Pellet Stove as a Space Heater for 600 Sq Ft

[thephotohound]

I have a finished basement that's approx. 900 SF. It consists of 2 - 11x11 bedrooms, a bathroom, and a 20x22 family room. I've got an Enviro EF2 pellet stove that came with the house. It is rated at 34,000 BTU. We have since moved the stove from where it was (upstairs, replaced with Woodstock Keystone) and are planning to put it downstairs on an outside corner wall (not perfect, I know, but the most logical as far as room flow goes).

My question is this: I realize that I probably won't reach the bedrooms (opposite side of the house), but as for the family room, bathroom, and hallway (closest, totalling 600 SF), how effective should this unit be at heating that space from 60 to 68 in a reasonable amount of time? (say within 15 min). It says it can heat 900-1500 SF, but how long does that take to go up 8-10 degrees?Am I nuts to think that I can warm it up in that amount of time, or does that seem reasonable?

 

[begreen]

I'm guessing it would be pretty effective. The catch is the 8-10 degree rise. There are several variables, but I suspect it will take a lot longer, maybe an hour if it's cold outside?

 

[stoveguy2esw]

the thing to remember with pellet stoves is, they are not a "heat now!" type heater. their stock in trade is that they provide steady heat over a long duration. i suspect that it would do very well heating the space you are describing , but dont be dismayed if it doesnt jump the room temps by 8 to 10 degrees in the first half hour. if this is a strong requirement gas would be your best bet probably and it is more "heat now" oriented. but a quality pellet unit can be run on a low "idle" setting probably as cheap or cheaper than gas i would think.

 

[GVA]

the thing to remember with pellet stoves is, they are not a "heat now!" type heater. their stock in trade is that they provide steady heat over a long duration. i suspect that it would do very well heating the space you are describing , but dont be dismayed if it doesnt jump the room temps by 8 to 10 degrees in the first half hour. if this is a strong requirement gas would be your best bet probably and it is more "heat now" oriented. but a quality pellet unit can be run on a low "idle" setting probably as cheap or cheaper than gas i would think.

I agree mike.
I still don't know why many people would want to set the stove up with setback T-Stats and or turn them off at night.
It would probably take my stove 10-15 lbs of pellets to heat the 1st floor back up to 76* when it's cold out so say from 68-76* 15lbs.
I'd say an hour or two to heat it up.
But if I leave my stove on, the stove will keep the rooms at the same temp all day all night...with the same or less pellets.

 

[stoveguy2esw]

and there you have it.... i heat my entire house with a pellet stove , it uses between 1 and 1.5 bags (40-60 lbs) per 24 hour period. but even in my virginia climate , if the wife and i are gone for a few days ,it takes a couple hours to get the house back up to temp with the stove in a "midrange" setting. nice thing about it is , to bring the house back up like that with electric baseboard (GRRRRR) it would add probably 30 bucks to my bill, with the pellet stove we just flip it on and crank it up to a midrange , and go get a burger , time we get back the house is measuably warmer and swiftly heading towards normal total cost , about 5 lbs of pellets ( less than a buck).

 

[drizler]

Its got to lower your overall heating bill. I heat my whole house with something similar, a tad more powerful 50K unit. Thats for the most part. It can be hit and miss sometimes but just by using it you will drop your overall heating bill. Get used to using the stove and see where it goes. I guarantee you will come to love your stove in spite 0f having to feel and care for it. All in all its not much to deal with when you consider its benefits. Using fans to move the heat will help you along very well. Just don't expect the same even heat as with zoned electric and such. Once you are used to it there is nothing to it. Try it you will like it.

 

[begreen]

I don't think the issue is the setback, it's heating a house in the winter to 76 degrees! We had a setback thermostat on our pellet stove, but it was set back to 62 at night, 68 day and 69 evening temp. The pellet stove would run steady for about an hour in the morning which was just about right. Nice to come out of bed and warm up in front of the stove. If it was very cold or if we wanted it warmer we'd fire up the wood stove. Pellet consumption for 2000 sq ft house was in line with what Mike reported.