GF55 standalone + heating questions

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gf55bunny

New Member
Nov 30, 2021
6
New England
Hey everyone. I purchased a GF55 standalone unit this year and had it installed by the dealer.

One burning question I have is are any of the level settings deemed unsafe for long use? I could've sworn I read, or heard from the installers, that the 5th setting shouldn't be used for extended periods. I don't see anything about it in the owners manual, so I'm not sure if there's any truth to not using setting 5 for long periods or not. Does anyone have any experience with this unit that would be able to help?

The next question(s) is how to heat the house better with it. Right now, it's about 31F outside, and in the basement, on the opposite side of the stove, it's 73.6F, the bedroom right above the thermometer is at 68F and the hallway upstairs is 67F.

Current setting of the stove is 3.

First, my house is 900 sq ft, single floor + basement (basement is also 900 sq ft)

My basement is finished (sheet rock walls, carpeted floor, office lighting), and is a wide open space. The floors have vents cut out in the living room (right above the stove), and in the 3 bedrooms (I've read how cutting holes in the floor isn't always a good option, but these were already in the house when I purchased it this year, so it's not something I did personally). In the master bedroom, I changed the vent to one with dual fans, and it's made quite a difference (typically 2-3 degrees cooler than the far side of the basement), so I'm most likely going to pick up another one for the other bedroom at the opposing side of the house from the stove.

While the temp is good now, if it drops into the mid 20's, I start getting low 60's to mid 50's upstairs. I believe I had the stove on level 2 last night, so that might be the reason why. I've been nervous about putting it higher at night (still very new to the world of pellet stoves).

Anyway, what can I do to help get the heat spread out better? I have the basement door open, which leads to the kitchen (and also the side door of the house). I have the kitchen ceiling fan on so it's sucking the air up, and at the end of the hallway I have a pedestal fan at the lowest height blowing on the lowest setting. Is there anything else I can do to make it warmer using this?

I'm assuming that turning it up to level 3 or 4 instead of 2 is likely the only real option.

What do ya'll go through in terms of 40 pound bags a day during the cold season? Using this as a reference (https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/regency-greenfire-gf55-pellet-stove-review.23915/ - which seems pretty accurate), I would be going through 2 bags a day on setting 3. Is this a normal/typical amount during the cold season? Setting 4 and 5 are pushing the 2.5 bag a day range, though I'd be wary of leaving it on that high (unsure if that's a reasonable thing to be cautious on, or if I'm being overly cautious).

I guess another alternative option would be to get a wood stove on the top floor to help during the really cold days.

I do have electric heat, but I prefer to not have to use it (though I did use it for a few hours one day and it worked rather well, but I'd hate to use it more than necessary due to how high of an electric bill I'd have).

Thanks!
 
gf55bunny welcome to the forum
A pellet stove is a space heater and not designed to heat a whole home
for that, you would need a central furnace.
Some people have good results using fans to move air(heat)
others not so much.
Your stove is safe to run on the high setting but very hard on pellets
I run my stove 24/7 and have for 20 years and the colder it is the higher the heat setting.
Use a good hardwood or softwood pellet the better the quality the more heat
Keep the stove clean. A clean stove is a happy stove.
 
gf55bunny welcome to the forum
A pellet stove is a space heater and not designed to heat a whole home
for that, you would need a central furnace.
Some people have good results using fans to move air(heat)
others not so much.
Your stove is safe to run on the high setting but very hard on pellets
I run my stove 24/7 and have for 20 years and the colder it is the higher the heat setting.
Use a good hardwood or softwood pellet the better the quality the more heat
Keep the stove clean. A clean stove is a happy stove.
Thanks!

I hear mixed results with heating a home with a pellet stove, so I thought I'd give it a try. Knowing that it's safe to run on higher settings, I'll keep it set on the mid setting tonight and see how it fares.

I've been using a mix between Green Team Platinum (got 3 tons from Lowes) and Hardwood Premium Wood Pellets from TSC (I've been picking up about 8 bags a week so I don't exhaust my supply before the season ends) and clean it out every 2 to 3 days, depending on how much ash has accumulated.

I've had it on the mid setting (3), and since my last post, it's going up 2.5 degrees down here, while the temps dropped to ~33F outside, so that makes me warm inside :)
 
i have different style of stove but my manual shows on setting 4 and 5 not to run for more than 20 min...
 
i have different style of stove but my manual shows on setting 4 and 5 not to run for more than 20 min...
Make and model of stove, please
 
i have different style of stove but my manual shows on setting 4 and 5 not to run for more than 20 min...
Can you link to the manual?

I just reread mine, and it has a temp sensor that will trip if it reaches 200F. I had my unit on level 4 for a day and a half and it didn't have any issues.
 
Does not matter what my stove make is different stove so different requirements.. The issue with the higher setting stove dependent is over long time use they can warp the firebox of the stove.. Best thing to do if you cannot find it in your manual is contact the manufacturer and ask them direct.. That temp sensor you refer to is probably the POF sensor and kicks your fans in when it reaches 200. The fire in the fire box is over 200 when burning, their will be another sensor that adjusts fan speed dependent on temp of stove
 
From the Manual
AUTOMATIC SAFETY FEATURES A. The stove and insert have a low limit safety switch located on the housing of the exhaust blower. If the exhaust temperatures drop below 120°F (49°C) the unit will shut down and will be required to go through a full start up procedure again. The most common cause for this is an empty hopper. This switch should only be by-passed for testing purposes by a technician. B. The stove and insert have a high limit safety switch located just below the hopper behind the external body panels. If the temperature of this switch reaches 200°F (93°C), the auger will stop feeding fuel and as the exhaust temperatures drop below 120°F (49°C), the unit will shut down. The 200°F (93°C) switch is a manual reset and should only be reset by a service person who can first diagnose the reason for failure. The two most likely causes are Convection Fan failure or High Limit Switch failure. Either one needs to be properly diagnosed and rectified. Since this is a safety switch it should never be by-passed for any reason other than the service technician to test the operation.

200 ::F should not be hot enough to warp a firebox
this switch is in the hottest part of the exhaust
 
Thanks!

I hear mixed results with heating a home with a pellet stove, so I thought I'd give it a try. Knowing that it's safe to run on higher settings, I'll keep it set on the mid setting tonight and see how it fares.

I've been using a mix between Green Team Platinum (got 3 tons from Lowes) and Hardwood Premium Wood Pellets from TSC (I've been picking up about 8 bags a week so I don't exhaust my supply before the season ends) and clean it out every 2 to 3 days, depending on how much ash has accumulated.

I've had it on the mid setting (3), and since my last post, it's going up 2.5 degrees down here, while the temps dropped to ~33F outside, so that makes me warm inside :)
Those Green Team Platinum pellets burn real good! Only hotter pellet I've burnt is Hamer's Hot Ones.
 
Those Green Team Platinum pellets burn real good! Only hotter pellet I've burnt is Hamer's Hot Ones.

Yeah they do pretty good. I don't have any experience with much others than the ones from TSC I've been getting. The first batch was just a white bag and they were kind of meh. These new ones (I forget the name and I'm out of them now) burned really well. I'll be picking more up on Monday hopefully.
 
Looking at the spec sheet of your stove it is a45k btu and when it gets cold you will probably run it on 4/5 most of the time. The vent fans will help, and do you have an open staircase to the basement? If there’s a door I would leave it open
 
Looking at the spec sheet of your stove it is a45k btu and when it gets cold you will probably run it on 4/5 most of the time. The vent fans will help, and do you have an open staircase to the basement? If there’s a door I would leave it open
Yeah, I leave the basement door open (it's open staircase, just a railing and support going up). I did get a vent fan, and yeah, it definitely made a huge difference. I've been running it on 3 on the colder nights (below 30F, coldest it's been has been like 22-23F) and it's been maintaining 68-72 upstairs at the far end of the house.

I asked the person who installed it about the level 4/5 settings, and he said 4 is fine to use long term, 5 only in short amounts. I still plan on calling Regency to get 100% confirmation (not that I want to be running 3-4 bags a day anyway).
 
Hello, that stove appears to be doing a great job, heating 1800 sq ft is prob around the top end of its heating range, so having to run in in higher levels is to be expected. Enviro (Sherwood industries) makes the GF55 for Regency, Its the Meridian with Regency's name on it, a solid performer too. It does sound like its doing its job nicely.
 
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