New to me Log Home....Questions inside Pellet Boiler, Furnace, Covert p61 with Crosslink?

[jo2fst4u]

I just bought a log Home. it 3,483 SQ Feet top to bottom. 4 beds 3 baths. I have been heating with a Harman P61 for the last few years in an old Farm house it work ok. I am looking to get a new Pellet system to cutback the Propane cost in the new home.

Any info on this? and do's and Dont's

What the take on Crosslink kits?

One problem I have seen with the Pellet furnaces and Boilers they need chimneys. My house was built in 2005 and don't have a Chimney. SO I need one that will use the Pellet 4" pipe

I like the Harman hydro60 and was told I can use 4" pipe out the side.


Thanks!
Jeff

 

[Bioburner]

Sounds like you have a good choice in keeping propain use to a minimum with the Hydro. 3500 sq ft is a chunk of real estate to heat.

 

[chken]

I just bought a log Home. it 3,483 SQ Feet top to bottom. 4 beds 3 baths. I have been heating with a Harman P61 for the last few years in an old Farm house it work ok. I am looking to get a new Pellet system to cutback the Propane cost in the new home.

Any info on this? and do's and Dont's

What the take on Crosslink kits?

One problem I have seen with the Pellet furnaces and Boilers they need chimneys. My house was built in 2005 and don't have a Chimney. SO I need one that will use the Pellet 4" pipe

I like the Harman hydro60 and was told I can use 4" pipe out the side.

Thanks!
Jeff

I was looking at the manual of the HF60 the other day, and it says to use only 3", not 4" due to low exhaust temps.

 

[hyfire]

A few members have went with a windhager biown pellet boilers, this is the way to go with the size of that house....Not sure if you have rads in the house...

 

[DZL_Damon]

Pellet boilers do not need chimneys. My Kedel is all set up to power vent with its own changeable settings throughout the firing range. Froling and Harman are direct vent, and possibly the Windhager. If not, you can power vent that too I hear.

I'll be power venting a Kedel at my grandmothers this summer hopefully.

 

[chken]

Pellet boilers do not need chimneys. My Kedel is all set up to power vent with its own changeable settings throughout the firing range. Froling and Harman are direct vent, and possibly the Windhager. If not, you can power vent that too I hear.

I'll be power venting a Kedel at my grandmothers this summer hopefully.

When I was at Revision Heat on Monday, the sales rep told me that direct venting the Kedel is difficult and problematic. When I told them I wanted to pipe my existing Buderus boiler in serial, which would mean keeping my flue for the Buderus, and direct venting the Kedel, they did not seem very thrilled.

 

[DZL_Damon]

When I was at Revision Heat on Monday, the sales rep told me that direct venting the Kedel is difficult and problematic. When I told them I wanted to pipe my existing Buderus boiler in serial, which would mean keeping my flue for the Buderus, and direct venting the Kedel, they did not seem very thrilled.

Wow, I had not heard that! That's quite unfortunate. I know the unit in the trailer that I've seen twice was power vented and I THINK the 102mbtu unit at their shop is power vented, but it might be a metalspestos chimney.

 

[chken]

Wow, I had not heard that! That's quite unfortunate. I know the unit in the trailer that I've seen twice was power vented and I THINK the 102mbtu unit at their shop is power vented, but it might be a metalspestos chimney.

Well, they didn't say it was impossible, but they sure liked the idea of just replacing my Buderus and using its flue. Come to think of it, they had a Kedel running and from the inside it didn't look like it was vented into a chimney. I actually tried to look out the window, but couldn't see that oblique an angle. I tried to remember to drive my car around to see what they had on the outside, but forgot to look.

 

[DZL_Damon]

Well, they didn't say it was impossible, but they sure liked the idea of just replacing my Buderus and using its flue. Come to think of it, they had a Kedel running and from the inside it didn't look like it was vented into a chimney. I actually tried to look out the window, but couldn't see that oblique an angle. I tried to remember to drive my car around to see what they had on the outside, but forgot to look.

hmmm... those guys are quite committed to a mentality and cause going on at that shop it seems. The side of their trucks say "the journey off oil" or something like that. I remember them pushing me pretty hard to "convince me" to remove my oil boiler all together... why? It cost's me nothing to occupy 6 sq.ft of floor space in a useless room of my house, and is free assurance for heat in case something happens. Also, my insurance company would not cover me unless I had 3 tons of automatic delivery set up. I have read several others on here that were a little annoyed with the same conversation and were glad they stuck to their gut later for insurance purposes.

I'm wondering if their alternative motive (all though it's well intended) is why they suggested no direct venting to you so you would remove your oil boiler and just use the flue? I think it's completely foolish to remove a perfectly good working set up that is reliable if you can afford the space. Heck, if I build a new house soon I might buy a cheap $300 used oil boiler for extra assurance there too.

Finally, the new pellet boiler rebate program in Maine has 2 options to receive the rebate:

A.) have 2 weeks worth of fuel (estimated about 1 ton they say) with automatic delivery. Enough to heat the house for 2 weeks at 50*F or more.
or
B.) have at least 500 lbs of pellet capacity AND automatic back up of oil/propane to the pellet system if it runs out of pellets... enough to also heat the house for 2 weeks and keep it at 50*F or better.

Buying their "Weekender" system with the 700lbs hopper qualifies for this, but only IF you leave your old boiler in place and set it up to take over automatically. I did this with a free aquastat scavenged from some used Modine heater I bought and a $17, 10 minute 24vac timer. If there is a call for heat, it checks the pellet boilers aquastat.... if the pellet boiler is <140*F it goes to the timer and starts timing. If the pellet boiler warms up, the oil boiler does not start. If after 10 minutes the contacts are still closed on the aquastat (pellet boiler is still <140*F), the oil boiler starts.

 

[chken]

hmmm... those guys are quite committed to a mentality and cause going on at that shop it seems. The side of their trucks say "the journey off oil" or something like that. I remember them pushing me pretty hard to "convince me" to remove my oil boiler all together... why? It cost's me nothing to occupy 6 sq.ft of floor space in a useless room of my house, and is free assurance for heat in case something happens. Also, my insurance company would not cover me unless I had 3 tons of automatic delivery set up. I have read several others on here that were a little annoyed with the same conversation and were glad they stuck to their gut later for insurance purposes.

I'm wondering if their alternative motive (all though it's well intended) is why they suggested no direct venting to you so you would remove your oil boiler and just use the flue? I think it's completely foolish to remove a perfectly good working set up that is reliable if you can afford the space. Heck, if I build a new house soon I might buy a cheap $300 used oil boiler for extra assurance there too.

Finally, the new pellet boiler rebate program in Maine has 2 options to receive the rebate:

A.) have 2 weeks worth of fuel (estimated about 1 ton they say) with automatic delivery. Enough to heat the house for 2 weeks at 50*F or more.
or
B.) have at least 500 lbs of pellet capacity AND automatic back up of oil/propane to the pellet system if it runs out of pellets... enough to also heat the house for 2 weeks and keep it at 50*F or better.

Buying their "Weekender" system with the 700lbs hopper qualifies for this, but only IF you leave your old boiler in place and set it up to take over automatically. I did this with a free aquastat scavenged from some used Modine heater I bought and a $17, 10 minute 24vac timer. If there is a call for heat, it checks the pellet boilers aquastat.... if the pellet boiler is <140*F it goes to the timer and starts timing. If the pellet boiler warms up, the oil boiler does not start. If after 10 minutes the contacts are still closed on the aquastat (pellet boiler is still <140*F), the oil boiler starts.

Good to know to be a little skeptical. I did mention to them the EM rebate, and that I was wondering about whether a serial setup in order to meet the 2 week requirement would work, if I couldn't afford to buy a several ton pellet bag initially. Interestingly, they said that that might work, and that they were surprised at some of the setups that did qualify.