think it is the same for your stove, you say you got the heat to move, but the stove wouldn't keep up, then I say you need to turn the stove up.

Click to expand...

I understand I need to get the stove room hotter than the others and I also understand there will be temperature differentials in the different rooms. This is where the stove failed me yesterday. I will try to clarify better.

If I put a fan in the upper part of the doorway to blow heat from the stove room, the stove room itself can not maintain the set temperature. If the house starts out at 60 degrees and I set the stove thermostat to 70, I can't get the stove room above 64 degrees. If I turn the fan off, the heat will build up in the stove room and eventually it reaches the set temperature. Turn on the fan and again the heat in the stove room drops to 64 degrees. That tells me I am able to move the heat, but my heat source (stove) isn't able to meet the demand.

You're correct, I need to turn the stove up. So, how do I do that? I would think when the thermometer reads 64 and the thermostat is set for 70 it would call for max heat. How do I turn it up more than that? Setting it for 80 or 90 shouldn't be any different than setting it to 70 when the stove room is 64, right? I am hearing options of changing the fuel settings to trick the stove into generating more heat. Is this common? How about turning the flame height above manufactures recommendations? Again, is this common? How do I "turn it up"?

Perhaps I'm causing this problem by letting my house cool down? I'm not home during the day so in the past the automatic thermostat on my oil furnace dropped the temperature from 70 degrees to 60 degrees while I was away then brought it back from 60 to 70 an hour before I returned. Is this temperature recovery too much for the pellet stove? Do people turn them down while they're away then up when they return or is this too much heat demand for a stove? Is 10 degrees too much? Is there a more efficient temperature differential to use between away and home? If so, how much lead time should I allow the stove before I come home to a warm home? I'm sure I could use the oil furnace to warm the house quickly then have the pellet stove take over at that point (assuming I figure out how to "turn it up" enough to maintain a temperature).

Thanks for all the help so far. I am hopeful that I will soon join the rest of you as happy stove owners and operators. Perhaps then I'll have this experience to share with other stressed newbies as they charge down this unknown path like myself.

Hmm, those are some good questions. I do the same as Doocrew and run my stove 24/7 so I can't speak to the 10 degree increase. My stove room never gets below 72 or so, so hopefully someone who does the same as you will pipe in with their experience. Also like Doocrew I don't use a thermostat. If I am not getting enough heat to other parts of the house I just crank the stove up a notch or two. I don't really know how the thermostates work, but I don't think they increase the feed rate of fuel to overcome larger temperature drops, I think they ar simply an on/off type thing. I don't think setting the thermostat at 90 degrees will do anything more than make it run longer before it would kick off, it doesn't change the settings to make it burn hotter. But again I have to clarify with the fact that I don't have one so I am not really sure how they work.

NHenergy · Jan 8, 2009

You are pushing your insert to its limits. Its an expensive space heater, not a replacement for your central heating system. It is for supplemental purposes.

NHenergy · Jan 8, 2009

sweetsncheese said:
We just had a Quadra Fire Mount Vernon AE pellet stove insert installed in our colonial house earlier this week. To give you an idea of the style of our house we have a living room on one end and a family room on the other. The house is about 2,100 sq, ft. The pellet insert is installed in the living room fireplace and the family room is above our garage and has a fireplace that is not currently being used. The kitchen and dining room are in the middle of the first floor. There are two entries/exits from the living room (that has the pellet insert) - one goes to the bottom of the staircase to the bedrooms and also the small front foyer and dining room and the other entry/exit goes into the kitchen and if you kept going, into the family room.

The pellet stove works wonderful with delivering heat to the living room. Of course, I'm struggling with a way to get that heat into the family room (which has one entry/exit door). I've put an oscillating fan at the living room entry/exit to the kitchen, pointing towards the family room (on a small table to bring it up higher) and that seems to help somewhat. I've done spot checks and if I have the pellet stove thermostat set at 72, I can get the living room up to that temp (obviously), the kitchen is about 67-68 and the family room is not getting above 61. I tried the fan thing to see if it will move the air around but I'm not sure that's the ultimate solution. I've also researched the small box fans that are for the tops of doorways and those might work for us.

I'm writing this to see if anyone else has this type of stove in a colonial-style house and what they've done to help move the hot air from one end of the house to the other. I'm sure I'm leaving out some detail that may help you help us *L*, please feel free to ask away. I'm liking the pellet stove idea, just need to configure it to best work for us. The TV is in the family room and I'd like to try to get that room above 61.

Thank you.

Try looking into a Santa Fe for the famliy room if you like the Mt Vernon. Like 2700 installed and i have 3 in stock. Sorry, sold my pellet allotment for the year though!

pennichuck · Jan 8, 2009

a big part of your problem is letting the temp go down...its takes a long time for the pellet stove to catch up...i let my temp go down about 10 degrees at night but in the morning i turn the stove to high and run the oil until the temp gets to 70 then i can turn the oil thermostat down to 62 and also turn the stove down and it will maintain 70 easily. ive saved a ton of pellets this way and im not burning much oil at all. trying to bring the heat up that much wastes a huge amount of pellets

it took a couple of months of playing around to find out what works best for my house but i would recommend trying something similar.

mcmanus · Jan 8, 2009

pennichuck said:
a big part of your problem is letting the temp go down...its takes a long time for the pellet stove to catch up...i let my temp go down about 10 degrees at night but in the morning i turn the stove to high and run the oil until the temp gets to 70 then i can turn the oil thermostat down to 62 and also turn the stove down and it will maintain 70 easily. ive saved a ton of pellets this way and im not burning much oil at all. trying to bring the heat up that much wastes a huge amount of pellets

it took a couple of months of playing around to find out what works best for my house but i would recommend trying something similar.

I also observe the fact that it is much slower to bridge a 10 degree gap with the pellet stove than the oil burner - but that makes sense because the max capacity of the stove is 40-60k btu and the max capacity of the furnace is probably 100-120k btu.

But I don't agree that using the pellet stove to do it wastes a huge amount of pellets. It may use them, but it doesn't waste them - that heat goes into your house as normal. it is just replacing a proportionally large amount of oil. the oil burner running flat out to bridge that gap is using a large amount too - there is no free lunch.

Setting back the temp at night does save fuel even after bringing the temp up in the morning thanks to newton's law of cooling. It doesn't matter the kind of fuel.

Pellet stove - colonial house - newbie

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