Anyone with a Castle Serenity or TimberRidge?

I forgot to mention that I don't have the return air. My return air is the basement door. I installed a louvered door to allow the air to return to the stove. All my heat goes up the ducting towards the rear portion/middle of the house. The air then circulates the heat back down towards the stove. But because the cold air is denser it is the first to make its way back to the stove. I have a nice natural convection and the only fan I have going is the convection blower on the stove. It really rather works well for us. The basement stays around 66°F, While the upstairs stays around 72°F. The stove is controlled by the stat we have upstairs which is in the center of the house(main hallway). No cool area's and no rooms that are over heated.

Some other thing to consider is the room you have the stove in may be warmer than you plan on to get enough heat to the cooler area's. Even with fans helping. Unless you get a good convection going you'll have same warm/cool spots. You also won't be able to close bedroom doors at night or the rooms will get too cool.

 

The Drolet Eco -65 is cheaper than the Enerzone Euromax . But the Enerzone has a much better user interface (touch screen with lots more options) They are basically the same stove. The Drolet is the Ford and the Enerzone is the Lincoln.

Price? Well, on a budget, it may not fit. But a stove like the Euromax is sure to heat a space your size, with ease. The Drolet is much cheaper though. I should have added that first.

The fans.?.? Let me take some quick pics.

 

The 1st pic shows both vents going into the room. Our Master has the rectangle vent above the t.v. and my son's is a circular vent.

Ours is a Tjernlund Aireshare. It's was over $100, but it's very quiet and works well. It uses the studs in the wall as an air cavity. So you can place the inlet and/or outlet wherever you want. I placed the inlet up top, and the outlet about half way down the wall in our room.

My son's is a Broan (model #512? I forget now?) It was only around $45 and moves more air than the Aireshare, but is much louder (when full tilt/it has an adjustable switch to control the rate of speed) It's an in line unit, so it's a straight shot through the wall.

Both work as advertised. If I had it to do again? I would have put the more expensive Aireshare units in all the rooms.


Welcome to my home..

Showing both inlets...



Here is the outlet in our room. Further down the wall. The stove room is on the other side/stove is visible.



My son's outlet. .



Our Quadrafire was one room over (further away in the dining room). After the dining room is the kitchen and another family/living room. It worked well, but we had to run a higher temp to keep the rooms at the same temp as we do now..

 

I should have waited 5 minutes to take the pics.. The stove just started up.

I thought it felt chilly in here..

 

Careful with the flex duct. It may not have a high enough temp rating. The outlet temps of the Endurance or stove with duct option might be to high for it.

I used metal duct and the sealed the joints. Any radiant heat I loose from the duct helps lower duct temps and also radiates to help warm the basement, It also gets recycled in the convection flow and really isn't a loss. You could also insulate the metal ducting if need be. I did, But only where I thought necessary like near the sills where the duct could be cooled more than I'd like.

 

Pellet stoves and pellet furnaces don't have the high CFM blowers and a fixed heat setting like oil monsters do, And the duct temps can be higher. On high settings duct temps could go higher then 250°? I would make sure it would not exceed the max rating. Dex might be able to help here and see what the high setting of the 50F can produce. Even though you might no go to it. It best to keep within the max rating to be on the safe side.

To me I wanted the whole vent system rated higher than the stoves max in case a family member turned it to high heat while I wasn't home. We usually only run the stove on medium and the duct temps don't normally go over 200°. But ya never know. My stove can produce well over 400°F on high heat level! So I played it safe and did all metal dusting and the flex duct is aluminum with a insulating sleeve. I would not feel comfy with any plastic in my ducting.

 

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Master-Flow-6-in-Diameter-R-6-Ductwork-Insulation-Sleeve-INSLV6/100396953

 

Yes, Only works on the smaller 4 to 6 inch flexible duct. I used a similar wrap for the larger duct.

IMHO round duct is harder to play with and add junctions too. I used round duct up from the stove to rectangle duct for the trunk run. The rectangle can be tapped into from any side-top or bottom with a simple cheap connector(I made my own). Round duct you'll need expensive tee's for each connection. Might save a few pennies???

 

As long as it's rated for 250° it should be good. That's what is stated in the manual. Because of the high CFM blower, I have never seen temps over 200° (150° is average on heat setting 3, measured 10" above plenum)

My Enerzone Eurostar costs just as much as the Endurance (over $4k). I paid $2,000 for my Endurance (used 1 season) and I got a killer deal on the Enerzone. There was a member who worked for SBI that hooked me up last year and gave me a great deal on the Eurostar. I am forever in debt to that man.

The Drolet Eco -65 can be had for around $2,000 on sale through Northern Tool (when on sale). It's basically the same as the Euromax, minus the Interface (doesn't self troubleshoot, not as adjustable, etc). But several members have those and they are just as solid. Both are built by SBI and great units! The Drolet or the Fahrenheit would do well in your home. The Drolet has more BTW output, but the Distribution blower on the Fahrenheit is 800 CFM, compared to 400 + of the Drolet/Enerzone.

 

Dex the Drolet output temps have been reported to be over 350° on high with a good pellet. Fine if only a medium heat range, But touchy if it ever was set to high.

Don't mean to sound like a goodie 2 shoes, But like with any heating device I tend to proceed with caution.

 

I was only speaking to the Fahrenheit. In the manual it states that, and I also called and spoke to Matt Fitts (lead tech/engineer). I showed him my install and my duct work (all is insulated and only rated to 250). He said it all looked kosher and one of the nicer installs he has seen. Then I called CertainTeed (Manuf of the insulated duct work) and spoke to one of their reps about the pellet furnace and the temp that the product is rated for. They said it's rated to 250° but can withstand temps much higher. I did some testing on the 10" piece I cut out to install the plenum. It's a 1" thick material that is fire retardant. I took a blow torch to it and it wouldn't catch fire.

I understand your concerns with the Drolet and I would think that with lower CFM numbers that the air output temps will be much greater. That is why I believe they use metal only on the ducts. You could probably insulate it, but it would have to be closer to 500° and the first 15'-20' I wouldn't insulate at all. My Enerzone can pump some high temps when cranked. Although my unit is closer to 200 CFM. But my stove is also only 50,000. The Drolet is about 20,000 more BTU

 

If I get time today, I will download the Drolet/Enerzone manual and see if they even suggest the insulation on the duct.

All the info above on the insulation and the temps were all regarding the Fahrenheit Endurance.

 

Thats a tough question. I probably go with the Endurance. But only if I had the change in my pocket and no job worries! But in this economy, Its tough going in that much debt. I'd probably consider the drolet which could save a decent amount. I may not be as comfy. But still better than sitting by the little pellet stove!

I just talked myself into the Drolet!

 

The Drolet has more horsepower, but a smaller blower, and the ability to only have heat in 3 places (2 ducts to adjacent rooms and the stove room)

The Endurance has less horsepower, a larger blower (and Multi fuel), and also can be ducted to numerous rooms.

Fahrenheit - 50,000 BTU and 800 CFM (multi fuel and self cleaning). The hopper holds just under 3 bags of pellets (112 lbs).

Drolet - 65,000 BTU (Euromax is 70,000) and a 500 CFM blower (that's the spec on the Euromax, but I assume it's the same. It can burn bark pellets (very high ash content), and the hopper holds over 3 bags (125 lbs)

It's a toss up really. If I had to do it again, I may have went with the Drolet and not had the wood eater at all. The unit can heat the basement and the 2 kids rooms. I would just run the Eurostar upstairs at night and run our through the wall fan. But, the Fahrenheit can self clean... It can go unattended and be abused for a very long period of time. A very long time. While the Drolet is a bottom feed system, it still needs to be cleaned (for best performance. You can still run it for extended periods without touching it, but it will just build a clinker in the sides of the pot).

Enerzone makes a furnace called the Alterna. It is the first of its kind. It's a pellet furnace, but has electric back up (over 100,000 BTU) and also has a 4 ton condenser. It's the first pellet furnace that is approved as a Primary heat for a residential home. All other units are considered secondary. The Alterna is a Primary, stand alone system that does it all. It has a 2,000 CFM blower, and 3 selectable heat ranges (70, 90, and 115,000 BTU of I remember correctly)

If I have to do it again... I will likely go this route. It's big money though.. Big money..