Noob Here: Who has a pellet in their basement to heat the upstairs?

[OpenWater]

And what kind of stove is it?

Firstly, thanks to all who make this forum a great spot for information.

I've got 1500 square feet above my basement, and I'd like to put a pellet in the basement as supplementary heat. I know the word on stoves is to put them in the areas that are frequented and used, but for a bunch of reasons, I can't do that. Been round and around on that one. I am relegated to the basement!

I've read on this forum that people have had success with this arrangement. Please, I'd like to hear from you!

My first choice is a Harman p68. I know all about this stove and that it is a beast. Anyhting else out there that is comparable? What have you had success with?

This is a weekend / vacation home, so use will not be through the roof. Basement is not finished, but it is well-insulated. I'm aware of ciculation isssues and I am confident I can solve that problem.

Thanks for the help,

Chris
I've been around and around on where to put a pellet. I'm settling on the

 

[bclmread]

I have a Enviro Empress FS in my finished basement (400 sf). It will heat my first floor (950 sf) fine...heat runs up the stairway into kitchen area. Second floor also gains from residual heat.
My problem is getting the first floor comfortable without cooking the basement.

I found your post interesting in that you will be using your stove in a vacation home. Will you be keeping the house heated (and at what temp) when you are not there? Experience from my parents ski home in VT. They keep the heat on 45F-50F when they are not there, and it can take 24 hours with the furnace cooking and wood stove running on full tilt to get the house to 68 degrees. I'm curious why you would go through the expense etc of a pellet stove.

 

[jtakeman]

Even if you get the circulation close, Your still going to over heat the basement. If I had the cash I would have purchased the the fahrenheit Endurance 50F.

(broken link removed to http://www.fahrenheittech.com/endurance_corn_stove.html)

Or simular and duct the heat upstairs. I have the Enviro Omega and heat a 2000 sft home including unfinished basement. My basement temps are at least 10 degrees higher than the upstairs. It is not the stoves fault that the air isn't circulating.

Trust me been there done that. I have fabbed a hood to catch the heat from the stove and duct to the upstairs with duct fans. But the best is to run duct from the get go. Purchase a stove that excepts duct and has a conv blower that is at least 800 cfm. Your basement will be cooler than the upstairs unless you vent some heat off the duct to heat it.

Unfortunatly the furnace type pellets stoves are alot more money. But the best results will be acheived from them.

just my 2

jay

 

[thewoodlands]

Lopi Yankee Pellet Stove in the basement on the east wall. We live in a ranch 3500 square feet 1750 up & 1750 down . We burn only when we are at the house.
Last night it dropped down to 40 and had the feed set at medium and the fan on full an the temp. upstairs at 5.00 am this morning was 69. The cellar walls are studded up and insulated an finished with tounge and groove. The ceiling is insulated a foot in from the outside wall and the rest is open.


Zap

 

[OpenWater]

Great advice. Thanks all.

BCLMRead - I've got an LP furnace that does the heating when we are in the home. I've got a small LP back-up heater in the basement that I have set to keep the upstairs in the 45-50 degree range. I am pretty happy with it. We had the house designed with this feature in mind; it sits just beneath a duct chase and allows heat up into the house.

So why pellet stove? I grew up in a house my dad refused to heat Too many winter mornings it felt like my flesh was sticking to the hard wood floors. ;-) Being a vacation home, we have lots of visitors / family, and I'd like to keep them (and me!) toasty.

I am concerned about having to overheat the basement to heat the upstairs (got a good post on that), so I've got to think more about that.

Thanks,

CB

 

[OpenWater]

Wow - those pellet furnaces look great. Wish I had known about those when I had the home built 1.5 years ago!

Who makes stoves that accepts duct? That could be the answer I am looking for. Pretty much the only place in my basement I can put a stove is right beneath the great room. Could work nicely...

CB

 

[jtakeman]

Wow - those pellet furnaces look great. Wish I had known about those when I had the home built 1.5 years ago!

Who makes stoves that accepts duct? That could be the answer I am looking for. Pretty much the only place in my basement I can put a stove is right beneath the great room. Could work nicely...

CB

Here are some more for you to look at.

http://www.stcroixheat.com/prod_furnaces.htm

(broken link removed to http://www.americanenergysystems.com/flex-fuel-furnaces.cfm)

(broken link removed to http://www.harmanstoves.com/callouts.asp?id=24)

(broken link removed to http://www.usstove.com/proddetail.php?prod=6500&cat=2)

Hopefully we will see more of these hit the market in the near future. Most have instructions to add in to a hot air heating system.

I have heard this several times, "A pellet stove is a space heater".

jay

 

[OpenWater]

Woo Hoo!!

Those pellet furnaces! Had no idea they existed. Pretty new to this as you know. I've got a gas fireplace in the great room already, so the furnace will do nicely. Pretty pricey!! But it is less than the Harmon I think I would have needed to get heat upstairs.

Talking to a sales guy at Magnum, he said the install was pretty simple. I am skepticle!! My builder will do the install, he's very handy, I certainly hope he has an easy time of it. If all comes together, the unit I want will be shipped to NY from MN (only about $100 for the shipment!).

Can't thank you enought for the help!

CB

 

[tonyd]

My famly room is finished in the basement and this is how I get the heat upstairs. Its a split .

 

[hossthehermit]

For basement install, gotta agree, furnace (or boiler) is the way to go. Mine already had ductwork in place for the oil monster, also know a couple people with oil boilers that put in pellet boilers. All happy with results.

 

[stallau]

I have a breckwell Big E in my basement. I put in some floor registers but still have a decent temp difference between the cellar and 1st floor. I actually take the cellar door off for the winter to promote the heat coming up from the basement. The cellar has insulated walls but the floor still absorbs a decent amount of heat. There is a benefit to that though. Last year when we lost power from the ice storm it took a day and a half for the house temp to really start dropping. I still like it down there so the mess and sound of fans isn't where I am.

 

[freeburn]

In general count on a 10 degree difference downstairs to upstairs if you put your stove in the basement. I've got a Quad Castile 30K btu stove in the basement for supplemental only, it takes too long to heat up the upstairs. One thing to consider, a Pellet furnace will be more money and use more pellets than a stove. If you have an open stairway to your upstairs you might be OK. My brother heats his whole house, sounds similar size to yours with the same stove. Good luck on your search.

 

[save$]

I have mine in the basement, but it is a finished area. Thing to keep in mind, that if you want heat to reach upstairs, don't try to do it by blowing hot air away from your stove. What I have found out is it is best to pull the cool air toward the stove, then the warm air will sort of back fill the area the cool air was pull away from. I have a split and this works well for me. To improve on this principle. I am going to install a floor grate in the north end bedroom and put an in line fan pulling the air out of that room down through the floor to the lower level. That will force the heated air to go up the stairwell and be dawn to the end of the home. Had done this years ago when I had a wood stove and it worked really well.
However, that being said, remember the heat will always be best in the area the stove is located. Good luck!

 

[tinkabranc]

I also have stove installed in a finished/insulated basement.
Open stairwell and ceiling fan on the first floor allows the heat to rise up
pretty well and keep the rest of the house fairly comfortable too.
This is a bonus because my stove was originally intended for basement heat only.

Trying to heat upper floors from the basement works well for some but not
others depending on the floorplan, insulation..etc.

 

[jbooks]

This is my first post. Thanks for all the info. We just installed a Enviro Omega on our ground floor or what you would call ground level unfinished basement. We bought it to heat our ground floor. That consists of 850 sq ft of unfinished insulated living space and 400 sq ft of garage. Our furnace is installed in the ceiling of our ground level. We cut 2 holes in the return and put in registers. We then turned off our heat pump for the first floor which is 1250 sq ft, and turned on the exhaust fan. I set the Omega on 3 and it was about 35ish last night. The ground level stayed at 73 and the first floor at 75. We have zoned heat pumps, so we set the second floor zone, another 1250 sq ft. for 68 and it was quite comfortable.

 

[imacman]

jbooks, welcome to the forum, and glad to hear that the Omega is working well for you. Typically basement installs don't heat upstairs well, but you seem to have solved that.

Enjoy the heat!

Oh, BTW, we LOVE pics of new installs, so when you get a chance, put some up.......or else we might think "it never really happened".

I'm sure forum member jtakeman will love to see it...he has an Omega in his basement too.

 

[jbooks]

Thanks, I think our ground floor situation is different. We live on the water and the furnace has to be 10 ft above ground level. So it being in the ceiling makes it easy to send the heat up.
Now, I will be learning which pellets work best and the forum is great for that. I am also interested in other types of fuel. I will send the pictures soon

 

[fataugie]

It really depends on your house layout. I have a QuadraFire Santa Fe that was installed in my Raised Ranch this year, so my data points are limited. But, from what I've seen so far...I can heat most of the house given enough time to warm things up. In other words, once up to temp it can keep things comfy on medium. If I let the temp get down to 62 or so...it takes hours to get everything warm (68 - 70).

 

[Elad]

New & 1st pellet stove, a P68 is also in my basement.
I had to get heat down there as last year, my washer's mixing valve froze & cracked.
New job keeps me away 14hrs/day so now unable to keep the wood stove burning.
Propane flueless fireplace upstairs no longer needs firing up even

Split level home 2400sq. Center of basement and blowing up the steps. Whole house is warm now, but burning 2 bags a day in Northern MN.
Temp is not the same downstairs as upstairs, its hotter upstairs, unless your coming down the steps. A nice place to sit and watch and get real toasty
I even have fans on the sides and another fan angled blowing on top of the stove angled to the steps as the P68 walls get super hot!
The P68 should of had an outer jacket. Lucky no kids around here to get burned!

Venting into my chimney along with the wood stove and oil fired hot water furnace (disabled now).
Chimney always has a draft without any heat on and may have too much suction?
Am getting clinker buildup that the stove can't move out. I opened the Tee tonight (removed the plastic lid) to see if this is the problem.
Also installed a heat exchanger ($180) to extract all I can The plastic lid/cover does not even melt. Exchanger does its job!

After reading in these forums, I best remove the 90^ elbow and put a Tee in place instead...
I used auto muffler repair tape to seal the joints to convert 3" to 4" to 6" gas furnace pipe which not get real hot like I thought it would of.

HAPPY UPDATE: As mention, I removed the plastic cover on the Tee (see top of picture) as I had a feeling that venting to the chimney
was causing too much a draft for the P68 as I was having clinker problems that manually had to be removed all the time.
Well, seems I was correct as I just checked after a few hours and now I am not having that problem anymore YEA!

Previous problem below- clinker buildup that was not able to be pushed out by the stove.
I should of got the shot from overnight as it was twice as high all across & deep and flames would divert towards the glass instead up straight up

Another update: seems I was premature as next morning, same problem of clinkers

 

[Havlat24]

I heat my house, 2400 square feet upstairs and in the basement total. Im using a Quadra Fire Sante Fe on medium. It was -35 celcius and the whole house was 70 degrees with the sante fe running on medium. I live in northern alberta canada. My house is insulated for Canadian winters. I scratch my head at the folks that say you cant heat a house with a stove in the basement. Must have uninsulated walls.

 

[fataugie]

I heat my house, 2400 square feet upstairs and in the basement total. Im using a Quadra Fire Sante Fe on medium. It was -35 celcius and the whole house was 70 degrees with the sante fe running on medium. I live in northern alberta canada. My house is insulated for Canadian winters. I scratch my head at the folks that say you cant heat a house with a stove in the basement. Must have uninsulated walls.

Not necessarily, my walls are insulated. But they were insulated by an idiot. I've found voids and the windows make a big difference as well. The house was built back when common sense said a 2x4 exterior stud wall was sufficient. You guys up there insulate like you mean it.

 

[Stihl029]

I know this forum has gone over this topic many times. And most would agree to put the stove in the room you want to heat. I decided to put my Englander 25 pdv in the basement of my raised ranch. Total square footage is about 1700 sf. This home is well insulated, built in the early 80's. I installed it with an outside air kit as it said in the directions, and i would recommends this to anyone that has a "tight" home. As everyone has said, the main trouble is getting the air to circulate to the upstairs. While the stairway to the upstairs in a raised ranch help in this, I also chose to cut two holes in the floor upstairs. One in the kitchen, and one in the livingroom. (please be careful as to where your electrical runs through your home between levels, I came close. lol) I then installed two booster fans http://www.atrendyhome.com/durebofan.html. They hum a little, but you get used to them. As far as this setup working...I sit here in the basement in short sleeves, on a windy day in upstate NY, forecast is for 1 foot or more of lake effect snow. tempt is 16 degrees, 1 with the windchill. Its around 80ish down here, running the stove at #7 setting. I went up stairs and its 73 in the living room, and kitchen, and in the mid 60's in the bedrooms. This home had only electric heat, and no duct work, so this setup is working out great for me. I use about 4 ton of pellets a winter. Life is cozy warm.......

 

[slls]

I heat my house, 2400 square feet upstairs and in the basement total. Im using a Quadra Fire Sante Fe on medium. It was -35 celcius and the whole house was 70 degrees with the sante fe running on medium. I live in northern alberta canada. My house is insulated for Canadian winters. I scratch my head at the folks that say you cant heat a house with a stove in the basement. Must have uninsulated walls.

Yes, weatherization is the key too heating a house, your situation proves that.

 

[lessoil]

I heat my house, 2400 square feet upstairs and in the basement total. Im using a Quadra Fire Sante Fe on medium. It was -35 celcius and the whole house was 70 degrees with the sante fe running on medium. I live in northern alberta canada. My house is insulated for Canadian winters. I scratch my head at the folks that say you cant heat a house with a stove in the basement. Must have uninsulated walls.

Not necessarily, my walls are insulated. But they were insulated by an idiot. I've found voids and the windows make a big difference as well. The house was built back when common sense said a 2x4 exterior stud wall was sufficient. You guys up there insulate like you mean it.

I think that same idiot built our house!!
Built in 1968:
2X4 walls with r-12??
Only had R19 overhead in the crawlspace. Now has R38 but should be R48.
I think oil must have been cheap back then also.

For these reasons we put the stove on the first floor. Glad we did!!

 

[jtakeman]

I heat my house, 2400 square feet upstairs and in the basement total. Im using a Quadra Fire Sante Fe on medium. It was -35 celcius and the whole house was 70 degrees with the sante fe running on medium. I live in northern alberta canada. My house is insulated for Canadian winters. I scratch my head at the folks that say you cant heat a house with a stove in the basement. Must have uninsulated walls.

Not necessarily, my walls are insulated. But they were insulated by an idiot. I've found voids and the windows make a big difference as well. The house was built back when common sense said a 2x4 exterior stud wall was sufficient. You guys up there insulate like you mean it.

I think that same idiot built our house!!
Built in 1968:
2X4 walls with r-12??
Only had R19 overhead in the crawlspace. Now has R38 but should be R48.
I think oil must have been cheap back then also.

For these reasons we put the stove on the first floor. Glad we did!!

Don't forget those windows. We have improved the house with insulation, But these darn drafty windows loose more heat that the walls and attic ever thought of. We even have the widow kits(plastic in a box) installed on most. Wind still blows right through and around them.

Maybe next year!
jay