how much space harman p68 actually heat?

[nh-jjyy]

hi guys,

I got a new p68 and installed through the chimney the blue arrow is where the pellet stove is, I don't like to drill a hole in the wall.

I know my house layout is very strange and it really surprised me how much space this thing actually heat. 2700 sqt on the main floor and 8 ft high on the kitchen/living room, I think it is around 650 sqt in total , and 10 ft high for the dining room around 550 sqt in total, the master bedroom is cathedral ceiling like 11-12 high. basement is also finished and insulated.

I live in NH and it is like 30-40 degrees outside recently and I used 2 bags of pellets a day now, it set room temperature and set at 80, but I put a thermometer in the kitchen island, which is just like 20 ft away and opposite to the stove. I marked at No 1 and it is 74 degrees here, the next room No 2 is 70-71 when I put a fan in the hallway ,which is the blue Mark o, fan. it was 68 if I didn't put the fan on. Then No 3 and No 4 is 59-60 degrees. if I left the room 5 and 6 doors closed, they feel like low 50s but when I open the door, the temperature is around 55. The basement remains 54 somehow but I don't see the propane furnace kicked in at all.

is there anyway I can heat up the bedrooms to 65 degrees so we can comfortable to sleep? the big wall between dining room and living room is going down some days soon but the contractor is not responding my message now.....

 

[johneh]

You are asking a lot out of one space heater
A pellet stove any stove is for heating a space
it is not a whole-house central furnace
You can try fans moving air towards the stove
Remember the max output of your stove is approx
60thousand BTU whereas a furnace is at least
twice that for the space you want to heat if sized right

 

[nh-jjyy]

You are asking a lot out of one space heater
A pellet stove any stove is for heating a space
it is not a whole-house central furnace
You can try fans moving air towards the stove
Remember the max output of your stove is approx
60thousand BTU whereas a furnace is at least
twice that for the space you want to heat if sized right

hi John,

the store said P68 can heat up to 2800 sqt it is the same size as my main floor and I am not expecting it to heat the basement at all. I just want to increase the bedroom temperature a little bit higher, it is like 50-60 , too old to sleep

 

[johneh]

up to 2800 sqt

Is that a 2800 sq. ft 1970es home or a tight 2800 sq. ft 2022 home?

 

[Mt Bob]

See that wall,where your #2 is? Inline with hallway? Cut 2 holes, about 1' square or more, one near ceiling, one near floor. Then you have created a circulation path /loop for air. Room to room fans in openings would work even better.
Now I tell you this from a logical point of view, but you have things to consider, insurance, your ability to do such,etc. I doubt insurance would be a problem. BUT, looking at your floor plan, it looks like a supporting wall, and to remove the whole thing may get expensive and time consuming. Any little contractor could give you those 2 openings.

 

[tlc1976]

I would get electric blankets for the beds, until you can get that wall torn down.

I remember the thread from earlier and it was agreed that taking that wall down would make a big difference. Right now you’re trying to force the heat for the bulk of the house through that door, meanwhile the cold air from the bulk of the house has to return through that door as well. That’s a horrible bottleneck.

Also, wall or no wall, the bedrooms won’t get heat if the doors are closed. I never close mine. And even still, it’s typically 75 at the stove (in one corner of the house), 70 at the house center, and 65 in the bedroom (at the opposite corner of the house). I’m good with that.

Yes the stove might be half the BTU of a furnace, but a furnace runs intermittently, where the stove runs continuously as long as it’s winter temps outside. A furnace is also sized to warm up the house quickly, a stove won’t do that, it’s slow and steady. The stove should do well in an open area and if the temperature can be kept up.

 

[nh-jjyy]

See that wall,where your #2 is? Inline with hallway? Cut 2 holes, about 1' square or more, one near ceiling, one near floor. Then you have created a circulation path /loop for air. Room to room fans in openings would work even better.
Now I tell you this from a logical point of view, but you have things to consider, insurance, your ability to do such,etc. I doubt insurance would be a problem. BUT, looking at your floor plan, it looks like a supporting wall, and to remove the whole thing may get expensive and time consuming. Any little contractor could give you those 2 openixgfdsa132Q

 

[mtnbiker727]

What settings are you running the stove on? If it's on Auto, it's no better than forced hot air furnace. If you put it on manual ignition, the stove will get hot and give off a lot more ambient heat.

You already identified the problem, either that wall has to come out, or you move the stove into the dining room. If you're already using 2 bags a day, you'll really be burning them when winter finally gets here.

 

[bogieb]

There is basically no way you are going to heat those bedrooms to the temps you want in the current configuration with a pellet stove. We already discussed that in your previous thread. I'm unsure why you thought you would have different results.

Stove shops and spec sheets are always optimistic - and they only take into account optimal configuration - like, sure, it will heat 1 big room of 2800 sq/ft with 7-8' ceilings and being fairly tight.

 

[Copakekid]

I live in an old 2 story farmhouse poorly insulated in the old part of the house( dead air space in the walls).
I have had a Harman P61A for 12 years. I use those small doorway fans in the top of 3 doorways to move the heat to farther into the house.
As stated before the room where the stove is, is the warmest, and the temperature drops in each room from there. Leaving the stove at a steady temperature helps. In the kitchen which is the farthest away from the stove, we use one of those electric heaters that look like a fireplace, to warm things up if it's cold out there, then shut it off when it warms up.
Upstairs where very little heat from the stove travels, we leave the furnace thermostat set at 62 or 63 and use one of those small Amish heaters in our bedroom.
I know you are trying to get away from Propane, but I found I still need to use my furnace to some degree and short of putting additional pellet stoves in my house, that's what I have to do.
Living in a ranch house, small heaters in the bedroom at night might work for you.

 

[stvigi1960]

My home is 1800sqft cape with the pellet stove (Harmon Abdolute 43) sitting at one end in the addition. In my case I had to get innovated and built a 6ft ducted fan that goes from the doorway to the addition into the kitchen.

I use a room fan in the living room and a 2nd in the dinning room. We heat the 2nd floor when needed by turning.on the furnace fan for about 15 minutes each hour. The ducted fan consisted of 2 toddler tunnels and a circular fan at the addition end. Total cost around $50. It is mounted to the veiling by wire so that it can come down in the spring. No appreciable change in electric bill. Remote thermostat is about 30 ft away from the stove next to the furnace thermostat. 1st floor runs around 70, 2nd floor at 65, addition at 80. You just need to think out of the box. My Rude Goldberg fan my not win a prize, but I estimate around $2000 in savings over oil heat.N

 

[nh-jjyy]

There is basically no way you are going to heat those bedrooms to the temps you want in the current configuration with a pellet stove. We already discussed that in your previous thread. I'm unsure why you thought you would have different results.

Stove shops and spec sheets are always optimistic - and they only take into account optimal configuration - like, sure, it will heat 1 big room of 2800 sq/ft with 7-8' ceilings and being fairly tight.

thank you, I just try to find a way to heat up the bedrooms now. I am very happy with the rest already.

The nest thermostat is on the big wall of the dining room so the furnace won't kick in until I set the nest over 72 degrees but when the nest is 72 degrees, the bedrooms are like 80s....... I guess because the bedrooms are closer to the furnace duct underneath? and it is said the 2 110kbt furnaces were replaced in 2018 and additional duct work has been done back then.

I haven't figured out how to deal that problem yet, so I was hoping to rely on pellet stove more

 

[nh-jjyy]

What settings are you running the stove on? If it's on Auto, it's no better than forced hot air furnace. If you put it on manual ignition, the stove will get hot and give off a lot more ambient heat.

You already identified the problem, either that wall has to come out, or you move the stove into the dining room. If you're already using 2 bags a day, you'll really be burning them when winter finally gets here.

the wall is coming out for sure. that is why I am not moving the stove now. thank you for the advice to the manual ignition, we both work from home and it seems the stove never shut off and always running on the auto ignition to keep the temperature we set.

 

[nh-jjyy]

My home is 1800sqft cape with the pellet stove (Harmon Abdolute 43) sitting at one end in the addition. In my case I had to get innovated and built a 6ft ducted fan that goes from the doorway to the addition into the kitchen.

View attachment 305430View attachment 305431

I use a room fan in the living room and a 2nd in the dinning room. We heat the 2nd floor when needed by turning.on the furnace fan for about 15 minutes each hour. The ducted fan consisted of 2 toddler tunnels and a circular fan at the addition end. Total cost around $50. It is mounted to the veiling by wire so that it can come down in the spring. No appreciable change in electric bill. Remote thermostat is about 30 ft away from the stove next to the furnace thermostat. 1st floor runs around 70, 2nd floor at 65, addition at 80. You just need to think out of the box. My Rude Goldberg fan my not win a prize, but I estimate around $2000 in savings over oil heat.N

thank you, you are so clever adding the ducted fan.

I might have the same issue with the existed duct. The nest thermostat is on the big wall of the dining room so the furnace won't kick in until I set the nest over 72 degrees but when the nest is 72 degrees, the bedrooms are like 80s....... I guess because the bedrooms are closer to the furnace duct underneath? and it is said the 2 110kbt furnaces were replaced in 2018 and additional duct work has been done back then.

Right now I just want to figure out a way to solve the bedroom heating problem, they are either too old （ No furnace kicked in ）or too hot （ with furnace running）

 

[stvigi1960]

Remember tp put your fans as close to the ceiling as you can. When I started experimenting I had my fans on the floor and ended up with the stove room in the high 80s and the rest of the house in the high 60s. Moving the fans to the ceiling made quite a difference. Also if you have a ceiling fan in the stove room have it set to clockwise rotation to get the hot air father down. You lost me on the keeping your furnace thermostat at 72, I keep mine at 65 and it's used only after shutting the stove off at night when going to bed (the wife does not like having the stove running when we're asleep). Pellet stove runs from 5:30AM to around 11pm, with the furnace kicking in from 1am to 6am. You can also run just your Furnace fan for around 15 minutes each hour to get the rooms to equalize (furnace man said no problem with just the fan running).

I'm on the MA/RI boarder so our running conditions are simular, though you may get lower in temperature than I.

Good luck

 

[nh-jjyy]

Remember tp put your fans as close to the ceiling as you can. When I started experimenting I had my fans on the floor and ended up with the stove room in the high 80s and the rest of the house in the high 60s. Moving the fans to the ceiling made quite a difference. Also if you have a ceiling fan in the stove room have it set to clockwise rotation to get the hot air father down. You lost me on the keeping your furnace thermostat at 72, I keep mine at 65 and it's used only after shutting the stove off at night when going to bed (the wife does not like having the stove running when we're asleep). Pellet stove runs from 5:30AM to around 11pm, with the furnace kicking in from 1am to 6am. You can also run just your Furnace fan for around 15 minutes each hour to get the rooms to equalize (furnace man said no problem with just the fan running).

I'm on the MA/RI boarder so our running conditions are simular, though you may get lower in temperature than I.

Good luck

thank you I will try if I can add a ceiling fan, we only have one ceiling fan in the master bedroom which is strange.....

the pellet stove is on 24 hours that is why the dining room temperature would stay 69-71 degrees and the nest thermostat which controls the furnace is on the big wall between stove room and dining room. I tried to run just the furnace fan and all the cold air from the basement came to the main floor......

 

[stvigi1960]

What type of house do you have (raised ranch, split ,ect)?

 

[nh-jjyy]

What type of house do you have (raised ranch, split ,ect)?

it is a ranch house, with full finished walk out basement...

 

[stvigi1960]

If your worried about your pipes in the cellar freezing. Being a below ground cellar I would guess you will never go below 50 (at least my cape doesn't), and could probably close off your cellar furnace vents to allow you to run your furnace fan to distribute heat on your first floor. the purchase of some cheep thermometers from the hardware store could prove this. If you do use your cellar on a daily basis then you may have to look into a small stove.

 

[nh-jjyy]

If your worried about your pipes in the cellar freezing. Being a below ground cellar I would guess you will never go below 50 (at least my cape doesn't), and could probably close off your cellar furnace vents to allow you to run your furnace fan to distribute heat on your first floor. the purchase of some cheep thermometers from the hardware store could prove this. If you do use your cellar on a daily basis then you may have to look into a small stove.

thank you I might just want another stove but the pellets are so expensive now, I got at 409 per ton+ one time $65 garage delivery fee