Heating our 4000sf home with a Harman P68, would like to do it better!

[allbright]

Hello Everyone! I'm new to the site, but have spent the last three years using a P68 to heat our home. I've been admittedly lazy about researching how to do that better. Our home is a 4 year old, large ranch with an exposed walk-out basement. It is roughly 75x35 with 2200sf of finished living space upstairs and 2000sf of unfinished basement. The concrete walls are not insulated, the stud walls are.

We run the P68 set at 77 degrees for room temp, and feed rate at 2.75, only using the included thermostat wire. It runs pretty hard all winter keeping the basement balmy and the main floor at about 67 degrees. It is a very nice 67 degrees compared to FA. We circulate the air with the furnace fan, we've removed the cap on the terminated duct nearest the P68 and it does a great job sending the heat upstairs.

The problem is that we use about 7.5 to 8 tons of pellets during the winter, about 2.5 bags a day. This is saving us money compared to LP, but not as much as I would like. So, I would really appreciate some opinions on how to heat our home more efficiently (if possible). Here are some questions/thoughts I've had in no particular order:

1. If we move the stove to the main floor, can I expect to burn less pellets? What type of improvement would I see?
2. If I put a second stove upstairs, would I use less/same/more pellets overall?
3. Would we use less pellets if we used a real thermostat?
4. If we moved the stove upstairs, will the basement be ice cold/unusable?

Thanks in advance for your thoughts/advice.

-Bob

 

[VTrider]

Sounds like your P68 is located in the basement? If that's the case, congrats on making it work to heat your whole house - There are 'many' forum members who do exactly the same with a similair setup. In reference to 8 tons to heat 2200sf, I think you can definatley improve on that efficiency with a little effort.

To chime in on questions #1 & #2: Since pellet stoves are mainly 'space heaters', you will see a significant change on how you heat your house if you move it upstairs, this will save pellets as well. Alternately, you may use the same amount of fuel if you put a 2nd stove upstairs and keep the P68 downstairs, this may just be split/balanced with the P68 in the basement (it wouldn't have to work so hard).

The thermostat issue is a little more tricky and really depends on your situation & setup. If you located the stat upstairs, It will probably save pellets during the shoulder seasons. You probably run the P68 24/7 during the winter months so a stat most likely wouldn't matter for that time period. As for your basement, every house is different and you just wouldn't want the pipes to freeze, etc. The P68 is a nice looking unit, moving it upstairs would be more effeciennt - you could then just install some type of LP heater in the basement to run at a minimum?

Either way, there are tons of threads/info here on all the topics you mentioned - I'm sure with all the feedback and some thread searching you will be ahead of the game. Welcome to the forums!

 

[Don2222]

Hello

I have a Split Entry Style with a walk out basement. Not quite as large about 1100 sq ft on the main floor and the same in the basement. The basement has no ceiling and no insulation which also helps. Does yours?

What I have done and other people have done, is to add a few registers and ducts to bring the heat up and greatly even out the temperature between the basement and main level.

See my post in this thread:
https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/71518/

Others have even ducted the output of the pellet stove right into the FA return to heat their house quite evenly!

Caution should be used because of the fire codes but there seems to be nothing specific about ducting the output of a pellet stove.

See pic below of 150 Degrees F coming out into my Kitchen and Living room from the pellet stove in basement!
Without a direct ductwork connection I only got 80 Degrees of heat coming up the stairs from the basement

 

[DexterDay]

Up until puttinv a woodstove in our basement this year. We used the Quad to heat our upstairs (2,180 sq ft) only using about 4 ton a yr. Our basment is the same size (2,180 sq) So it sounds like a similar set up.

That said, putting the stove upstairs will reduce consumption a lot. Ours is located in the middle of our 70 ft long Ranch. Heating block and concrete is very in-efficient. Are nasment was chilly, but never had one problem with water lines freezing. We kept the upstairs at a contant 76* ..

If you add another stove, you may use less pellets. But my assumption would be, that you would use the same amount. It would just be split 50/50 (4 ton /4 ton) I would 1st suggest putting it upstairs and seeing how the basement did without heat. Then if needed, you could add a 2nd smaller stove for down there.

The P-68 is a Hog of a heater. But expecting it to heat 4,000 is a lot. I cant believe its heating all of what it is now.

So Yes, your efficiency can vastly be improved. Just have to decide what you want to do.

 

[gbreda]

You will get different ideas on placing/moving the stove. Many here feel that basement placement is the most inefficient way to heat, and for most it probably is. For myself, I wanted the basement heated and have no "good" placement spots upstairs for a larger unit. I may install a smaller unit in the future if $$ allows. But for now, my setup works very well and use minor oil heat in real cold snaps. I use approx 4 ton of pellets per year and 1 tank of oil for hot water and a little heat per winter on a 1600 sf living area upstairs (2 floor modified cape) and an unfinished basement.

If you use the basement and want it heated, then leave the P68 where it is and put in a second unit upstairs. If basement heat is not a necessity, then try moving the unit up to the living area.

IF you leave the P68 in the basement, the biggest help would be insulating the exposed concrete walls. That alone can potentially save approx 1 ton of pellets per year. YMMV. This is my next project after sealing up some cracks.

Also, once the cold weather hits, I use stove temp/manual and a feed rate around 3. This might save you some pellets as well as the stove just maintains it's own temp on a steady basis. Also, keep the stove clean; as in a full cleaning at no more than 2 week intervals in order to save pellet usage.

The P68 is a work horse and will take care of you as long as you take care if it.

Good luck and let us know how you make out.