Hey Kids! First time poster...
I'm having a friendly debate with a buddy of mine and wanted to get your take on this issue.
I'm buying a Lexington Forge Concorde CSDV40 38,000 BTU gas stove to zone heat my home rather than run my furnace all the time. I have a ~100,000 BTU furnace that heats our 1,700 sq. ft. home and we're only really in the main living space most of the day--half the home is unoccupied during the day. It's a raised ranch, so what we want to do is install the stove in the lower level, directly below the main living space. We'll use a remote thermostat to control the stove's cycle times and set the stove for a temp in the lower level that will maintain a comfortable heat in the upper level.
The debate is whether this will be effective and a cost savings. He feels the stove and furnace are about the same efficiency and I'm still using gas, so the actual gas costs will be identical (we agree on this, of course). The blower on the furnace is nominal in terms of electric cost (we agree on this also). Where we disagree is on the concept of practicing zoned heat. My thought is to concentrate the 38,000 BTU heat only on the 800 sq. ft. area that we're living in and ignore the rest of the house. The stove would be in about 350 sq. ft. of space in the lower level and there's about 450 sq. ft. of space in the upper level directly above it. I'm hoping the heat will rise from the lower level and heat the upper level. I plan to experiment and make adjustments, as needed. For example, install registers around the lower level that channel the heat to flow up to the upper floor, or use a fan to push air into the stairwell. I have a ceiling fan above the stairs that can help pull the air up and distribute it around the upper level. The stairwell leads directly into the lower level where the stove will be.
My neighbor has the exact same house as me (a little smaller) and does exactly this, but with a wood stove. She said she doesn't have to do anything special... The heat radiates through the floor and heats the entire upstairs. Her gas and electric bills average about $140/mo in the winter and she spends about $500 a year on wood (total cost is about $225/mo). Mine is about $340/mo! We live in NY where we have very frigid and long winters.
I'm curious to hear others thoughts... Hopefully from those who are currently using a gas stove perhaps for similar reasons. Do you find it a cost savings? Is my friend right and perhaps I won't see really any savings? What do you think?
-Paul
I'm having a friendly debate with a buddy of mine and wanted to get your take on this issue.
I'm buying a Lexington Forge Concorde CSDV40 38,000 BTU gas stove to zone heat my home rather than run my furnace all the time. I have a ~100,000 BTU furnace that heats our 1,700 sq. ft. home and we're only really in the main living space most of the day--half the home is unoccupied during the day. It's a raised ranch, so what we want to do is install the stove in the lower level, directly below the main living space. We'll use a remote thermostat to control the stove's cycle times and set the stove for a temp in the lower level that will maintain a comfortable heat in the upper level.
The debate is whether this will be effective and a cost savings. He feels the stove and furnace are about the same efficiency and I'm still using gas, so the actual gas costs will be identical (we agree on this, of course). The blower on the furnace is nominal in terms of electric cost (we agree on this also). Where we disagree is on the concept of practicing zoned heat. My thought is to concentrate the 38,000 BTU heat only on the 800 sq. ft. area that we're living in and ignore the rest of the house. The stove would be in about 350 sq. ft. of space in the lower level and there's about 450 sq. ft. of space in the upper level directly above it. I'm hoping the heat will rise from the lower level and heat the upper level. I plan to experiment and make adjustments, as needed. For example, install registers around the lower level that channel the heat to flow up to the upper floor, or use a fan to push air into the stairwell. I have a ceiling fan above the stairs that can help pull the air up and distribute it around the upper level. The stairwell leads directly into the lower level where the stove will be.
My neighbor has the exact same house as me (a little smaller) and does exactly this, but with a wood stove. She said she doesn't have to do anything special... The heat radiates through the floor and heats the entire upstairs. Her gas and electric bills average about $140/mo in the winter and she spends about $500 a year on wood (total cost is about $225/mo). Mine is about $340/mo! We live in NY where we have very frigid and long winters.
I'm curious to hear others thoughts... Hopefully from those who are currently using a gas stove perhaps for similar reasons. Do you find it a cost savings? Is my friend right and perhaps I won't see really any savings? What do you think?
-Paul