More narrowed down thread to continue...........

[teeravis1]

Hey guys,

I have been researching the pellet stoves for about 6 months, but was looking for some opinions now from some actual owners of the stoves. I do have a few friends with pellet stoves, but they have only had them a few years if that, so I am looking for some long term reviews (as long as possible anyway). So a little more info about what I have. I have a two story house, 1200 sq ft a floor, so with the basement 3600 all together. The stoves I am leaning towards are the Quadrafire Mt Vernon AE, or the Harman P68. However, I would like any feed back on the Breckwell Big E anyone could give. Also on the St Croix stoves on their website they don’t list the BTU their stoves put out or the sq ft they can heat, can anyone tell me this info on the Hastings, Prescott EXP, & Prescott EXL? My plan is to put the stove in my basement, cut a vent in my main cold air return of my ductwork near the stove, and run the blower of my forced air furnace on low to circulate the heat thru the house. My thought is with the natural heat rise and the circulation of heat thru the duct work I will be able to heat the house. I have a buddy that did this with his ranch style house and it works great, not sure exactly how well it will work with a two story house...............Man I’m out of breath. So any thoughts or info on the stoves I mentioned or opinions on how my plan is going to work or not work would be much appreciated.- Thanks for all the replies so far, I’ll be waiting to hear your thoughts - Thanks again.

 

[BrotherBart]

St. Croix specs:

(broken link removed)

 

[kinsmanstoves]

You have a few different styles of stoves picked out. Before you get your heart set on a stove, make sure you can get one. Please refer to just about every Harman post on this forum if you need to ask why I say that. I can help you out on the Big E. Give a call.

P.S. Like the visual aids?

Eric
330-876-0200

8-27-08 Sorry sold the last one and 5 coming the first week in Sept.

 

[mkmh]

I'd still recommend running a few basic searches against the forum to narrow down a little more.
For example, just typing "Hastings" into the search brought up a good thread about the St Croix Brand (one of several)
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/18825/
I'm not trying to be impolite, just trying to encourage a little more research so you can bring more focused questions.

One thing i'll say about the plan is that I think you'll have a really hard time getting heat to the top floor without really (really) super heating the basement. I have a somewhat similar configuration (only with a stove in the basement and 1 on the main floor). I've tried to get my basement stove (Harman P61A) to heat the whole house a few times with poor results.
If your house is extremely tight you might be able to get it to work, but it is generally not the best way to use a pellet stove. They are first and foremost space heaters, big efficient space heaters. Obviously you can do some stuff to get the heat moving around, but the general rule of thumb is to (when possible) have the stove in a central main area of the house so you don't have to move the heat far.

my 2 cents

 

[hossthehermit]

Hey guys,

I have been researching the pellet stoves for about 6 months, but was looking for some opinions now from some actual owners of the stoves. I do have a few friends with pellet stoves, but they have only had them a few years if that, so I am looking for some long term reviews (as long as possible anyway). So a little more info about what I have. I have a two story house, 1200 sq ft a floor, so with the basement 3600 all together. The stoves I am leaning towards are the Quadrafire Mt Vernon AE, or the Harman P68. However, I would like any feed back on the Breckwell Big E anyone could give. Also on the St Croix stoves on their website they don’t list the BTU their stoves put out or the sq ft they can heat, can anyone tell me this info on the Hastings, Prescott EXP, & Prescott EXL? My plan is to put the stove in my basement, cut a vent in my main cold air return of my ductwork near the stove, and run the blower of my forced air furnace on low to circulate the heat thru the house. My thought is with the natural heat rise and the circulation of heat thru the duct work I will be able to heat the house. I have a buddy that did this with his ranch style house and it works great, not sure exactly how well it will work with a two story house...............Man I’m out of breath. So any thoughts or info on the stoves I mentioned or opinions on how my plan is going to work or not work would be much appreciated.- Thanks for all the replies so far, I’ll be waiting to hear your thoughts - Thanks again.

All I know is, I'm in the middle of installing a St. Croix Revolution, and it specifically says DO NOT FEED SUPPLY AIR FROM THE PELLET FURNACE INTO THE COLD AIR RETURN OF THE OTHER FURNACE. Mine is going into the supply air (hot air) plenum of my oil unit

 

[teeravis1]

You have a few different styles of stoves picked out. Before you get your heart set on a stove, make sure you can get one. Please refer to just about every Harman post on this forum if you need to ask why I say that. I can help you out on the Big E. Give a call.

P.S. Like the visual aids?

Eric
330-876-0200

Maybe I'm a little slow. I read a bunch of threads, but I don't get the different styles of stoves, unless you are referring to the way they look, or the different features each has.

 

[kinsmanstoves]

You wrote. "The stoves I am leaning towards are the Quadrafire Mt Vernon AE, or the Harman P68. However, I would like any feed back on the Breckwell Big E anyone could give."

P68 and the Mt Vernon look nothing like the Big E. This is what I meant about style.

Sorry for the confusion, just trying to help.
Eric

 

[teeravis1]

I'd still recommend running a few basic searches against the forum to narrow down a little more.
For example, just typing "Hastings" into the search brought up a good thread about the St Croix Brand (one of several)
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/18825/
I'm not trying to be impolite, just trying to encourage a little more research so you can bring more focused questions.

One thing i'll say about the plan is that I think you'll have a really hard time getting heat to the top floor without really (really) super heating the basement. I have a somewhat similar configuration (only with a stove in the basement and 1 on the main floor). I've tried to get my basement stove (Harman P61A) to heat the whole house a few times with poor results.
If your house is extremely tight you might be able to get it to work, but it is generally not the best way to use a pellet stove. They are first and foremost space heaters, big efficient space heaters. Obviously you can do some stuff to get the heat moving around, but the general rule of thumb is to (when possible) have the stove in a central main area of the house so you don't have to move the heat far.

my 2 cents

mkmh, your 2 cents are more than welcome as well are everyone elses. To heat my two story house, is there any way to do it with one pellet stove when I am wanting to heat the basement with it also, or am I trying to take a canoe upstream without a paddle. I hate to go to two stoves because then I won't come out ahead as soon. If I could do it with one stove I would be ahead in two heating seasons easily. Anybody have any ideas for me here? I have decided the stove I will get is the Harman P68 or the Mt. Vernon AE, as they seem to be capable of heating the most sq ft on the market without going to a pellet furnace, correct me if I am wrong.

 

[mkmh]

Well, I guess you are on the right track looking at the big stoves, but I still question whether 68,000 BTUs will take care of 3600 square feet. If heating all that space is your goal you may want to look at a harman pellet furnace which might be able to tap into your existing ductwork. Alternatively you could go with too more economical stoves for less than the price of the P68. Example 2 baseline Englander stoves would probably run around 3200 bucks and you'd end up with more BTUs, the advantage of 2 zones and you'll also have a much better chance of buying and installing them this year (not sure if you been following the harman shortage).

 

[kinsmanstoves]

Here is another option. Take a look.

http://www.fahrenheittech.com/index.html

Eric

 

[teeravis1]

Here is another option. Take a look.

http://www.fahrenheittech.com/index.html

Eric

Is this fahrenheittech company new to the pellet stove market, I wouldn't want to be the guinny pig on something new. Or do they have some proven history? Would the Big E heat s much as the p68 or Mt Vernon AE? - Thanks

 

[pete324rocket]

Is your basement insulated?

 

[teeravis1]

Is your basement insulated?

Not at the moment, but if I put a pellet stove down there it is going to become insulated very shortly. So the answer is no, but consider it to be yes.............that sounds like some kind of answer my wife would give me! :-S