Pellet fireplace insert vs boiler vs furnace

[loontune]

Hi all,
Need advise. I first heard about pellet boilers and was all for it. After looking into things for a while, seems they are rumored to be inefficient, and much more money with install and pellet storage than I thought. Now I am thinking about either a fireplace insert, or a stand alone pellet stove but heres what I am up against. I've attached my first floor plan to help.

I am not crazy about a standalone with three children, youngest soon to be 2. I do not have a very open floor plan, but think I could sneak one in in the dining room, vented at the 2 foot wall area where the 24 foot family room wall stops short of the 28 foot house. Could alway gate the thing off from the kids. But then nothing gets done for the second floor and hot water.

The safer fireplace insert for the children would go into the family room. Problem again, how does that heat get to the rest of the first floor, and worse, theres a 12 foot ceiling there and the rest of the floor has 8 foot ceiliings. Am I wasting money trying to heat that whole floor from the room. Still nothing for second floor and hot water.

 

[kshultz]

Do you have a spare flue?
If not, have you priced out a ss exterior flue?
You are right, with the insert in the fireplace your heating throughout the house will not be even. I have a colonial similar to yours & decided on a wood boiler in the basement. That way I get the heat to the whole house & my hot water as well. There are some units out there, you need to do your research. ps. it may be getting too late to have anything for this winter...just a thought. - kevin

 

[ssupercoolss]

i have heated my house pretty much with a pellet stove in my living room for the past 3 years. its ok, but dont let anyone fool you into thinking it will heat like central heat. i think even people with wood stoves will tell you its kind of hard to make heat move throughout the house. my living room is where the stove is, and its gotta be at least 5 degrees warmer in there than anywhere else in the house. its not really an issue for me being single, i like it downright frigid in my bedroom, and i turn on a small electric heater if i am going to be in my computer room for a while. electric heaters and children dont really mix. i dont know if you know this or not, but really the only thing that gets hot on a pellet stove is the glass. (at least mine anyways) so, niether the pellet stove or the insert is going to be childproof.. i have found that the pellet stove is downright awesome......when the temps are above like 40. i am taking the plunge this year, and installing a wood boiler. my plan is to run the boiler nights, really cold days, and let the pellet stove do its thing when temps are more on the mild side. the nice thing about pellet stoves is you dump a bag of pellets in there, set the thermometer and let it go. the bad thing is you cant go out back to your pellet tree. you are at the mercy of the market on pellets, which keep going up every year. your best location for a pellet stove, if you go that route, is in your living room against the side wall by the "24" blowing into dining room/kitchen. kids play room is kinda gonna be cold though.

 

[cvanhat]

i would not be doing anything involving pellets in the near futcher. local farm store here that i work at part time is having a hard time even finding them. we have sold pellets for three years and this year most suppliers are already sold out for the season except for soft wood pellets and whole sale on them is $245 a ton. wood is your best bet.