I posted on the gas stove forum just a few days ago, looking for alternative heating for my finished basement. Upon further research, I'm leaning heavily towards a pellet stove instead. Based on the info below, I would greatly appreciate stove suggestions. Looks of the stove are important to me, and I'm interested in stoves with a more traditional wood burning stove look - i.e. Quadrafire Castile, etc. I'm also interested in any issues I may encounter installing one in a basement as far as running pipe for exhaust and OAK. I really don't know much of anything about pellet stoves. My interest stems from my calculation that in my area I will get approx. 43K BTU's/$ of propane vs. 82K BTU's/$ of pellets.
Stats: I bought a new spec house about 4 years ago. It is 26x40 with a full basement and loft. It had a floor to ceiling stonework on the first floor with a cheap wood/gas fireplace. I replaced that fireplace with a Kozy Heat Z42, which does and excellent job of heating the first floor and loft. The basement however, gets quite cool. Our basement is mostly finished, and we are looking at utilizing that finished area more = family room + toy room for the lad. I’m considering adding a heat source down there that will be able to quickly and efficiently raise the temp down there from upper 50’s/low 60’s to upper 60’s/low 70’s when we want to use that space (again, about 1000 square feet). I’m now thinking about a pellet stove (I don’t see taking wood down there nor maintaining 2 wood fires). I know nothing about pellet stoves, so I was hoping for some thoughts and recommendations on the above questions. Thanks!
Stats: I bought a new spec house about 4 years ago. It is 26x40 with a full basement and loft. It had a floor to ceiling stonework on the first floor with a cheap wood/gas fireplace. I replaced that fireplace with a Kozy Heat Z42, which does and excellent job of heating the first floor and loft. The basement however, gets quite cool. Our basement is mostly finished, and we are looking at utilizing that finished area more = family room + toy room for the lad. I’m considering adding a heat source down there that will be able to quickly and efficiently raise the temp down there from upper 50’s/low 60’s to upper 60’s/low 70’s when we want to use that space (again, about 1000 square feet). I’m now thinking about a pellet stove (I don’t see taking wood down there nor maintaining 2 wood fires). I know nothing about pellet stoves, so I was hoping for some thoughts and recommendations on the above questions. Thanks!