Pellet stove for home office above garage

[Tithis]

My grandfather is moving to Florida and him and his wife are offloading stuff to family before the big move in August. One item they've offered me is a Breckwell Classic, a 40,000BTU pellet stove.

I've got no real spot in the house for it currently besides where we're putting a big wood stove later this year, but I've got another spot in mind. We've got a finished space above our detached garage, the garage being approx 24'x24'. Currently we don't use this space for much of anything, but as we start having kids I'll likely be converting it to a home office for working remotely, along with some gym stuff for the wife. Right now it has a 24,000 BTU direct vent propane furnace, but as a rule we are trying to move away from propane whenever possible due to cost and being a fossil fuel.

Not sure if there would be any issues with this in terms of inspection as I've heard stoves are a no-go in garages, but I assume a finished space above a garage is a separate matter considering all the homes I see with basement garages. Also not sure if the pellet stove might be oversized for the space, though I imagine that will just mean more frequent cycling.

Then I guess just seeing if this looks like a pretty straight forward installation to you. My hope being to remove the furnace, put in a corner hearth pad, install the pellet stove in that corner, and hopefully reuse the existing hole and run the L-Vent up the side to the roof.

 

[Washed-Up]

Check your local codes, as far as I know...if it has a separate entrance and is not sharing the same airspace it should be ok...but local codes dictate the insurance

 

[zrock]

Thats a separate space so you will be good...

 

[Tithis]

Got an email back from the local inspector and he said the location is fine.

 

[Highbeam]

Got an email back from the local inspector and he said the location is fine.

Insurance guy is more important than inspector but both are important.

I love having a permitted, insured wood stove in my detached shop with overhead doors that you can drive through. It does take a while to heat up when cold so if you can run the pellet stove on a thermostat that should improve comfort.

I would leave the furnace and add a pellet stove. Keep both! Pellet stoves aren’t nearly as dependable.

 

[SidecarFlip]

Hate to break your bubble but wood pellet fuel (emphasis on wood) is also a fossil fuel). I'd say that spot is too close to the existing windows and you will have issues venting it as well because the cleanout Tee (required) will have to be inside the room and pulling it to clean the fly ash out will be very messy. The preference is always having it outside, but in your case that is impossible.

My 2 cents

 

[tlc1976]

Looks feasible to me as long as stove clearances are maintained. Hard telling if the existing hole will line up, but a different hole may be needed anyway to have the proper thimble. Putting the cleanout tee outside and pipe up sufficiently past the roofline would keep fumes away from windows. Only inconvenient thing would be a ladder needed to clean the pipe, but still way better than bringing that mess inside the room.

 

[SidecarFlip]

Only inconvenient thing would be a ladder needed to clean the pipe, but still way better than bringing that mess inside the room.

.....and it's ALWAYS a mess. Fly ash out of the cleanout has a nasty habit of adhering to painted surfaces, IOW, your walls.

One thing to keep in mind and that is the vent pipe will need to clear the top of the roof by a few feet or the wind across the roof will cause a backdraft in the vent, especially when the stove isn't operational. If you terminate below the roofline, I guarantee the combustion gases will stain you siding.

 

[Tithis]

Hate to break your bubble but wood pellet fuel (emphasis on wood) is also a fossil fuel). I'd say that spot is too close to the existing windows and you will have issues venting it as well because the cleanout Tee (required) will have to be inside the room and pulling it to clean the fly ash out will be very messy. The preference is always having it outside, but in your case that is impossible.

My 2 cents

While the idea of pellets being carbon neutral is certainly up for debate, they certainly aren't a fossil fuel and are renewable.

That being said I had my doubts how well the venting situation might work. I might end up just taking the pellet stove and selling it along with our Jotul 602 when we've replace that and put the money towards a minisplit for the office area.

 

[SidecarFlip]

they certainly aren't a fossil fuel and are renewable.

I disagree, but don't really matter. Last time I checked, dead and decaying trees buried under the earth turn into coal and oil deposits after thousands of years.

 

[Tithis]

Its unlikely much or any of the trees we burn in our homes or turn into pellets would turn into much coal. The trees we use are either going to release their carbon over decades as they rot where they fall, or all at once in a forest fire.

Seems there is some debate over the exact reason, but most coal deposits are from the same rough period of time, suggesting there was something unique about the environment at the time that allowed those ancient trees to resist decay long enough to actually become coal. One popular theory for awhile was that bacteria and fungi hadn't yet evolved the ability to break down lignin in wood yet.

I think we are getting a little side tracked though

 

[SidecarFlip]

That we are in as much as I don't really run wood pellets at all. I run field corn which is 100% renewable fuel as in every summer and for me, the cost is almost nil. Get all my cirn from the seed farm down the road. Corn that gets older in the warehouse at some point won't germinate at the industry standard of 95% by volume so it becomes not marketable and I get it, all I want actually. I always have a couple ton in the barn, sometimes a lot more depending on how much I use for animal feed.