LOOKING FOR A STOVE

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DOUG58

Member
Apr 12, 2011
7
SOUTHEASTERN PA
Hey guys I'm new to the forum but I've been looking for a pellet stove on craigslist and a friend directed me to this websight. What a great sight theres lots of info and seemingly alot of people willing to help out I have a 2500 square foot house on three levels and right now I have a heat pump more like a money pump!! if you know what I mean I was wondering what size stove I would need and it seems some stoves have an ash pan and some dont it seems it would be a mess to clean one without the ash pan can anybody give their opinion on this thanks
 
Welcome to the site. You should specify insert or free standing. Check out the Harman line, the P-68 is a real workhorse and easy to maintain.
 
Defiant said:
Welcome to the site. You should specify insert or free standing. Check out the Harman line, the P-68 is a real workhorse and easy to maintain.

yea, I posted a p68, but thats all I said....I think there mus be some kind of minimum characters or the message isnt post......I agree with Defiant!
 
Lousyweather said:
Defiant said:
Welcome to the site. You should specify insert or free standing. Check out the Harman line, the P-68 is a real workhorse and easy to maintain.

yea, I posted a p68, but thats all I said....I think there mus be some kind of minimum characters or the message isnt post......I agree with Defiant!

LW, The OP has 2 threads and you posted in the other one.

https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/74073/

I see your P68 post in the other. :)
 
Thats a lot of house to heat with a space heater. If you are really looking to heat the whole place to an even level. I'd look into a pellet/multifuel furnace.
 
j-takeman said:
Thats a lot of house to heat with a space heater. If you are really looking to heat the whole place to an even level. I'd look into a pellet/multifuel furnace.

^^^..X2..^^^ What he said.. 3 levels. Hard to get heat to that many places without using current HVAC. A Bio-Mass Furnace will tie right in-line with your existing furnace. A little more money, but most are self cleaning without shutting down at all. The Harman PF-100, St. Criox Revolution, Fahrenheit Endurance, and there are a few others. But these would be a great place to start. I have the Endurance. Got a good deal. If I was buying new, I would like to have had the St. Criox Revolution. Has a "Clinker Cutter" in the pot. Great design. Doesn't matter if you go freestanding or furnace. Your gonna need many BTU's.. So to buy a Harman P-68 or the Harman PF-100, your gonna need a high budget line. These things are not cheap. The PL venting can be expensive depending on where and how your venting. Good luck and keep us updated.

There are 2 threads for this.. Hope he still gets messages and reads both of them..
 
The only free standing stove I have direct experience with is the new SBI Euromax. At 70K Btus it will "make" enough heat to heat 2500 sq feet. It's also a bottom feed which has proven to be very trouble free. The issue as mentioned is moving that air around. The fact that your on 3 levels should help. If you install the stove on the lower level, convection will help you heat that footage easier than if it was 2500 ft all in one sprawling level. I've been testing the stove in my showroom. Only issue thus far has been a rattling in the sheetmetal that goes away when I slap it. According to SBI they have that resolved now. The other complaint I have is the glass didnt stay too clean. Aside from that, the stove was a real workhorse this winter. 130 lb hopper was a pleasure also. At a $4,000 retail I feel its a good value. I know there are some Enerzone dealers in PA. The one I'm familiar with is ...err, the Tall Pines Farms, but he is up north of ya a little

Of course, the best move would be a biomass furnace.

For a big pellet stove, with a hearth, vent kit, install, you could be looking at 5-6K. A typical furnace install with one of our Pinnacle furnaces we do locally, maybe 8-9K total..so for not much more of an investment you get whole house heating comfort and you'll save more each year on your heating bill than you would with just a space heater.
 
Pellet stoves by their very nature are a "SPACE HEATER" an d can't be expected to heat an entire house.

This said I have set my place up with 3 stoves.
One fairly large one in the family room that can do the entire job when its moderately cold.
I have a small one in the living room that can do the entire job when the outdoor temps are 50-55F
There is one large Quadrafire automatic in the living room that we use as a backup if we need to leave for more than a day.

We use the stoves by themselves or in combination to get a nice even heat without being roasted or being cold.

Craigs list is a great spot to shop.

Many used Pellet stoves have been used little and others have been run to death.

Looking at the prospective score is the only way to really tell what condition they are in.

You can fire a pellet stove up outdoors and try it for function before buying it.

If the overall condition of the cabinet is good, then open the back/sides and have a look into the innards to see if it is fairly clean (been kept up)

Look at the fire brick backing in the fire box to see if it is badly erroded for use.

Plugging thr stove in and pressing the start button will/should activate the blowers and such.


Make sure the exhaust blower runs and the room air fan blows.

See that the auger feeds pellets and that there are no nasty noises coming from the beast.

The two Whitfields we have cost $200 each (craigs list) and needed nothing more than a good cleaning before being put to work.

Again, I prefer the mulitple stove approach. This gives the best control of heat and if one stove goes on the sick list you are still in the running while you fix the sick one.


Just my 2 cents worth

Snowy
 
I agree! I own a Drolet Eco-65. Drolet are made by SBI and the Eco-65 looks alot like the Euromax. I guess they are pretty much the same stove. I have a 2400sf home on three levels and that stove suit pretty much our need. Best thing about this stove is that you can connect a plenum on top and connect it to some duct work. Since I have a central forced air heating, I could connect a duct coming out of the stove's top plenum to the cold air return of my furnace. But so far, I've installed my stove in my basement. I've reduced the hot air opening in the front and installed a 6" duct on top that lead hot air to my first floor. The hot air get to the second floor by gravity. I've managed that setup early in march and it heats the whole house pretty well at level 2 (out of 6). I'm curious about what comfort it will provide in our cold East Canadian winter next year in january and february.

For your information, that stove retailed for 2500$ and I've paid 1900$ for mine, brand new. And it's true that the only down side with that stove is the glass doesn't stay clean :-( ...and also that it weights a ton or two. We also called it our pellet dryer because we didn't really use our dryer since we have the stove!


Franks said:
The only free standing stove I have direct experience with is the new SBI Euromax. At 70K Btus it will "make" enough heat to heat 2500 sq feet. It's also a bottom feed which has proven to be very trouble free. The issue as mentioned is moving that air around. The fact that your on 3 levels should help. If you install the stove on the lower level, convection will help you heat that footage easier than if it was 2500 ft all in one sprawling level. I've been testing the stove in my showroom. Only issue thus far has been a rattling in the sheetmetal that goes away when I slap it. According to SBI they have that resolved now. The other complaint I have is the glass didnt stay too clean. Aside from that, the stove was a real workhorse this winter. 130 lb hopper was a pleasure also. At a $4,000 retail I feel its a good value. I know there are some Enerzone dealers in PA. The one I'm familiar with is ...err, the Tall Pines Farms, but he is up north of ya a little.
 
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