# Help-what size pellet stove to purchase???



## bail6590 (Nov 17, 2010)

We are looking at all Harman products and here is what we have priced out so far:

*P35I insert 35,000 BTU heats 1300 sq ft
*Accentra freestanding 40,000 btu heats 1450 sq ft
*Harman XXV 50,000 btus heats 1750 sq ft
*Harman P68 68,000 btus heats 2200 sq ft

We live in Ohio in an all electric ranch house about 2250 sq ft. We have an open floor plan Fam rm, kirchen, dr with 17 ft cathedral ceilings. We just moved into the house and have not had really cold weather yet but this is a really cold house. It is only 21 years old but the Living area is really cold! Only warm area is master on other end of house from family room. We would like the pellet to be our main source of heat (I think) and use the fan on the furnace to recirculate the heat.
We have a large finished basement but we really don't use it that much so not too concerned about it.

My question is would the P35I provide enough heat on cold days to really keep the living area (about 1000 sq ft) really warm? Should we do this and then just use space heaters in other two bedrooms to heat when needed. It is just me and my husband living in the house. Or should we go with a larger free standing unit to give us more heat.

I don't know if it is more cost effective to go with a smaller unit that is on high all the time to heat or a larger unit that we could maybe keep on low or med.

We are really confused Any help will be greatly appreciated!


----------



## chris288 (Nov 17, 2010)

My opinion is go for the XXV in Majolica Brown Enamel, have had ours for 3 weeks now and we love it, heat output is great and it's a very nice looking stove compared to the other harman stoves.


----------



## Gweeper64 (Nov 17, 2010)

I would go with either the XXV or the P68 (no less than 50K btus) for your 2250 sq ft with cathedral ceilings.

Do you have other dealers with other brands nearby? There are other good options out there too (Quadrafire, Enviro, etc)


----------



## Trickyrick (Nov 17, 2010)

bail6590 said:
			
		

> We are looking at all Harman products and here is what we have priced out so far:
> 
> *P35I insert 35,000 BTU heats 1300 sq ft
> *Accentra freestanding 40,000 btu heats 1450 sq ft
> ...



With Electric heat you have all the tools right there to tell you what you need.  Especially if it is just baseboard, If it is a heat pump there will be some conversion factors.

Look at last years heating bills.  Compare to say Sept or Octobers electric bill.  Use the lower as you baseline.  Anything above that is electricity used for heating.  Take your worst month Jan or Feb last year (which you have from the previous owners???  or call your electric supplier and get the history)in Kwh and subtract your baseline.  That is how many Kwh you needed to heat your house.  Convert Kwh to BTUs and divide by the days in the winter month and then divide by 24 hours.  That should give you the average BTUs per hour for the coldest month of the year.  Add at least 20% and that is the Minimum you should plan for 50% is more realistic and will give you quicker response to temp changes in the house.


----------



## bail6590 (Nov 18, 2010)

Thanks to everyone for all your helpful information. We are definitely going to go with a larger stove and we just found out there is a Quadafire dealer in our area so we are going to contact them and get a quote. Thanks again for all the feedback.


----------



## Gweeper64 (Nov 18, 2010)

bail6590 said:
			
		

> Thanks to everyone for all your helpful information. We are definitely going to go with a larger stove and we just found out there is a Quadafire dealer in our area so we are going to contact them and get a quote. Thanks again for all the feedback.



Let us know what you settle on. And, we'll want pictures as proof after it's installed! ;-)


----------



## hoverfly (Nov 19, 2010)

I would rethink using the furnace fan, others have tried and proved not to be effective in most cases. I would look into circulation fans for moving the heat around.


----------



## Snowy Rivers (Nov 19, 2010)

Ok

Now I will give a little different recommendation based on personal experience.

One central pellet stove thats big enough to het that whole floor plan is going to drive you out of the area where the stove is when the outer areas are starting to get comfortable.

We have 2400 feet on a very open ranch syle floor plan so we are faced with s similar situation.

We orignally installed a 50K BTU Pellet stove in the family room and this was fine as long as the temps outiside were COLD

During more mild temps the big stove, even on low was too much heat.

We then installed a Quadrafire 1000 automatic and used that as our main heat source (thermostat controlled)

We did this program for several years and it was workable.

Having the one large stove still made some areas HOT and others cool/cold

Running the furnace fans did not do much to really help circulate the heat, just wasted more electricity running the fans.

This last year I decided to make changes.  


I installed a very small pellet unit (freestanding) in one corner of the living room so it could actually blow air from one end to the other of the house.

The Quad sits idle unless its real cold or we have to leave for a weekend and can't tend the other two.

Finally I installed a newer Whitfield in the family room.

So during mild temps we use the little tiny stove, and as temps drop into the 40's we shut off the little one and run the big Whitfield.

Now if the temps drop more, we run the little one and the big one and then if its real cold the Quad will kick in and help.

Not had anything cold enough for all three to be running BUTTTTTTTTTT.


Pellet stoves are by their very nature, SPACE heaters.

My feeling is that a medium/large sized stove in your primary living area (family room) plus a little stove in an area thats farther away is the best program.

Size the stoves so that your total output is 70K BTU or so. ( a 50 and a 25/30)

I always like to figure the BTU based on the stoves ratings in the middle of its heat adjustment.

So dont size according to the highest output.


Not a great idea to run the stove at its maximum setting on a constant basis.

We use our stoves on either the 1 or 2 setting.



Now I realize that 2 stoves is probably not what you had planned on but,  you may want to buy one new "larger stove" and snoop around on craigs list or ??? and scare up a little stove for your "helper" 

I paid $200 each for both of our Whitfields
The Advantage II is a large stove and can heat a fairly good sized area.
Our helper is a little Prodigy II
During moderate weather, the Prodigy does a fine job heating the entire house

Look around the house and pick an area or areas that are on an outside wall with easy penetration to the outdoors.

Personally I prefer the direct vent setup. It takes little time and pipe to install. Cleaning of the pipe is very quick and easy too.

Without roof penetration you have zero issues with leaks also.

Now this is how I did it.

Good luck and hope it all comes together for you.

Snowy


----------



## mascoma (Nov 19, 2010)

Technically you need the P68 to heat your entire house. 
With that said, you will never sit in the same room with the P68 running on high.


----------



## Delta-T (Nov 19, 2010)

mascoma said:
			
		

> Technically you need the P68 to heat your entire house.
> With that said, you will never sit in the same room with the P68 running on high.



I've never met a P68 owner who's ever turned their stove on 7 for more than a few minutes. I get the strange look and the "dear lord No, that would be crazy" when I ask.  :lol:


----------



## exoilburner (Nov 19, 2010)

bail,
You did not say if you had baseboard or furnace electric heat. 

If you have an electric furnace why not take advantage of your existing duct-work and add a pellet furnace. The heat distribution to all rooms is even; the distribution can be regulated with the room registers; pellet furnaces put out more BTU than most pellet stoves. You can add the pellet furnace to your existing system and keep the electric furnace as a back-up. Compare the prices to a large pellet stove and furnaces are not that much more. The install has more details but it is worth the effort. You will burn more pellets than a stove would.

Forgot to add that unlike electric heat you can keep your pellet burner going when the utility power goes out with a back-up inverter (generator).


----------



## bail6590 (Nov 19, 2010)

Wow-now I have even more to think about!
Thanks Snowy for all the details and thanks ex oil for the furnace idea. I will check out the cost of that. We have an electric heat pump not baseboard so that might work. I just want it to be warm! 

This is more confusing than I thought.... I'll let you know what we decide.


----------



## Snowy Rivers (Nov 19, 2010)

There is a method to my madness too. 
As well as the two stoves giving me the options to heat, it also gives us a backup in case one or the other quits.

Even in COLD weather, I could limp buy with the little stove, running it on a higher setting.

I have all electric heat in our house (Electric heat strip furnace)  An aquaintance of mine has a similar house and pays about $1300 a month in electric bills.

I pay out maybe $200 or less for nut shells to feed the stoves.


Good luck

Snowy


----------



## bail6590 (Nov 20, 2010)

We have narrowed it down between a quadafire Classic bay 1200 and a Harman XXV. I have heard that the maintanence on th Quadafire is quite a bit more than the harman. I have also read that the harmans are better stoves. The Quadafire is $2000 less than the harman but I don't want to buy something that is going to have problems and be a maintanence issue.

Does anyone own either of these stoves and can give me some feedback on the quality and daily maintenance issues they have had?
Thanks,
Bail


----------

