Need help, looking to get a pellet stove..

[leff13]

I saw your earlier post including the PDF, and I'm surprised the builder put the stairway door in the kitchen. I was expecting it in the living room, giving you much more usable space in the kitchen. But I like your setup, I'm a fan of smaller living spaces and everyone needs a place to start out (and end in, although those stairs wouldn't work for me).

I like your stove location between the windows (watch the vent code distances). Stove blower will move air toward kitchen door, and big room will be toasty. Kitchens usually heat themselves from cooking . I would cut a 1sqft vent opening in the wall separating the living room and the stairwell. Put it high on the wall so it is not blocked by the open stair well door. You could add a fan into this opening to help move the heated living room air up the stairs. If you are really krafty you can control this fan with a linevoltage thermostat mounted in the upstairs hallway, between the bedrooms.

I would forego the registers in the ceiling feeding any bedrooms. It permits too much noise and compromises privacy, it also is a safety issue because smoke could easily pass into a sleeping area. Don't forget to add interconnected smoke and CO2 alarms in the living room and upstairs hallway, so you are woken before anything can get out of control.

Lastly, and the original reason for your post, your space does not call for a large stove 50-60 Kbtu. You can pick up a 35-45 unit and run it manual at low to medium all day long. That's about 1.5 to 2.5 lb/hr pellet feed rate, or a continuous heat output of about 9K to 15Kbtu. Anything more and you won't be able to sit in your living room.

If you do a quick calc on the amount of BTU's your oil boiler presently moves into your home (140 kbtu/gallon times about 0.8 efficency times the number of gallons over the number of days). You can look at your summer usage to approximate the DHW portion, and subtract that out. I think you'll find that a space heater running at 9-15kbtu/hr will significantly cut your oil usage. And your GF will be much happier in a warm home (I know of which I speak , they are all the same on that issue).

Good luck.

i have been tirelessly looking and researching on the best stoves, how to heat the upstairs, etc. im gonna scrap the idea of the vents even tho i know it would work best, but i dont plan on living here forever so it will save me the expense of trying to sell it with those vents installed, i plan to cut a 6 by 10 register that has a fan built into it because i have an outlet right under where the partition wall goes into the staircase, i plan to put it as high as possible to help the air move up the stairway, i also intend on mounting some sort of fan at the bottom of the top stairway to blow air back down and to get more hot air essentially up the staircase hopefully helping solve all my problems of worrying about heating the upstairs rooms, think this plan will work? i feel more comfortable cutting a register through a wall rather than 2 in each room for a hot air and return like my original plan was.

 

[CaptSpiff]

i have been tirelessly looking and researching on the best stoves, how to heat the upstairs, etc. im gonna scrap the idea of the vents even tho i know it would work best, but i dont plan on living here forever so it will save me the expense of trying to sell it with those vents installed, i plan to cut a 6 by 10 register that has a fan built into it because i have an outlet right under where the partition wall goes into the staircase, i plan to put it as high as possible to help the air move up the stairway, i also intend on mounting some sort of fan at the bottom of the top stairway to blow air back down and to get more hot air essentially up the staircase hopefully helping solve all my problems of worrying about heating the upstairs rooms, think this plan will work? i feel more comfortable cutting a register through a wall rather than 2 in each room for a hot air and return like my original plan was.

I can't picture where your 6x10 powered register will be mounted. I would avoid installing any floor/ceiling registers. I would also avoid installing a powered wall register/vent from the Kitchen to the Stairwell for two reasons: first I don't like kitchen smells going up to the upstairs, second I don't like breeze blowing at me sideways every time I walk the stairs.

If you are installing it in the wall between the Living room and stairwell, then I'm with you. That would take the warmest air near the livingroom ceiling and power it into the stairwell. It would also be the easiest to undo with a bit of sheetrock repair.

The heated air will rise in the stairwell, and if you have an open ceiling design where the stairway & upper hallway have a common ceiling the upstairs airspace will warm nicely. If you have a doorframe at the top of the stairs, the warm air will tend to pool at the top of the stairs ceiling.

Remember, as almost every poster has suggested, that this stove is a space heater or point source. Every design use will be a compromise over a Boiler or Furnace. Stick with one of those if you need perfectly distributed heat. Get the Stove if you're looking to offset your oil heating cost, but know and accept that your heat distribution will be a little compromised.

Good luck

 

[leff13]

I can't picture where your 6x10 powered register will be mounted. I would avoid installing any floor/ceiling registers. I would also avoid installing a powered wall register/vent from the Kitchen to the Stairwell for two reasons: first I don't like kitchen smells going up to the upstairs, second I don't like breeze blowing at me sideways every time I walk the stairs.

If you are installing it in the wall between the Living room and stairwell, then I'm with you. That would take the warmest air near the livingroom ceiling and power it into the stairwell. It would also be the easiest to undo with a bit of sheetrock repair.

The heated air will rise in the stairwell, and if you have an open ceiling design where the stairway & upper hallway have a common ceiling the upstairs airspace will warm nicely. If you have a doorframe at the top of the stairs, the warm air will tend to pool at the top of the stairs ceiling.

Remember, as almost every poster has suggested, that this stove is a space heater or point source. Every design use will be a compromise over a Boiler or Furnace. Stick with one of those if you need perfectly distributed heat. Get the Stove if you're looking to offset your oil heating cost, but know and accept that your heat distribution will be a little compromised.

Good luck

yes the register fan will be cut in the living room where the stove will be blowing right up the stairway...

 

[CaptSpiff]

Last followup: Here's a site I had in one of my folders. It has an example of room-to-room air transfer with an option of wireless thermostat or wireless wall switch. This will let you locate the t-stat upstairs between the bedroom doors.

http://tjernlund.com/retail/aireshare.htm

Keep the group posted on your outcomes. We all learn from others.

 

[tjnamtiw]

Remember, as almost every poster has suggested, that this stove is a space heater or point source. Every design use will be a compromise over a Boiler or Furnace. Stick with one of those if you need perfectly distributed heat. Get the Stove if you're looking to offset your oil heating cost, but know and accept that your heat distribution will be a little compromised.

Good luck

All the more reason, since he lives in Pennsylvania, to get a coal FURNACE, which will greatly INCREASE his btu's per hour and REDUCE his costs below his future pellet costs.
http://leisurelinestoves.com/boiler-and-furnace-products.html

http://www.keystoker.com/products.php#waf

 

[chken]

Last followup: Here's a site I had in one of my folders. It has an example of room-to-room air transfer with an option of wireless thermostat or wireless wall switch. This will let you locate the t-stat upstairs between the bedroom doors.

http://tjernlund.com/retail/aireshare.htm

Keep the group posted on your outcomes. We all learn from others.

I like those specs on the fans, low watts, 25, low noise, 1.1 to 1.4 sones. 75 cfm should be enough to normalize temps over time. Pricey though!

 

[tjnamtiw]

Don't lose sight of the fact that his full bathroom and rec room are in the basement, which he is NOT including in his 'stove heated' square footage. He intends to heat that area with electric baseboard, which will be very expensive to do. Granted a stove would not be suitable down there to heat all the floors, which is why CaptSpiff and I would opt for a furnace that would heat ALL floors evenly.

 

[leff13]

i'm figuring the electric baseboard should up my electric bill 50 bucks as i run 2 space heaters now around the clock when were home to help offset the oil. i have a programmable thermostat for the basement as well, i also thought about just keeping my oil burner to heat my water and have a zone in the basement