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So, we survived our first New England winter after moving up from Texas! But, our heating oil bills really sucked and my wife was freezing in the house the whole time.
We are going to look at improving insulation and window sealing and other improvements in the fall, but we were also wondering about getting a pellet stove so we can cut down on the oil bill and keep the house at a higher temperature.
I think we basically have two valid options for placement; in the basement, or insert it into our fireplace on the ground floor.
The problem with the fireplace route is that it's located in a room that is basically an addition to the house (nothing above it), so I was wondering how much of the heat would be lost without making it to the second floor where the bedrooms are.
With the basement, we'd prefer to not have our basement door open all the time (small kid) so if we kept it closed and removed all the insulation on the basement ceiling, how effective would it be at warming up the upper floors?
Does anyone in southern NH have a pellet stove installer they really like? Thanks!
What kind of oil heat do you have? Steam, hot water, or forced air?
What kind of oil heat do you have? Steam, hot water, or forced air?
Quote:
Originally Posted by ikachu
The problem with the fireplace route is that it's located in a room that is basically an addition to the house (nothing above it), so I was wondering how much of the heat would be lost without making it to the second floor where the bedrooms are.
Perhaps some sort of fan arrangement, to circulate the hot air from the room with the fireplace to the rest of the house?
You'll also want additional humidification; it feels colder when the air is dry.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ikachu
With the basement, we'd prefer to not have our basement door open all the time (small kid)
One option is to modify (or replace) the basement door to add a screen (entire door as mesh, or just the top third); heated air can pass freely but children are kept out. Another common modification is to install a louvered grate in the flooring of the first floor, directly above the pellet stove.
What kind of oil heat do you have? Steam, hot water, or forced air?
It's hot water. The boiler is original to the house (early 90s) so it's definitely not as efficient as it could be. The previous owners actually installed a separate electric hot water heater so the boiler is only used for heating the house currently.
Quote:
Perhaps some sort of fan arrangement, to circulate the hot air from the room with the fireplace to the rest of the house?
You'll also want additional humidification; it feels colder when the air is dry.
Yeah, we could definitely look at adding a fan. That fireplace room is also the coldest room in the house so I think even warming that one room up would probably reduce the workload on the boiler by quite a bit. The air was super dry in our house over the winter so humidification is a good idea too.
Quote:
One option is to modify (or replace) the basement door to add a screen (entire door as mesh, or just the top third); heated air can pass freely but children are kept out. Another common modification is to install a louvered grate in the flooring of the first floor, directly above the pellet stove.
Yeah those are all good ideas. I guess I should probably talk to a pellet stove guy too and see what they think. Have you worked with any before?
You probably have a Fireplace Village location nearby, it's worth a visit just to see the pellet inserts in their showroom, I've never bought anything big from them, only accessories. When you're ready for wood, check out woodpellets.com, a NH company based in Bedford.
Best place to ask for (non-NH-specific) advice on stoves is Hearth.com
We have a pellet stove at our house, in the basement, and we keep a baby gate at the top of the stairs to keep it safe for the little ones. It works well, really kicks out heat. Is it a finished basement? If your family never hangs out down there it would probably be more efficient to keep it upstairs.
You should be fine putting it in the room with the fireplace , especially if you put in some insulation above the ceiling. If it is already the coldest room in the house you may have insulation issues.
There is a company out of vermont that sells a bolt on kit to modify your existing oil burner to eat pellets, name of the company is pellergy - have read several positive reviews, do not have any personal experience but I wish I would have explored this option before we bought our stove
We have a free standing unit on the first floor and it easily heats the entire 2000 sq ft. Delta is about 5 degrees from the stove room to my daughters bedroom on the second floor, opposite end of the house. Of course we all sleep with out doors open. Natural convection only, no fans needed to circulate air, you can feel the cold air cascading down the stairs when the stove is turned up.
Additional advice gained from years of burning:
Do not cheap out on the stove, you will pay for it in the long run, higher end stoves can easily burn box store pellets. Box store pellets typically run around $200, premium pellets can run up to $300. Low end stoves require daily cleaning with bargain pellets, I can run my stove 1 - 2 weeks on cheap pellets without opening the door.
Free standing units are much easier to clean. Inserts plug a hole that is likely loosing heat.
Figure out how many pellets you need, add 25%, then purchase that quantity in the summer. You do not want to run out in the middle of winter. There was a major shortage this year, if you could find any the price was considerably higher than the summer - my guess is a combination of opportunism and higher costs.
We purchased from abundant life on rte 4 in chichester (maybe epsom) they also installed the stove and were excellent to deal with.
I would second hearth.com as an excellent source of information.
Go the pellet route if you desire. Many do and are happy.
I do have one neighbor down the street - when I stopped in - he couldn't get the electronics on the pellet stove to operate.
The advantage to an ordinary wood stove is that no electricity is required. Depending on where you live in NH - some towns in the past have lost electricity for up to 2 weeks.
The boiler is original to the house (early 90s) so it's definitely not as efficient as it could be.
Are you saying that your house was built in the early (19)90s and you need more insulation and also window sealing? Doesn't the house have thermopane (double glazed) windows? Are the exterior doors wood or insulated steel? Have you checked your attic insulation?
Unit 731 gave good advice on what could happen if there was an extended power failure. Many people have back up generators to operate their pellet stokers in such an emergency.
I would be very cautious about putting a wood stove or furnace in the cellar. Many insurance companies will cancel homeowners' insurance if they find out that you have a wood furnace in the cellar. Too many fires have resulted from these installations. You may also need to build a new chimney or install a stainless steel flue liner in your current chimney.
You might want to consider an outdoor wood furnace that burns logs or old scrap lumber. The furnace can be connected to your present heating system and comes with its own smoke stack. Newer models that conform to New Hampshire law are very efficient and emit much less smoke.
I suggest doing the renovations after you have a "Energy Evaluation". Do them this spring or early summer before the Fall rush. Improved insulation should bring your oil bill into the "hey, you live in New Hampshire" range.
Are you saying that your house was built in the early (19)90s and you need more insulation and also window sealing? Doesn't the house have thermopane (double glazed) windows? Are the exterior doors wood or insulated steel? Have you checked your attic insulation?
Unit 731 gave good advice on what could happen if there was an extended power failure. Many people have back up generators to operate their pellet stokers in such an emergency.
I would be very cautious about putting a wood stove or furnace in the cellar. Many insurance companies will cancel homeowners' insurance if they find out that you have a wood furnace in the cellar. Too many fires have resulted from these installations. You may also need to build a new chimney or install a stainless steel flue liner in your current chimney.
You might want to consider an outdoor wood furnace that burns logs or old scrap lumber. The furnace can be connected to your present heating system and comes with its own smoke stack. Newer models that conform to New Hampshire law are very efficient and emit much less smoke.
Yeah house was built in the early 1990s. Attic insulation is definitely lacking, I think we have about 6" and home inspector recommended at least 12". The extension (room with the fireplace) just has a cathedral ceiling and the roof right above that, so it wouldn't surprise me if there's no/minimal insulation there.
The glass in the windows is double pane but basically it's two sub-windows per window frame (not sure how to describe it) and both the top and bottom halves can move. Anyway, the result of this is that there is a small gap between the top and bottom halves (in the area where they overlap) where air can get in.
The front door of the house is wood. We bought a storm door to install but had issues mounting it due to the moulding around the door so it's sitting in our basement right now.
Our boiler vents through the chimney so hopefully it's already lined as needed, but yeah, definitely don't want to violate code or risk losing our insurance. We debated wood stove vs pellet stove... from what I've heard running a wood stove is kind of like being a steam locomotive operator and it's kind of a full time job just adding more wood into it. Is that not true? If the pellet stove is less work and produces more heat, I think we might rather do that and just have a backup generator in case of power outage.
Thanks everyone for the advice so far!
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What kind of oil heat do you have? Steam, hot water, or forced air?
