Replace wood with pellet stove?

[mayhem]

Hello all, been awhile since I've been on.

I have a nice big Morso 3660 in my living roon that does a great job of heating my home about 90% or so of the time in the winter. But due to some circumstances (divorce) I will no longer be in the house to split wood and maintain the system. The soon-to-be ex-wife has always complained about the mess and effort involved in having a wood stove, while I have always enjoyed the chores and the forced exercise it gets me as well as the silent operation and amazng cost savings versus oil heat (saves me about 1200 gallons of oil every year).

So the wife is considering putting a pellet stove in place of the wood stove, I've tried to warn her that it might not be the best choice because I'm skeptical she's going to be able to find a stove thats going to be up to the task of heating that air volume (log home with a massive great room, 26' ceilings and the room encompasses easily 3/5 of the interior volume of the house).

So my question is this, does a pellet stove need to be direct vented or can it be tied into the existing chimney I put in for the wood stove? Its a straight vertical shot of 6" double wall metalbestos with 6" triple wall going through the roof. Can the output from a pellet stove simply be tied into this chimeny or is it going to be a bit more complex than that?

 

[Snowy Rivers]

The pellet stove can easily be piped into your existing chimney.

There are several pellet stoves that area well up to the task of heating that sized area.

Personally, I believe that two to three slightly smaller pellet stoves around the house are a better plan, as one stove must work far harder and the area closest to the stove will be hot, while the perifery will be much cooler.

Snowy

 

[Don2222]

Hello

Selkirk Pellet and Corn venting DT Chimney Conversion kit is the best way to go! IMO

PC me with you email if you want more info.

 

[hossthehermit]

Well, I just gotta say, if it was one-a-my exes, I wouldn't care if she froze her...........Oh, never mind ...................

 

[AlaskaAviator]

If it would take 1200 gallons of oil to heat this place a year your gonna need a couple 50,000 + btu stoves. So one in the chimney and one at the other end of the building out the wall. There is no problem going through a log wall.

 

[newf lover]

Well, I just gotta say, if it was one-a-my exes, I wouldn't care if she froze her...........Oh, never mind ...................

I married a guy who was still nice to his ex, drove me crazy! If there are children involved it's the better way to go, if not, probably still better. Lot's of nastiness in the world. She should know that you just can't load pellets in it and that's it. There is cleaning, trouble-shooting, dragging in bags of pellets from wherever your storage area will be. If she's not into doing a little work, pellet stoves are not for her either. At the very least, make sure she buys from a reputable dealer, she will be very dependent on the dealer should anything go wrong.

 

[mayhem]

If it would take 1200 gallons of oil to heat this place a year your gonna need a couple 50,000 + btu stoves

Its a 10 year old log cabin, well insulated throughout. The problem with heating with oil is mainly the front room...its a great room and it encompasses the living room, dining room, kitchen and a loft over the kitchen...the real kicker is the front of the house has three sets of sliding door across it, so no baseboard there and the heat that does get pumped into the room rises up to the peak of the ceiling...26 feet above the floor. The big wood stove is rated at 50k-ish and it keeps it very nice in there, so maye a big pellet stove will do the trick. First couple years we were there we used around 2000 gallons, but oil was cheap then...the wood stove got me down to a tank and 3/4 per year, with one full tank just being for hot water...now I got one of those "free" GE hybrid hot water heaters in there so using less than a full tank of oil is now a real possibility if she works at it.

Well, I just gotta say, if it was one-a-my exes, I wouldn't care if she froze her.....

I have no animosity toward her and I really want her to have a happy life...it just can't be with me anymore. There are kids involved and I want to be able to communicate with civility and to not have to worry about if any of them is cold or hungry.

Thanks all for the advice. I'm not sure if I will be involved with any of this, or even if the house will be retained, but information is always good to have.

 

[imacman]

I have a log home as well, along with the great room. I replaced an Elmira Stoveworks wood burner with a pellet stove and never looked back. Adapted 4" pellet pipe to 8" MetalBestos stove pipe.

 

[Pellet-King]

Would the log home been built by a guy from Oakham?
Sorry to hear about your divorce, I've been married almost 26 yrs this may, I feel divorce is caused by a person that cannot accept the actions of another, people get older and get more set in there ways, too bad she wont accept who you are, grass isn't always greener on the otherside.
Glad to see your still around to help, my parents divorce was ugly and rarley saw my father after.

Sell the house tell her go move in a apartment, or she move out and you keep the cabin and the woodstove, some other guy doesnt need to be enjoying what you worked hard for, tell her stop reading 50 shades of grey too!

 

[katman]

You mentioned baseboard but didn't say what kind so do you have an oil boiler and hot water baseboard? If so and you have the room a pellet boiler might be an option for you. My house is similar to yours in design but not logs. I had a wood burner in my great room and was going to replace it with pellet but opted for the pellet boiler instead. Gets the house way warmer than the pellet stove. We keep it at 70 downstairs and the rising heat keeps the upstairs master bedroom/loft at about 68. If you decide to do just a pellet stove, one of the larger ones might be fine for you. It is steady, constant head as opposed to a typical wood stove that has variable heat out put dependant on when logs are added, water content, etc.