would anyone agree on this ?

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Tonyray

Minister of Fire
all things being equal,[house size, outside temps etc] would you agree that if heating a 2 story house from scratch[cold] and having a pellet stove of at least 45,000 btu or more on your 1st floor and a ceiling fan on low clockwise at the top of steps to 2nd floor[same size as down] to pull the heat up,, It would take at least a day or longer to fully saturate the whole house, walls, furniture with enough heat so that your pellet consumption on the next 24hrs would be less than the initial day or so warmup? or would there be no difference...[all variables aside]
or, is this just a dumb theory?
 
once the house is up to temp, it is easier for the stove to maintain it, than to deal with large swings. so yes, this is generally regarded as true. this is why you dont want to turn off your heat when you are gone during the day, but rather turn it down.
 
Well like you stated, there's a whole lot of variables. You don't say how big the space is. I have a 1200 sq ft space I'm heating with my pellet stove and I'd say that 10% of the heat makes it to the second floor via a staircase. I don't use any supplemental air circulation, aka fans. The stove helps but the heat pump on the second floor is still a necessity on cold days. I run my stove all the time trying not to let the house get cold soaked. Over the years I've found this to be the best for my situation and consumes less pellets than using a start/stop method.
 
Well like you stated, there's a whole lot of variables. You don't say how big the space is. I have a 1200 sq ft space I'm heating with my pellet stove and I'd say that 10% of the heat makes it to the second floor via a staircase. I don't use any supplemental air circulation, aka fans. The stove helps but the heat pump on the second floor is still a necessity on cold days. I run my stove all the time trying not to let the house get cold soaked. Over the years I've found this to be the best for my situation and consumes less pellets than using a start/stop method.
I have 1200 sq also. 600 up/600 down...as I said with a fan ceiling fan at top of steps to pull and circulate 2nd floor.
 
just typed this in another thread but it kinda fits here too , so here ya go;

it aint magic, its physics. its a physical fact that heat energy cannot be destroyed once released, it can only be dissipated, just as with any form of energy. now thermal energy is dissipated by the natural movement from "warm" energized particles to "cooler" less energized particles,
now the air in the house makes up these particles so heated air travels away from the stove brushing against less warm air in each case these particles come in close proximity the less energized (cooler) particles rob energy from the warmer ones. so the farther these particles have to travel the more cooler ones they encounter and the more thermal energy is shared making each particle closer to similar in their energy possession. this makes the air cooler farther from the heat source. in order to carry more heat farther 2 things must happen, first, the energized air must be contained and not exposed to cold air from outside which would rob more energy at a faster rate. secondly, there has to be enough thermal energy transferred to the air to "share" with cooler air to raise the overall temps to the level which is desired. If not, this means more energy has to be released to do that we need to burn more fuel.
 
just typed this in another thread but it kinda fits here too , so here ya go;

it aint magic, its physics. its a physical fact that heat energy cannot be destroyed once released, it can only be dissipated, just as with any form of energy. now thermal energy is dissipated by the natural movement from "warm" energized particles to "cooler" less energized particles,
now the air in the house makes up these particles so heated air travels away from the stove brushing against less warm air in each case these particles come in close proximity the less energized (cooler) particles rob energy from the warmer ones. so the farther these particles have to travel the more cooler ones they encounter and the more thermal energy is shared making each particle closer to similar in their energy possession. this makes the air cooler farther from the heat source. in order to carry more heat farther 2 things must happen, first, the energized air must be contained and not exposed to cold air from outside which would rob more energy at a faster rate. secondly, there has to be enough thermal energy transferred to the air to "share" with cooler air to raise the overall temps to the level which is desired. If not, this means more energy has to be released to do that we need to burn more fuel.
Thank you Professor Holton!!! Class dismissed!;);)
 
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and having a pellet stove of at least 45,000 btu


remember also, its not a 45Kbtu stove unless its burning just over 5 lbs/hr of pellets. if its capable of running that much fuel through its capable of that rating, but ONLY when its running that much fuel will it truly be a "45Kbtu " stove

for instance , if you are averaging say 2lbs/hr its actually a "17Kbtu" stove because that's what you are releasing (this is usually a lower setting) regardless of the stated "rating" of the stove itself.

this is a common mis-conception made about pellet stoves, folks look at the "BTU rating" and forget that in order to achieve this amount the amount of fuel necessary to SUPPLY the stove with this much energy has to be given to it
 
all things being equal,[house size, outside temps etc] would you agree that if heating a 2 story house from scratch[cold] and having a pellet stove of at least 45,000 btu or more on your 1st floor and a ceiling fan on low clockwise at the top of steps to 2nd floor[same size as down] to pull the heat up,, It would take at least a day or longer to fully saturate the whole house, walls, furniture with enough heat so that your pellet consumption on the next 24hrs would be less than the initial day or so warmup? or would there be no difference...[all variables aside]
or, is this just a dumb theory?
I'm not a scientist, but the way I figure it, Sir Issac Newton is always in charge. It takes more energy to get anything up and running to speed (car, plane, stove...) than it does to keep it at speed.

I came back from a three day trip from Monday to Wednesday night, and the house was 45degrees, even with a Quad propane fireplace in my basement. It took a number of hours (at about 2 degrees per hour on 1/3 high setting) to get the upstairs to 68. So your observation certainly rings true with me.
 
I have 1200 sq also. 600 up/600 down...as I said with a fan ceiling fan at top of steps to pull and circulate 2nd floor.


You would be better off with a floor fan moving cold air down, letting hot air rise. This seems to work better thantrying to move hot air.
 
I'm not a scientist, but the way I figure it, Sir Issac Newton is always in charge. It takes more energy to get anything up and running to speed (car, plane, stove...) than it does to keep it at speed.

I came back from a three day trip from Monday to Wednesday night, and the house was 45degrees, even with a Quad propane fireplace in my basement. It took a number of hours (at about 2 degrees per hour on 1/3 high setting) to get the upstairs to 68. So your observation certainly rings true with me.


this is correct (and I'm no scientist either just study a lot) the reason it takes more energy to get back to temp is because there is far less already present in the air. remember the dissipation rate of energy is based on the degree of difference between the hot and cold (referred to as the "delta") the larger the difference between hot and cold the more energy is transferred to the cold from the hot, so as the Delta decreases the transfer of energy decreases as well so less energy has to be created to "hold" the level of temperature than is to "build" the temperature.
 
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this is correct (and I'm no scientist either just study a lot) the reason it takes more energy to get back to temp is because there is far less already present in the air. remember the dissipation rate of energy is based on the degree of difference between the hot and cold (referred to as the "delta") the larger the difference between hot and cold the more energy is transferred to the cold from the hot, so as the Delta decreases the transfer of energy decreases as well so less energy has to be created to "hold" the level of temperature than is to "build" the temperature.
ok.. all good info from everyone..
since our house has poor insulation, not much chance is this steady cold weather that the stove will shut down so multi-ignition would not be a concern.
with that eliminated, it leaves either stove/auto or room auto.. keeping it at 70 degrees either by using the room temp probe, or stove temp 4[70 also],
which would u say would burn less pellets.....[this should narrow it down to finalize this long post...]
 
ok.. all good info from everyone..
since our house has poor insulation, not much chance is this steady cold weather that the stove will shut down so multi-ignition would not be a concern.
with that eliminated, it leaves either stove/auto or room auto.. keeping it at 70 degrees either by using the room temp probe, or stove temp 4[70 also],
which would u say would burn less pellets.....[this should narrow it down to finalize this long post...]
I'm guessing that using the stove's sensor would be less reactive (because of the principle of conservation of energy) since it has all the mass of metal to slowly release heat to maintain the sensor's temperature. If you use a room thermometer, it will react faster, causing more on/off cycles to ramp up the stove output. So I'm guessing that the stove sensor would use fewer pellets, but you're going to feel the cold sooner than you would with a room thermometer. It's a tradeoff, I suppose - pick your poison. Of course, given your penchant for data, you could always experiment with both methods to be sure.
 
I'm guessing that using the stove's sensor would be less reactive (because of the principle of conservation of energy) since it has all the mass of metal to slowly release heat to maintain the sensor's temperature. If you use a room thermometer, it will react faster, causing more on/off cycles to ramp up the stove output. So I'm guessing that the stove sensor would use fewer pellets, but you're going to feel the cold sooner than you would with a room thermometer. It's a tradeoff, I suppose - pick your poison. Of course, given your penchant for data, you could always experiment with both methods to be sure.
ok.. ran it in stove temp/#2[65-70] and went thru a bag in about 14 hrs..Energex pellets/Harman P61A.
house stayed around 73-74.
Gonna try room temp with same settings to compare pellet usage..
keep in mind it's poorly insulated so the fire never will go out t be re-ignited right now in COLD Pa.
so assuming I'm not taxing my igniter during that time..is that correct?
 
all things being equal,[house size, outside temps etc] would you agree that if heating a 2 story house from scratch[cold] and having a pellet stove of at least 45,000 btu or more on your 1st floor and a ceiling fan on low clockwise at the top of steps to 2nd floor[same size as down] to pull the heat up,, It would take at least a day or longer to fully saturate the whole house, walls, furniture with enough heat so that your pellet consumption on the next 24hrs would be less than the initial day or so warmup? or would there be no difference...[all variables aside]
or, is this just a dumb theory?

No ......... but people say I'm just generally disagreeable ...........
 
ok.. ran it in stove temp/#2[65-70] and went thru a bag in about 14 hrs..Energex pellets/Harman P61A.
house stayed around 73-74.
Gonna try room temp with same settings to compare pellet usage..
keep in mind it's poorly insulated so the fire never will go out t be re-ignited right now in COLD Pa.
so assuming I'm not taxing my igniter during that time..is that correct?

If all variables are equal than it will take the same btus to keep your house at 73 regardless of which mode your stove is running.
 
If all variables are equal than it will take the same btus to keep your house at 73 regardless of which mode your stove is running.

If all variables were equal they wouldn't really be variable, would they ?????????????
 
keep in mind it's poorly insulated so the fire never will go out t be re-ignited right now in COLD Pa.
Presuming you're not relighting (because the stove never goes out, then you're not taxing the igniter.

Where in PA are you located? I'm up here in Pike County (Northeast) where the temperatures are about 15::F
 
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