On the farmette, 900 square foot house, electric baseboard only heat source, never very warm in winter.
Speak to me of pellet stoves, do you have, do you like.
I don’t want a conventional wood stove. Just don’t have the time/energy for the wood cutting, stacking etc.
I have a Harmon, we bought it 7-8 years ago. I love it. We had a wood stove that wasn’t safe to run if we were not home; this meant that when we got home the house was freezing, then it warm up after a bit, then it was approximately the temperature of the sun in the house so we had to open a door then by morning it was cold again. And it was dirty. Now, the stove runs all day, the house is super warm but adjustable. Its great. Our house is about the same size as yours with electric baseboard heat.
You need a place to store the pellets. The bags are 40 lbs, so that’s a consideration. We buy a pallet at a time and then have to carry them all down to the basement only to bring one up every day when we need it. Its fine now, at some point when we’re old it may be too much to deal with.
As long as you have a back up plan if the power goes out. I know that this past winter, quite a few people here had trouble finding pellets towards the end of the season.
Thank you.
[QUOTE=kasjordan;7708524]
As long as you have a back up plan if the power goes out. I know that this past winter, quite a few people here had trouble finding pellets towards the end of the season.[/QUOTE]
These are both good points. You can get a battery back-up if you lose power a lot and its true, many people got caught short on pellets this year. We just buy what we need up front so we don’t have to worry about it.
Sure! One sidenote. I have a woodburning stove (I get the difference) but need to reinstall the ceiling fan I decided to replace with a regular fixture (prior to ever using the woodburning stove, which sat there empty for a year until propane hit $5 a gallon).
The heat just flows out of the room and up the open stairs. The ground is cold and if you stand on a ladder your head is on fire (we hung drapes while it was on–I know this is true). My upstairs is larger than you are talking about and the stove does an ok job…my stove is an old Vermont Castings beast of a thing, I think you would love an alternative, efficient source in a smaller space! Especially if you can keep the heat off the ceiling.
One thing I don’t like is that it dries my skin out, but maybe that isn’t an issue with the pellets? I got one of those water containers to make steam on top and that helped a lot.
Alternatively, I have oil filled radiators (you plug them in) and they are GREAT at heating a single room. It’s like this one: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000A33B1C?tag=thesweethome-20&linkCode=as2&creative=374929&camp=211189
Used once in the garage to burn off the stink and then it was good to go. I’ve also used the infrared wood looking box type that I’m drawing a blank on the name…also fine and won’t tip.
Pellet stoves are nice but as noted you’re tied then to buying pellets and you need to have electricity to run them.
New woodburning stoves are very nice, much cleaner than before. You don’t have to cut your own wood - you can have it delivered, preseasoned and precut. You need a place to put the wood but you need a place to put pellets too.
The nice thing is that then you have heat if the power is out and you can also heat water on them etc if you’re out for a really long time.
Either way, enjoy!
Is it true that the pellet stoves do not require the high stovepipe chimney above your roof peak? That is one of my concerns.
Yes, that’s true. My pellets stove vents out the back straight through the wall. It isn’t creating smoke, per se.
You do need some kind of electrical back up for power outages, but apart from that, there really isn’t much downside to a pellet stove. We like ours a lot.
We replaced ours with gas logs.
I have had a harman stove for the last 5 years, I have it hooked up to a setback thermostat, it’s nice to have it come on by itself with no lighting involved. One thing you have to get use to is that they are not silent like a woodstove, they have 3 motors that do create some noise. This past winter I turned off the oil furnace and ran 24/7 and plan on doing this in the future.
We replaced ours with a propane stove. Much more efficient, easier to use and does not need electric. Would NEVER have another pellet stove. Hard to get parts for, dusty and you must plan around when you need to dump more pellets.
Whatever you do, check with your insurance company first. We found that we could not get fire insurance coverage with a wood burning stove given our location (distant from a fire station). I’m fine with that as I have known of several serious fires and one death caused by fires originating from a wood burning stove.
A friend of mine was looking at a house with forced air heating and an old pellet stove. Her bank would not finance the home unless the pellet stove was removed beforehand.
Not particularly related, but I did not know if I should start a new thread-- why in world are faux woodstove looking propane heaters all painted black?
I would love to put one in my master bath, because its really cold in there due to the floor plan. But I do not want a black one! it does not need to be black --there is no soot!
OK vent over. Please let me know if there are pretty ones out there. Thanks!
We have a pretty one from Avalon.
I’ve seen really pretty propane stoves in red, white and off white. Most local propane dealers can order a stove to suit your needs.
Thanks so much! I will go talk to the dealer.
Stay warm!
