Quadrafire

[titikiki]

My house is a 23 yo 2200 sq ft two story center hall colonial. I was planning on buying a pellet insert which would be placed in the back room open to two other rooms. Quadrafire Classic Bay 1200i since it states it heats upto 2500 sq ft. The Mt Vernon heats 2400-3800 sq ft. I had read on line that buying a stove too large for the house would lead to the unit having to run on low and not be as efficient or heat the downstairs too much. Do you agree? Appreciate any opinions out there.

 

[webbie]

Not as true with pellet stoves!

At the same time, with an insert open to two rooms, I see little need for monster stoves. With ANY pellet appliance, it is the actual pellets burned each hour that produce the heat - meaning that a larger stove will only produce more heat if you feed it a lot more pellets.

Since most users tend to go through from 1-2 bags each 24 hour period, it is very possible that both stoves will end up providing the same amount of heat.

Now if you said that the stove was located central to the entire house and you wanted to heat every sq ft.....and that you were prepared to burn any quantity of pellets needed to do so...that is where a bigger stove would come it.

 

[stoveguy2esw]

My house is a 23 yo 2200 sq ft two story center hall colonial. I was planning on buying a pellet insert which would be placed in the back room open to two other rooms. Quadrafire Classic Bay 1200i since it states it heats upto 2500 sq ft. The Mt Vernon heats 2400-3800 sq ft. I had read on line that buying a stove too large for the house would lead to the unit having to run on low and not be as efficient or heat the downstairs too much. Do you agree? Appreciate any opinions out there.

pellet stoves in general are very flexible in the way they work , running on low is not a bad thing with them, with a wood stove (log burning) that uses a drafting chimney it is no9t as efficient to run smaller fires as a norm as this will not hold enough heat in the flue to keep it clear of creosote. so , while the info you read online is accurate for wood units , its really not a factor with pellet stoves.

that said , you should bear in mind that with any "point source" heater , such as a wood or pellet stove , the room it occupies will be signifigantly warmer than the room farthest from the unit , use of doorway fans or ceiling fans are commonly used to help distribute the heat more evenly. also the ratings of square footage heated are generally when run on high , most folks do not end up needing to run their stove on high constantly to heat their homes. pellet stoves provide constant even heat which over time filters through the house and holds quite well. hope you find this helpful.

 

[titikiki]

I was hoping to use the pellet stove as a primary heating source for both floors. I believe I read on this site that the Mt Vernon was a quieter unit/easier to clean. With both thoughts in mind, would you recommend buying the larger unit? Any other benefits to buying one over the other?

 

[begreen]

I would go for the Mt. Vernon. I owned the 1200i, which was a great insert, but I don't believe that it is going to heat a home in the dead of winter in upper NY at 2500 sq ft. unless that place is encased in 6" foam. The other reasons I would go for the Mt. Vernon is greater efficiency, cleaner glass and it's quieter. Plus it's a nicer looking stove.

 

[chilepines]

I have the Mt Vernon and would definitely recommend it over a smaller unit. We are heating about 2200 ft in a log home, and it is not too much stove. It did mostly run on low or medium, but this was still equally efficient. The ashes are the same regardless of how hard it runs. With a smaller stove I think you'll have more trouble by pushing it hard.
Plus the thermostat on the Mt Vernon is better than on the other stoves, and made it a pleasure to use the pellet stove - this was our first winter with it and we are thinking about adding another!