I live in a ~1500sq ft splanch home. Its a very Very VERY open floorplan vaulted ceilings leading up to the secon floor. The only rooms that aren't open to the major living areas are the downstairs den/bath and the converted garage. The den/bath/garage have lots of electrical doo-dads and lights on a low ceiling so all you need to do is turn on the overhead lighting and the place becomes toasty, or just plug in a small ceramic electrical heater and wait 10 mins. We're just finishing up the place now, redone all the windows as well as insulation. Prior to this all that downstairs space was open to the outside walls (beams and all) and you can imagine it was a very cold winter indeed.
Last years winter was mild for us in the begining, but we froze from mid jan-late march for some reason. This season looks grim and cold. While I'm glad we've just insulated (and fixed the drafty doors/windows) we're looking for a more cost effective solution to heat our home. A friend from work suggested a pellet stove. Since we work long shifts (hospital both) and don't want to heat the home all day/night with 3.20+/gal oil we're interested and almost ready for a pellet stove.
We've decided it must be an insert. I don't have direct measurements, but the fireplace we have seems like your standard medium sized (maybe 2.5-3ft wide, 2ft high and 2 ft deep). We're also looking for a return at some point on our investment, figure three years. Oil is just too darned expensive for us to conitnue heating the house with it.
Now... questions:
Our fireplace is ~10 inches off the floor, would I need to make the platform for the stove myself or can I buy one? (frankly after remodeling and landscaping the whole place, we're tired of working)
How have trends in pellet costs been the last 5 or so years?
We like our home WARM and want to use this system to supplement our baseboard heating, is this wise? (some heating run through crawl space where it gets very cold)
Can/should I run ventilation ducts/fans to the garage/den form the main living area?
Last years winter was mild for us in the begining, but we froze from mid jan-late march for some reason. This season looks grim and cold. While I'm glad we've just insulated (and fixed the drafty doors/windows) we're looking for a more cost effective solution to heat our home. A friend from work suggested a pellet stove. Since we work long shifts (hospital both) and don't want to heat the home all day/night with 3.20+/gal oil we're interested and almost ready for a pellet stove.
We've decided it must be an insert. I don't have direct measurements, but the fireplace we have seems like your standard medium sized (maybe 2.5-3ft wide, 2ft high and 2 ft deep). We're also looking for a return at some point on our investment, figure three years. Oil is just too darned expensive for us to conitnue heating the house with it.
Now... questions:
Our fireplace is ~10 inches off the floor, would I need to make the platform for the stove myself or can I buy one? (frankly after remodeling and landscaping the whole place, we're tired of working)
How have trends in pellet costs been the last 5 or so years?
We like our home WARM and want to use this system to supplement our baseboard heating, is this wise? (some heating run through crawl space where it gets very cold)
Can/should I run ventilation ducts/fans to the garage/den form the main living area?
