Heating options for porch !

[Hiskid]

I enclosed the porch of our 5K fixed up retirement home. Last year the park eliminated wood stoves because of one homeowner who smoked out the whole park. He tentatively okayed a corn/pellet option with the requirement that if he gets complaints it goes. I switched to propane last year and installed a 95+ furnace. I kept the house at 70 but we were both cold and would love to have a coal/wood stove but not happening here.

The porch I fixed up has Florida windows and a screen door. I was able to put r-13 in the walls and ceiling which will be finished wit a drop ceiling. By 10 or after it gets to 80 and up but cools when the sun goes down as no heat is there. I would love to sit by a warm stove and let the heat in the house. Do pellets stoves get warm. I have a 20k blue flame in the LR for back-up when the power is lost. I'm retied on a fixed income so I would like to get the best money spent route. Corn/pellet or another blue flame. I pay $2-3 per gallon of propane and used $400-500 last year in a somewhat mild winter. Give an old timer some advice..The one pic is the back wall. I would like to put the stove in the outside corner of the back wall so the direct vent is hidden. The other pic shows how far the other homes are away

 

[DneprDave]

I heat a 400 sqft enclosed porch with an old Whitfield pellet stove I bought on Craig's list. It reduce my fuel oil consumption by half. I leave the sliding glass doors to the porch open so the heat from the porch can get into the house.

 

[Deezl Smoke]

Pellet stoves do have some warmth to them, but not at all like a wood stove. Which, I guess would be why they can have so little space from walls etc.

If you do a good job running the stove using good quality pellets and adjust the settings properly etc., I'd bet no one would even know you had it unless they saw you install it.

 

[alternativeheat]

Pellet stoves smoke a little on start up ( nothing even close to a wood stove, it's a trailing wisp of smoke for 10 ft or so depending on the stove and pellets) and down drafts will give a faint smell of wood fire in the air once running steady. But I think that would be dissipated by the time it hits your yards perimeter. While under way there is no visible smoke from a pellet stove. Same for a coal stoker stove, you see virtually nothing but heat waves coming out the stack on a really cold day from any anthracite burning coal stove. And I believe you can light coal with starter gel, you don't have to use a wood fire to ignite it, least not with a stoker stove.

You also could put a gas stove out there, they have gas fired stoves that look just like wood or pellet stoves and have conversions for propane gas vs natural gas. They also give off a lot of radiant heat, most pellet stoves give up the most heat by blower. A few models give some radiant heat.

 

[sportbikerider78]

You're in PA...a small rice coal stove might be the ticket!

 

[Seasoned Oak]

Is there a ban on coal stoves too? No smoke at all from them. And they can be direct vent. That is your most cost efficient option . You wouldn't need to burn any propane at all.

 

[rich2500]

Do you plan to heat the porch all the time or just when your gonna be out there and what for door or doors do you have that go into the house.

 

[Hiskid]

Thanks for at the comments. The porch is 20 x 9 and the ceiling goes from 8-9.5 ft. I would like to heat it during the winter. I thought about covering the inside Florida windows with the inside storm window plastic that you finish with a hair dryer. I wasn't sure about coal smoke/odor although I grew up tending a coal motorstoker and inhaled a lot of coal and ash dust. The coal was like a 1/2 or so pieces. The flue went into a chimney so I never noticed the smoke or particulate matter. I,m trying not to go over $1500 so that might limit me. I imagine the propane woodstove like stoves are very inefficient. This is less than a mile away:

(broken link removed to https://harrisburg.craigslist.org/for/d/summers-heat-pellet-stove/6320478779.html)

Nice but a too big:

(broken link removed to https://harrisburg.craigslist.org/hsh/d/alaska-coal-stove/6313067347.html)

 

[Seasoned Oak]

There is no smoke while burning anthracite coal. And no more dust and dirt from coal than there is from wood. As with any solid fuel heater there is some cleanup Req. Pellets are about 50 to 100 % more expensive then coal depending on what you pay for coal. In central PA both delivered coal and(undelivered) pellets are about the same price per ton but there is 50% more heat (BTUs) in the coal per ton then the pellets. IF you get your own coal its about $160 per ton vs the need for 1.5 Ton of pellets for $300 ($200) per ton. Or almost twice the price.

 

[Hiskid]

I did find a direct vent coal stove on c-list but it was a behemoth and appeared to be rusty. I did find new ones but they were $$$. I'd have to go the bag route either way.

 

[Seasoned Oak]

I did find a direct vent coal stove on c-list but it was a behemoth and appeared to be rusty. I did find new ones but they were $$$. I'd have to go the bag route either way.

I bought a new alaskan stoker stove for $1500 about 2 yrs ago ,also have an old one i paid $200 for but its rusted up pretty bad ,about 25 yrs old at least.
Your situation may be perfect for a wood pellet stove.

 

[Hiskid]

I have contacted the guy in the first link. Lowe's has the Summers heat version. new for $1100. There are two others around for $400 and 275. I'm sure he will negotiate. Is it possible to vent straight out in a hood. It recommends an up and out. Antone hook a thermostat to this model ?

 

[SeanBB]

For a small room that will only need heat when you are in it you might consider an infrared panel heater. Depending on the cost of electricity where you are it should be cheaper than propane and they are easy to install and require no maintenance.
When considering any wood/pellet/coal stove remember to take into account the cost of the flue. They are often more expensive than the stove.

 

[Seasoned Oak]

For a small room that will only need heat when you are in it you might consider an infrared panel heater.

Yes these are great heaters for quick intermittant heat,i have one in each of my bathrooms ,but this guy wants the heat to spill into the house to offset his propane heat which he says leave the house cold anyway . THe great thing about wood or coal is they are always 'ON" even if there is no call for heat. Most every other kind of heating appliance is either on or off. And of course since the house is always losing heat they cycle frequently. The more leaky a house is the more it benefits from a stove giving constant heat.