Is Pellet stove right choice?

[tiredofelec]

I am debating on secondary heat source and have some questions...if anyone is able to help, I would greatly appreciate it.
1--Currently have electric heat and it frequently feels "cool" because of higher humidity in the house. I've heard of people saying certain types of heat are "dry" heat. It is my understanding that gas fireplaces emit more moisture...where do pellet stoves fall in there?

2--The venting systems (outside) that I have seen, have been a bit of an eyesore...are there any ways to vent with something a little better looking that a 3" pipe sticking straight out of the house?

3--Are there pellet burning "fireplaces" that can be easily vented if there is not an existing chimney?

Thanks in advance for help!

 

[mainegeek]

I am debating on secondary heat source and have some questions...if anyone is able to help, I would greatly appreciate it.
1--Currently have electric heat and it frequently feels "cool" because of higher humidity in the house. I've heard of people saying certain types of heat are "dry" heat. It is my understanding that gas fireplaces emit more moisture...where do pellet stoves fall in there?

2--The venting systems (outside) that I have seen, have been a bit of an eyesore...are there any ways to vent with something a little better looking that a 3" pipe sticking straight out of the house?

3--Are there pellet burning "fireplaces" that can be easily vented if there is not an existing chimney?

Thanks in advance for help!

1. Pellet stoves, as far as I know, is dry heat like wood burning.

2. Mine is a simple 3" vent that extends 2 feet into the exterior wall behind the stove. The exterior has a hood like a dryer vent. This is an Outside Air Kit (OAK)

3. Installers can build an independent chimney from your primary fuel source. The chimney would consist of locking metal tubing that would rise to the peak of your house.

Hope that helps

 

[CanadaClinker]

I am debating on secondary heat source and have some questions...if anyone is able to help, I would greatly appreciate it.
1--Currently have electric heat and it frequently feels "cool" because of higher humidity in the house. I've heard of people saying certain types of heat are "dry" heat. It is my understanding that gas fireplaces emit more moisture...where do pellet stoves fall in there?

2--The venting systems (outside) that I have seen, have been a bit of an eyesore...are there any ways to vent with something a little better looking that a 3" pipe sticking straight out of the house?

3--Are there pellet burning "fireplaces" that can be easily vented if there is not an existing chimney?

Thanks in advance for help!

Hey tire...... a hearty welcome to this friendly place..... welcome to the pellet world.....

.....any system that causes a air change usually dries out the home...... as the cold outside air comes into the house and expands as it warms, it puts the water molecules within that cold volume of air even farther apart thus making the air in the home drier.

....electric heat (baseboard type) usually just warms the existing air in the house and the moisture usually has no where to go unless you have bathroom fans or a kitchen range hood. Some electric heated homes can be stuffy.

If you use an OAK (outside air kit) with a pellet stove, the pellet stove shouldn't dry out the house as much as if you don't use an OAK .....

There are pellet inserts that go into a fire place opening that look pretty good and do the job nicely.... they vent either out and up or just up if there is an existing chimney......

hope that helps some....... cc

 

[ablejoy]

Tire
My stove vents out the roof with only about 2 ft above the roof showing. A friend has a pellet insert that vents out through the wall and then up the side of his house. He then boxed in the vent pipe up the wall with siding to match his house. Looks really nice like an outside chimney.

 

[packerfan]

For the money you may spend on a stove, pipes, pellets, and a hearth pad, would you be better off spending over $2000 on upgrading insulation, doors, and windows instead? Just something to think about.

 

[rowerwet]

or a fresh air exchanger (is there a better name for what I mean?)

 

[Excell]

Pellet stoves and this forum are way more fun than insulation . A dehumidifier would help if you are just trying to lower humidity . One winter I had a humidity problem it turned out that my dryer vent pipe had come off ,just something to check .

 

[tiredofelec]

Thanks everyone. I appreciate all the comments.

I am glad to hear that there are other options for venting... I am understanding correctly that using an "OAK" will cause the heat to be less dry?

As for insulation and so forth...the issue is not heat loss...it is actually the humidity. We plan to do some sort of circulation like a whole house fan in addition to the pellet stove. I am hoping that the combination will dry out the house and get the air moving.


One more question. I have no existing chimney, but would like the look of a fireplace. I have seen pellet inserts that go in existing fireplaces. Are there any fireplace inserts intended to be vented like a regular pellet stove and not use an existing chimney?

Thanks again.

 

[cac4]

why is your house so humid? most people in the northern tier have the opposite problem, in winter.
and fwiw, humidity makes it feel warmer, not cooler. Its a common energy saving "tip", to run a humidifier, because it'll make your house feel more comfortable, without turning up the heat.
Anything that blows hot air is going to tend to dry out the air. Pellet stoves blow hot air. pellet inserts are just stoves that are shaped like a fireplace, so they can fit into a fireplace opening. If you want the "look" of a fireplace, you can build an alcove to house one. Anyway, they have the same venting requirements.

If anything, I would think that NOT using an OAK would dry the house out even more, because it would be sucking the air in your house into the stove's fire, and blowing it out the chimney. That air has to be replaced by pulling cold air into the house through cracks and crevices...and that cold, outdoor, winter air is very dry. (plus, its "cold"; and you have to then pay more $$ to heat it).

 

[cncpro]

Thanks everyone. I appreciate all the comments.

I am glad to hear that there are other options for venting... I am understanding correctly that using an "OAK" will cause the heat to be less dry?

As for insulation and so forth...the issue is not heat loss...it is actually the humidity. We plan to do some sort of circulation like a whole house fan in addition to the pellet stove. I am hoping that the combination will dry out the house and get the air moving.


One more question. I have no existing chimney, but would like the look of a fireplace. I have seen pellet inserts that go in existing fireplaces. Are there any fireplace inserts intended to be vented like a regular pellet stove and not use an existing chimney?

Thanks again.

I have never heard of anybody wanting the house less humid during the winter... I have 3 small humidifiers running 24/7 in my house to help us feel more comfortable. If we don't use the humidifiers we wake up all dry and scratchy.

What am I missing here ?

EDIT: Looks like cac4 beat me to it.

 

[Highbeam]

cac4 is on the ball.

No heater dries the air. The only heaters that wet the air are ventless petroleum heaters which are not unlike running your car's engine in the living room for heat!! Lot's of steam. The idea that a heat source dries the air is from the fact that when you heat outside air it can hold much more water so the heated outside air will always be drier than the unheated air. Outside air is already pretty dry in the winter.

Your wood heater does not collect water or blow water into the air. It just adds heat(energy) to whatever air you have in the house.

What's your homes actual relative humidity level? I am now at about 30% in my home but expect to fall into the teens through winter and it goes up to about 60% in the summer. I live in the wettest place in the country too!

 

[Stentor]

I can't comment on the heat exchange and humidity issues. Here are two financial items:

1. If energy efficiency and reduced costs are the primary goals, I agree with the suggestion that maybe $2000 could greatly improve both efficiency and costs. I would suggest getting an energy audit from someone referred by your local electric utility.

2. If reduced electric use is the goal, a pellet stove will have a great impact. I've used 58% less electricity than last year and 48% less electricity than my "neighbors" (defined as 100 comparable homes closest in location). The figures are from an unsolicited "Home Energy Reprot" just received from my electric utility.

The cost calculations are affected by cost of equipment, pellet price and anticipated amortization over, say, five years. Should you go the way of pellet heat, you can get advice here from many posters in this forum.

Welcome and good luck. And please let us know what you decide.

 

[krooser]

Comfort and savings were the main considerations when I swithced from NG/forced air heat to pellets.

I have a 100+ year old home without the latest windows and insulation... there IS insulation but only R-11 in the walls. And the windows are a combination of originals and 1980's... the forced air system is a hodgepodge of old and new... the house was always cold unless the heat was cranked way up... very expensive.

I bought a used stove... not enough $$$ in the budget for a $3k plus unit. I have $1400.00 invested in my stove and vent. Maybe a less expensive stove would get you set-up and you could then try it for a couple winters without breaking the bank. There are many stoves priced under $1500.00... those made by US Stove, Breckwell and perhaps Englander. And good used stoves are all over Craig's list. Some of these may not have a 20 year lifespan but would serve you well for several years.

The Gub'ment rebate would take some of the sting out of buying new, too.

Just something to consider.

 

[tiredofelec]

Hmm...so many replies. The house is humid because it was built in the 60s when elec heat was a "new" big deal and it is very airtight, which is why I mentioned we would be installing vents in attic and whole house fan.
In reply to humidity increasing the feel of warmth. I have always heard the opposite...and personally feel warmer in dry heat. Isn't that why being in a "cold and damp" area is such a bad thing.
Thanks to whomever replied about the insert, that it can be built into an alcove and vented similarly.
I guess I'm off to find a dealer and get some estimates.

 

[CanadaClinker]

Hmm...so many replies. The house is humid because it was built in the 60s when elec heat was a "new" big deal and it is very airtight, which is why I mentioned we would be installing vents in attic and whole house fan.
In reply to humidity increasing the feel of warmth. I have always heard the opposite...and personally feel warmer in dry heat. Isn't that why being in a "cold and damp" area is such a bad thing.
Thanks to whomever replied about the insert, that it can be built into an alcove and vented similarly.
I guess I'm off to find a dealer and get some estimates.

hey again..... those 'whole house fans' used to be called 'air to air heat exchangers' and are recently called 'heat recovery ventilators = (HRV's for short).

..........those baseboard electric houses (not sure if this is what your house has) never circulated the air very well.... if you had a central electric furnace, a easy way to introduce some fresh air into the home is to put a 3 inch pipe from the outside to the cold air return duct near the furnace. A damper in that pipe is needed to adjust the amount of air allowed to come in.

Also, Kitchen and bath ceiling fans on 'timers' can control a lot of humidity from those areas.

The benefit of an HRV is that as the cold air is coming in, the warm air that is passing it (on the other side of a heat exchanger) passes a lot of its heat to the cold air attempting to 'Recover' the heat before it gets pumped outside with the moisture.

....as for roof venting, this was me in the mid 1980's installing soffet venting in our attic (very important to let fresh air into the attic via the soffet area). ......terrible job but must be done especially on older homes.

also , some good points about attic venting..... see pics below. ...... hope some of this helps ya..... cc :cheese:

.....click on pics to enlarge......

 

[rowerwet]

yeah, HRV that's what I meant. glad someone knew what it was called, if high humidity is your biggest problem they are your answer, and much cheaper.

 

[CanadaClinker]

........your probably right rowerwet... however.......I'd rather watch a nice fire in a pellet stove do it's thing than watch an HRV do it's thing...... ...but that's just me........cc ;-)

 

[tiredofelec]

humidity is the biggest problem, but i will admit, i grew up with a wood stove and miss "having a nice fire in the evening". what i don't miss is having no heat in the morning, hence the pellet stove and hopper...isn't technology wonderful?

 

[Excell]

humidity is the biggest problem, but i will admit, i grew up with a wood stove and miss "having a nice fire in the evening". what i don't miss is having no heat in the morning, hence the pellet stove and hopper...isn't technology wonderful?

Get the pellet stove .After a month you will love it . I originally got mine to save money on electricity ,now I wouldn't care if it cost more I would do it any way .
If I find another good used one I will replace my wood stove at the lake as well .