I've tried to do alot of research before positing...I've found some very useful information in this forum and thank you all in advance for any opinions you can share.
We currently heat our split ranch home with a wood stove in the lower level 400sq ft family room. We have electric baseboard heat in each room on the main level that we rarely use. The wood stove cranks all winter. We burn 5 cords of wood Oct-Apr. It gets uncomfortably hot in the lower level family room. There is an open stairway. The main level is 1300 sq ft with an open kitchen/living room above the lower level family room. The 3 bedrooms are above the garage and a unheated laundry room. We have loved the warmth of the wood stove, but are done with stacking 5 cords of wood and the mess it leaves. Also we don't know how efficient or even how old the Vermont Castings Vigilant wood stove is and feel that needs to be replaced very soon.
So we are looking for a pellet stove to make us warm and happy this season We fell in love with the Harman p68. We'd like to keep the main level living room/kitchen at 72-74 degrees, bedrooms around 68 degrees and well, the lower level doesn't really matter because we are used to it being hot as h*ll!
I'm looking for opinions on these thoughts... Is the p68 overkill in this situation? I've read some threads where people are heating their homes sufficiently with 30-40,000 BTU pellet stoves. It's in our budget, so we figured we'd go with what was perceived to be the best, a Harman. Are we spending money we don't need to spend though? I understand the basement/lower level install of a pellet stove isn't ideal, but can I assume that if the wood stove is heating the whole house that a pellet stove, if sized right, will do the same? Any recommendations would be appreciated!
Thanks,
Deb
We currently heat our split ranch home with a wood stove in the lower level 400sq ft family room. We have electric baseboard heat in each room on the main level that we rarely use. The wood stove cranks all winter. We burn 5 cords of wood Oct-Apr. It gets uncomfortably hot in the lower level family room. There is an open stairway. The main level is 1300 sq ft with an open kitchen/living room above the lower level family room. The 3 bedrooms are above the garage and a unheated laundry room. We have loved the warmth of the wood stove, but are done with stacking 5 cords of wood and the mess it leaves. Also we don't know how efficient or even how old the Vermont Castings Vigilant wood stove is and feel that needs to be replaced very soon.
So we are looking for a pellet stove to make us warm and happy this season We fell in love with the Harman p68. We'd like to keep the main level living room/kitchen at 72-74 degrees, bedrooms around 68 degrees and well, the lower level doesn't really matter because we are used to it being hot as h*ll!
I'm looking for opinions on these thoughts... Is the p68 overkill in this situation? I've read some threads where people are heating their homes sufficiently with 30-40,000 BTU pellet stoves. It's in our budget, so we figured we'd go with what was perceived to be the best, a Harman. Are we spending money we don't need to spend though? I understand the basement/lower level install of a pellet stove isn't ideal, but can I assume that if the wood stove is heating the whole house that a pellet stove, if sized right, will do the same? Any recommendations would be appreciated!
Thanks,
Deb