Question on Pellet Furnace

[rjrds]

I have read that with pellet stoves, when you lose power, they can smoke because the fan stops going. How about a pellet furnace, do they have this same issue? I've read how people get around their pellet stove from having issues by having a battery backup or generator, etc. But I'm more concerned if I'm away from the home for a day or so, and the power were to go out, I wouldn't want the home to fill with smoke. But I haven't heard if the pellet furnace exhibits the same behavior or if their is a workaround?

Secondly, I'm in the design stage of planning for a new home. It will be a single story ranch (approx 2,000 sq ft on main level), with a full basement. I'm considering a pellet furnace, but obviously still am learning about them. I really wanted to get away from the dependency on oil as my primary fuel for heat. I'm considering either radiant only, or a combination of radiant with baseboard. I'd like to have a backup heat source, and really am not interested in a wood stove. I'm not sure it would make sense to have a pellet stove as a backup to a pellet furnace? Does anyone have any experience with a pellet furnace as a primary whole house heat source? Any reasons why I would not want to go this route?

lastly, do they make pellet furnaces that can also burn other types of fuel (corn,etc)??

appreciate any input, advice, comments, etc

 

[Delta-T]

if you have some rise on the venting, and do not open the combustion chamber door after a power loss, smoke should be minimal. Are you actually looking for a boiler? You said, radiant, and possibly some baseboard...so I think hot water, and then boiler, not furnace. I know, sorta splitting hairs, just want to be on the same page. I know a good number of people using pellet furnaces and boilers as primary heat, no reason you can't too.

Some pellet furnaces and boilers are build to run at least some combination of pellets and/or corn/grass pellets/various biomass pellets. Avalablility of any of those other fuels may be questionable in your area.

 

[rjrds]

I guess I'm confused as to whether I need a furnace, boiler, or both? I thought a furnace could be used to heat as well as provide hot water? If I went with hyrdonic radiant, hot water baseboard, or both, are you saying I'd need 2 different systems? Sorry for my ignorance, I'm HVAC is not my thing. I'm just trying to come up with some options to make the best choice possible with my new home. This is my best opportunity to get it right before the house is built.

so it sounds like worrying about smoke if my power went out using a pellet heating source is not a concern I should have?

 

[Delta-T]

i think smoke should be very low on your list of concerns. If you are talking forced hot air system, usually its a furnace, if its water, usually a boiler. You can make hot air with a boiler, but not so good to make hot water from hot air...so I think boiler is what you want to look at. Same basic principle on the combustion side as a furncae, just with water in it. I think you are only looking at 1 unit, just a boiler.

 

[rjrds]

Thank you for the clarification. Yes, it sounds as though a boiler is what I am looking for. I am not interested in forced hot air.

I'm unclear as to the maintenance of these pellet boilers. I've seen that they need to be cleaned. What happens during the heating season, do I have to shut the thing off and wait for it to cool down to clean it? That may be a dealbreaker if it has to go cold, as I live in the Northeast and winters get pretty cold. Plus if I have radiant heat, it will take that much longer to come back up to temperature in the house.

 

[Delta-T]

I cannot speak to ALL pellet boilers, but they do need cleaning, you usually do have to shut them down to do it, but depending on the unit, you're looking at 20-30 minutes of down time every few weeks or so. You beat that by kranking the heat up a few degrees before-hand, and by the time you've cleaned and re-fired, you're still in comfy cozy land. No worries.

 

[Delta-T]

as an aside, if you have a traditional oil/LP/NG boiler installed along with a pellet boiler, you just click that unit on when you clean, or go on vacation, what have you.

 

[sinnian]

With the proper rise, which you will have with a pellet boiler installation you won't have to worry about back flow or down draft.

Your insurance company will require you to have an oil/propane boiler for back up, so when you're cleaning the boiler the back up will automatically kick in, ie. no heat loss in the house.

If you have ANY questions at all shoot me a PM, or better yet click on the link in my signature for the PB150 Pellet Boiler and give Mark a call.

 

[FyreBug]

+1 on all the comment with having enough vertical. As a rule of thumb, never terminate your venting on horizontal even if you have enough vertical inside the house. Go at least 4 Ft vertical outside, more is better.

If you are considering furnace vs. boiler the Caddy Alterna ( http://www.psg-distribution.com/product.aspx?CategoId=28&Id=542&Page=description ) is a pellet warm air furnace that also has an optional water pre-heater loop. This is not a boiler but it will pre-heat you hot water tank as well as heat your house.

 

[Chain]

If you have natural gas in your area, I'd go with a very efficient natural gas hot water boiler. It could heat your radiant floor loops which I'd place in your basement level and first floor. Then, as back up and secondary heat, put a nice pellet stove capable of heating at least 2,000 square feet in your living room. Like a Harman p61 or P68. Also, since you're building new, use the newer flexible tubing for all your plumbing needs. Thereby ensuring you'll probably never have frozen pipes if you should lose power. Or, if you can swing it, invest in a standby automatic generator that will also run on the Natural gas you already have coming into the home. Again, since you're building new, try and roll all these extra costs into your initial building costs. One other thing, consider solid poured concrete walls the entire height of your first floor up to your roof trusses, insulated panels, rafters, etc...Go with the foam blocks to do this. They're a bit pricey, but the quicker build time, increased R-value, and strength will more than make up for the upfront costs. All this may be out of your budget, but at least crunch the numbers and see what you come up with. You might discover the concrete option is actually cheaper than a typical wood structure. And your lender may be more apt to support your application given the efficiency this type of build provides.

 

[sinnian]

Not much NG available in Maine, and not very affordable ~ which stinks because it flows from Canada through Maine to get to the rest of you.

 

[Chain]

That does suck. You could just build a very efficient high R value home like I suggested and simply put two nice pellet stoves in each floor. Or consider the ducted pellet stoves that some manufactures now make. Of course part of that high R value home includes good windows. Or maybe one pellet stove on the main floor and a nice geo-thermal unit for secondary heat and all your AC needs. I think two pellet stoves would be a good consideration. I assume pellets are affordable and plentiful in Maine?

 

[Delta-T]

Not much NG available in Maine, and not very affordable ~ which stinks because it flows from Canada through Maine to get to the rest of you.

if its close by, maybe you "help yourself"...a little garden hose...a little duct tape...

is joke people, dont do that....but if you do...call me.