Considering A Pellet Stove, Need YOUR help!

[thebigtalker]

Hi everyone! First of all, thank you for this forum. I've already learned a tremendous amount about pellet stoves by browsing these forums and everyone seems very helpful.
I was wondering if I could get some opinions on a set up I am considering.
We are located in Baltimore, Maryland so our cold season is about 4 months of the year. Our house consists of a basement, 1st and 2nd floors. We have a gas furnace that supplies heat for the basement and 1st floor and an electric heat pump for the 2nd floor.
We have a basement theater that is about 250 sq ft and usually about 10-15 degrees colder than the first floor. Without electric blankets and space heaters the temperature in this room is too cold to bear. This theater is next to the room with the furnace and is also where the steps to the 1st floor are.
What I have been considering is an Enviro Maxx to be installed in the theater. We are hoping this unit will heat the theater (obviously) but also give a few degree boost to the first floor.
First of all, does it seem feasible that we would get a decent amount of heat from this unit upstairs without making the theater as hot as Hades?
Second, how would we set the thermostat on the 1st floor to make this work? For instance, if I want the temp on the first floor to be constant at 70, do I set the thermostat to 70, or do I leave it at 68? I imagine the answer is 70, but just want to double check.
Third, the stove salesman said if I added a return in the hallway off the theater that when the furnace runs we should get more heat drawn upstairs. If so, do you think it would be a noticeable increase with a return in the room or not?
Finally (for now), does $3,100 for the stove, a ton of pellets, about 12' of 4" vent pipe and $180 in sales tax sound like a fair deal? The installation is separate at $425.
Thanks again for your help!

 

[jtakeman]

Thats a tough call to say you will get a lot of heat to transfer or convect upstairs. Do you have an open stairway or good passage to allow heat to go up?

Personally I looked at both. the Maxx and the Omega. I choose the Omega for its multifuel feature. Otherwise its about the same stove. You will love the fact it will burn any pellet with ease and never be pellet picky as they say. Not to mention other fuels.corn and grains! You will be future fuel ready!

I would not put it in the theater, I would locate it in another spot close by. Plus that Maxx and Omega will blast you out of the 250 sqft room! It maybe boxed in and not let the heat move around. Really any basement install is really tough and will take some work(mostly thinking) to get the air to move around.

Hope this helps
Jay

 

[krooser]

How about an Enviro Mini... don't know squat about 'em but my dealer has a customer that has one to just heat the kitchen in their home...

 

[welshcob]

One thing to bear in mind is that if you value the sound quality in your home theater, definitely do not install a pellet stove in the same room. I love my pellet stove, but the fans provide a constant white noise that makes me boost the sound level on the home theater. Be sure to listen to the stove you want to buy in the showroom through its whole cycle and try to decide if the sound level is bearable.

 

[imacman]

I think Jay and Krooser both have good thoughts. You don't want to put that Maxx down in that little room.....it will get so hot you'll end-up turning it off.

As a general rule, trying to heat the upstairs in most any home that has a basement is best done putting the stove on the level you want the heat.

How about 2 smaller stoves, as Krooser mentioned? The Mini would probably be perfect for that small theatre room, and another stove upstairs?

 

[rockcore]

I have an Enviro Mini and like it in general. It heats my house which is about 16'x24'. I get a lot of heat upstairs but have a narrow stairwell that acts like a chimney. My reservation is that it is loud and I'd agree that it might be disruptive for a home theater.

 

[pelletdude]

As for the price the dealer was asking for the complete set up- excellent.

The Maxx in the basement with access to the upstairs would work best - any pellet stove in the theater would probably not work - however - I have the Enviro M55 Mulit Fuel in my Great room - 550 sq ft and it does not affect our movie watching.

As stated - a smaller stove in your lower level with a louver to the theater and one on the first floor would be ideal.


Good Luck,

Steve

 

[thebigtalker]

Hi everyone,thanks again for your help.
I have decided to move forward with the Maxx. I understand the concerns about the noise, but after listening at the dealership I think the noise will be tolerable in the theater. My next question is about a thermostat. Is this unit operable with a programmable thermostat? Specifically I would like the unit to fire up an hour or so before I get home from work during the week. Thanks!

 

[jtakeman]

Hi everyone,thanks again for your help.
I have decided to move forward with the Maxx. I understand the concerns about the noise, but after listening at the dealership I think the noise will be tolerable in the theater. My next question is about a thermostat. Is this unit operable with a programmable thermostat? Specifically I would like the unit to fire up an hour or so before I get home from work during the week. Thanks!

I have the Omega. Sister to the Maxx. I am using the Lux TX 500 programable stat from HD. You can find them at Sears HD Lowes and so on. Works great.

(broken link removed to http://www.luxproducts.com/thermostats_prog.html)

jay

 

[krooser]

During the cold seasons of the year, most of us rely on heaters and fireplaces to keep us warm and cold free all day long. For those of you who doesn’t experience winter season more of a problem, then maybe you can disregard this fact. But to those people who lives on the eastern part of the United States, for them winter season is the time of coldness and big dilemma on their pockets. Just imagine that for you to be warm all though out the day, you need to ignite that wooden stove or fireplace and consume huge amounts of gas per day. After the winter season you will be surprised that your gas bill turned into a big monster of expense yielding huge consumption on your financial life. Also, electric appliances that gives off heat are often used to answer our shivering nights and days. The end result will be nothing but huge bills like those on gas expenses making it more of a problem. With all these things said, what are the alternatives you have at hand? Luckily, Pellet Systems which is a premier wood pellet provider is here to help us solve that pressing dilemma with such ease and comfort on our side.

Heating our homes during winter or cold days is a must to prevent us from getting too cold due to the existing weather. Many people tend to make a bowl of hearty soup together with a hot cup of tea to ease the shivering sensation but some chooses to light their fireplaces to give a warm feeling inside out. But lighting up fireplaces can really be a big mess in terms of cleaning it and changing the wood fuel very often. Fireplaces tend to accumulate more dirt and residue than the others that is why invention of pellet stoves is considered to be a true value to everyone. Pellet stoves use wood pellets like those being manufactured by Pellet Systems as a replacement to the traditional wood fuels. But why use pellet stoves instead of the traditional wood stoves? Why choose them instead of fire places?

 

[summit]

Hi everyone,thanks again for your help.
I have decided to move forward with the Maxx. I understand the concerns about the noise, but after listening at the dealership I think the noise will be tolerable in the theater. My next question is about a thermostat. Is this unit operable with a programmable thermostat? Specifically I would like the unit to fire up an hour or so before I get home from work during the week. Thanks!

you can run that unit with any tstat that accepts a 2 wire millivolt setup (most programmable ones have that hookup)