Just wondering . I'm testing a electricity free gravity fed 'decorative' stove I built a few months ago. I'll call it decorative, since it's kinda unique and a bit more pleasing to me than the other gravity fed stoves I've seen. I've got about $500 in the whole thing, to include the 16' of DuraVent.
Tested it outside for a week or so to make sure it wouldn't 'back up'...flame into the feeder box. When that worked, I tested it some more. Full open draft', low draft...trying to see if it was even worth the time to put it in the house. Worked each time except when the pellets would bridge and not feed. That's been remedied now. Time to move it indoors.
House is 1300ish sf on the split top level. It includes the upper split (kit/lr/dr), and a lower split (2 baths, 3 beds) and a 600ish basement (laundry, storage, 'armory'). Figured I'd try it upstairs first.
I put it into my living room. WAY too hot for the living/dining/kitchen area (upper split level). That impressed me, because we keep the back door open so the cats can access the cat door in the storm door 24/7. (Unless we're cleaning, that back door stays open for the cats). Upstairs temps would stay in the high 70's and low 80's unless the window was cracked. But....it barely touched the bedrooms (3' lower than the living room) or the basement (12'+ lower) temperature wise, even with the return air vents fully open. I proved to myself it was safe enough and worked fine indoors, and outside of a hole in the roof and living room ceiling, I wasn't out anything. If it'll heat that area, it will do fine in the basement and might heat a bit more than 3 rooms.
Moved it to the basement. After figuring out the piping arrangements, getting the holes drilled (fresh air and 3" pellet vent), and everything installed, we fired it up. It works well, with just a few adjustments on the burn chamber, it spends all day at about 450-500F stack temp. Certain pellets need bigger slots, some need smaller. All seem to work, just some work better than others.
The entire house now stays at about 72-73, with very limited assistance from the heat pump. Fan circulates the air nicely, and the stairs to the basement show a good air mix, with very little stratification of the heat. It's warm everywhere, not just in the basement.
Anyway, we'll continue to test, evaluate and refine this one. Once I'm happy with this thing, I have a bigger one on the drawing board. I have other designs in mind, but this one will work for now.
(Oh, and I'll never paint another one white again.....I just wanted to check flame spread, and the discoloration proved it worked just fine)
Tested it outside for a week or so to make sure it wouldn't 'back up'...flame into the feeder box. When that worked, I tested it some more. Full open draft', low draft...trying to see if it was even worth the time to put it in the house. Worked each time except when the pellets would bridge and not feed. That's been remedied now. Time to move it indoors.
House is 1300ish sf on the split top level. It includes the upper split (kit/lr/dr), and a lower split (2 baths, 3 beds) and a 600ish basement (laundry, storage, 'armory'). Figured I'd try it upstairs first.
I put it into my living room. WAY too hot for the living/dining/kitchen area (upper split level). That impressed me, because we keep the back door open so the cats can access the cat door in the storm door 24/7. (Unless we're cleaning, that back door stays open for the cats). Upstairs temps would stay in the high 70's and low 80's unless the window was cracked. But....it barely touched the bedrooms (3' lower than the living room) or the basement (12'+ lower) temperature wise, even with the return air vents fully open. I proved to myself it was safe enough and worked fine indoors, and outside of a hole in the roof and living room ceiling, I wasn't out anything. If it'll heat that area, it will do fine in the basement and might heat a bit more than 3 rooms.
Moved it to the basement. After figuring out the piping arrangements, getting the holes drilled (fresh air and 3" pellet vent), and everything installed, we fired it up. It works well, with just a few adjustments on the burn chamber, it spends all day at about 450-500F stack temp. Certain pellets need bigger slots, some need smaller. All seem to work, just some work better than others.
The entire house now stays at about 72-73, with very limited assistance from the heat pump. Fan circulates the air nicely, and the stairs to the basement show a good air mix, with very little stratification of the heat. It's warm everywhere, not just in the basement.
Anyway, we'll continue to test, evaluate and refine this one. Once I'm happy with this thing, I have a bigger one on the drawing board. I have other designs in mind, but this one will work for now.
(Oh, and I'll never paint another one white again.....I just wanted to check flame spread, and the discoloration proved it worked just fine)
)
