New owner of a Harman P43 Pellet Stove

I just had this pellet stove installed last week. I did some research on the stove that was recommended, and purchased from a well known, and what appears to be, a reputable dealer. I have thought about a pellet stove for 2 years as oil prices are so rediculous that it brings tears to my eyes when I hear the beep beep beep of the oil truck backing in. In my last house I had an old (probably 70's?) woodstove that had been left there from the previous owners and that's all I used for heat. Due to the cost of a chimney and the mess of wood, I thought a pellet stove was an option. I was clear with the salesman that the only room I had for it was in an area of the basement which is unfinished, and asked if it would still heat the whole house. I have a small ranch, 1,000 sf, which is in the shape of an L with a one car garage under. The stove is away from the garage along about the middle of the back wall, which is right under my kitchen (other than where the garage is, the basement is below grade). I was told it shouldn't be a problem, and that a lot of people have their stoves in the basement. A site visit was conducted a week before the install, and again, no comments from the two guys that came out that this would not be a good idea. They took their measurements, and told me they would have to vent the pipe through the cement (not enough room to go through the wood where the floor joists are), but that this was pretty standard. The pipe goes up (about 5ft) and then out, 18" above grade. I was so excited when my new stove came, and when the first fire was lit. The salesman and the installers were very thorough about how to clean and care for my new stove, and I read through the manual just to make sure I didn't miss anything. Well imagine my disappointment as I sit here listening to my furnace kick on even though my stove is cranked up to 85 degrees and my thermostat for my furnace is set at 60 (not to mention going through 2 bags of pellets a day). I have yet to see an upstairs temp of over 63 degrees when running just the stove. And that's if it's during the day and the sun is shining. Granted it's cold, but it's only Dec. While I don't need it to be like grannys house, 68 would be nice. After plugging in some different key words than what I originally searched on this sight prior to my purchase, I found some of the negative posts about basement installs. It seems to be a very debateable topic. In any event, I have to do my best to deal with it, since with the stove, piping, installation, 2 tons of pellets & tax I'm in for $4k. And please, please, please don't say 'you should have known better', this will just be rubbing salt in to an already gaping wound. Science was never my strong suit, so I relied on the 'experts' to give me the facts. I am starting to shop around for an insulated garage door, as I know I am losing heat with the old wooden door I have. The heat is very concentrated to the direct area where the stove is. It blows at a partition wall with a finished room on the other side, and I've cut 2 heating vents in that wall (just wallboard, and the door of the stairwell to that room is always kept open). This helped a tiny bit. In the manual, it talks about a low draft voltage adjustment, which I am going to call the salesman on since a draft meter is needed (and in my opinion should have been done upon installing). Not sure how much impact this has if not set correctly. Before I start cutting holes all over my house, what other suggestions might the real experts have? I want to know what I'm in for, but break it to me gently Sorry to go on and on, but this has been quite a letdown.

First of all, thanks to all for the quick replies! I started experimenting with fans as you suggest, so will see what that brings me (I did try running my attic fan a couple of days ago, but it was hard to say if it was doing more harm than good). I put one right in front of the stove blowing at the vents I put in the wall for the downstairs room, and one at the bottom of the stairs blowing up. I think I am going to put in a couple of floor grates as well. I have hardwood floors, but my house was built in '62, so we're not talking pristine here. On that note, I will say that the stove appears to be running just fine, so it is my guess that my house is more at fault than the stove. I have lived here for 10 years, and as I've tackled the usual array of home improvement projects, let's just say the builder was probably not a very good one. My basement is unfinished, but for one 12x12 room, and not insulated. The footprint is the same downstairs as up, 1000 sf each floor. I did put in replacement windows upstairs a couple years back, and that made a difference. My long term plan is to make better use of my basement space (and now I have more incentive). I really want to have a basement system put in as it does get very damp if I don't constantly run a dehumidifier in the summer months. From what I read, a thermaldry wall system not only helps with moisture problems, but would also reflect 90% of the heat from the basement back in to the basement, so perhaps that would solve two problems. Though it's a hefty investment, it's better than throwing my money out the window. In the meantime, to get by for now, I will look at insulating where my floor joists meet the foundation. I appreciate the suggestions, and I will hopefully be able to report some progress. I will say that the first few days I went through a bag of pellets every 8 hours. After playing around with different room/stove temp settings and feed rates, I at least have that down to one bag every 12 hours. Speaking of which, I better go check it

Thanks, and keep the advice coming. While I can appreciate that the stove would work better in the main living area (hind sight is always 20/20, is it not?), I still really don't have a place to put it, nor would I really want to deal with the fine dust from it. Oh, and did I mention the asbestos siding? I would rather invest the money to do what I need to do in the basement to better hold and distribute the heat. And yes, obviously these people were more interested in selling a stove, than having a happy customer. I guess I bought in to the idea that technology has made great strides over the years, so why wouldn't I be able to heat my house with this top of the line stove? Although I knew that the output was not the equivalent of a wood stove, I was expecting it to be adequate. And it's only 1000 sf, compared to 1700 sf (not counting the basement sf on either) that I heated with an old jalopy of a wood stove. The fans I set up earlier today are helping a little, so that gives me hope (thank you!). I don't give up easily, so I'm determined to find a way. After all, I really only need to bump the temp up about 7 or 8 degrees. I am measuring the temp downstairs and a couple feet off to the side of the stove the temp is measuring in at 80 degrees with the stove cranked on max setting (stove temp) and fan on high. I am finding that the stove seems to throw off more heat on the max stove temp setting, than room temp setting. I was really hesitant to crank it at the max, but surprisingly, it doesn't seem to be swallowing up the pellets any faster. And for the first time it actually felt like I was getting a little sunburn when I scraped the burn pot. That brought joy to my heart.