Newbie seeking help

[perrch01]

Hi guys- just found your forum so I apologize if I ask things that have been covered 127 times.

I live in Maryland, on the peninsula, close to the water so we typically don't get too cold in the winters but spend a fair amount of time between high twenties and low thirties.

I have a 111 year old house, 3 stories, with two separate heating systems. First floor has a brand new hvac unit, not sure of the tonnage, second and third floor have a separate unit, again no clue as to tonnage.

We are looking at pellet stoves for our first floor, as this is where the majority of our propane consumption comes from. We have been in this house for 3 years and are averaging around $5,000-6,300 a winter in propane.

The first floor is probably in the neighborhood of 1400-1500 square feet, plaster and lathe walls with not much in the way of insulation, and big single pane windows everywhere.

When we went to our local stove shop they took me immediately to the Harmon P68 and the Quadrafire Mt. Vernon

Do we need something this big to heat one floor with five rooms? (Three of these rooms including the room where the stove would go, are open and the two that are not open have multiple doorways and fans with winter settings)

Another downside is there is a staircase in the front of the house that cannot be shut off, and a stairway in the back of the house that can be shut off. The heat tends to flow readily upstairs as we keep that thermostat set at 60 and never have an issue.

Either way our house hasn't been warmer than 64 for three years and I have already spent more on propane than I spent on my first four cars.

HELP! Please!

 

[Delta-T]

with what you describe, I would also have pointed you to the bigger units.....you may think you're heating 1500, but your house is basically 1 system (unless you can really close sections off). YOu cant lose with the big units...if you only want them to do a lil work you turn it down....any BTUs you pump into your house with pellets is a BTU you aren't asking from the LP...you win no matter what.

 

[Xena]

Question that many here are going to ask you so
I may as well do it.
Have you not thought about replacement windows
and insulation? Your cash is probably going to
be better spent on those things before buying
a pricey stove. Otherwise you're essentially paying
to heat your home a little bit and the outside a
whole lot.

 

[dbjordan]

Don't waste your money on a pellet stove right now. You need to invest in insulating the house. You say that you 1st floor hvac unit is new. If that is the case, it should be fairly efficient. I would imagine that if you just invested in a pellet stove your going to be burning lots of pellets and propane to get the heat you want.

 

[slls]

I agree, they can put insulation in the walls from the outside.

 

[perrch01]

We are in the process of replacing windows, so far we have about 45 left to go. What kind of cost would we be talking to do insulation of a three story house? Roughly 3600 square feet

 

[dac122]

My first instinct was what others have said: all heating systems, including pellet stoves, have a limited lifespan, may not have a payback, but tightening the thermal envelope will pay you back eventually and last virtually forever.