Hi all, I've recently purchased a 2600 sq ft ranch with a pellet stove in the basement. Realtor claimed PO claimed it would keep the whole house warm all winter. I'm trying to figure out how, and am hoping you can help.. especially since it's -6°F here at the moment.
As I mentioned it's a 2600 sq ft ranch, with a USSC model 6039 (good for 2400 sq ft) in the finished basement. The central heating system is a propane boiler with floor board radiant heat. There are 3 thermostats/zones; 1 for the main floor minus 2 bedrooms, 1 for 2 bedrooms, and 1 for the finished basement. The house also has Central (forced air) air conditioning.
The pellet stove points toward the stairs, which are in the middle of the house. At the top of the stairs is the cold air return.
My thought is that I can run the pellet stove with the central air fan on so it pulls the hot air at the top of the stairs down the cold air return and redistributes throughout the house. Does this logic make sense?
Secondly, I'm thinking that I should just turn the t-stat's way down to prevent the boiler from kicking on at all, and just crank the pellet stove up as necessary or use space heaters to keep the house comfortable? Other idea is to leave the t-stat's at some minimal level so that the boiler can kick on and prevent rooms from getting too cold... but then what's the point of running both the boiler and the stove?
Also, slightly different topic, but does it make sense that I seem to burn through a certain brand of pellets a lot faster than the other brands i've tried, even on the same auger setting?
Finally - so far pellets are way cheaper than corn here...does corn have more btu's per pound? haven't checked soybeans, anybody try those?
Lot's of questions, so I'll break the other two off if they get to be too involved (or I can probably just search the forum)... first question is the most important at this point.
Thanks everybody for your help
As I mentioned it's a 2600 sq ft ranch, with a USSC model 6039 (good for 2400 sq ft) in the finished basement. The central heating system is a propane boiler with floor board radiant heat. There are 3 thermostats/zones; 1 for the main floor minus 2 bedrooms, 1 for 2 bedrooms, and 1 for the finished basement. The house also has Central (forced air) air conditioning.
The pellet stove points toward the stairs, which are in the middle of the house. At the top of the stairs is the cold air return.
My thought is that I can run the pellet stove with the central air fan on so it pulls the hot air at the top of the stairs down the cold air return and redistributes throughout the house. Does this logic make sense?
Secondly, I'm thinking that I should just turn the t-stat's way down to prevent the boiler from kicking on at all, and just crank the pellet stove up as necessary or use space heaters to keep the house comfortable? Other idea is to leave the t-stat's at some minimal level so that the boiler can kick on and prevent rooms from getting too cold... but then what's the point of running both the boiler and the stove?
Also, slightly different topic, but does it make sense that I seem to burn through a certain brand of pellets a lot faster than the other brands i've tried, even on the same auger setting?
Finally - so far pellets are way cheaper than corn here...does corn have more btu's per pound? haven't checked soybeans, anybody try those?
Lot's of questions, so I'll break the other two off if they get to be too involved (or I can probably just search the forum)... first question is the most important at this point.
Thanks everybody for your help