Hey all-
Hope everybody is enjoying football sunday...
Had some questions about my stove set up in the house we recently purchased. House is a log cabin, 2 story with furnished basement. About 2500 sq ft above grade. There's a fuel oil boiler/radiators that i'm trying to minimize using. Here's the breakdown:
- Basement has a Europa 75 pellet stove.
- First floor has a Merlin3 (new zealand) wood burning stove.
and here's the situation:
The europa is nice... love the pellet stove. Only problem i've been wrestling with is getting heat out of basement. Have cut two 4x12 inch vents in floor and keeping door to basement stairs open but just not getting a lot of heat out of the basement. Have tried a fan at top of stairs blowing in and out of stairwell.... debating getting some register fans for the 2 vents but getting some resistance from the wife. I think it keeps the house somewhat warm but that the positioning (in basement) and size of house may be pushing the capabilities of the stove.
The wood stove on the first floor is nice and warms house better but finding that timing and maintenance of a wood stove is a bit of a pain. My wife and I have some varied schedules for work (on call) and often house is unattended at short notice and we're having to put out wood stove fires. Also, takes about an hour to start putting out some real heat.
So, am considering some options:
1) Move europa from basement to first floor (where wood stove is). Not really worried about heating basement... fuel oil boiler kicks on for hot water so puts out enough heat to keep comfortable. Problem may run into positioning on hearth/venting given the exhaust comes off back of stove.
2) Keep europa in basement and replace wood stove in first floor with a pellet stove. Am thinking a top venting model may be the way to go.
Here's a pic of the woodburning stove on first floor. There's 6" venting into the chimney:
Anybody have opinions on options for a top-venting stove? Given the location (our dining room) and the size of the hearth, i think a top venting model will be best/easiest. From searching the threads, it looks like the Harman XXV is capable of being modified to vent vertically and use 6" stove piping. Are there any other models I should consider?
Thanks in advance for anybody still reading!
Hope everybody is enjoying football sunday...
Had some questions about my stove set up in the house we recently purchased. House is a log cabin, 2 story with furnished basement. About 2500 sq ft above grade. There's a fuel oil boiler/radiators that i'm trying to minimize using. Here's the breakdown:
- Basement has a Europa 75 pellet stove.
- First floor has a Merlin3 (new zealand) wood burning stove.
and here's the situation:
The europa is nice... love the pellet stove. Only problem i've been wrestling with is getting heat out of basement. Have cut two 4x12 inch vents in floor and keeping door to basement stairs open but just not getting a lot of heat out of the basement. Have tried a fan at top of stairs blowing in and out of stairwell.... debating getting some register fans for the 2 vents but getting some resistance from the wife. I think it keeps the house somewhat warm but that the positioning (in basement) and size of house may be pushing the capabilities of the stove.
The wood stove on the first floor is nice and warms house better but finding that timing and maintenance of a wood stove is a bit of a pain. My wife and I have some varied schedules for work (on call) and often house is unattended at short notice and we're having to put out wood stove fires. Also, takes about an hour to start putting out some real heat.
So, am considering some options:
1) Move europa from basement to first floor (where wood stove is). Not really worried about heating basement... fuel oil boiler kicks on for hot water so puts out enough heat to keep comfortable. Problem may run into positioning on hearth/venting given the exhaust comes off back of stove.
2) Keep europa in basement and replace wood stove in first floor with a pellet stove. Am thinking a top venting model may be the way to go.
Here's a pic of the woodburning stove on first floor. There's 6" venting into the chimney:
Anybody have opinions on options for a top-venting stove? Given the location (our dining room) and the size of the hearth, i think a top venting model will be best/easiest. From searching the threads, it looks like the Harman XXV is capable of being modified to vent vertically and use 6" stove piping. Are there any other models I should consider?
Thanks in advance for anybody still reading!