Gotta get a new stove!

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msb91932

Member
Nov 19, 2012
12
Hello. I am interested in a new pellet stove. I currently have a St. Coix Afton Bay Stove, which I have had for over 15 years. It has worked very well, but I am concerned with its age. I don't think this model is available any longer, plus I need a stove which holds more pellets. I am out for over 12+ hours per day, and am concerned with this old stove working without being able to monitor it. IS this a valid concern?

I have a 1800+/- square foot ranch, including a finished basement. The stove is in the finished basement, but I struggle getting heat up to the main floor of the house, and need to use the electric heat in that area. I was told that this stove would heat the entire house. Is this a reasonable expectation that the stove could heat my whole house. the finished basement is like a sauna, but the upstairs is COLD. I installed vents in my floor and keep the basement door open, but no heat rises to the main floor of my house. Should it?

I am interested in a new stove, but would like your input on which stove is best for me and my house. I like Harman stoves, but they are expensive. I don't mind paying top dollar, IF I can expect the heat to rise to the main floor of my house. I live in Northeast PA, and it has been so cold these past few years.

Please offer up some suggestions for what I am experiencing. Thanks, Mike
 
msb91932 said:
Hello. I am interested in a new pellet stove. I currently have a St. Coix Afton Bay Stove, which I have had for over 15 years. It has worked very well, but I am concerned with its age. I don't think this model is available any longer, plus I need a stove which holds more pellets. I am out for over 12+ hours per day, and am concerned with this old stove working without being able to monitor it. IS this a valid concern?

I have a 1800+/- square foot ranch, including a finished basement. The stove is in the finished basement, but I struggle getting heat up to the main floor of the house, and need to use the electric heat in that area. I was told that this stove would heat the entire house. Is this a reasonable expectation that the stove could heat my whole house. the finished basement is like a sauna, but the upstairs is COLD. I installed vents in my floor and keep the basement door open, but no heat rises to the main floor of my house. Should it?

I am interested in a new stove, but would like your input on which stove is best for me and my house. I like Harman stoves, but they are expensive. I don't mind paying top dollar, IF I can expect the heat to rise to the main floor of my house. I live in Northeast PA, and it has been so cold these past few years.

Please offer up some suggestions for what I am experiencing. Thanks, Mike
Click to expand...

Heat will rise to a point. Your going to need some fans to move it. On Stove I went with Harmon XXV and wanted Cab50 (120lb Hopper). Should have got Cab50. Could have got it for about 1700 this Spring. They will cost more now. I ended up with Harmon for 3300 because of looks. Cab50 is ugly to me.
 
msb91932 said:
Hello. I am interested in a new pellet stove. I currently have a St. Coix Afton Bay Stove, which I have had for over 15 years. It has worked very well, but I am concerned with its age. I don't think this model is available any longer, plus I need a stove which holds more pellets. I am out for over 12+ hours per day, and am concerned with this old stove working without being able to monitor it. IS this a valid concern?

I have a 1800+/- square foot ranch, including a finished basement. The stove is in the finished basement, but I struggle getting heat up to the main floor of the house, and need to use the electric heat in that area. I was told that this stove would heat the entire house. Is this a reasonable expectation that the stove could heat my whole house. the finished basement is like a sauna, but the upstairs is COLD. I installed vents in my floor and keep the basement door open, but no heat rises to the main floor of my house. Should it?

I am interested in a new stove, but would like your input on which stove is best for me and my house. I like Harman stoves, but they are expensive. I don't mind paying top dollar, IF I can expect the heat to rise to the main floor of my house. I live in Northeast PA, and it has been so cold these past few years.

Please offer up some suggestions for what I am experiencing. Thanks, Mike
Click to expand...

Think of a pellet stove as a space heater. With that in mind I would say yes, it was unreasonable to expect the stove to heat the 1800 sq feet of your house from the basement. Keep in mind a salesman told you it would. Pellet stoves are primarily convection heaters and will circulate some air but not much if in the basement. Another thing to keep in mind is that putting in floor registers is something folks used to do but it is contrary to most building codes these days due to the fire hazard potential. You can roll those dice but if you do have a fire and your insurance agent comes out to survey the damage, you’re not going to like what they say after those registers are noticed. A pellet stove ideally should be installed in the main living area of your home to gain the most heating benefit.
 
Last edited:
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My main floor heater is a 15 year old St Croix Prescott. Rock solid and reliable, but doesn't heat basement too well on really cold days without using forced air furnace fan to move air around. We use a basement installed Harman as a backup.

Maybe keep the Afton bay in the basement and add something else with larger hopper to main floor for more direct heating and comfort. A Heatilator PS-50 is a nice stove for a reasonable price.
 
I believe there are one or two brands that have an optional forced air duct you could run up to the second floor. One of them might be Ravelli or Piazzatt.
 
Trying to heat the main floor from the basement using a space heater doesn't work and why heat a area you aren't using. We have a ranch style home with full basement and I tried three different stoves in the basement in a effort to heat the main floor. Fortunately I was doing this during the time of rising popularity of corn/pellet stoves and gov rebates so it didn't cost me to trade stoves. But in the end I installed a stove upstairs and solved my problem. doing so saved a lot of fuel because I never overheat a area. You can buy hopper extenders for several stoves Harman being one.
St Croix is a good proven company made in USA . They are one of the best in capturing the heat produced and blowing it into the room rather then out the exh. Efficiency is the word I wanted . Look at the competitors and how they design their stoves. Are they efficient or are they just cute looking?
 
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Are you running any ceiling fans on your main floor? Without air circulation their is nothing to help draw the heat upstairs. Agree with above and put a stove upstairs if you are going to purchase a new one. Leave the old in the basement and just use it on low or when your using the downstairs. The basement should stair relatively warm pulling heat from the ground
 
I should have added that we have two stairways going down stairs with one in the same room as the stove and the other in a different room. but the point was we had a natural flow of sir because air from the warmer room would go up that stairway while the cold air went down the other stairway. This natural system worked good with a woodstove going downstairs but for some reason not very good with a cornstove . Maybe the fan on the woodstove was a lot bigger don't remember
 
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