Englander Madison heating capabilities?

[kyguylal]

Hello,

I see the Englander 50-SHSSW01 (2,000sf) is on sale at Lowes right now.

I have a 2,500SF trilevel split in NH.

The main floor is very open. The bedrooms are up a half flight of stairs and the lower level is down a half flight.

I am looking to heat the mid level and the upper level (bedrooms). In total, these two levels are about 1,600 SF with another 1,000 SF in the lower level. The midlevel where the stove will be has 14' ceilings and has an entire wall made of windows....The house is well insulated.

We are heating with oil and use a small, Englander pellet stove on the mid level, which isn't enough to heat up anything more than the mid level.

Would the Madison be enough stove to heat the open concept mid level and for some heat to go up the half flight to the bedrooms, or should we be looking at a much larger stove?

I figure that I'm not going to get much heat to go down the stairs to the lower level anyways and I want the oil burner to kick on down there to keep the basement from freezing pipes.

With the 25-pdvc pellet stove, were barely keeping the mid level at 62 degrees and the upper and lower levels burn oil 24/7 to maintain 60 degrees. Hoping that the Madison wood stove will produce better heat.

Attached is a quick floor plan sketch.

 

[begreen]

It's a decent sized stove and certainly will heat the place during most of the season. It may need an occasional boost from the furnace, but should work better that the pellet stove as long as the wood is fully seasoned. If you don't want to use any oil maybe move the pellet stove to the lower level?

 

[begreen]

I suspect that great gains could also be achieved by addressing the heat loss from glazing. A long term plan to reduce heat loss from the large window wall may pay off nicely. This could be a simple as insulated curtains or shades, or changing out the windows to something with much higher R value. There are windows that achieve R-15 now.

 

[HomeinPA]

Have you considered closing the windows?

That pellet stove should be more than enough to heat the living level and bedroom levels. Do you have a ceiling fan in the room with the 14' ceiling to push the warm air down? What level are you going to put the wood stove?

 

[kyguylal]

Thank you. The windows are about 12-13' tall. I am planning on curtaining them soon.

While we could really crank the pellet stove up, the main reason for us to switch it out for a wood burner is because we regularly lose power, which of course, kills the pellet stove.

 

[begreen]

Yes, with 14ft. ceilings, heat stratification can be part of the problem. The convection system of the pellet stove should help here, but it is not enough.The pellet stove is only rated to heat 1500 sq ft, with 8' ceilings. The 14' ceilings almost double the volume to be heated. Add to this a lot of lossy glazing and a very cold climate and it doesn't surprise me that it can't keep up when it gets very cold out. The heat loss of the house is high and it has a greater than average interior volume to heat. The pellet stove's ~40K BTU/hr is not enough to keep up with the heat loss during serious cold weather during NH winter.

@kyguylal What is the furnace's capacity? It wouldn't surprise me if it is 4 times the pellet stove output.

How does the pellet stove work when run on high?

 

[kyguylal]

Just took a look at my oil burner. It is actually rated 131,000 BTU. Good call on that one.

 

[begreen]

The Englander 30-NC should also be considered here or the Drolet Baltic II or HT2000.

 

[kyguylal]

I was about to pull the trigger on the larger madison rated for 2,400SF, but I've been reading about some QC issues.

 

[begreen]

Yes, I've held off on recommending the larger 50SSW02 for that reason. The 30NC on the other hand is time proven as is the Drolet HT2000.

 

[kyguylal]

A quick question which doesn't need a new thread...

When calculating how many feet of chimney pipe I need, I have a masonry chimney which is at the crest of my roof (which is within 10' of the proposed chimney pipe). Do I need to go 2' above the height of the masonry chimney, or just 2' above the roof peak?

 

[begreen]

Roof peak if within 10'. The chimney must end at least 3' above the roof and at least 2' above any portion of the roof within 10'.

 

[weatherguy]

Is that floor plan from an appraisal? Looks like the program I have.
The englander should be going on sale soon too, it usually does near the end if winter.

 

[kyguylal]

Thank you Good news regarding the roof peak I went up and measured today.

The sketch is from the appraisal. I measured the whole house up. The appraiser did a great job and is spot on.