Anyone here use more than one pellet stove?

[Estarrio]

Hello all,

I have a 2500 square foot split level home in Mass. I currently have a free standing Enviro EF3 burning about 4.5 tons a season. I supplement with oil heat when the temp drops.

My lower level remains in the mid 70's throughout the winter. Upstairs can vary to 58-61 degrees in the back bedrooms during the coldest nights. I'm fine with this temp but I have two children under the age of two. I set the oil heat to supplement the heat up to 64-65 in the remote areas of the home.

I have a fireplace on the upper level and I'm considering adding a pellet stove insert to elminate the need to use any oil or compromise comfort. I'm thinking that I could possibly get away with the same 4 to 5 tons of pellets, as I won't need to keep the lower level as hot. The lower level is partially underground and could go without any heat in the fall and spring. We tend to get it too hot when it is very cold in order to spread heat to the rest of the house. I'm hoping to run it on low, while making up the difference upstairs.

This is my third year burning pellets. Before I make an additional investment (current incentives certainly help), I'm curious if anyone else runs two stoves and what sort of performance/ROI they are experiencing. I'm also concerned about putting all of my heating eggs in one basket. For that reason, I'm contemplating a wood stove insert. I grew up in a home that was heated entirely by wood and I realize that it would be far more maintenance.

I appreciate the feedback!

 

[rickwa]

i am heating with 2 stoves P38 in 1600 sq ft basement and upstairs Lancaster in 1600 sq ft ranch modular home. maybe geta multifuel for upstair to broaden options

 

[rottiman]

1900 sq ft bungalow style, pellet stove on one end and pellet insert on the other end. Just approaching the 4 ton mark.

 

[tjnamtiw]

I have a Quad Castile in one end of my 2800 sq house and a Quad Sante Fe in the living room. Both are inserts. The Castile is kind of isolated from the rest of the house so I put a small circulating fan in the wall near the ceiling to blow some of the heat into the rest of the house. The Sante Fe heats the rest of the house. The second story is just off of the living room so the heat goes up and keeps it about 3-5 degrees cooler. It's 18 here in Georgia right now for the second day in a row! I keep the stoves on High and let them cycle. I don't like the amount of air they blow on lower heat settings. I'll probably use about 2 1/2 tons but it really depends on our crazy weather. You never know if it's going to be 15 or 60 down here.

 

[dobie daddy]

yep. 1st thread
https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/42520/

 

[HopeItBurns]

:coolsmile:Used to have my Whitfield Advantage II-T in family room but put a Breckwell P23I in place of it heating a 1650 sq ft ranch style house so now just use the Whitfield to heat an insulated attached garage when I have something important to do out there. Boy its been mighty cold here in Michigan and there is nothing like a pellet stove keeping you warm.:coolsmile: but to actually have two stoves running in a house at one time, is that cost effective, you would have to do the math...

 

[tinkabranc]

Have a Harman XXV which is installed in my office/basement. I work remotely
so it must be warm in my office all day for me to function properly. ;-)
It usually keeps the first floor fairly comfortable too as long as the interior doors are open
and the outside temps are above 10 °F .

Installed a Harman Advance on the first floor earlier this year. Still a bit early in the season
to predict the total pellet usage for both stoves but so far, it seems to be balancing out
because the XXV is not running as hard as before.

Heating approx 2800 sq ft.

 

[gahzoo]

I have a raised ranch(1600 sq ft fairly open floor plan) Harman p 61a downstairs and a Harman Accentra insert upstairs. I replaced my gas fireplace insert with Harman Accentra insert this fall. So far I love it much warmer upstairs and more even heat. Downstairs no longer has to be 82 degrees(now comfortable 72). These stoves are my only heat source and I expect to be around 6- 6 1/2 tons this year. Last year was just under 5 tons. Other than the initial expense of the stove I think it will be less expensive.

 

[krooser]

Just remember that you'll need to keep any hot water lines from the boiler from freezing if you stop using oil... assuming you have a hot water system.

 

[dpzimmy]

I have 4 england's stove works multifuel pellet stoves heating 7000 square ft. 3 floor house. One stove in basement- two on the main floor and one upstairs. I put these in after buying this house with heat pumps. Heat pumps are great till you reach freezing point then they are totally worthless and electric back-up is EXPENSIVE. My family farms so corn was a handy option untill it hit $8 a little over a yeaqr ago. Now I cannot bring myself to burn those little pieces of gold for fear prices will go back up. This winter I have used all wood pellets instead of a mixture of corn/wood pellet. Wood seems to work fine with minimal cleaning, and i will have to say that I favor softwood pellets. Anyway the wood burning fireplaces were already in the house so with removal of the fireboxes the pellet stoves slipped right into their place and used the existing stack. Thinking about doing geothermal heat pumps this spring after the normal rainy season.

 

[rickwa]

Welcome DPZIMMY. Keeping 4 stoves fueled, running and clean must be a full time job! How many bags a day do you go through?