Hello All, Don't have one but I want one.

[shtrdave]

Hello,

Some background first.

I live in a concrete block building that used to be a garage with 14 foot ceilings and concrete floor, I bought it because I could not find a house that could be made wheelchair accessible, for when my mother got out of the nursing home, I bought this 40foot x 60 foot garage and turned about 1000 square feet into a nice apartment, with an 18x26 kitchen living room, a 9x14 bedroom a 9x14 bathroom and a 14 x 18 bedroom. the floor is 2x4 studs and is insulated some, most of the place is carpeted except for the kitchen area. Ceilings are under 8 foot and the walls were studded out with 2x6 and insulated, outside of the block building has some insulation and vinyl siding.

Air to Air heat pump does the AC and they put the toaster in for heat, and it doesn't make that much heat and with PA deregulating electricity prices last year they have gone up over 35%.
I was thinking pellet stove last year and some of my customers said they thought I would be good with a Propane Gas log type heater, I was fortunate to find a friend's mother that wanted to get rid of hers for 350.00 and he helped me run the gas line, well it works well and all and is maintenance free, but is far from cost efficient still running around 200.00 electric bill plus 175.00 or so for the gas a month.

So I am back looking for pellet stove info.

Went to a local guy that sells Breckwell and St Croix he recommended Breckwell, after telling him where I wanted to put it, in a space in front of a window that has a 23" counter on the left and 49" away is the corner of the TV stand, so I have 49" to work with he wanted to sell me a Big E but at 25" wide and 12" per side clearance recommendation that is right at the limit, I looked at the P24FS which only needs 3" per side it was 2700.00 compared to 1900.00 for the Big E but to me the piece of mind with the extra clearance is worth it. then I start reading posts on here for the last couple days and they don't seem to have such a good following here. I also found a dealer that is close that sells Kozi http://www.kozistoves.com/Model100.php it only need 5" per side.

How critical are the side clearance numbers?

Does anyone have any other recommendations?

I looked at the Harmon, Qudrafire, Lopi, Enviro, websites but didn't see anything with much less than 10" per side. Also found this Nu-Tec that seemed to have good reviews by the people that cared to post a review at one of the sites i was at. http://www.nutec-castings.com/Upland_207_Pellet_Stove.html

Thank you for reading my long drawn out post and greatly appreciate any advice.

BTW I like cooler temps 65 - 68 and I turn it down some when I go to bed, but when my Girlfriend is here she is always cold so I have to kick it up a few notches.

 

[DexterDay]

If your looking for a good stove and on the cheap. Look at the refurb stoves by AMFM Energy (Englander stoves) or the Heatilator brand.

The Refurb Englanders come with full factory warrantys and can be had from $1,000-$1,900(maybe less) depending on model and the Heatilators are basically Quadrafires in a cheaper chassis. Same internal parts. Just a different way of heat exchange. They can be had for about $1,700 (average) some are more, some less.....

I wouldnt personally buy a new Breckwell. Nothing against them....

Check the clearances for those models. All of there manuals can be found online. The Heatilator, I suggest the CAB-50 or PS-50. And Englander (any will do) but the 10-CPM, 25-EP, or 25-PAH are the new top feed generation models.

 

[mfglickman]

Your house sounds interesting - I wouldn't have thought to build out a garage. But it sounds cozy, and I'm jealous of your insulation.

If you're only heating 1000 SF and you have a fairly open room flow you've got a lot of options. Are there stoves that you like the "look" of more than others? Some are pretty utilitarian, some more classic/stove styles and some ultra slick modern looking ones.

Whatever you choose, I'd be respectful of the clearances. Usually a heat shield will reduce the required clearances if you come up short in one direction.

Good luck and welcome!

Mary

 

[GrahamInVa]

Welcome!

Here is the link to AMFM Energy Referb stoves. Many here have purchased from him and speak nothing but kind words.

I have a Englander 25-EP and love it. Englander's warranty is top notch too.

They cater to us DIY'ers.

http://www.amfmenergy.com/55trp10--epa-certified-pellet-stove--1555101501.html

http://www.englanderstoves.com/

Heating 1000 Sqft should be easy with even with the smallest englander. You should be able to find one for less than $1000.

Also, if you can post some pictures of the area to want to put the stove it will help us visualize it better and be able to answer your questions.

 

[imacman]

I wouldnt personally buy a new Breckwell.....

Ditto. I wouldn't touch a Breckwell....too much cheapening of their product in the last few years to save manufacturing costs.

And unfortunately, I've been seeing a LOT of issues with St. Croix stuff on the forum this year too.

 

[gymrat0663]

The Bosca Spirit 500 has 3" clearances on the sides and back when doing a corner installation. You can access the manual online if you want to check things out.

 

[jrsdws]

AMFM Engery is selling a couple of smaller units in their eBay store now...starting bids $675 with less than a day left and no bidders thus far. These are brand new "factory seconds" with a scratch or dent here and there. Hard to beat!

 

[Don2222]

Hello

Even though you may only need 3" clearance on the side, I like to have enough room on each side so I can open the side panels for servicing. These stoves need service and the less times I have to disconnect the exhaust and OAK to do some maintenance the better!! So I do not like to put them in corners.

Even in my shed, I like to have room on each side! See pics

 

[Don2222]

Hello

If you want to save some bucks, try CraigsList for wood pellet stoves in your area.

Like this
http://pittsburgh.craigslist.org/hsh/2847691017.html

Pellet Stove Search
http://pittsburgh.craigslist.org/search/?areaID=33&subAreaID;=&query=pellet+stove&catAbb=sss

 

[shtrdave]

Going to stop by here this weekend,
http://wessenergy.com/index.html

I am told that they give you the first ton with the purchase, and offer discounts on future pellet buys as well as give preference should supplies be short.

I will try to get a pic or two up tonight.

thank you for the info so far.

 

[John97]

I got my stove for mostly the same reasons you are looking - the increase in electric rates here in PA as well as the fact that we were never "warm" in this house with the heat pumps.

Best of luck with your search. I'm heating almost 3x the space with pellets that you're dealing with, so you shouldn't have much problem at all.

 

[movemaine]

Going to stop by here this weekend,
http://wessenergy.com/index.html

I am told that they give you the first ton with the purchase, and offer discounts on future pellet buys as well as give preference should supplies be short.

I will try to get a pic or two up tonight.

thank you for the info so far.

I can't recommend the Harman enough. It burns any pellet I throw at it without issue, it heats really well, and it is often recommended for first time pellet stove owners (like me) because of those reasons.

Also, I would look at getting a stove that is rated for more square footage than you have. It seems there are several owners on here that struggle with smaller stoves that are rated for the same square footage they have (longer to get up to temp, etc.). I would buy the next size up, so that you can heat the space easily.

 

[fmsm]

Going to stop by here this weekend,
http://wessenergy.com/index.html

I am told that they give you the first ton with the purchase, and offer discounts on future pellet buys as well as give preference should supplies be short.

I will try to get a pic or two up tonight.

thank you for the info so far.

I can't recommend the Harman enough. It burns any pellet I throw at it without issue, it heats really well, and it is often recommended for first time pellet stove owners (like me) because of those reasons.

Also, I would look at getting a stove that is rated for more square footage than you have. It seems there are several owners on here that struggle with smaller stoves that are rated for the same square footage they have (longer to get up to temp, etc.). I would buy the next size up, so that you can heat the space easily.

Be careful buying the next size up. My Harman P35i doesn't burn hot enough because of the mild winter we are having. When the temperature is below 25 degrees it is a true champion! Warmer than 25, it has a small flame (keeps the house at the same 73 degrees) and the glass clouds up real quick. I think you need enough btu's but want want the stove to work just a little. FWIW I had a 25epi before my P35i and was very happy with the stoves performance and Englander's customer service. A few glitches and a wife that did not want to perform the daily routine required by that stove necessitated my getting a Harman.

 

[movemaine]

Going to stop by here this weekend,
http://wessenergy.com/index.html

I am told that they give you the first ton with the purchase, and offer discounts on future pellet buys as well as give preference should supplies be short.

I will try to get a pic or two up tonight.

thank you for the info so far.

I can't recommend the Harman enough. It burns any pellet I throw at it without issue, it heats really well, and it is often recommended for first time pellet stove owners (like me) because of those reasons.

Also, I would look at getting a stove that is rated for more square footage than you have. It seems there are several owners on here that struggle with smaller stoves that are rated for the same square footage they have (longer to get up to temp, etc.). I would buy the next size up, so that you can heat the space easily.

Be careful buying the next size up. My Harman P35i doesn't burn hot enough because of the mild winter we are having. When the temperature is below 25 degrees it is a true champion! Warmer than 25, it has a small flame (keeps the house at the same 73 degrees) and the glass clouds up real quick. I think you need enough btu's but want want the stove to work just a little. FWIW I had a 25epi before my P35i and was very happy with the stoves performance and Englander's customer service. A few glitches and a wife that did not want to perform the daily routine required by that stove necessitated my getting a Harman.

This doesn't make sense to me. You can set it on stove temp or set the temp higher for auto for a higher temp (I keep my stove on stove temp, and on warm days turn it to low) to keep it burning. Because if it's "not burning hot enough" that's something you can control....

 

[shtrdave]

Okay lets try this picture thing.

I don't think this is going to work well.

Worked better than I thought.

The picture on the left is of the propane stove that I currently am using, you can see the counter on the left and the tv stand on the right, there is 49 inches between the 2 items.

The picture on the right is above the stove sorry it didn't go to the ceiling, the window is 47 inches from the floor and is 30 wide x 36 high and there is 7.5 inches to the drop ceiling .

Looking over the Harmon offerings the P38 looks like it is my best bet but I would need the sides, I am not sure how much that will add to the 22 inch width but my clearance would come down to 10" per side.

I am looking for a good product, it doesn't have to be the cheapest, quality and ease of cleaning and use is more important.

Anyone have any experience with the Kozi line I provided a link to above?