Pelletstove insert in a cathedral room-Hot enough?

[Al-B]

Im layin gout a waterfront home design and would really like the covieniece of a pellet insert built into the design. However Im questioning wether they will put off enough heat to warm and keep warm(80 degree in winter) a cathedral cieling room?
prob 20 x20 x20 space with glass on one wall.

Anyone using a PSInsert in a large room for the main heat source?

 

[johneh]

You have not told use much
Insulation?
Type of windows?
What direction are the windows facing? (N-S-E-W )
Ceiling fan?
All being said a Pellet stove would keep that
room at 80. If you buy a big enough stove (BTU)
The only heat in my 800 sq. foot poorly insulated summer
kitchen is a pellet stove and we keep that room at 72 Easley.

 

[Al-B]

Fair!
Insulation will be 3" spray in
Windows facing south towards water will be High E
Ceiling fan-yes

I bought a 70,000 btu Volgezengang? for my garage which is a little leaky and half insulated and it cant get the room above 55 when its in the 30's outside, whereas a fisher 24x32x32 woodstove got the same space up to 70...right now I dont have a good feel for how Pellet systems can heat.

Before I build something into the plans I want to see if thats a feasible option or I'll always be wishing I went with woodstove inseret cause I know they get HOT!

 

[johneh]

The best you will get is R 21 from 3 inches
But it will be well sealed
I don't think I would put an insert as most only
produce 45000 BTU
a free-standing can get to 80000 BTU
an Enviro Max X would heat it and blow you out
with heat 70000 BTU
An Envvio M55 cast insert is rated at 55000 BTU
and can produce a lot of heat.
You will need an OAK (outside air kit)

 

[Tonyray]

Fair!
Insulation will be 3" spray in
Windows facing south towards water will be High E
Ceiling fan-yes

I bought a 70,000 btu Volgezengang? for my garage which is a little leaky and half insulated and it cant get the room above 55 when its in the 30's outside, whereas a fisher 24x32x32 woodstove got the same space up to 70...right now I dont have a good feel for how Pellet systems can heat.

Before I build something into the plans I want to see if thats a feasible option or I'll always be wishing I went with woodstove inseret cause I know they get HOT!

We have 1920' house very poorly insulated along with lots of glass. Like 20 windows which thankfully are double pane. That said, our harman free standing 61K stove more than keeps our 1200 sq home plenty warm. 600 down/600 up. On stove or constant mode we never have to run it more than half throttle. Burn 24/7. Always go bigget than u think you need. Never know when u will need the xtra push.

 

[Tonyray]

Forgot mention a ceiling fan at top of steps circulates the heat that goes up the steps. Keeps it around 67- 68 in the bedrooms.

 

[MalcolmH]

I just put a 35,000 BTU 1600sqft capable free standing in a 20x26-10'wall 16' highest point cathedral ceilings open concept with loft above 2 bedrooms, thats 520sqft but because it is cathedral it would be more likely 1040sqft, you want to double the footage for cathedral ceilings IMO, I run the stove on 2 or 3 of the 5 heating levels and it heats the space up nicely, the convection fans do a really good job of directing the heat into the space as appose to radiating to the ceiling, but a ceiling fan would help considerably. If a stove specs say its capable of heating 1600sqft and you have 800sqft, in theory you would run the stove on half throttle - this depends on many other factors, draft setup, OAK, vent size/configuration, pellets, outside temp and wind, insulation, exhaust fans ect,.
I have a garage 20x30-8' ceiling with a 45,000BTU 2000sqft capable FS stove, it is to large for the 600sqft, wasting pellets running on low75% of the time except when its -30*C, put it on #2or3 and it cooks me out of the shop, so I don't consider this stove sized correctly for the space, mind you when the shop doors open up I can replace the lost heat quickly so its a trade off for my application.

Pellet stoves are not efficient running on Idle/Low and the chimney will require more cleaning, typically on most pellet stoves Low is designed to keep the stove on idle so when it calls for heat it is not lighting the stove every time you want heat or the thermostat calls for heat wasting pellets on lighting and heating it up to operating temps and cycling the ignitor every time, and the opposite is true that you don't want to run a stove on max all the time as that is the limits of the stove and may not be the safest way to heat especially if nobody is home to tend to it, although there are many safety features built in they can also fail. There are exceptions to this I'm sure but AFAIK low on most pellet stoves is idle burning enough pellets to stop it from going out and producing little heat.

I should note that I like my places to be at 65*F and want my pellet stove to burn no more than 40Lbs in 20-24hours, I see a lot of people keeping there homes at 70*++ if thats the case you will be running the stove hotter obviously and burning more pellets.

 

[railfanron]

My family room is 26 x 32 with a vaulted ceiling at 12 ft tall at its highest point. The walls are insulated to r19 and the ceiling to r60. There are 5 3' x 4' double pane windows and 1 2' x 4' double pane. There are 2 doors one 3' and one french double door at 5'. I have a Harman p43 as I couldn't fit an insert into my packaged fireplace. It will heat the room nicely to the low 70s. Don't know about 80 ,never tried, but my guess is it would. Only 2 of the large windows on the south wall. I had my furnace quit a few winters back when the nightime temps were in the -20 degree range and the stove heated the entire house (2250 sq ft). Family room to the middle 70s and the rest of the house to the middle 60s with the help of 2 5,000 btu electric heaters for 4 days. House is tight and pretty well insulated. There are 2 ceiling fans that run 24/7 pushing air up to the ceiling in the family room.
Ron

 

[Al-B]

WOW thats all encouraging!
I see the HArmon is a direct vent...nochimney? does that mean it just goes out the sidewall?

 

[Tonyray]

WOW thats all encouraging!
I see the HArmon is a direct vent...nochimney? does that mean it just goes out the sidewall?

Yes. Can go straight out and stop like dryer vent or like mine goes out and up about four or five feet. Little bit safer that way in case you're stove goes out due to a power outage the smoke has somewhere to go.

 

[P51mustang]

I would go with a freestanding stove that's as quiet and possible. Maybe a Harman XXV or Absolute 63.....Inserts seem to me to be a pain in the @ss to clean and you lose some of the radiant heat up the chimney. As mentioned earlier, get a size bigger than what your square footage would suggest as you can always turn the stove down.

You asked about direct venting....Depending upon what's outside (like a deck or some other area where you may spend time) you may want to vent up through your roof like a typical chimney install as soot and exhaust from your stove will possibly build up around your outside wall and in and around your deck or living area if you direct vent through your wall.

Also keep in mind you'll need to clean the chimney or vent so the easier and safer you can get to it the better. With a regular chimney up through the roof you'll also get a natural draft should you lose power and the stove shuts down thereby ensuring it'll still exhaust smoke without the exhaust motor running.

Good luck and let us know what you install. We love photos here in the forum by the way. I refer to it as HVAC pornography....

 

[batchman]

Your room sounds like my living room. I'm a little larger all three dimensions but the room is open on two sides to adjoining rooms and the stairs run up opposite the glass wall to open space between 3 bedrooms and a bath. I have a wood insert that does a nice job heating two upstairs bedrooms from there while keeping the living room comfortable. Trouble with the wood insert is you have to run the blower pretty well full-on, and it is not quiet.

Not sure of the capacity but vaguely recall 35k btu. When burning a medium fire for a few hours it will turn the ceiling fan, but I don't run the fan.

HTH,
- Jeff