So I have 10 years experience running a wood stove. However I dont want the mess. Not to mention the giant spiders, and stuff in my house. Oil is out of the question and that what I have now. So I was thinking of putting a pellet stove in my living room, and hooking it to my fireplace. My house has 2800sq ft of living space and its forced air, not sure if that means anything though.
What options should I look for in a new stove? I have 10yrs experience with wood
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EbS-P
Minister of Fire
They make pellet inserts that fit in the fireplace. 2800 sq ft with one stove will be a tall order. How much wood did you burn a year?
Trying to decide if two cheaper stoves might be an option.
Whats your budget?
Trying to decide if two cheaper stoves might be an option.
Whats your budget?
bogieb
Minister of Fire
2,800 is a tall order and doesn't tell the whole story about your house. Is the house well insulated and tight, or is it drafty? Is it open layout or are there lots of rooms or is that area all cut up into small rooms. (and are those rooms right off the living room or are there long hallways). Lots of things to take into consideration when changing form a wood stove to a pellet stove because they don't heat the same. And depending on the layout of your house and tightness of the house envelope, two stoves could very well be better than 1 (as @EbS-P pointed out).
Anyway, back to your main question, what to look for? BTU output capability is #1 - I would think you would need something like a P68 (unless you go with two stoves). And don't go by what the store advertisements say (unless you have a really tight house), because they will be a bit on the ambitious side. I mean a quick google gives me an add at HD for a 50,000 btu stove that they say will heat 2,800 sq/ft. But an informational blurb on another site says you need at least 50,000 btu for 2,000 feet (a full 800 shy of what the HD add says).
Then you have to decide how comfortable you are with a lot of electronic doodads like a Harman XXV or do you want a basic running stove like the Harman P-series - (I'm sticking with Harman analogies because that is what I know best).
These next items are more geared specifically for colder areas (if you lived in RI instead of Buffalo, then these would not be as much a concern):
Anyway, back to your main question, what to look for? BTU output capability is #1 - I would think you would need something like a P68 (unless you go with two stoves). And don't go by what the store advertisements say (unless you have a really tight house), because they will be a bit on the ambitious side. I mean a quick google gives me an add at HD for a 50,000 btu stove that they say will heat 2,800 sq/ft. But an informational blurb on another site says you need at least 50,000 btu for 2,000 feet (a full 800 shy of what the HD add says).
Then you have to decide how comfortable you are with a lot of electronic doodads like a Harman XXV or do you want a basic running stove like the Harman P-series - (I'm sticking with Harman analogies because that is what I know best).
These next items are more geared specifically for colder areas (if you lived in RI instead of Buffalo, then these would not be as much a concern):
- If you plan on heating the whole house then hopper size is very important. Some stoves you can get a hopper extension for, others you can't. I believe there is at least one stove out there that has a humongous hopper standard, but most aren't. Oh yeah, and the hopper capacities in ads are, again, optimistic by about 5 pounds. If you get an insert - you may not have that type of choice though.
- Along with a large hopper, unless you burn super premium, high $$ softies, you will probably want a large ash pan. (once again, inserts may not give you much choice).
So its a ranch house. with a large living room and a kitchen/dining/den opposit of the living room (the run next to eachother. House is L shaped. 4 bedrooms, but I only use 1 bedroom. No inserts, I dont want to limit myself to insert size, plus inserts are hard to work on.
I have never heated this house with wood, its always been heated by a 190K btu oil furnace. I heated my old 3,000sq ft shop with wood. I typically used 8-10FC of wood to heat my shop. My current shop is connected to the house (attached 1.5car garage) and then I have the barn for cold storage.
The house is fairly tight, average about 200 gallons of oil a month at 68-70F. However at $5+ a gallon that becomes prohibitively expensive.
The bathrooms and hot water tank are on the opposite side of the house from the future home of the pellet. The second stove idea is something I too was comtemplating as well since I have a rather large master bed room I dont use for anything. (Due to logistics and home security reasons I dont use the mast bedroom, its for storage only)
I would think the ability to create heat for 12hrs+ would be ideal. Any way to hook a pellete up to the existing ductwork and just turn on the furnace fane to circulate the warm air?
I have never heated this house with wood, its always been heated by a 190K btu oil furnace. I heated my old 3,000sq ft shop with wood. I typically used 8-10FC of wood to heat my shop. My current shop is connected to the house (attached 1.5car garage) and then I have the barn for cold storage.
The house is fairly tight, average about 200 gallons of oil a month at 68-70F. However at $5+ a gallon that becomes prohibitively expensive.
The bathrooms and hot water tank are on the opposite side of the house from the future home of the pellet. The second stove idea is something I too was comtemplating as well since I have a rather large master bed room I dont use for anything. (Due to logistics and home security reasons I dont use the mast bedroom, its for storage only)
I would think the ability to create heat for 12hrs+ would be ideal. Any way to hook a pellete up to the existing ductwork and just turn on the furnace fane to circulate the warm air?
johneh
Minister of Fire
A pellet stove is a space heater not a furnace (unless you buy a pellet furnace)
Your home is to large and spread out for one stove . two stoves may heat
the house .
I run my stove (an Enviro) 24/7 from November to the end of March/April
heats my family room and living room 900 sq. feet total The rest is handled by a wood /gas
combination (never used any gas just there for insurance purposes )
Buy a good quality stove with the looks you want and bigger BTU than you think
you need . It is easier to turn the heat down than get more heat from a maxed out stove
Just my nickel's worth
Your home is to large and spread out for one stove . two stoves may heat
the house .
I run my stove (an Enviro) 24/7 from November to the end of March/April
heats my family room and living room 900 sq. feet total The rest is handled by a wood /gas
combination (never used any gas just there for insurance purposes )
Buy a good quality stove with the looks you want and bigger BTU than you think
you need . It is easier to turn the heat down than get more heat from a maxed out stove
Just my nickel's worth
stoveliker
Minister of Fire
Any stove is a space heater. And Ranch-layout homes are notoriously tough to heat with a space heater.
(Also, a stove in a bedroom is, afak, prohibited - and I am not sure IF that changes if you don't use the bedroom, I would surmise it's still classified as a bedroom and thus prohibited.)
(Also, a stove in a bedroom is, afak, prohibited - and I am not sure IF that changes if you don't use the bedroom, I would surmise it's still classified as a bedroom and thus prohibited.)
bogieb
Minister of Fire
The rooms at the end of the L will probably be cold, at the very least they will be colder. Which for the bedroom isnpt a bigi deal, but the bathroom may need a bit of extra (or maybe just a space heater during showers).
If you can situate your stove so that the airflow is pointed down the hall, that would benefit you greatly so that the warm air doesn't get trapped in the living area. I have only 900 sq/ft but when I had a corner stove set up where my P43 is now, the air flow was dierected at that dead corner in the living room. I had to use lots of fans to move the air down the bedroom (the air just doesn't want to move in this place, unless it is from inside to outside). When I put in the P43 I was able to direct the airflow down the hall and I don't have to have supplemental fans
In my situation, I also have the P43 set up on an exterior thermostat that is situated in the Den set up at 69*. The living area is in the 70's with the bedrooms in the high 60's. The stove is set to automatically start up / shut down when heat is needed and I use it for sole source of heat (I do have a stove in the basement).
I don't know anything about using existing ductwork as my house doesn't have any.
If you can situate your stove so that the airflow is pointed down the hall, that would benefit you greatly so that the warm air doesn't get trapped in the living area. I have only 900 sq/ft but when I had a corner stove set up where my P43 is now, the air flow was dierected at that dead corner in the living room. I had to use lots of fans to move the air down the bedroom (the air just doesn't want to move in this place, unless it is from inside to outside). When I put in the P43 I was able to direct the airflow down the hall and I don't have to have supplemental fans
In my situation, I also have the P43 set up on an exterior thermostat that is situated in the Den set up at 69*. The living area is in the 70's with the bedrooms in the high 60's. The stove is set to automatically start up / shut down when heat is needed and I use it for sole source of heat (I do have a stove in the basement).
I don't know anything about using existing ductwork as my house doesn't have any.
mtnbiker727
Feeling the Heat
My parents heated an 1,800 sq foot house exclusively with a wood stove (no fans) for over 40 years. The pellet stove MUST be in a central location in an open floor plan, with the stove fan pointed down the hallway towards the bedrooms (or whatever rooms are farthest away). Distant rooms will be cooler, and you'll probably have to leave doors open to keep them from getting too cold. I like to sleep in a cool room, so that always worked for me.
A big pellet stove like a Harman P68 should keep the living spaces that all adjoin plenty warm. If you run it on temperature mode, igniter disabled and let that thing cook, the stove surfaces will get hot and throw a lot of ambient heat into your house like a wood stove. The fan will kick on and off as the temperature sensor calls for it, but the stove will keep trickling pellets when the temperature is not called for, keeping the stove lit and everything around it hot.
I can't say whether you could get 12 hours out of the standard hopper trying to heat a space that big. You would probably have to extend the hopper to pull that off.
Alternatively, there are people that sell pellet boilers and furnaces. My neighbor builds them, and in my future home I hope to have one of his boilers. I have never seen his stoves in person, and I have no idea how much they cost, but I really like the idea of a pellet boiler. Here's his website if you're interested in checking it out: https://americasheat.com/ I will add that his hopper holds 14 bushels of pellets, so I would think that would last at least several days, and I would expect you could hook the furnace up to your existing duct work. Just wanted to throw that out there.
A big pellet stove like a Harman P68 should keep the living spaces that all adjoin plenty warm. If you run it on temperature mode, igniter disabled and let that thing cook, the stove surfaces will get hot and throw a lot of ambient heat into your house like a wood stove. The fan will kick on and off as the temperature sensor calls for it, but the stove will keep trickling pellets when the temperature is not called for, keeping the stove lit and everything around it hot.
I can't say whether you could get 12 hours out of the standard hopper trying to heat a space that big. You would probably have to extend the hopper to pull that off.
Alternatively, there are people that sell pellet boilers and furnaces. My neighbor builds them, and in my future home I hope to have one of his boilers. I have never seen his stoves in person, and I have no idea how much they cost, but I really like the idea of a pellet boiler. Here's his website if you're interested in checking it out: https://americasheat.com/ I will add that his hopper holds 14 bushels of pellets, so I would think that would last at least several days, and I would expect you could hook the furnace up to your existing duct work. Just wanted to throw that out there.
Ocelot
Burning Hunk
Others have already given you good advice about stoves, your living space, etc. I also have a forced air oil furnace and can add one thing I do that helps some. I have a smart thermostat and in it’s app I set it to run the furnace blower fan for 10 or 15 minutes per hour. This helps me some to even out the heat from my Harman pellet stove by circulating air from the returns to the heat vents around the house.
My stove Is in the living room and I also have an adjustable speed fan up in the enterance to the living room to move air to the rest of the house. My house is much smaller than yours, but not well insulated however, mine might be a bit easier to heat being a little over half the size of yours . The last time I bought oil was two years ago this October and still have a half tank of that left.
My stove Is in the living room and I also have an adjustable speed fan up in the enterance to the living room to move air to the rest of the house. My house is much smaller than yours, but not well insulated however, mine might be a bit easier to heat being a little over half the size of yours . The last time I bought oil was two years ago this October and still have a half tank of that left.
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