looking for opinion/advice degerming size of pellet stove for supplemental heat

[nkasala]

looking to determine witch pellet stove i should add to my basement, right now i am between Harmon Accentra, XXV, P63 or Quad fire Mt Vernon

last winter i tried to heat my house with just Hearthstone Heritage (only alternative for me is currently electric Baseboard $$$), it did a decent job but heat failed to get to rooms on the further side of the house (we were fine with the rooms being cold but had a son in June so now we need to heat at least one of the rooms) and obviously Basement was just above freezing to prevent pipes freezing (added a gym this summer so will also need heat down there). my house is around 1900 square feet not including Basement, however we have 18foot cathedral ceilings in the main living area as well as up on the loft where out bedroom is, lots of volume. so im looking to add a pellet stove to the basement to help with heating the rooms and keeping up with all the house volume on those bitter days. the stairs to the basement are located next to the doors for the rooms, looking for ideas on what size pellet stove i would need, again thinking between the Harmon Accentra, XXV, P63 or Quad fire Mt Vernon.

added some phots for context of home layout

 

[johneh]

Of those choices, I would go with a Harman P63
more heat for the heating dollar.

 

[ABusWrench]

Either a Harman P68 or an Enviro Maxx. Then figure out how to move the heat around.

 

[bogieb]

It really depends on size of basement, whether it is insulated, and how well heat actually rises up the stairs.

I have a P61A in the 600 sq/ft basement (1st pellet stove), and it heated the uninsulated basement well. However, heat does not rise well in my house, so the main floor was not as warm as I would have liked - even with the basement in the high 80's. That has everything to do with the house dynamics and nothing to do with the capability of the stove. After one winter of that, I put smaller stove on the main floor (960 sq/ft) and everything was hunky dory after that. A couple of years later I insulated the basement's cinderblock walls, and put in a floating floor, and made a world of difference on how many pellets I used. I did not insulate the ceiling and get somewhat warmed up floors.

Even with the stairway next to the rooms you want heated, you may need ways to move the heat down that hallway. Small fans may help, set to blow cool air out (although, that really depends on house dynamics - that didn't work well for rooms situated above my under-house garage). You may have to experiment to find the right combination. Of course, you may not have any issues at all, it's very house dynamic dependant.

Anyway, the P61a would seem to fit the bill for your goals very well.

 

[zrock]

Move your current to the basement and just keep it running on a low flame and put the biggest you can get in its place in the living room, make sure that ceiling fan is running as all the heat is going to go up into that ceiling.

 

[nkasala]

It really depends on size of basement, whether it is insulated, and how well heat actually rises up the stairs.

I have a P61A in the 600 sq/ft basement (1st pellet stove), and it heated the uninsulated basement well. However, heat does not rise well in my house, so the main floor was not as warm as I would have liked - even with the basement in the high 80's. That has everything to do with the house dynamics and nothing to do with the capability of the stove. After one winter of that, I put smaller stove on the main floor (960 sq/ft) and everything was hunky dory after that. A couple of years later I insulated the basement's cinderblock walls, and put in a floating floor, and made a world of difference on how many pellets I used. I did not insulate the ceiling and get somewhat warmed up floors.

Even with the stairway next to the rooms you want heated, you may need ways to move the heat down that hallway. Small fans may help, set to blow cool air out (although, that really depends on house dynamics - that didn't work well for rooms situated above my under-house garage). You may have to experiment to find the right combination. Of course, you may not have any issues at all, it's very house dynamic dependant.

Anyway, the P61a would seem to fit the bill for your goals very well.

Thanks for the input, basment is finished

It really depends on size of basement, whether it is insulated, and how well heat actually rises up the stairs.

I have a P61A in the 600 sq/ft basement (1st pellet stove), and it heated the uninsulated basement well. However, heat does not rise well in my house, so the main floor was not as warm as I would have liked - even with the basement in the high 80's. That has everything to do with the house dynamics and nothing to do with the capability of the stove. After one winter of that, I put smaller stove on the main floor (960 sq/ft) and everything was hunky dory after that. A couple of years later I insulated the basement's cinderblock walls, and put in a floating floor, and made a world of difference on how many pellets I used. I did not insulate the ceiling and get somewhat warmed up floors.

Even with the stairway next to the rooms you want heated, you may need ways to move the heat down that hallway. Small fans may help, set to blow cool air out (although, that really depends on house dynamics - that didn't work well for rooms situated above my under-house garage). You may have to experiment to find the right combination. Of course, you may not have any issues at all, it's very house dynamic dependant.

Anyway, the P61a would seem to fit the bill for your goals very well.

Basement is finished/insulated and is around 1200 square feet, my only thought was the the low end of the p61 would be to much heat at 20K BTU, i will also be relying heavily on this stove during shoulder season when wood stove is not firring

 

[nkasala]

Move your current to the basement and just keep it running on a low flame and put the biggest you can get in its place in the living room, make sure that ceiling fan is running as all the heat is going to go up into that ceiling.

currently a have a wood stove on the main floor, and it puts out allot of heat, would also be nearly impossible to run the flue from my basement for a wood stove due to configuration of my house

 

[nkasala]

currently a have a wood stove on the main floor, and it puts out allot of heat, would also be nearly impossible to run the flue from my basement for a wood stove due to configuration of my house

partially why i was thinking the P61 might be overkill, the low fire on the XXV is 14K compared to 20K BTU on the P61