I have an Earth Stove pellet fireplace insert. It is sized approriate to the square footage of my house. My house is a 1923 English Tudor style. 3 floors and a walk up attic. Downstairs is living room with fireplace (thats where the insert is), dining room, small family room, kitchen. Upstairs is 4 bedrooms and a bathroom.
Walk up attic is only used for storage. Basement is finished with 2 bedrooms in it.
All together its around 2300 square feet. All brand new windows throughout entire house. House has no insulation except for the finished basement.
I have gas fired steam radiators. Thermostat is in the dining room which is around the corner from the pellet stove insert.
Outside temperature has been between 20-30 degrees and drops to the high teens at night.
Here are the temps of the different floors of my house with the pellet stove on. With the pellet stove on my primary gas fired steam radiator system doesn't turn on at all.
My insert has 5 heating settings.
Low.... this doesn't do much so I won't even count it.
Low 1..... basement 50-55 degrees. Its cold and I need to run an electric radiator.
1st floor 67 degrees. Comfortable.
2nd floor 63 degrees. Chili and not very comfortable
Medium.. basement 50-55 degrees. Its cold and I need to run an electric radiator.
1st floor 69 degrees. Comfortable.
2nd floor 64 degrees. Chili and not very comfortable
Medium 2.. basement 50-55 degrees. Its cold and I need to run an electric radiator.
1st floor 72 degrees. A little too warm.
2nd floor 64 degrees. Chili and not very comfortable
Medium 2.. basement 50-55 degrees. Its cold and I need to run an electric radiator.
1st floor 72 degrees. A little too warm.
2nd floor 64 degrees. Chili and not very comfortable
High ... basement 50-55 degrees. Its cold and I need to run an electric radiator.
1st floor 76 degrees. Entirely too hot.
2nd floor 65 degrees. Chili and not very comfortable
So what does this mean and why am I posting it??
I figured it would give people considering a pellet stove insert an idea of what they are looking at if they have an old multilevel house.
I thought I could use the insert as a primary source of heat in the winter. I was wrong. If we all lived on the first floor it would be fine but since I have a basement and a second floor thats not the case. Of course I didn't think the basement would get heat but I didn't realize how quickly the heat drops in the basement when my gas fired steam radiator system isn't turning on.
I thought the heat would rise up to the second floor because my buddy has a free standing wood burning stove in his living room of his multi level house and his second floor gets so hot he has to put the fans on and sometimes open the windows upstairs. I figured the pellet stove insert wouldn't get as hot as a wood burning stove but I thought it would get hot enough to make the upstairs comfortable. I was wrong. There just isn't enough BTU's generated even if I have it on high (which burns an entire 40lb bag of pellets in about 8 hours).
So... this is what it feels like in my house with the gas fired steam radiators...
With the steam radiators system on and the T-stat set at 67, the entire house is a very comfortable constant temp. The temps are as follows:
Basement is 69 degrees (main steam pipes run through both rooms and I have them exposed so they throw off tremendous amounts of heat).
1st floor is 67 degrees
2nd floor is 68 degrees
My conclusion is this. If everybody is on the 1st floor (which is fairly rare in my house) the pellet stove is a wonderful source of heat. It makes the 1st floor very comfortable. The rest of the house is cold however.
Basically, a pellet stove insert set in an old house like mine is nothing more than a space heater for the general area in which it resides.
I probably should have researched it a little more before I went the pellet stove route. Wood probably would have been a better choice if I wanted to heat my 1st and second floors. Keep that in mind when you are choosing an alternate heating source.
Walk up attic is only used for storage. Basement is finished with 2 bedrooms in it.
All together its around 2300 square feet. All brand new windows throughout entire house. House has no insulation except for the finished basement.
I have gas fired steam radiators. Thermostat is in the dining room which is around the corner from the pellet stove insert.
Outside temperature has been between 20-30 degrees and drops to the high teens at night.
Here are the temps of the different floors of my house with the pellet stove on. With the pellet stove on my primary gas fired steam radiator system doesn't turn on at all.
My insert has 5 heating settings.
Low.... this doesn't do much so I won't even count it.
Low 1..... basement 50-55 degrees. Its cold and I need to run an electric radiator.
1st floor 67 degrees. Comfortable.
2nd floor 63 degrees. Chili and not very comfortable
Medium.. basement 50-55 degrees. Its cold and I need to run an electric radiator.
1st floor 69 degrees. Comfortable.
2nd floor 64 degrees. Chili and not very comfortable
Medium 2.. basement 50-55 degrees. Its cold and I need to run an electric radiator.
1st floor 72 degrees. A little too warm.
2nd floor 64 degrees. Chili and not very comfortable
Medium 2.. basement 50-55 degrees. Its cold and I need to run an electric radiator.
1st floor 72 degrees. A little too warm.
2nd floor 64 degrees. Chili and not very comfortable
High ... basement 50-55 degrees. Its cold and I need to run an electric radiator.
1st floor 76 degrees. Entirely too hot.
2nd floor 65 degrees. Chili and not very comfortable
So what does this mean and why am I posting it??
I figured it would give people considering a pellet stove insert an idea of what they are looking at if they have an old multilevel house.
I thought I could use the insert as a primary source of heat in the winter. I was wrong. If we all lived on the first floor it would be fine but since I have a basement and a second floor thats not the case. Of course I didn't think the basement would get heat but I didn't realize how quickly the heat drops in the basement when my gas fired steam radiator system isn't turning on.
I thought the heat would rise up to the second floor because my buddy has a free standing wood burning stove in his living room of his multi level house and his second floor gets so hot he has to put the fans on and sometimes open the windows upstairs. I figured the pellet stove insert wouldn't get as hot as a wood burning stove but I thought it would get hot enough to make the upstairs comfortable. I was wrong. There just isn't enough BTU's generated even if I have it on high (which burns an entire 40lb bag of pellets in about 8 hours).
So... this is what it feels like in my house with the gas fired steam radiators...
With the steam radiators system on and the T-stat set at 67, the entire house is a very comfortable constant temp. The temps are as follows:
Basement is 69 degrees (main steam pipes run through both rooms and I have them exposed so they throw off tremendous amounts of heat).
1st floor is 67 degrees
2nd floor is 68 degrees
My conclusion is this. If everybody is on the 1st floor (which is fairly rare in my house) the pellet stove is a wonderful source of heat. It makes the 1st floor very comfortable. The rest of the house is cold however.
Basically, a pellet stove insert set in an old house like mine is nothing more than a space heater for the general area in which it resides.
I probably should have researched it a little more before I went the pellet stove route. Wood probably would have been a better choice if I wanted to heat my 1st and second floors. Keep that in mind when you are choosing an alternate heating source.