I'd like to throw some pictures up here of my pellet stove set-up and ask for any opinions from you pellet heads, good or bad on what I have done and what I might do better.
I bought a Kozi KSH-120 shop heater and installed it myself in the summer of 2008. It lives in the unfinished basement of my 1,200 sq ft 1970's era ranch house. I read all the posts here about not installing a pellet stove in a basement but thought I'd try it anyway since I have no place for it on the main floor. I ducted the output from the stove directly into my house's existing HVAC using 8" high temp flexible ducting and a plenum that fits tightly against the front of the stove. The air flow is quite low, as you would expect, but enough hot air trickles upstairs that it keeps the house reasonably warm if the stove is left on continuously. Only when the outside temp gets below zero do we need supplemental heat.
I figure that I am losing a lot of heat by keeping the ductwork in the basement hot all the time, with limited airflow to the upstairs. A thermometer on the ductwork usually hangs around 180°. I bought an 8" high temp, 370 cfs fan for the flex-duct (Grainger has everything for the handy-man!) but I need an electrician to wire the thing for me so I haven't put it in yet. It would have to be on a switch of some sort. Maybe a thermostat?
Running the regular furnace fan does nothing, since it tends to blow back down the flex duct instead of sucking the hot air up into the house.
The stove runs on setting 3, which eats up almost two bags of pellets a day. I'm in Wisconsin so temps hang in the teens and 20s most days. Seems like a lot of fuel.
I'm a self-admitted cheapskate. Is this hillbilly engineering? Does it matter? Should I bite the bullet and get pellet furnace or more efficiency?
BTW, don't get a Kozi unless you really like to tinker.
I bought a Kozi KSH-120 shop heater and installed it myself in the summer of 2008. It lives in the unfinished basement of my 1,200 sq ft 1970's era ranch house. I read all the posts here about not installing a pellet stove in a basement but thought I'd try it anyway since I have no place for it on the main floor. I ducted the output from the stove directly into my house's existing HVAC using 8" high temp flexible ducting and a plenum that fits tightly against the front of the stove. The air flow is quite low, as you would expect, but enough hot air trickles upstairs that it keeps the house reasonably warm if the stove is left on continuously. Only when the outside temp gets below zero do we need supplemental heat.
I figure that I am losing a lot of heat by keeping the ductwork in the basement hot all the time, with limited airflow to the upstairs. A thermometer on the ductwork usually hangs around 180°. I bought an 8" high temp, 370 cfs fan for the flex-duct (Grainger has everything for the handy-man!) but I need an electrician to wire the thing for me so I haven't put it in yet. It would have to be on a switch of some sort. Maybe a thermostat?
Running the regular furnace fan does nothing, since it tends to blow back down the flex duct instead of sucking the hot air up into the house.
The stove runs on setting 3, which eats up almost two bags of pellets a day. I'm in Wisconsin so temps hang in the teens and 20s most days. Seems like a lot of fuel.
I'm a self-admitted cheapskate. Is this hillbilly engineering? Does it matter? Should I bite the bullet and get pellet furnace or more efficiency?
BTW, don't get a Kozi unless you really like to tinker.
