pellet/wood stove fireplace insert?

[Highbeam]

Even with the furnace blower, these things are space heaters meaning the room that the stove is in will be the warmest and most pleasant. You would not want to put a woodstove in your basement with the intent of heating your upstairs living space via the furnace ductwork.

In my previous homes, the hot air return intake was in the peak of the vaulted ceiling or directly above the woodstove. This increased the temp of the blower air.

Still, expect the different rooms to be different temperatures. This will drive an HVAC guy like you crazy but is one of the things I enjoy about non-ducted heat. Warm in the living room and cool in the bedrooms. It might be wise to move the furnace thermostat to a different area if you are looking to have it kick in for a cold kitchen. I think you'll find that after being in the 75 degree living room that a 65 degree bedroom will be cozy, especially with the electric blanket. The toilet seats will get cool though.

 

[Sigarms]

Can't do the electric blanket because of the pic posted /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif and they sleep with us for better or worse.

Nice thing thinking about this is if I go with a pellet stove, I can replace the 90% LP furnace with a 14 SEER heat pump with strip heat and use the pellet stove for primary heat.

Up until actually "running into" a pellet stove insert by "mistake", I was thinking I would still want to run with the gas furnace for primary heat on that floor (I should say secondary heat, using the heat pump for heat until I hit a set temp, where I'd then use the furnace for heat).

 

[arthr31]

Best would be to find a local dealer who knows about them (jotul).
Nevertheless, they do make good woodstoves..

The wood insert stove that I have cannot burn both cord wood and pellet... too separate things.. -art

 

[Highbeam]

What's wrong with the pups? Mine always enjoyed the eblankets for the same reason I did. Maybe yours chew?

The folks I know who own pellet stoves are quick to point out that they will cook you out if you set them on max output. They will require a daily commitment to fuel and occasionally to empty ashes and clean. If you are gone for a week then you will need to have a plan B for your alternate which it sounds like you do.

I can't speak to your location, but in the NW we have an enormous supply of cheap wood pellets from our timber industry. I would recommend checking your region's supply.

The pellets are a tree hugger fuel too since the wood waste would have gone to the landfill and the burning of wood is carbon neutral since the carbon burning is made from carbon taken from the air while the tree was growing or something like that. Renewable resource and all that.

 

[Sigarms]

Went with a down comforter (sp?), no complaints /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

With the heat pump and heat strip, any time extended away shouldn't be a problem with heat.

Where I'm at in N.C it's cold (15-50 degrees) mostly between Dec. and Feb., as mentioned before, last year was out in shorts and a t-shirt running at the end of Feb.

Just that currently with 3 LP furnaces in the house with striaght a/c, those 3-4 months are killing me in heating bills.

Again thanks for everyones help!

Well, called for my first quote, a Harmon pellet insert stove. $3000??? Might need to rethink this is this is the going rate.

 

[Highbeam]

Remember what was said about the current state of affairs. Expect to be gouged.

There was a good mail order site, stovesdirect or something like that. I'll look again.

 

[Highbeam]

Yep, stovesdirect.com

I see pellet stoves with 81-85% efficiency ratings and woodstoves in the 61-65% range. Pellet stoves from 2-3000 and woodstoves from 1-2000. With extremes either way. They even have some combination corn/pellet burners but no prices listed.

 

[dmccarty]

Sigarms,

I'm in the triangle so I'm close to you.

We have been heating the house this winter with the wood stove. This is our first year in the house so the data is short. But what I have noticed is that with the wood stove in the living room, the bedrooms on the opposite side of the house are about 8-10 degrees colder. My thermastat is in the living room about 12 feet from the stove. The living room might get to 80 usually its 76-77. At night the living room will drop to 70-72 if I feed the fire during the night. I had a couple of nights were the temps fell to 68. The thermastat is set to turn on the heat pump at 67.

So far this heating season the heat pump has not run. It will today I think since the chimney sweep is scheduled to clean the stove and chimney this afternoon. Its a cold day for him to do it and it will be the first time the stove has been really out for weeks.

I have turned on the blower to move the air around the house. After 30 minutes or so the back bedrooms had gone up a degree. Not worth it to me to run the blower so I have not done it since. We are all on one level and we have a finished concrete floor that is a huge mass to absorb energy. When we thought about putting in radient floor heat the literature I read said to not waste money on putting in lots of circuits since the house would try to equalize in temperature all by itself. This seems to be working for us. The north bedrooms have gotten to 65 degrees. I'm not sure with the heat pump they would be any warmer if the thermastat is set to 68.

Our house has good tight windows. But they are not R25 walls. Each north bedroom has two windows. One is 5'x8' and the other is 6'x8' so there are big "holes" in the walls heating/cooling wise. So the stove at the other end of the house keeping the north rooms at 65ish seems pretty good. And I'm not using power to warm them.

Later,
Dan

 

[5030]

Looks like our house, lets see, 2 labs one golden and one chocolate and one chilabrador...I don't know who was on the stool for that one.

Our pups sleep in their own "houses" in the kitchen and laundry room. The cats 5 of them sleep everywhere but not in the bedroom. No animals there

The horses sleep in the barn. Somehow, I think that 7 Percheron Draft horses would be pretty hard on the floor beams but my wife would have them inside if she could.

Check out www.englanderstoves.com. That is where mine came from via Quality Farm and Fleet which is TSC now.

 

[Sigarms]

To "quantify" fuel usage to an extent, anyone here have a wood stove, and if so, how many of cords of wood do you use for the stove during the winter months?

Due to the price difference at this point, leaning towards a wood stove.