floor layout attached, where to put the pellet stove?

[lmei007]

1602sqf ranch (one floor house with basement) layout diagram is here:
(broken link removed)

Please help me figure out where is the better place to install a pellet stove: A or B or other place?

Please give me a suggestion about how big (capacity) the pellet stove will be to heat that floor?

I am in Boston MA.

thanks,

 

[begreen]

How old is the house, how well insulated? There is not much difference between locations A and B. I would go for an insert in the fireplace. No point losing more floorspace. Ranch layouts are hard to heat with space heaters, so the bedrooms will be cooler, but that may not be undesirable.

Note: if the family room becomes a master bedroom, code may prohibit a wood stove being in there.
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/4465/

 

[lmei007]

It was built in 1950 but the insulation is good, I think.

I expect the bedrooms will be cooler but how big the difference will be, 10, 15 difference?

We will remove the wood stove when we do that conversion.

thanks,

 

[begreen]

If the house was built in the 50's and no insulation retrofits have occurred, odds are that it's poor to moderately insulated.

Hard to say what the bedroom temps will be, it depends on the insulation, windows and outdoor temps. Right now they might only be 3-5 degrees cooler, assuming the doors are left open. But at zero it might be 10 degrees cooler in the BRs.

 

[Xena]

My house is a 1400+ sq ft. ranch and we have a free standing pellet stove
mounted on the fireplace hearth and vented all the way up the chimney.
I'd say the fireplace is your best bet since it's already there and it's
easy to install your PL vent up the chimney rather than cutting holes
in your wall imo.
One difference is, My living room is open to the hallway leading to
the bedrooms. Also, where you have bedroom #2, I have a master bedroom
with a master bath that sort of puts the house at an L shape.
That room obviously stays the coolest, but only a difference of about 5 degrees.
Our 40k btu stove claims to be able to heat up to 1800 sq ft. We're on our third
year with it and have never had to put it higher than the #3 setting.
(It has 1-5 settings)
I'm able to keep it on #1 or #2 and maintain temps between 68F - 74F
68 being the master bedroom/bath area. House is pretty well insulated
and has all new replacement windows installed in the summer of 04.

 

[lmei007]

thank you, zeta. Nice to meet you here.

Thank you BeGreen. We just bought this house. I have no idea about the insulation projects done on it. But I checked the windows and doors. It looks to me the insulation is good. It can keep the temperature well stay up to now.

How about the stove capacity? Zeta suggested 60K BTU to me. Is it too big?