Observations from a newbie

[pweeden]

Hi All,

New pellet stove guy here, finally got one this summer after talking about it for five years. Its a Kozi KSH-120, bought used from a local dealer. I did the install myself (with a lot of help from lurking on this forum) in a standard 1,200 sf ranch house, in the unfinished basement (yes, I read all the threads advising not to do this) and finally started running it this week. Some observations:

Vent pipe - Despite using high-temp silicone sealant on the inside and outside of my vent joints, I still had smoke at startup. It always went away as soon as I had a good fire but the general leaking concerned me. I put my CO detector right next to the stove for several hours and it never registered a thing, so I kept it running for a couple days just to see what happened. After about the third startup, the smoke problem seemed to have largely gone away. Does the sealant need to get "cooked-in" before it is fully effective or something? BTW, I used Selkirk Metalbestos 3". Out to a clean-out-T, up six feet, 90 degree to horizontal, two feet to termination. 15' EVL.

Getting heat upstairs - Yep, all you guys who said that heat wouldn't just “find its way upstairs” were right. However, its not impossible. Either a fan at the top of the basement stairs or running the forced air furnace blower fan at intervals seems to help a lot. Keep in mind that I'm used to a cold house. We rarely set the thermostat above 65, even in the dead of a Wisconsin winter. With temps in the upper 30s at night, I'm holding 68 in the house. We'll see what January brings.

Pellet usage - “Figure a bag a day” is what everybody told me, and I bought accordingly. So far, I'm using about 1.2 bags per day. Cold weather will require more. I have 2.5 tons in the basement but will obviously need more. Still coming out ahead of LP though, and I don't have to pay those crooked bastards this year. I paid on average $200/ton for a mix of Marth and Dejno's pellets.

CO is nasty stuff - While checking my vent outside on the first run, I leaned over the termination cap to see if any ash was blowing out behind, and got full breath of that stuff. It about knocked me on my butt! Be careful and get a CO detector!

Thanks to everybody on this forum. It is a wonderful resource.

 

[kinsmanstoves]

Not bag for a Piglett. Keep working to Pellet Pig status.

Eric

 

[krooser]

You'll use MORE hardwood pellets than softwood pellets simply because there are fewer hardwood pellets required to make a full bag. I found I'd use over one bag of Marth hardwood last year and slightly under one bag per day when I switched to Uncle Jed's or another softwood pellet.

The silicone AND the zinc plating on the vent pipe will naturally give off fumes until seasoned.

 

[smaxell1]

Hi All,

New pellet stove guy here, finally got one this summer after talking about it for five years. Its a Kozi KSH-120, bought used from a local dealer. I did the install myself (with a lot of help from lurking on this forum) in a standard 1,200 sf ranch house, in the unfinished basement (yes, I read all the threads advising not to do this) and finally started running it this week. Some observations:

Vent pipe - Despite using high-temp silicone sealant on the inside and outside of my vent joints, I still had smoke at startup. It always went away as soon as I had a good fire but the general leaking concerned me. I put my CO detector right next to the stove for several hours and it never registered a thing, so I kept it running for a couple days just to see what happened. After about the third startup, the smoke problem seemed to have largely gone away. Does the sealant need to get "cooked-in" before it is fully effective or something? BTW, I used Selkirk Metalbestos 3". Out to a clean-out-T, up six feet, 90 degree to horizontal, two feet to termination. 15' EVL.

Getting heat upstairs - Yep, all you guys who said that heat wouldn't just “find its way upstairs” were right. However, its not impossible. Either a fan at the top of the basement stairs or running the forced air furnace blower fan at intervals seems to help a lot. Keep in mind that I'm used to a cold house. We rarely set the thermostat above 65, even in the dead of a Wisconsin winter. With temps in the upper 30s at night, I'm holding 68 in the house. We'll see what January brings.

Pellet usage - “Figure a bag a day” is what everybody told me, and I bought accordingly. So far, I'm using about 1.2 bags per day. Cold weather will require more. I have 2.5 tons in the basement but will obviously need more. Still coming out ahead of LP though, and I don't have to pay those crooked bastards this year. I paid on average $200/ton for a mix of Marth and Dejno's pellets.

CO is nasty stuff - While checking my vent outside on the first run, I leaned over the termination cap to see if any ash was blowing out behind, and got full breath of that stuff. It about knocked me on my butt! Be careful and get a CO detector!

Thanks to everybody on this forum. It is a wonderful resource.

The CO did not not about knock you on your butt. CO is odorless, much the same a natural gas. The smell of natural gas is added after the fact to alert people to leaks.

Yeah, fans are a definite necessity. Home Depot sells a thru wall fan that you can put about anywhere in your house. I am thinking of trying this over the door in my laundry room and bathroom on the first floor. (I have to keep these doors closed because I have two pain in the butt miniature pinschers that love to eat laundry and towels)

I heated a home almost this size with a 23,000 btu kerosene heater and well-placed fans for almost two years. The insulation was better in that house, but fans made a huge difference. Those fans that fit in the door corner also work well.

---scott

 

[Panhandler]

Actually. natural gas is oderless. A chemical called mercaptan is added to natural gas for safety reasons so you know when there is a leak.

 

[chrisasst]

I am glad to see someone else has the same brand / type of stove as me. Some advice for you after using my stove for 2 years now is RUN I guess the stove is ok. The only brand of pellets I can get to put any heat out with my stove is empire pellets. Last year on the highest setting, I used about 2 1/2 bags a day. Even on the 2nd heat setting I am using about 1 to 1 1/2 bags per day. Hopefully your house is better insulated than mine. I can't for the likes of me get heat up stairs (2nd floor) I am glad I did not install it in my basement.
anyway hope you have better luck than I am having.

 

[pweeden]

I am glad to see someone else has the same brand / type of stove as me. Some advice for you after using my stove for 2 years now is RUN I guess the stove is ok. The only brand of pellets I can get to put any heat out with my stove is empire pellets. Last year on the highest setting, I used about 2 1/2 bags a day. Even on the 2nd heat setting I am using about 1 to 1 1/2 bags per day. Hopefully your house is better insulated than mine. I can't for the likes of me get heat up stairs (2nd floor) I am glad I did not install it in my basement.
anyway hope you have better luck than I am having.

I noticed too that not many people here have the Kozi. Have you had any problems with yours? The dealer I bought mine from used it in his shop last season for a couple months and claims (of course) they're bullet-proof.

I've had my heat setting on 3 all week and thats where it eats around 1 1/2 bags a day of hardwood. After today, I'll switch to softwood for a week and see what happens.

The CO did not not about knock you on your butt. CO is odorless, much the same a natural gas. The smell of natural gas is added after the fact to alert people to leaks.

I should have called it the exhaust gas, but whatever it was, it was not pleasant to breathe.

Yeah, fans are a definite necessity. Home Depot sells a thru wall fan that you can put about anywhere in your house. I am thinking of trying this over the door in my laundry room and bathroom on the first floor.

I was hoping not to have to use a bunch of fans all winter just to keep the electric bill down, but its looking like there is no way around it for now. I have one running now and may need a second.