Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Can a pellet stove be used to heat an entire 3 bedroom ranch home enough to keep the pipes from freezing during the winter? Say 40 degees or so? How often do they have to be filled?
We're in a tough spot now. We bought a house in oct with the intention of knocking it down. Well now, we're not 100% certain we're going to knock it down. Of course, the 50+ old oil boiler sprung a leak over the weekend and flooded the basement. We're exploring options to get us through the winter.
We've looked into winterizing the house. Downside - to do properly with antifreeze, etc costs over 1,000. There are other downsides too - cracking paint, walls, etc. No guarantees there won't be leaks.
A new oil burner can cost over $4000 even if a bottom of the barrel kind.
So that's the back ground for my pellet stove question. Is one even an option. A pellet stove at least could be saved for use in the new house if desired.
A pellet stove will easily heat the livable area...the problem you run into is the pipes are often isolated enough where the warmth from the stove may not reach. That being said....we are heating 1800 sq ft with a new pellet stove and the house stays around 75 regardless of the outside temp (sometimes its closer to 80.
If you are all one floor...you'll probably need fans to move the warm air around. How often you need to fill the hopper depends on how fast you burn the pellets. More pellets = more heat basically. Right now we use 3/4 to 1 full bag per day if the stove runs all day.
Lowes has stoves. Pellets are around...I have seen 350-400 a ton the going rate. If you are using the pellet stove exclusively...plan on at least 4 tons for the rest of the winter (typicall 3 tons will do it if you use the pellet stove as a secondary source of heat).
Check out hearth.com
There is a forum just on pellet stoves and lots of great info.
pellet stoves became real popular in the pocono region last year where our 2nd home is . now pellets are in very short supply and jumped in price over 50%... most people cant get pellets this year without driving hours
I use a small pellet stove bought at Lowes to heat a 1200 sq foot house and a lot of times it gets hot enough inside to open a window. Even then it's cheaper than using the electric heat where I'm living. On a cold day, I'll bring the stove up to a 3 (it ranges from 1-9), and if it's really bitter, maybe a 4. I use about 3/4 to a bag a day, depending on how long I have it running. My stove needs to be shut down and cleaned out periodically and to not make it a HUGE chore, I do that once a day. If you use the pellet stove, you'll have to worry about that - both keeping the hopper full of pellets and cleaning out the ash from the stove. If you're local enough to run over once a day, then it might be worth it. You'll also need fans to blow the heat around the entire place.
The only other problem a pellet stove has is if you lose power for more than say...3 mins...it will go into shutdown mode when the power comes back up...I would look into a UPS system like for a computer but sized for the amps the stove uses...My g/f stove from Lowe's uses 3 amps I think so look on the nameplate to check yours...If sized right you can run a half hour or so before it shuts down unless power comes back up before then...
I LOVE a pellet stove...Just buy a few tons in the beginning of the season or you might be out of luck...
they're the best. you have a ranch style home (not two floors right), it will heat up if you have fans running also. but they're mainly good for the area it's in. the pellet stoves here are way expensive, same thing for pellets. drive down to MD and get the pellet stove, and if you have a truck, fill it up with pellets. they're about 30-40 percent cheaper there.
I have an "englander" stove from Lowes. We are heating the entire first floor of our house which has very high ceilings in some rooms as well as the loft area of our second floor.
Agway in Riverhead has two types of pellets in stock again, as does Rella Coal in Medford.
I think you'll need at least 4 tons to get through till Spring. The pellets are in 50 lb bags & need to be stored somewhere dry, so figure that into your plan.
We also clean our stove every couple of days, we don't run it 24 hours a day at this point so My DH does it in the evening when he gets home from work before he refills it & fires it up. We are using less than a bag a day, but we aren't using it nonstop. The price of heating oil has gone down so much we aren't limiting use of our heating system as we had originally planned.
I do not believe you will be able to keep the pipes from bursting with just the stove, you may want to see if there is anyway you can keep the circulator pump running on your old heating system without actually heating the water in the system, moving water takes longer to freeze.
The side of my house under neath the siding its leaking water. It is on the same side where my pellet stove is located. The water is getting in to the basement. Has this ever happend to anyone? If not any ideas?
I have a pellet stove and live in a ranch home, it heats the whole floor no problems! We keep the pellet stove on between 75-80 depending on the weather and the bedrooms will get up to 70. Much warmer in the house now and no more outrageous bill.
The issue is ditrubution of the heat through the house and evenly. The room with the stove will be hot , the furthest bedroom may be cold.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
