|
| Author |
Message |
WILL1E
Moderator
|
# Posted: 8 Feb 2021 08:23am
Reply
Starting to think about and look for a pellet stove for my upcoming cabin build (16'x20-28'). I would like to do pellet for the primary and potentially get a propane infrared as a backup (that part is TBD).
Anyways, what do i need to look for to determine the differences between top of the line, good for non-primary home seasonal use, and just flat out junk?
|
|
jsahara24
Member
|
# Posted: 8 Feb 2021 08:50am
Reply
I went with Harman which I believe to be top of the line as it is my primary heat source, Quadra-fire is also considered a good brand in my research. A lot of the cheap brands have many complaints in the reviews, but I don't have any personal experience with them. You may want to check out the hearth forums. Lots of good information on different brands/stoves.
Good luck, and the good ones aren't cheap! haha....
|
|
Aklogcabin
Member
|
# Posted: 8 Feb 2021 12:55pm
Reply
I've used wood pellets for primary heat for 10 or so years. Love it. We don't have access to natural gas. By far the cheapest. Load it once a day.
I bought, actually my 4 neighbors also bought the ones sold at HD. Made in USA. East coast. Great customer service with a real person who i can understand. I high recommended.
I bought some spare parts on the net . Can get them cheaper than from dealer. Just to have on hand. -15 out now. Blower n exhaust fan. Pretty much runs 10 months out the year nonstop.
I saw a used one on cl for 500 bucks with chimney pipe. Think mine was 12-14 hundred new.
I use 5 pallets a year . Hd delivers for 75 bucks. I buy a years worth at a time.
My son's 28x40 singl story ranch uses 3 pallets a year as only heat source. We both buy at the same time n split delivery costs. I give the driver a $20 tip , he puts pellets wherever i want them. He even helped move my sons drywall for his house n held it in his forkl Iift while we stacked it inside.
At HD its around 275 a pallet if remember correctly. Maybe someone can look up stove model n pellet cost.
I don't follow recommended cleaning. Don't have to. Vacuum the ash about once every 2 months. I do have a small metal spatula that I stir the embers n remove clunkers in morning n evening. So it burns a ton of pellets and leaves half a metal bucket of ash. Pretty efficient. Really enjoy watching the flames n lights up the room.
|
|
WILL1E
Moderator
|
# Posted: 8 Feb 2021 02:05pm
Reply
Aklogcabin You don't know the brand? HD has over 50 listed on their website.
This is the the one i was considering before i posted here.
|
|
Brettny
Member
|
# Posted: 9 Feb 2021 08:17am
Reply
I had an Englander, I believe there sold at HD. That was my first winter with a pellet stove...and last.
I put 2 auger motor in it, had to make a burn pot and the thing still constantly had issues. Not to mention the constant noise of the blower. Even a good quality fan is still going to make noise. Also look at the power consumption, money was quite high. The pellet stove was rated for 2,200 or 2,500 sqft house. Mine was 1,500 with new Insulation, windows and doors. It could almost never keep up and I was always cold.
I put a wood stove in the following year and have never been happier splitting and stacking wood.
|
|
WILL1E
Moderator
|
# Posted: 9 Feb 2021 08:21am
Reply
Brettny Was this a cabin or full time residence? Open floorplan? Single story or two? Just trying to understand if floorplan played into the reason for lack of staying/getting warm.
|
|
Brettny
Member
|
# Posted: 9 Feb 2021 10:18am
Reply
Full time. We have 11' ceilings in the kitchen/living room then it drops to 8' in the rest of the single story house. I actualy like my bedroom cold and dont care about the bathroom being cold. I just dont like being cold and only 10' from the stove while hearing the thing making all kinds of noise.
Wood stoves are dead silent, take no power and have next to nothing to break. After all there just a metal box you make a fire in. I would buy fire wood before I would put even a free top of the line pellet stove in.
|
|
Nate R
Member
|
# Posted: 9 Feb 2021 12:16pm
Reply
I was going to 2nd the hearth.com forums as a resource. 
|
|
|
Aklogcabin
Member
|
# Posted: 9 Feb 2021 12:35pm
Reply
There's a reason folks continue to buy them. Cheap dependable heat. We're getting older. Dealing with firewood for our home isn't happening, to hard for wife. Firewood is a lot of work. And dirty. And I always had a fan running to help spread the heat.
After 10 years plus of using one and watching others convert over and claim they enjoy it also i feel very safe in recommending them.. Englander sounds right. Can't remember the name because I never have to fix it.
Alaska winters get long n real cold. Heating is expensive.
I have to depend on my heat source. We have fuel oil forced air for a central heating system in our home also. Haven't used
It in many years.
I realize that one another didn't like using one. Many many others do.
|
|
WILL1E
Moderator
|
# Posted: 16 Feb 2021 12:14pm
Reply
How do you guys circulate your pellet or wood heated cabins...particularly those with walled off rooms in 1 story cabins or those with a true 2 story (not lofts) cabin?
|
|
Nate R
Member
|
# Posted: 16 Feb 2021 12:59pm
Reply
https://www.broan-nutone.com/en-us/product/ventilationfans/512
I'm thinking of something like this if I end up finding we need one.
|
|
rpe
Member
|
# Posted: 16 Feb 2021 02:12pm
Reply
We have a 2-story with stairwell on opposite side of main floor from the wood stove, around one wall as well. Upstairs two bedrooms have doors we keep shut most of the time. First night up, when main floor has come up to temp, upstairs bedrooms might still be well below freezing until the door(s) are opened. It's neat standing part way up the stairs, as you can immediately feel the heat flowing up the stairwell past your head, and the frigid air rolling down the stairs across your legs. After a bit of time to warm up the contents of the bedroom a bit, we normally sleep with that door shut as we sleep better in a cool room anyways. We've found no need for supplemental fans or ducting. I suspect with a spread out one-level layout it might be more of an issue heating the extremities.
|
|
gcrank1
Member
|
# Posted: 16 Feb 2021 02:34pm
Reply
16x24 open room to the peak; Ive found a little 5"(?) usb powered cheapo fan on the cold side of the room and pointed 'sorta up' circulates the air in the space quite well. It takes a little bit for the flow to establish then it just seems to go round & round. I often run it off a usb port on a jump start pac and place it where ever I want.
|
|
Brettny
Member
|
# Posted: 16 Feb 2021 02:47pm
Reply
My wood stove is in our living/kitchen room with 11' ceilings. The bathrooms, bedrooms and laundry room all have 8'. I like it cold when I sleep so dont circulate the heat. But when I need to I put a box fan in the cold area on the floor and point it towards the stove.
I find that moving the cold air to the hot air works better than trying to force the hot air through a fan. Ceiling fans in a room with a wood stove really make very little difference. I have two and never use them.
|
|
rpe
Member
|
# Posted: 16 Feb 2021 02:59pm
Reply
On the topic of fans, we got one of those pieze-electric self-powered "Eco-fans" for Christmas. It's a novelty item at best, so save your money if you're considering one for actual airflow purposes.
|
|
toyota_mdt_tech
Member
|
# Posted: 17 Feb 2021 08:21am - Edited by: toyota_mdt_tech
Reply
Quoting: WILL1E How do you guys circulate your pellet or wood heated cabins...particularly those with walled off rooms in 1 story cabins or those with a true 2 story (not lofts) cabin?
WILL1E, I have a Quadrafire in my house, they are build in my state, in fact, city of Colville WA, little town in the NE section, not too far from my cabin area and I am pals with one of their retired engineers, he is a ham radio operator and we chat in the evenings from time to time on the radio.
I didnt buy the optional fan at first, but added it afterwards, the fan kit was specific for my woodstove and is variable so you can turn it down. I also added a ceiling fan in the room where the woodstove is and it warms the entire house, I do need to keep all bedroom doors open, but its nice steady even heat.
Mine is the Millennial 3100 flat top. Same as picture below except the chrome parts or brass on mine.
Notice the shielding all around the back and sides, the blower runs air under those baffles and out, it picks up loads of heat and really warms the place up.
|
|
gcrank1
Member
|
# Posted: 17 Feb 2021 11:10am
Reply
Concerning where to place a fan...in our 16x24 there is a fair bit of furniture blocking the floor flow so a fan placed low from cool corner to stove seems pretty much ineffective. By pointing my fan higher it does make for circulation soon and one does not feel any cooling effect across the body (that is why we use fans in the hot summer). Practically speaking I think that anything that can kick the stacked heat in the top of a room down to mix will make the room more comfortable. I know that wether Im sitting or standing if I reach my hand toward the peak it always feels warmer, the differential is just less, and my sense of warmed body more, if I run the fan (but not so I feel the air flow over my body).
Since I am off-grid I try not to run higher draw stuff often, like the ceiling fan, but using it initially to mix the heat when we start the stove rather than wait for it to go to the peak and stack downwards seems logical. Once that hits comfort switching the ceiling fan off and just recirculating with the little one to maintain the mix may be good enough.
|
|
|
