new member looking into pellet stoves

[Xilbus]

Greetings everyone,

My name is Dave and I live in the province of Quebec up in Canada. Im looking into purchasing a Pellet stove or a wood stove to help eat the basement and also as a alternative to heating with the natural gas furnace.

This forum was one of the 1st links that I found when searching and I just wanted to thank everyone here for all the great info.

Im really taking time to research this purchase, from reading up on pellet vs wood to what can I have for when the power goes out (wiseway pellet ) & (yola )

Anyways there are 2 sales stores in my area that have prices from 2000$ up to 5000$ for a pellet stove and install would be 650$ for man power and 500$ for piping.

a wood stove would be around 2200$ and 900 install +1500$ for the piping.

My basement gets really cold in the winter time and I would like for my stove to heat my basement and also help heat up the main floor. I have a small 1100 square foot town home ( row houses)

Again thank you for the great forum on fire places and im enjoying all the reading material here. Also sorry for my English as I am French Canadian.

 

[Lake Girl]

Xilbus, Welcome to the forum! Lots to search and folks will give you more opinions than you can handle! Actually try to narrow down on what function is most important for that stove and how much time/energy you have to spend on this...

Do you have access to wood to cut on your own or purchase? A lot of work cutting and splitting, stacking and hauling... You will need to estimate cord usage and let dry before use to reduce creosote build up in stove and venting. Creosote is the cause of chimney fires...

My preference was pellets as we have been the wood stove and wood boiler route in the past. They still require work to keep clean but, in my opinion, less than a wood stove.

As to heating loss with power loss, we have a small generator that can power the pellet stove. Some stoves have battery back up systems.

Feel free to ask questions ... there are a few other members from Quebec and we've been able to deal with language barriers

 

[chken]

Greetings everyone,

My name is Dave and I live in the province of Quebec up in Canada. Im looking into purchasing a Pellet stove or a wood stove to help eat the basement and also as a alternative to heating with the natural gas furnace.

This forum was one of the 1st links that I found when searching and I just wanted to thank everyone here for all the great info.

Im really taking time to research this purchase, from reading up on pellet vs wood to what can I have for when the power goes out (wiseway pellet ) & (yola )

Anyways there are 2 sales stores in my area that have prices from 2000$ up to 5000$ for a pellet stove and install would be 650$ for man power and 500$ for piping.

a wood stove would be around 2200$ and 900 install +1500$ for the piping.

My basement gets really cold in the winter time and I would like for my stove to heat my basement and also help heat up the main floor. I have a small 1100 square foot town home ( row houses)

Again thank you for the great forum on fire places and im enjoying all the reading material here. Also sorry for my English as I am French Canadian.

I'd get in touch with Pascal Maertens on this forum, he's in Mont Laurier I believe, and is a stove dealer, and extremely helpful.

When you consider wood vs pellet, you also have to consider that the location of the pellet stove may be more flexible than a wood stove given its smaller vent. Having said that basement installs are always tricky, so having an onsite expert will be helpful. Also, wood typically requires more work than pellets.

Anyhow, I highly recommend you send a PM, private message to Pascal and he can probably tell you more than you ever want to know about stoves.

 

[kinsmanstoves]

1.) Make sure you can get fuel.
2.) Dealer support is a must
3.) Think of the pros and cons of both systems.
4.) What is your family going to do to assist in the operation?

Eric

 

[bogieb]

As for your basement, is it insulated? If not, you may not get much heat to the main floor (but some people don't have this problem). Also, if the main floor rooms really cut up the distribution of the air flow, the basement may not be a good choice.

Example: I have 650 sq/ft unfinished basement and a 950 sq/ft main floor in a house that is 24' x 40'. the basement is partially insulated (last winter it was totally un-insulated), and my main floor is very convolute the way the walls sit. Add to that, I have an under-house garage on the far side, which really cools off the bedrooms above. The main air flow is up the stairway, which egresses to one end of my house (the opposite end from the bedrooms). I let myself be talked into one big stove downstairs (Harman p61A - which I love dearly), that theoretically should be able to heat that entire space (downstairs and main) with plenty of power to spare. It did keep the downstairs at 80+ while the upstairs was in the 60's and the bedrooms in the 50's (unless it was really cold and windy - then it was even colder). So, this fall I ended up getting another pellet stove for upstairs in order to get the bedrooms warm enough to use during the winter (last winter I slept on the couch as that was the warmest room). If I had it to do over again, I would have gone with my first instinct, which was to get 2 smaller pellet stoves, one for each level.

However, each house is different. You may have a much more open plan to your house, and you may have better luck getting the heat to rise. Also, if you don't have a garage under 2/5 of your house, then you are less likely to have such cold rooms upstairs. If your stairway egresses to the main floor more to the middle of the house, that would most likely make a difference too.

Unfortunately, there are so many variables, that it is hard for us to say whether a basement install is good for you or not. I just explained my circumstances in order to get you thinking about air flow, external influences and other factors. Good luck in making your choice!

 

[hossthehermit]

I have a small 1100 square foot town home ( row houses).

Not real sure what a town home or row house is, but if neighbors are real close, make sure you're going to be able to burn solid fuel, don't know the regs, codes, etc. there, but make sure you can use it before you buy and install. Also run it by your insurance guy...........

 

[kinsmanstoves]

Someone always messing up the fun by "run it by your insurance guy". So much for that stove.

 

[hossthehermit]

Sorry ...............................