New to the Pellet Family. Many questions

[Coryhale2002]

Hello,
I have decided to jump on the band wagon and buy a pellet stove.I have read many post on here to try and educate my self on different stoves. In the end I went with an Enviro M55 Cast Iron stove. I liked the looks, reviews, and best of all price. I purchased a 2011 store demo model for $1900. Seemed like a good deal considering the MSRP of $3899.
With that said, this will be going in my partially finished basement of my 2500 sq ft raised Ranch. I am hoping this will heat the whole house so I wont have to burn oil. My first question is will the heat rise up through the floors enough to heat the upper level? I do not currently have a ceiling in the lower level. It is just open joist. Do you think I will need to install vents in the upper level floors to allow a path for the heat to rise?
My next question is on the venting. I have not yet bought a kit. I will be going up from the stove about 5-6 feet and then out through the wall. While I was shopping for a stove, one store showed me a kit that incorporates the exhaust and fresh air inlet all in one pipe. This looked nice to me but I did not get a price on it. I have also looked at the Dura vent kits on Lowes Website. They are reasonably priced.Just not sure if anyone had any reccomendations on this or if I am looking to far into it?
Lastly, is a good quality pellet worth the extra money? It seems to me it would be but being new to this I have no idea. It seems like around here a ton of the best pellets is going for around $300 while places like Tractor Supply are selling theirs for $225-$250 a ton. Any help here would also be appreciated!

 

[Bioburner]

Welcome to the pellet world. Can of worms if good pellets or cheaper pellets depends on the stove and how it can handle the extra ash. I have a couple multifuel stoves and basically can eat anything but will notice some difference in heat output but not that much we would pay more for. A fancy Italian stove that needs the premium chow or it will choke and need a lot more attention. Your stove could very well heat your home but you will need to study the flow of air. I ran around with something that smokes till I found that a cheap e-cigarette with no nic fluid works great. Just blow some smoke around and watch how it moves after a fire has been going for awhile.

 

[vinny11950]

congrats on the stove and welcome.

hard to say how well the heat will travel and how comfortable it will feel. if this is your main source of heat you want to put it in your main living area - a large living space where the heat will travel to other parts of the house.

as for the vents, they may not be code legal. so go to your town building department and ask them about the codes for pellet stoves, if the location if okay, and about the vents. check with your insurance company too. you want them to cover it. its a hassle but you want the peace of mind that you are covered.

the M55 is a good stove and eats just about any pellets you throw it at, but you want to find pellet brands that don't leave your stove too dirty. regular maintenance and cleaning is very important with these stoves. search for cleaning and maintenance and you will find plenty of information on the subject.

as for the venting pipe, do a search for whatever brand you are thinking of getting. you will find plenty of the opinions on them. i had trouble with Duravent leaking smoke a little and went with ICC Excel instead. Other people have had great results with Duravent.

good luck.

 

[TimfromMA]

congrats on the stove and welcome.
<snip> if this is your main source of heat you want to put it in your main living area - a large living space where the heat will travel to other parts of the house. <snip>

+1

You want to put the stove where you and your family spends most of their time. If you spend your time equally across multiple floors then I would suggest putting the stove on the lower floor as close to the stairs as possible. Depending on the layout of your house, fans may also be beneficial in moving the warm air around.

 

[Tonyray]

fresh air vent is right under the square metal Piece.
not sure what model... was Installed with the Harman Stove...