New to pellet stoves, couple questions

[xandrew4507x]

Hello everyone, I finally broke down and spent the money on a pellet stove, I think this is going to be a great decision in the long run. I have a couple questions I would like answered before my stove arrives.

1. I was looking through the manual and it says an outside air kit is optional. From what I understand, if the house is to air tight it may affect the burn quality of the stove. I know my house isn't very air tight, it was built in 1959, so its older. Question is, should I installed an outside air kit or go without one. Benefits to both?

2. Location. I have a 900 sq ft finished basement that is completely below grade, averages about 55-65 in the winter depending on how cold it is. I have 1200 sq ft upstairs, fairly open floor plan, with an open stair well. There are pros and cons to doing it this way.
Pros: Much easier and cheaper to install, I can drill a hole myself and vent through the top of the basement wall.
Would heat both my finished basement and upstairs.
Possibly allow more even heating if I add some vents in the basement up to the far end of the house
Possibility of storing bulk, unbagged pellets in my basement, all the mess stays in the unfinished part of my basement, and can keep bags of pellets near stove.

Cons: The stove in 45,000 btu, I'm concerned that it wouldn't be enough to heat both floors, I know most of the heat would rise upstairs, and would basically more or less be heating one floor, at least in theory that how I see it, could be wrong.
Possibly burn through more pellets trying to heat both floors when not necessary.

Second install possibility. My living room has a fireplace, the stove would sit in front of the fire place and be vented up through the existing chimney.

Pros: I know that the stove is plenty enough to heat my main floor.
The living room would be nice and warm, where we spend a lot of our time.
The bedrooms are directly adjacent to the living room, just a hallway separates them.
Would add a nice ambiance to the living room having a stove, would actually make my fireplace functional.

Cons: Cant store bags of pellets near the stove.
Possibly noisy when trying to watch tv or listen to music
finished basement will not be heated, will have to find an alternative to heat it.
no options of bulk pellet storage near the stove.
Costly to install vent and air intake pipe the whole way through the chimney
Harder to install.

I would just like to hear what you guys have to say on the topic. I had talked to a guy the other day whos house was double the size of mine and he said the stove I bought would heat my basement and main floor with no trouble at all.

 

[apandori]

I did a basement install. With your square footage depending on windows and insulation it could be tough on the stove. What kind of stove is it? You'll hear 50 different opinions on OAK. In my mind the science makes sense to use one so I'm pro OAK.

 

[xandrew4507x]

I bought a drolet, 45,000 btu. My house is a ranch house, brick exterior, insulated attic. It seems pretty well insulated, I can flip on a space heater in my living room and it will heat the living room to 75 no problem and you can feel the heat in the dining room and kitchen. All of the rooms have 2 normal sized windows which were upgraded recently. The living room has a large bay window. In all honesty I would rather do the basement install, the stove hasn't even shipped yet, so there is still the possibility of going to the large 65,000 btu stove, but that is also an extra $500.

 

[apandori]

45000 BTU means it's rated for 2200 sq ft I'm guessing? Finished basement so you won't be competing with the basement walls. Newer windows. I say go for it in the basement. Just be careful with your EVL for the install.

 

[xandrew4507x]

It says its heating capacity is 2,000 sq ft, but I am going to be heating 2100 sq ft, in which 900 are underground basement walls which have very little heat loss. I could do a basement install and if worse comes to worse I can always either move it upstairs, or find a cheaper used one to run as well upstairs to help make up for it. Either way it won't be that big of a deal if it can't keep up. I don't think I will use all that much more pellets either, which was a concern of mine. What do you mean by evl?

 

[Gabor129]

I am planing to get the same stove! My house is similar footprint to yours! I am going with a basement install! No upstairs install option. I also will install an OAK since I recently upgraded my insulation of the whole house! Check out my thread and the answers I got for very similar questions! Well after we cleared up that I only have one floor above the basement!

 

[apandori]

EVL - Equivalent Vent Length

 

[xandrew4507x]

Thanks for the reply! Seeing from your thread responses I don't think its going to be a good idea for me to do a basement install, we spend most of our time upstairs, especially in the winter. I think I will just go with installing in the living room upstairs, and use a ventless propane heater for downstairs when we want to be down there. Maybe by the end of the year I could afford to buy a used pellet stove to throw in the basement to use when we are down there.

 

[Gabor129]

The only problem with the install in the existing chimney is the price of the install!

 

[xandrew4507x]

Yeah, i'm looking at a good bit of money in material.

 

[shtrdave]

I don't know much about stoves, but just reading this, you are thinking of putting it in the basement and if it isn't big enough looking for a second one for upstairs, but you can get a bigger stove for 500.00 now. For my that is a no brainer if I am in anyway concerned about the 45K unit not being large enough.

I am looking at worst case here, you know there is a larger expense to putting the stove upstairs so if you need to buy a second one you will still have that expense plus the cost of the stove and the upkeep on 2 stoves 2 piles of pellets.

I would look hard at the upgrade to the larger unit, and go that way with the basement install, the money laid out now is a lot less than if you have to lay it out to later.

Just my opinion

 

[xandrew4507x]

In theory that would make more sense, but from what I have read is that the heat is pretty hard to get moved upstairs when using a pellet stove, also the additional fuel I will be burning, I just don't see it being worthwhile.

I would rather just put it upstairs and heat the main floor where we spent most of our time, for now I will just use a ventless propane heater in the basement when we are using it, maybe in the future add another pellet stove down there.

The basement pellet stove would only be ran when we plan on using the basement, maybe once or twice a week. I think this would be the better way to go. If I knew for sure I wouldn't have a problem getting the heat upstairs I would jump on the large stove right now.

 

[pell it]

Just sharing my personal experience, your situation may vary. We have a 1900 sq foot raised ranch style home. The upstairs is the typical open living, dining, and kitchen with cathedral ceiling, then hallway to three bedrooms and a bathroom. Down stairs is @80% finished with a family room, spare bedroom, bathroom, utility room, and unfinished extra room (pellet storage!!). There is an open split stairwell connecting the two levels. We have a 5 lb per hour MAX feed rate pellet stove (BTU ratings are pointless) located in the downstairs family room. Last winter we maintained 69-72 degree F through the majority of the house (bedrooms are more like 65ish) on all but the coldest days. The stove struggled to keep up on the really cold stretches and we supplemented with the dead dinosaur heat. We used about 1/8 of a 275 gallon tank through the whole winter and close to 7 tons of pellets. The open stairwell is a key in the convection cycle within the home. If you stand on the stairs, you can feel the heat rising and the cold air returning at floor level.

 

[xandrew4507x]

Thanks pel it, that was very insightful is your house 1900 Sq ft on the main floor then the thefinished basement? Your basement sounds exactly like mine, the only thing I don't have yet is a bathroom but I have the spot for it. I don't want to burn anywhere near 7 ton of pellets, that would actually be more than what I spent on oil. I think I will just going with the main floor living room install and supplement the basement family room with a propane heater(that's the only room we really use, the other room is storage right now) the guy I talked to Friday burns pellets, he hhas a bigger house than mine and burned only 3 ton last season, so I'm probably going to be right around there. Right now the basement is staying right around 67-68 with night temperatures down in the low 40s already, I have the windows open to try to get some airflow down here. I think I could get by supplementing heat down here only using one 20 pound bottle a month. That's not bad for an extra 100 a season. If I do find I like pellets a lot, I will probably buy a cheap used one for in the basement to run only when we are using it. That would save a lot vs usings much more pellets trying to heat both floors continuously

 

[8ball]

I think SBI makes a large pellet stove that has two hot air ducts that will deliver heat upstairs to two locations as well as providing heat downstairs. I believe the SBI unit is a bottom feed similar to Harman. These SBI units sell very well in Canada

 

[tjnamtiw]

For $500 more IMHO you'd be crazy not to get the larger one, even if you put it upstairs. That way you wouldn't be struggling to stay warm with the stove maxed out. You could more or less idle it with a lot less strain on it. Of course, if you put it downstairs, I think you'd NEED the bigger one and at 64,000 btu's, that's 8 pounds an hour or about 200 lbs a day flat out! That's a lot of pellets!

 

[xandrew4507x]

I just checked, its actually $700 more than the one I am buying, I don't have enough money to spend an extra $700, I still have to pay for installation and materials on top of this. If I were to go to the bigger one, just like you said I probably would be running it flat out to keep up with heating demands on both levels, that would be an insane amount of pellets. I personally think the 45,000 btu will have no problem at all heating my main floor, my house really isn't all that big, and the floor plan is perfect for this kind of heating. There is already a duct with a fan that connect the living room and adjacent hallway, with that on, just running my space heater in the living room I could feel the heat in the bathroom and hallway. I plan on hooking my pellet stove up to a thermostat as well, so it won't be running at all times.

 

[Tonyray]

having a 2 story house, we decided NOT to put the Pellets stove in the basement...HarmanP61A.
It's not a finished area... Stone blocks all around and that envirorment would soak up and absorb way too much heat before any got upstairs not even accounting for having to
crank it full throttle..
we put it in our living room and with a ceiling fan at the top of the 2nd floor steps.[ running on low speed/clockwise,] it keeps the 2nd floor around 68 degrees which is fine sleeping weather....Ran the stove about half way blower speed all winter.

 

[xandrew4507x]

Where I had planned to put the stove in the basement is unfinished and uninsulated, therefore the blocks would absorb tons of the heat, and I think I would be wasting a ton of money heating down there when I don't use it all that often. What I am thinking for the future is buying an insert and build it into the wall in the family room of my basement, this would not only help heat, but I think it would add value to my house, so its a win-win there. If I bought the 65,000 btu and put it in my basement I would probably use 7-8 ton of pellets a season, if I put it upstairs, yes costing more to install, but I should get by on 2-3 ton, especially being on a thermostat. That savings alone could afford me an insert for the basement for next season.

 

[Tonyray]

Where I had planned to put the stove in the basement is unfinished and uninsulated, therefore the blocks would absorb tons of the heat, and I think I would be wasting a ton of money heating down there when I don't use it all that often. What I am thinking for the future is buying an insert and build it into the wall in the family room of my basement, this would not only help heat, but I think it would add value to my house, so its a win-win there. If I bought the 65,000 btu and put it in my basement I would probably use 7-8 ton of pellets a season, if I put it upstairs, yes costing more to install, but I should get by on 2-3 ton, especially being on a thermostat. That savings alone could afford me an insert for the basement for next season.

Deffinitly I would go with putting it upstairs and also you will not have to Full throttle it unless you want to melt everyone there.

 

[xandrew4507x]

Thats the option I am going with, I should save enough money this winter by not using oil that I could probably buy an insert for the basement, this would only run while we are down there, since it will be in the family room, which is where we spend most of the time when we are down there, it will produce plenty of heating to warm it up quick.

 

[xandrew4507x]

Oh another question, for an outside air kit, could I build it out of 3" pvc pipe? That would be much much cheaper than using other materials.

 

[apandori]

Dryer vent for OAK if you're doing it cheap.

 

[Tonyray]

Dryer vent for OAK if you're doing it cheap.

correct......

 

[Gabor129]

Depending where are you located, by code it has to be metal. I just looked it up! Well in Ontario anyway!