Hi, I live in RI and am looking to replace my old oil furnace with a pellet furnace while taking advantage of my existing FHA ductwork. My home is only about 1200 sq' with an additional unfinished basement for laundry and work room. One end of the house has a Quadra-fire stove, so adding a pellet furnace will allow me to just purchase extra pellets and get off the oil. Any thoughts?
which pellet furnace
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maple1
Minister of Fire
I havent' read of many furnaces out there. Hopefully you'll get some feedback on one.
There are some very good boilers (hydronic heater, actually) on the market though - one of those together with a coil in your plenum would do the trick. And also do your DHW. There's a few threads in the boiler room on them - particularly Biowin.
bogieb
Minister of Fire
If you have room, you can (so I hear) configure it so the pellet furnace is primary heat, and the old furnace is secondary so it would only go on if for some reason the pellet furnace doesn't fire, or can't keep up. The only issue I can think of is if you have room for a bulk hopper as that would seem to be the best way to feed the furnace. But, as mentioned by Maple1, a post in the Boiler Room may give you better / more complete answers.
TimfromMA
Minister of Fire
Not exactly the right time to jump into a pellet furnace with pellets being so expensive and oil being so cheap.
elevenMracing
Member
I have been using a Harman PF120 exclusively to heat my home for most of last winter and all of this winter so far. Home is a 2,500 sq ft 2-story farm house plus about 800 sq ft of basement with field stone walls. House is moderately sealed and moderately insulated. Right now I am burning right about 2 bags a day, in October/early November it was more like 1-1.5 bags a day (only running unit at night). Throughout the entire winter I expect to use 9-10 tons total. With LP prices being as cheap as they are I don't believe burning pellets saves us much money, but I do love the quality of the heat it provides that LP dd not. My home is a very consistent 72 degrees around the clock, with gas that temp seemed to rise and fall much more significantly. The furnace itself has not given me any trouble, though I have only owned it since last fall. Currently I have burned about 13 tons with it. Maintenance/cleaning are a breeze, even someone with basic mechanical knowledge is capable of keeping one of these things running. I don't mind the work/exercise of moving 500 40lb bags down the stairs into my basement every year, but I imagine from the number of these furnaces that I see for sale on Craigslist that does get to some people. I have it easier than most though being able to use a forklift to set a full ton right next to my front door, move the bags 10ft to a slide, once 10 are on the slide I run downstairs to stack onto a pallet, when the pallet is full I jack it up with y manual pallet jack jack and move it to the back to the storage room, repeat process. I can move a ton by myself this way in about 30 minutes, if the wife helps it's almost half that. Please also keep in mind the space it takes to keep that many pallets stored near the furnace. I am also lucky to be able to haul my own pellets from our local supplier who is 10 minutes away. I pay around $220 a ton, so it's incredibly convenient to be able to stop in and pickup a truckload here and there throughout the year when I have some extra cash vs. pre-paying for $2,000+ of propane.
I think your only furnace choices are the Harmon PF100 (forced-air) or PB100 (hot water), or the Farenheit brand. I heard the Harmon furnaces are being (or were) discontinued, so you better shop quick!
maple1
Minister of Fire
That could also make it exactly the right time to buy a pellet furnace or boiler - people selling at a good buy because of the fuel situation right now. Fuel situations are always up & down - a good situation for some diversification.
Wilbur Feral
Minister of Fire
If you go the coil in plenum route, be sure to consult an HVAC expert with experience in using these. Transferring heat from a water based system to forced air can be tricky, and sometimes occurs less efficiently then one would like. As Maple1 notes it can be done, but matching up coil size with water temp with air flow adds layers of complexity that require a fair amount of calculation. The average HVAC person does only a fair job of accurately sizing most systems. For this, you need someone with true skill, training and experience.
Arti
Feeling the Heat
(broken link removed to http://stcroixstoves.com/multi-fuel-furnaces)
Gives you multi fuel capabilities and still in production so parts should be available should they be needed. Sort of depends what is available in your area, if you need dealer support or are comfortable doing it yourself.
Gives you multi fuel capabilities and still in production so parts should be available should they be needed. Sort of depends what is available in your area, if you need dealer support or are comfortable doing it yourself.
Arti
Feeling the Heat
(broken link removed to http://stcroixstoves.com/multi-fuel-furnaces)
Gives you multi fuel capabilities and still in production so parts should be available should they be needed. Sort of depends what is available in your area, if you need dealer support or are comfortable doing it yourself.
Gives you multi fuel capabilities and still in production so parts should be available should they be needed. Sort of depends what is available in your area, if you need dealer support or are comfortable doing it yourself.
If you do some serious Googling you'll come across a guy who put his Quad in his basement and fabbed up some ductwork to his system and heated his house that way. I had the link many years ago but cannot find it. I believe it was this website. I was interested as I have a Quad that isn't being used. Good thing about it is I can burn 50/50 corn pellet mix and its 80lb hopper. If people are dumping Harmon or Farenheats on Craigslist that would be a good way to get a bargain. These things are very expensive new so getting a return on your investment will be spread out over many more years if you buy new.
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