Got a free pellet stove - Is it worth the trouble of installing it?

[tjnamtiw]

Nice gift you were given. Englanders are nice stoves and very easy to work on by yourself. You'll feel the difference and the ease of feeding it. Total different animal then a wood stove. Just remember never ever use a home vacuum or shop vac to clean it out. There are special vacuums for this purpose. If you use a home vac or shop vac you will have one heck of a mess to clean up.

OR if you suck up any embers, a REAL mess to clean up called a burned down house! A lot of people here do use shop vacs with drywall filters. If YOU do, make sure you keep the vac outside for a few hours just in case. It's not likely you will suck up embers, but.....................

 

[CTmedic]

I have a Englander 25-PVD that I just installed in my basement. I have an 1200sq ft ranch house and I must say that even with an un insulated basement I have been pretty impressed with the heat lift to the main living area. The stove is installed at one end of the basement right under the 3 bedrooms, and a small fan at the bottom of the basement stairs facing the stove. I have it drawing cold air from upstairs and let the radiant heat raise up through my open basement door. I have a ceiling fan in the kitchen that is going in rev on low speed and honestly its keeping my entire house an average of 66 degrees at coldest so far 35 outside temp. I have the stove on 2 heat and 9 blower. I am averaging about 1 bag of pellets in a 24 hour period.

Every home is different and I am sure my basement walls suck some heat, however I am very happy with how its heating so far.

 

[shas595]

Hey all, great advice! Love this forum already.

Here are some updates to clear things up. My basement is split, and the room for the stove is insulated, other half is not, but its closed off. The room I want to warm is at the top of the basement stairs so I cant imagine it wont take the edge off. I do not expect to be rid of oil heat 100%. I will shut off my system except for the top floor, which will be set at about 63 or so as we never really use it. My goal for this was to make it easier on the wife (the woodstove was small and constantly had to be filled. We have 3 kids from 1-6yo and 10 min to add wood to the stove is not easy to come by). I am doing it more to give the wife one less chore. I really think it will work well in out situation. It never gets below 5F where I live with the wind chill. Maybe I am naive, but when I had the woodstove cranking it was never really that warm in the basement unless you were close, and for the 20 min I had the pellet stove cranking on low on the porch, it got real hot in front of those vents, I could feel it 10ft away. So we will see what happens. Its definitely a start, and I hope to upgrade in a few years. If I leave it on the hottest output while maintaining a good burn, I can but 4 tons of pellets and still be cheaper than what I spend on oil. I hope it works, and thanks again for all your input!

 

[tjnamtiw]

The insulated basement area, expected room to heat at top of steps, a brood of kids to manage, and the expectation to still use some oil all reverse my previous post. Go for the basement! With the kids, too, it makes sense to get any source of possible burns away from them.