I live in Westchester N.Y. and was looking to purchase a pellet stove insert to cut oil bill costs. Fireplaces don't save the heat so I hope a pellet stove would benefit me. I have a raised ranch with finished basement and a door to close off the laundry room. outside of the basement room is a staircase that leads to upstairs. Would this benefit me? What size should I look for BTU wise. I noticed they have fans to push the heat through the house I wonder how much will creep upstairs to warm the first floor? Do they make one with automatic thermostats?
Pellet stove insert in basement fireplace in Raised Ranch
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They have plenty that can use thermostats.
How big is your house, SqFt?
Moving air around with fans doesn't work the greatest...it ususally cools the warm air.
Best way to move the warm air is to blow the cold air from the room towards the stove down low
and that will allow warm air to displace the cool air.
Do you have open stairways or open registers in the floor/ceiling?
How big is your house, SqFt?
Moving air around with fans doesn't work the greatest...it ususally cools the warm air.
Best way to move the warm air is to blow the cold air from the room towards the stove down low
and that will allow warm air to displace the cool air.
Do you have open stairways or open registers in the floor/ceiling?
JBiBBs5
Member
I live in a raised ranch with my Enviro M55 in the downstairs living room. The stairway is open so most of the heat just rises and distributes well around the top floor. Heat also rises up through the ceiling and heats the floors above the room.
Most people will tell you that basement installs are the worst case scenarios, especially if your walls are not insulated. You say that it's finished but did you insulate the walls? The cold floor will also suck up what btu's the insert puts out. Getting the heat upstairs can be a problem, but Jbibbs and rayttt have good suggestions. Unless you live down there, you'd be wasting your money using most btu's to heat a room you rarely use. You'd be better off putting a stove in the upstairs where you live, even if it's a freestanding unit.
Also, you're kind of limited in your choices for inserts that put out healthy amounts of btu's.
If you live near a coal supplier, you'd be better off with a coal burner that can put out 3 times the btu's of just about any pellet burner. Then you'd have a nice warm basement AND a reasonably warm upstairs for the same amount of money. If not, then put the pellet stove upstairs.
Also, you're kind of limited in your choices for inserts that put out healthy amounts of btu's.
If you live near a coal supplier, you'd be better off with a coal burner that can put out 3 times the btu's of just about any pellet burner. Then you'd have a nice warm basement AND a reasonably warm upstairs for the same amount of money. If not, then put the pellet stove upstairs.
mik_kane
Feeling the Heat
What is your present heating system? You may want to look into Thermguard
http://www.bearmountaindesign.com/
http://www.bearmountaindesign.com/
i live in a raised ranch. from experience, put the space heater where you want the heat. it sort of works to heat the basement but not as well as you might like.
I have a raised ranch 2400 foot I ended up putting a free standing stove upstairs because that's where we spend most of our time.I ended up getting an insert for the basement because my son has a room down there.with that stove in the basement on high my stove upstairs barely kicks on.the bedrooms are about 4or5 degrees cooler then the living room I would get one upstairs first and see how much heat I can get to my bedrooms rooms.
As far as insulation I fill my 500 gal. Oil tank once a year while my neighbor fills every 3weeks. My oil guy told me my house is very well insulated. The reason I dislike the oil burner is the burning oil smell when it kicks on in the laundry room where the furnace is and I can smell it a little in the room above it. It would be nice to use less oil as always. The basement seems like the best spot for the stove since fireplaces rob heat an insert would be nice.
I'm also in a rancher and we have our stove upstairs. A pellet stove is just a glorified space heater, and they work best at heating their immediate area.
movemaine
Minister of Fire
I have a tri-level ( so even more broken up than a raised ranch ) and the pellet stove heats most of my house.
I would argue that a raised ranch is close to a perfect setup for a pellet stove, because RR's have a large central column that connects the two levels. I think the heat exchange will work well.
I would argue that a raised ranch is close to a perfect setup for a pellet stove, because RR's have a large central column that connects the two levels. I think the heat exchange will work well.
How to decide what size insert to get as far as btus. Also will there be an issue with carbon monoxide?
BOY I HOPE NOT
if installed properly you should be OK. Of course you need a smoke and CO detector just to be safe.
Get the biggest heater you can fit / afford. You can always throttle it down. I learned that one the hard way......
movemaine
Minister of Fire
I have a Harman insert, at 44k btus heating around 2000+ sq ft. That being said, when it's really cold, I do bump up against it's maximum heat output.
I would go with a freestanding stove 50k+ btus. There are a lot of good choices, but I'm partial to Harman stoves. The Harman is one of the few "set it and forget it stoves".
I would go with the p61 or p68 - both fantastic stoves, and will heat your space nicely.
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