Pellet Newbie

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NH76

New Member
Feb 9, 2009
2
Northern New Hampshire
First time poster, and very new to pellet heating in general. Hoping you all can help me!

I just bought a new home, and without the money to put in a central heating system, am looking at alternative ways of heating for now. I have an old wood stove in the basement that I am thinking about replacing with a pellet stove. I already have the luxury of a couple of direct vents into the second floor so the set up is pretty good. My home is just under 1800 sq. ft. (cape) and three floors.

We have a Lowes in town that has the "Summers Heat" stoves at $1299 and $1699. But I have also been trying to dig up as much as I can on the "Big E". Seems like a better fit for me?

Now, I also have a k-1 Toyostove in the family room which I am using to heat the whole house now. Can't believe it, but it actually has done the job even at the -25-35 temps we have had at nights. Its not a sauna in here, but another source of heat.

Bottom line....Any suggestions on good stoves given my current situation. I pretty much would be looking for the stove to be my primary source of heat for the next couple of years.

Thanks!
 
NH76,

Personally I think the BigE is a good stove, But that might struggle to keep your house warm on the really cold days. You can only use the full output of that stove for around 2 hrs. The stove will over heat if you try to run it much longer.

I would try to go a little bigger to be safe. I would look into the Enviro Omaga or Maxx. The Hudson River West Point. These stoves are 60,000 to 70,000 BTU's.

http://envirofire.biz/fireplace-products/pellet/index.html


http://www.hudsonriverstoves.com/product.php?itemid=5&menu=3

But the Best way would be a multifuel furnace. Of coarse they are a lot more money. But you can hook duct work to them and get the heat upstairs.

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

http://www.fahrenheittech.com/endurance_corn_stove.htm

http://www.harmanstoves.com/callouts.asp?id=24

http://www.usstove.com/proddetail.php?prod=6300&cat=2

I can tell from experience that the BigE is a little over rated. More like a 48,000 BTU stove on max! It will not keep 1800 to 2000 sq Ft as warm as the other stoves out there. I had a BigE in my close to 2000 sq ft home. I froze when the temps got below 0. I now have an Omega and I should be good to -20 or so. I can also use the max setting on the stove with now fear of over heating this stove. I saw 9 degrees last Saturday. My Omega was on med setting. My BigE would have been maxed out!

Hope this helps!
Jay
 
jtakeman said:
NH76,

Personally I think the BigE is a good stove, But that might struggle to keep your house warm on the really cold days. You can only use the full output of that stove for around 2 hrs. The stove will over heat if you try to run it much longer.

I would try to go a little bigger to be safe. I would look into the Enviro Omaga or Maxx. The Hudson River West Point. These stoves are 60,000 to 70,000 BTU's.
http://envirofire.biz/fireplace-products/pellet/freestanding-fireplace.htm


http://www.hudsonriverstoves.com/product.php?itemid=5&menu=3

But the Best way would be a multifuel furnace. Of coarse they are a lot more money. But you can hook duct work to them and get the heat upstairs.

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

http://www.fahrenheittech.com/endurance_corn_stove.htm

http://www.harmanstoves.com/callouts.asp?id=24

http://www.usstove.com/proddetail.php?prod=6300&cat=2

I can tell from experience that the BigE is a little over rated. More like a 48,000 BTU stove on max! It will not keep 1800 to 2000 sq Ft as warm as the other stoves out there. I had a BigE in my close to 2000 sq ft home. I froze when the temps got below 0. I now have an Omega and I should be good to -20 or so. I can also use the max setting on the stove with now fear of over heating this stove. I saw 9 degrees last Saturday. My Omega was on med setting. My BigE would have been maxed out!

Hope this helps!
Jay

This helps more than you know. All very good information.

Thanks for taking the time to put all this together!!!

Cheers!
 
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