Newbie with insert questions...

[m159267]

Our 5 year old house has a small, main floor (Great Room) pre-fab Majestic fireplace. Great Room is 16' x 24' vaulted. I use the fireplace in the Spring & Fall when temps are around 32F or above. It's too inefficient when the temp is any colder. I have access to a lot of wood (we live on 18 acres) and I would like to supplement our Geothermal heat during our coldest months - December and January, with a wood stove/high eff. fireplace. I've been told the only insert that would fit is the Buck Model 18 Non-Catalytic Wood Stove -- 27,000 BTU. Heats up to 1200 square feet. Another option included removing the existing fireplace and replacing it with a BIS Tradition - 55,000 BTU - Heats 1,000 to 1,500 Square feet. Are there other options? Here are some general questions I have:
> Pros and cons of using outside air for combustion - BIS has it - Buck does not.
> 27,000 BTU vs 55,000 BTU. Will the smaller assist in heating? Could the larger 'overheat' the furnace thermostat causing the ends of the house to get too cold. If so how do folks solve this problem?
> When folks heat their 'entire home' with a stove / fireplace - how is the heat distributed? This has always puzzled me. All I see in my case is the Great Room being heated nicely. I will always have the furnace fan running but I'm not sure how much that really helps.

Great forum
Thanks in advance...

 

[Don Ed]

Hello Newbie in Missouri,

I'm not too far behind you in terms of time with an insert. I can't speak too much your specific question but I can vouch for the Buck stoves. I have a Buck 21 and I love it. We have a split ranch home with a masonary fireplace in the front room upstairs. We installed the insert ourselves last year (search under W0XDL or Buck Model 21 on this site for some install photos and info) and we are excited to start our first full year buring wood.

I'm in Missouri too and I can provide info on where we purchased our insert if you want. Best of luck -

Don Ed
Independence, MO

 

[karl]

How big is your house?

I have a 17'x31' foot room with 9 ' ceilings and two double door size opens to the rest of the house. I have a Summit insert in it and I don't get roasted out of the room. It maxes out at 97,000 btus and is rated at 45,000 or so over an 8 hour one load burn. I'd go with BIS Tradition or a big a** insert. The Bis sure is beautiful though.

I use a couple of column fans in the hallway. The bedrooms stay a bit cold. I like it that way. The rest of the house is shorts weather year 'round.

 

[Latah11]

I am a first-time Newbie, too. I don't know where to post my question, so will post it here and perhaps be directed to the proper forum.

We have a Whitfield pellet stove, bought new in 2004. No real problems until this last year. The stove would be burning, then go in to shut down mode (fans ramping up, pellets cease to feed, etc.), then when fire was nearly out, it would start feeding pellets again and start up again. It doesn't seem to be able to shut down by itself, but when I turn the thermostat down or off, it does what it's supposed to.....shuts down and fire goes out. If I don't touch the thermostat and let it try to shut down by itself....it tries, but keeps starting up again and frequently a lot of smoke gathers in the chamber, then all of a sudden POOF, the fire ignites, sending a big puff of smoke into the room.

Since I can avoid all of this by manually turning down the thermostat, I am of the thinking the thermostat is faulty....sending bad messages to the stove. What do you think?

 

[begreen]

Welcome Latah. This belongs in the Pellet forum. One question I have is how often has this stove been totally cleaned?

 

[Latah11]

The pellet stove is thoroughly cleaned at least twice a year....really cleaned! We have been extremely careful to keep the vent pipe cleaned as well as the rest of the things that need cleaning. The interior of the burn chamber is cleaned about once a week, when the ash accumulates enough to warrant cleaning. The "eye" is cleaned at this time, too, and has never been dirty to speak of. Once in awhile it will have a slight film on it which is easily brushed away with a long handled paint brush.

 

[Latah11]

I've moved my post to the Pellet Stove forum.....thanks for the suggestion!