Pellet stove confusion

[Sesquipedalian]

Person says they have a P68 in the basement of a cape and it heats the whole house. Oil burner completely off.
I live in Massachusetts and I am told vents in floor are illegal, someone else says there is a way to do it legal. My basement is unfinished and I am told if the basement is not insulated then it would absorb a lot of the heat if I put a stove there. According to what I see online my house is less than 800sq ft.(cape) I could put it in the wall where the dining room is but then it would have to travel to other rooms and it is not an open floor plan. If I put the stove in the thermostat would not kick on because that is where it is. One room is being used as a bedroom right now and the person would close the door at night and it would probably get real cold. Don't know if the heat would travel to the rooms, I do have ceiling fans but seems like they might not help according to what I have read. Also don't know if the heat would get to the upstairs.

I would appreciate any feedback on the above situations and whether you think it would be worth considering or not. If it is, would I be better to get something like a P68 to have a better chance of spreading throughout the house or would it be better to get something along the lines of a P43 or Santa FE because of the overall sq ft involved.

 

[Jp16]

I have a 1300 sq ft cape, 2 story. My Santa fe keeps the entire house nice and warm, 70 upstairs and 72 down. Insulation I would call average for the year built, 1984. I think you could handaly heat your 900 sq ft house with a Santa Fe. If you are concerned with the t-stat, put it in a location away from the stove.

 

[TonyVideo]

What do you use the basement for?

 

[Sesquipedalian]

Laundry is in the basement along with the oil heat boiler. I store some stuff but very little. It is a block foundation instead of cement.

Jp16, where is your stove located in your cape?

 

[Tonyray]

I got talked out of putting a Harman P61A in my un-finished basement pretty quick here..
concrete block walls would absorb lot of the heat and it's not a living space down there anyway..
so made absolutely No Sense to burn bags and bags of pellets just to try and heat the 1st floor.
All that wasted heat just filtering out little cracks and crannies..
even if insulated we would still have had to keep the basement door open in order to try and get more heat to 1st floor....which is where we live... duh...
we installed it in our living room and never looked back.

 

[TonyVideo]

I agree. You would burn a lot more pellets downstairs in an area you don't use. Living space is better.

 

[TonyVideo]

You could put a box fan in the door blowing into the room with the stove.

 

[Polar Bear]

Maybe his basement has wide stairs and no door... The heat gets upstairs no problem in my house.

 

[Jp16]

Jp16, where is your stove located in your cape?

Mine is on a corner hearth in my living room on the 1st floor.

 

[batchman]

I don't know a P68 from a B52 but it sounds to me like one of the handful of stoves that can drive ductwork would work well for you. A stove in the basement driving ducts to a couple spots in the first floor would probably run pretty well. Of course you'd need some sort of return also.

If my basement wasn't finished I would probably have bought a Drolet.

Good luck,
- Jeff