CAB-50

Hi, I'm net to the forum and joined just looking for some guidance. My husband and I purchased and had installed a heatilator ECOchoice ECO-CAB50 in our basement last week. Our house is a 1660 sqft ranch with a full walkout unfinished basement of the same size. The pellet stove was placed in the basement.

With it running for three hours, it didn't even heat the basement. The only warm area was immediately around the stove, 5 ft from it or less. From all the advertisements we had seen we were sure it would heat the basement at least. Does this seem right to you? If not, what do you suggest we do or where do we go from here? Of course the stove company won't call us back regarding our questions.

Thanks in advance

 

Welcome to the forum.You should probably describe your hose,insulation,stove and flue install,how you heated the basement before.Just though I would throw in the basic questions,as others will ask them anyway.Pictures of stove install are always nice,and does it have an OAK?

 

This right here is more than likely your problem.

 

We're hoping to heat above the basement. We just noticed when running the unit it is not even heating our un-insulated basement and we thought that was odd.

 

That's not a very big fire, have you tried turning it up?

 

Install looks good.Flame looks low,if you have it switched to high.You may have to open up the fuel rod adjuster.Bare concrete walls will suck the heat fast.

 

That thermostat is way too close to the stove, especially for a basement install. Move it away as far as you can... and setting it at 70 just won't cut it to warm up the entire basement.

 

If wanna even stand a chance of heating that size of a basement your gonna have to crank that puppy up and it's gonna eat some serious pellets and once it does start to warm don't let it cool back down.

 

First of all, welcome to the madness (aka forum)

As for your install, as has been mentioned above, basement installs in un-finished basements are usually doomed to failure. Not saying impossible, but VERY difficult. The stove, even cranked-up, spends most of it's time trying to warm the concrete walls & floor.....not much makes it much farther.

You would have been much better served to install it where you wanted the heat (living area?) Did the stove company do the install? Did they even mention to you about the location? Was the location YOUR idea of theirs?

In addition, you need to get a good surge protector on that power plug....these stoves are VERY sensitive to power spikes/surges, and a burned-up control board will be very $$$

 

If that picture is the stove on high, you need more fuel.

What kind of pellets are you using?

My cab 50 is in my basement and does a great job at heating the whole house. But basement is finished.

 

Basement installs just dont work unless the walls are insulated. Years ago I used a wood stove in my basement and even that couldn't warm up the space.

Some folks manage to direct the heat from the stove to their forced air duct work but that's a pretty big job unless you have a lot of skills.

Good luck.

 

many good ideas above.....move the thermostat, open the fuel gate more, etc.

An engineer once told me that he would expect one to lose 40% of the output of the stove to the concrete alone......that leaves you with a 30,000 BTU/hr unit, if his opinion is to be believed.

Another idea might be to angle the stove away at a 45 degree angle rather than parallel to the wall.

And, as mentioned above, unfinished basement....pretty unlikely youll be successful heating your place from the basement. If its a basement you dont reall yuse or want to heat, why not move it upstairs?

Welcome to the forum!

 

I remember seeing an older chart,Harman,I think,that says the difference of a newer well sealed/insulated house,vs and older built house,expect the btu rating to be 50% less.

 

good info......I just wonder if the OP was guided this way by the dealer or not.....did they say it wouldnt be in issue? Clearly it is.......imagine when it gets cold?

 

Ah,I was wrong,it describes square footage heating loss,which is basically the same.Here it is,a really good article. http://homewarmth.com/pdffiles/installationplanningguide.pdf

 

WW some stove mfg's list a maximum length for OAK,but,if you go longer,or taller,increase the diameter,and usually will be fine.The key to an OAK is 0 restriction to the incoming air.