Pellet stove for just using cottage on weekends in harsh winters?

[Don2222]

is there anyway I could start the pellet stove from home so the cottage would be warm when I arrived? or even another system for that matter, wirelessly from home?

See my Ecobee pellet stove T-Stat install that works anywhere from your smartphone.
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/enviro-ecobee-eb-stat-02-install-pics.125728/

 

[Lake Girl]

You will need a 3g router that has wifi capability that uses a sim card. You might have to pay for a data plan.

Not sure what options you have for internet service and wifi. TBayTel has what they call a rocket hub for areas that get cell service where they can't get internet service. Likely something similar in your area...

 

[wilyum]

Why not just use a pellet stove on the lowest temp auto room temp setting and use an electric convection heater a few degrees below the pellet stove setting that will kick on when the pellet stove runs out of pellets. You could get a P43 with a hopper extension as well. This would be fine running until it runs out of pellets.

that's the plan, load a self cleaning stove monday morning, hopefully have that run for 3 days, then when the pellets run dry have either electric radiant floors or convect heaters kick in for the remaining two. The cost of saving 3 days of hydro a week all winter, I think the would pay off after a couple seasons.

 

[Polar Bear]

that's the plan, load a self cleaning stove monday morning, hopefully have that run for 3 days, then when the pellets run dry have either electric radiant floors or convect heaters kick in for the remaining two. The cost of saving 3 days of hydro a week all winter, I think the would pay off after a couple seasons.

That's very smart to not only depend on the pellet stove. Stuff breaks. Especially if you're not there. I turn on my heaters if I'm gone even one night, they probably won't turn on but I feel better knowing I won't come home to a disaster.

 

[chken]

One more thing. I used to have a seasonal home, and I had one of those lights that would go on if the temp dropped below a certain temperature. A good friend and neighbor, a year-round resident, would call if the light came on, which would indicate the furnace was out.

That made me think. If you do have a year-round neighbor with a responsible boy or girl, would they be able to fill up your hopper, mid-week. Pay them something fair?

 

[hyfire]

Forget the baseboards or radiant heat, waste of energy, the heat pump for backup is the way to go, it will be cheaper to run than the pellet stove even............

 

[batchman]

Forget the baseboards or radiant heat, waste of energy, the heat pump for backup is the way to go, it will be cheaper to run than the pellet stove even............

I don't think a heat pump will work at -40 degrees (and that's the same in C or F!). Geothermal maybe.

Cheers,
- Jeff

 

[wilyum]

Forget the baseboards or radiant heat, waste of energy, the heat pump for backup is the way to go, it will be cheaper to run than the pellet stove even............

haven't heard anyone using heat pumps up here, what part of ON you from?

 

[Polar Bear]

I think we are too far north for a heat pump.

 

[hyfire]

haven't heard anyone using heat pumps up here, what part of ON you from?

GTA, and batchman you are correct the best split system only goes down to -15F, so might not be a good idea...

 

[moey]

Forget the baseboards or radiant heat, waste of energy, the heat pump for backup is the way to go, it will be cheaper to run than the pellet stove even............

Lot of money to spend for a cottage. Ground source heat pumps definitely work that far north though.

 

[TimfromMA]

That's very smart to not only depend on the pellet stove. Stuff breaks. Especially if you're not there. I turn on my heaters if I'm gone even one night, they probably won't turn on but I feel better knowing I won't come home to a disaster.

I keep my oil thermostat set 10 degrees below mt pellet thermostat. A full hopper on my stove will only last a day or so but it's comforting to have the oil as a backup in case of a failure while I'm away.

My wife and I occasionally will go away for a weekend and hire a babysitter. Rather than having to train her on how to load and operate the stove in our absence, we will shut the stove down and just use the oil furnace until we return.

 

[batchman]

the best split system only goes down to -15F

Wow that's actually impressive - last I looked they gave up around +20F just like plain ol' road salt.

Ground source heat pumps definitely work that far north though.

And being on a lake (I think the OP's cabin was on or near a lake), the water table won't be far down - this might be easier than they usually first appear. Still spendy for a backup to a pellet stove though.

Cheers,
- Jeff

 

[hyfire]

The plus side of using the heat pump is that you will have A/C in that cottage also. Not sure the pricing on those units, but i bet they are not cheap. For example the biggest unit takes 1.35kw and puts out 18000 BTU heating. If you have a BB heater rated at 1.35A it will put out 4606 BTU, so your getting 3.9 x more heat for the same current used as a BB! But if it gets too cold out then this efficiency would drop off pretty quick. At -15F outdoor you would get 73% of 18000 BTU....

 

[Seasoned Oak]

Wouldnt cost much to heat ONLY the water pipes. I have a cabin in the woods and im rehabbing it. Ill probably put drain backs in and not heat at all during the week. Seems a lot of expense and trouble to heat a space no one is occupying. Coldest temp id get around here is Zero or slightly below.

 

[hyfire]

Right now on Kijiji there is a Fahrenheit F50 furnace 3 months old in london, ON, for sale might be a good buy if you can drive down that far...

 

[wilyum]

Wouldnt cost much to heat ONLY the water pipes.

Im starting to think this as well, some weekends we arent even there, kids sports etc, so thinking will heat just the two water rooms, with thicker insulation/walls, and set up a pellet stove that i can fire up from home, from my phone.

 

[chken]

Wouldnt cost much to heat ONLY the water pipes. I have a cabin in the woods and im rehabbing it. Ill probably put drain backs in and not heat at all during the week. Seems a lot of expense and trouble to heat a space no one is occupying. Coldest temp id get around here is Zero or slightly below.

That's what I would do. Set the cabin up for easy shutdown/turnon. Then, put the current electric heating system on a programmable timer that allows you to tell it to turn on on Friday at 5pm, giving it a couple hours to heat up on your drive up.

 

[batchman]

My Maxx-M has now burned 3/4 ton of low-ash pellets and I've only opened the door to look at it and clean the glass. Running on 3 (of 5) it's burning one bag in about 10 hours, it has a 3 bag hopper. Sorry it's too cold right now to try the lower settings as a test run for you

Well just to follow up with a data point, I've now run the Maxx on heat level 2 and went 47 hours on a full hopper (3 bags). Big difference in consumption from 3 to 2!

I won't be able to try 1 as I have too much chimney to run that low. Worried enough about 2...

Cheers,
- Jeff