Pellet stove advice please

JJ99 said:

Hi everyone. I'm new to the forum, but I've been reading up for a couple of weeks now. I'm looking for some pellet stove advice.

We currently have a Fisher Grandpa bear in the basement that heats our entire home (5 year old doublewide trailer).

We just moved in to the house in the spring, and we're not sure if we want to take on a wood stove - chopping and storing the wood being the main downsides. The previous owners sourced the wood for free, as their family owns the surrounding land. We would have to buy our wood. So, we are thinking of switching to a pellet stove.

We have an open floor plan - 1500 Sq ft upstairs and 1500 Sq ft open basement. Stove sits at the bottom of the steps to the basement and previous owners did not put any walls around the steps, so it's very open.
Even so, I'm wondering if the pellet stove will be able to heat the entire home like the Fisher stove does?

I'm also looking for a recommendation on a stove - Harman is out of our budget, which is about $2000.
I appreciate any and all advice! Thanks! JJ

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Unless the basement is being used for living space and is insulated, I would leave the stove and put a pellet stove somewhere in the living area. Plenty of Harman Acentra FS units for sale on craigslist to be had for less than $2000. Leave the stove in the basement for power outages and the zombie Apocalypse...

JJ99 said:

Thank you for the ideas. The basement is used for living space - we have a family room, play area and my husband's office. It is not finished, just has cement brick walls. The only insulation is in the ceiling. We have propane as an alternative on the main living floor, but no duct work was ever put in the basement. So, to keep both floors heated, wood or pellets are our options at the moment, but I'd rather go with pellets.
I just found a Harman p61 on Craigslist, but the guy selling it doesn't know its history, he just buys them, fixes them up and resells. Makes me nervous to take a leap of faith on it.
I'd appreciate any other advice anyone has. Thanks!

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Do not hesitate to get the Harman P61, I picked up 2 of them used and have never regretted it! Those stoves are built like a tank and not only blow heat out to heat your whole house but also radiate heat with the sides and top to heat your basement!
My P61 is in the basement and the heat rises to heat the whole house. You can cut registers to even the heat out better too. The P61 is one of the easiest stoves to keep clean also!

Those block walls will suck up heat and try to keep the ground around the house warm too. That is important because it will mean you will burn more pellets than if the block were covered. I insulated the walls with rigid foam board, then put Reflectix over it (class 1 protection is needed over the foam to retard formation of poisonous fumes in the case of fire). I have been in the process of framing over that combo and adding sheetrock.

The P61 will put out a ton of heat, but how the air currents work in your house for getting the heat upstairs is anyone's guess. Even cutting in registers may, or may not help (ask me how I know - I got the P43 for the main floor after I tried everything to get the heat to rise). However, having an open floor plan will most likely help in that regard. I do love my P61 and it is trouble-free as well as easy to clean and maintain.

Agree with the statement above you need to get the block walls covered up.. yes the previous owner was able to heat the space but how hot was he keeping that wood stove since his wood was free. If it were me i would also pull the insulation out of the basement ceiling so the heat can radiate up through the floor.. Strange that the floor was insulated and not the walls

JJ99 said:

Thank you for your thoughtful reply. We do know that the previous owners heated both floors successfully with the Fisher wood stove, so my hopes were that the pellet stove would be just as successful without the hassle of wood. I also now have a line on a 6 year old p68, I'm really hoping it pans out!

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Wood stoves can pump out more heat at one time than a pellet stove can. But at the same time the wood stove needs to be fed on a regular basis thru the day where the pellet stoves feed themselves as long as there are pellets in the hopper.

If you can swing the cost, definitely insulate the foundation walls as it'll suck up the heat otherwise. I also agree that you should remove the ceiling insulation so as to enable more heat to transfer above to your first floor living space. One thing to consider is to check your area building codes to be sure you can install floor registers to allow even more heat flow. Some municipalities do not allow for such "retrofitting" due to fire codes believe it or not.

As far as the P61 Harman is concerned, you can't go wrong as they indeed are built like tanks...

As has been mentioned, consider leaving the wood stove in the basement as back up and install the P61 or maybe another reliable pellet stove on your first floor. Given you're in Pennsylvania, I suspect you may have decent hardwood available for purchase for the wood stove. Buy five maybe eight cord and store in the basement for really cold days. If decent quality you can store it there for years....Never a bad thing to have on hand if sh@t hits the fan so to speak....

JJ99 said:

Thank you for the ideas. The basement is used for living space - we have a family room, play area and my husband's office. It is not finished, just has cement brick walls. The only insulation is in the ceiling. We have propane as an alternative on the main living floor, but no duct work was ever put in the basement. So, to keep both floors heated, wood or pellets are our options at the moment, but I'd rather go with pellets.
I just found a Harman p61 on Craigslist, but the guy selling it doesn't know its history, he just buys them, fixes them up and resells. Makes me nervous to take a leap of faith on it.
I'd appreciate any other advice anyone has. Thanks!

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Hi there, what did you decide? We live in PA too and are considering a pellet stove as a heating source for my husband’s office (he works from home) on the first floor. I LOVE the Harman xxv look but not sure it’s practical....is it quiet enough for a home office? Is any pellet stove for that matter? Not sure what route to take but we like the cost effectiveness of pellets and hope it will be useful for heating the rest of our house (2 story, about 2000 sq feet) as we have a propane fireplace that is lovely but expensive! Any suggestions are appreciated! Thanks

P51mustang said:

If you can swing the cost, definitely insulate the foundation walls as it'll suck up the heat otherwise. I also agree that you should remove the ceiling insulation so as to enable more heat to transfer above to your first floor living space. One thing to consider is to check your area building codes to be sure you can install floor registers to allow even more heat flow. Some municipalities do not allow for such "retrofitting" due to fire codes believe it or not.

As far as the P61 Harman is concerned, you can't go wrong as they indeed are built like tanks...

As has been mentioned, consider leaving the wood stove in the basement as back up and install the P61 or maybe another reliable pellet stove on your first floor. Given you're in Pennsylvania, I suspect you may have decent hardwood available for purchase for the wood stove. Buy five maybe eight cord and store in the basement for really cold days. If decent quality you can store it there for years....Never a bad thing to have on hand if sh@t hits the fan so to speak....

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Are you seriously telling the OP to buy 6-8 cords of firewood to store in a basement he uses for living space. That would be a stack 4’high by4’ wide x64’ long! Plus storing firewood in your basement is asking for trouble with insects and critters.

Please don’t get the false belief that pellet stoves are extremely cheap to run. A big stove like a P61 or P68 will eat through a lot of pellets. Not unusual to burn 3 bags/day. That’s 2 tons/month, at 220/ton. Plus this year, in some areas, pellets are kinda scarce. Staying with wood may be more economical. Not trying to be discouragingly....just want you to have all the facts. Pellets aren’t always the most economical choice. In most areas cheaper than propane though. Have fun!

mikkeeh said:

Are you seriously telling the OP to buy 6-8 cords of firewood to store in a basement he uses for living space. That would be a stack 4’high by4’ wide x64’ long! Plus storing firewood in your basement is asking for trouble with insects and critters.

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Yes, I'm serious....If your ceiling is high enough and your basement is big enough you can stack 1.5 or 2 cord high and fit 6-8 cord in a reasonable space. Regarding insects, what's a spider or two or a few mice?

My old man easily put 8-10 cord in his house for years and insects were not that big of a deal.....But he did own a 3,000 plus square foot victorian so space was never an issue.

I stack 6 cord in my basement and have for 40 years
And never a bug problem. The cats look after the mice
when we have 1 I think it is all in your perception.
I like having my wood dry and warm . Don't have to go out
in the snow to bring in wood I also would not be with out my
Pellet stove and store 3 pallets beside the fire wood
everything has its place and a place for everything

Insects are not a big deal,until you see a problem elsewhere.When building this unfinished log cabin,I built a chimney,block,lined.Big wood stove.Dirt floor basement.Green/underground wood,for basement,2/3's underground,but,the back wall/caving in,I dug out and put concrete wall/corners.Level above was nice log workmanship,big logs,Everything above that,I added a 3rd level,2 bedrooms,bath,work/reloading area.Lived in lower areas as I was building it,for quite a while the upstairs was just plastic.Big wood stove in basement,hooked to chimney.Downsized wood stove 2 times,as construction progressed.Used to burn 6-10 cords,pine,a year.Gov did a land trade,I could no longer get wood behind house.Bought firewood by the truckload,partners,brought mine home,partner cut the rest,sold for cash.(tractor trailer loads).Put in 2 LPG heaters,used for 1.5 yearsOMG!Found my first pellet stove,not far away,at local ski slope.I thought I paid too much(according to neighbors),yet I still have it,and use it.Used to put 1-2 cords in dirt floor basement,the rest outside.Some years later,I noticed ants.I sprayed them.Next year,sprayed them more.Then.went to powders,and spray.But,I only saw a few at a time.never got excited.Well,after going to only working part time,and improving home,noticed them a lot more.More spray,more powder.Did not work.By the time Figured it out,had to replace a small part of 1 log,and,gut/dig/scrape and treat a almost hollowed out log(after removing the window,to get to this),turns out they were carpenter ants.Neighbors thought termites,but took to local gov people,termites do not thrive at this high altitude,they were carpenter ants.You would not see them,but 2-4 at a time.And,i live in dry climate,extreme temps.Be very scared of firewood in and near your house.OH,almost forgot,normal ant spray and powder does not kill carpenter ants and termites,a whole different bug.I found out the hard way.

OK,sorry for ranting before,but here is some more info,I have learned over the years,in 2 states.,Firewood,stored inside the house,makes the house a firebomb.Wood pellets do not,as they require moving air to produce a flame to burn them.My insurance company only allowed a days worth of firewood inside the house.They initially said the same thing about my wood pellets,until I made them research it, then came back with 1 ton acceptable.So,check with your insurance company before storing any fuel inside.

Townandcountry said:

Hi there, what did you decide? We live in PA too and are considering a pellet stove as a heating source for my husband’s office (he works from home) on the first floor. I LOVE the Harman xxv look but not sure it’s practical....is it quiet enough for a home office? Is any pellet stove for that matter? Not sure what route to take but we like the cost effectiveness of pellets and hope it will be useful for heating the rest of our house (2 story, about 2000 sq feet) as we have a propane fireplace that is lovely but expensive! Any suggestions are appreciated! Thanks

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The XXV has a whisper mode. You can probably set the fan speed to whatever speed you'd like. You will hear the pellet auger and the pellets falling into the stove, and there is a combustion fan that has to run to keep the fire going and the exhaust going out, and a distribution fan to push warm air out into the room when needed. After you get used to it, all those noises will fade into the background. If he does a ton of conference calls on speaker phone, then it might not be a great choice to have the stove in his office with him (if the stove is close to his desk). If it's an occasional call like that, he could probably hit whisper mode for the call, then switch it back after the call is completed.

I got a P series, because I didn't want the touchscreen electronics (figured they're very costly to replace when they fail). With the fancy electronics though, you can program the room temperature for days of the week and time of day, so it'll turn on and off automatically based on your program.

Just something to consider... if you have other (backup) heat besides the propane fireplace, maybe replace that fireplace with a pellet insert, and if needed add another pellet stove in a central location in the house.