Great site I've learned a lot on here already. Bought a home with 2 pellet stoves as the primary heat source. Harmon P68 in the basement and an XXV upstairs. Wouldn't it make more sence to have the larger p68 upstairs and the XXV in the basement. House is 3900 sqft open floor plan and the basement is really well insulated including the celing. Bought a vornado fan to help me move some air upstairs down the hallway to the back bedrooms seems to be working well. Any advice greatly appreciated.
New to the forum and the world of pellet stoves.
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TimfromMA
Minister of Fire
It's possible that having the larger stove downstairs will help heat the upper floor to a degree and the smaller stove is all that 's needed upstairs. As far as fans go, I've tried fans all over blowing every which way but my best results were no fan at all. I found my stove did the job quite well all by itself.
St_Earl
Minister of Fire
fans are site specific usage. our back bedroom would never get warm in deep winter w/o them. and we have a very small house.
there is just a drastic choke point for the airflow getting back there.
but then some others don't need them at all.less noise, less fuss. i'm jealous.
if the basement is well insulated, the heat should warm the floors and radiate into the house.
i wouldn't underestimate the value of this until you try it out for a while.
*if* this works well when the stove runs for long periods you *might* get more time with no noisy stove running upstairs.
but that's a big house. these are just thoughts.
two stoves is a real luxury. if the fan helps with warm air already, you could keep both benefits, heat soaked floors and that basement stove also getting warm air up from the basement.
perhaps once the floors are heat soaked, you can run the lowest rate on the basement stove and still get a good result.
again, musings and conjecture here
edit to add - i have no idea which stove should be where in your situation.
it's a nice "problem" to have though.
there is just a drastic choke point for the airflow getting back there.
but then some others don't need them at all.less noise, less fuss. i'm jealous.
if the basement is well insulated, the heat should warm the floors and radiate into the house.
i wouldn't underestimate the value of this until you try it out for a while.
*if* this works well when the stove runs for long periods you *might* get more time with no noisy stove running upstairs.
but that's a big house. these are just thoughts.
two stoves is a real luxury. if the fan helps with warm air already, you could keep both benefits, heat soaked floors and that basement stove also getting warm air up from the basement.
perhaps once the floors are heat soaked, you can run the lowest rate on the basement stove and still get a good result.
again, musings and conjecture here
edit to add - i have no idea which stove should be where in your situation.
it's a nice "problem" to have though.
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bogieb
Minister of Fire
Welcome! I think Tim and Earl have good thoughts on your question. The only thing I would add it that the P68 also has huge clearance needs from the sides and front; close to to 2 feet to each side and 3 feet from the front. The XXV only needs 12" to each side.
The original owners might have had a case like mine - I was sold a huge stove being told that it would heat the whole house from the basement, but it didn't (on paper it should do so easily, but in my case it didn't). In my case, I literally have no place with enough space to be able to move the large stove upstairs, so got a smaller stove that completes the heating for the main floor.
Also having the smaller stove heating the main floors during shoulder season, or when you just want to take the chill off in the morning may (or may not) be more efficient than having the huge stove going.
The original owners might have had a case like mine - I was sold a huge stove being told that it would heat the whole house from the basement, but it didn't (on paper it should do so easily, but in my case it didn't). In my case, I literally have no place with enough space to be able to move the large stove upstairs, so got a smaller stove that completes the heating for the main floor.
Also having the smaller stove heating the main floors during shoulder season, or when you just want to take the chill off in the morning may (or may not) be more efficient than having the huge stove going.
bogieb
Minister of Fire
Welcome aboard.
We use 3 pellet stoves on 1 floor 2400 sqft ranch.
One in the family room, and two in the living room.
One in the living room is aimed across the house at the family room (open floor plan)
The third is in a far corner of the living room that is out of the way pretty much, and gets used little except if it gets REAL cold out.
We alternate usage depending on the weather
Mid to low 50's, F, cloudy and wet and one little one gets the job done.
Down into the 40's F, and the little one gets shut down and the big one in the family room is fired up.
Down below 30 F and we light the little one back off.
Depending on the outside conditions (Windy ) this will do down into the single digits.
Low single digits and the third one will be needed.
Keep in mind that we don't run the first two above the #2 setting.
Too much thermal stress (heat) takes a toll on the heat tubes.
Generally we use the low settings
The fan thing is about as described, as we have tried them with minimal benefit over the stoves own fans.
I think the setup you have sounds pretty good.
We use 3 pellet stoves on 1 floor 2400 sqft ranch.
One in the family room, and two in the living room.
One in the living room is aimed across the house at the family room (open floor plan)
The third is in a far corner of the living room that is out of the way pretty much, and gets used little except if it gets REAL cold out.
We alternate usage depending on the weather
Mid to low 50's, F, cloudy and wet and one little one gets the job done.
Down into the 40's F, and the little one gets shut down and the big one in the family room is fired up.
Down below 30 F and we light the little one back off.
Depending on the outside conditions (Windy ) this will do down into the single digits.
Low single digits and the third one will be needed.
Keep in mind that we don't run the first two above the #2 setting.
Too much thermal stress (heat) takes a toll on the heat tubes.
Generally we use the low settings
The fan thing is about as described, as we have tried them with minimal benefit over the stoves own fans.
I think the setup you have sounds pretty good.
That's the stove just sitting downstairs. Haven't even turned it on only using the XXV upstairs. Really think I should flip the stoves. P68 puts out almost 20000 more btus
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