New Pellet Stove Recommendation

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discosuperfly

Member
Nov 9, 2013
2
King of Prussia, PA
Hello forum members. I was hoping I could get some recommendations on the purchase of a new pellet stove. I have no experience with them and only know what I have read on the internet.

I have a 2000 sq. feet bi-level home that was built around 1968. It's of a pretty common variety in the Southeastern PA area with the central foyer/ six up six down staircase. The house is entirely above ground, on a slab, with no basement. The downstairs is generally cold and damp. I have electric baseboard heat, with individual units controlled in each room. We pretty much live upstairs. I only heat the rooms I use upstairs on timers and the downstairs rooms are left at 60 degrees, except when we go down there. Doing that, it is still really expensive to heat and the house is generally cold in many areas. I'm getting tired of the situation, and I am looking for solutions.

I looked at stoves as at a local Harman/Quadra-fire dealer. For some reason, I like the Harman stoves. My idea was to put a stove in the downstairs family room, which opens to the foyer/stairwell, and generate as much heat as I can for the entire house. I can always supplement with electric, but I would like to find a solution where I could use one stove to heat as much as possible. How realistic is this idea? I am unsure of what size stove I would need for this effort. The dealer recommended a 43,000 BTU stove, and I am thinking more like 61,000 BTUs (maybe a Harman P61a). Am I even on the right track? What do you think I can accomplish with one stove?
 
My house is newer construction and smaller, however is similar in layout..on slab with open stairwell..mine is L shaped instead of side by side...Our stove is on the lower level and heat easily rises to the upstairs because of the open stairwell...A pellet stove is perfect for us and our Quad rated at 32,000 BTU heats the house running on medium, 'cept for a few days when it is really cold ( below 0 F) ..our avg winter temp is mid 20s to low 30s.
 
The problem will likely be balancing the temps throuhout the house due to air flow more than total BTU output. Our stove is rated for 52,460 per hour but the total output is used only when heating up the room from fairly cold. If we tried to heat the whole house to say 68 in winter the room where the stove is at would be well over 80. It's great for the first floor (most of it) but upstairs is stillcool (which we like). I added a second smaller one in basement office and betwwen them we haven't used our heat pump yet this year.

They're much better than a wood stove but still a space heater. Likely best to talk to the dealer and balance BTU output with price and other factors. A larger stove may actually be quieter due to less need to run on high as often, though, as I think about it.

If near Chester county feel free to Msg me direct for feedback on a couple of dealers.
 
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