how to size pellet stove needed and how to burn effectivly

Hello Everyone! Had a Vermont casting in our old house (wife let it go with house when we sold it) and we got a 2cuft wood stove about 10 years ago for the "new" house (1950's ranch with walk out basement). We have decided to look with earnest at pellet stoves. My quandary is this, stove will be located in basement (appx 900 sqft) less than 10' from the stairs. We use this location to push the warm air upstairs (puller fans) and also to let the forced air system pull the warm air into the system to send it to other parts of the house as well. Up stairs is 2,400 sqft with less than optimally insulated walk about attic over the full main floor.
How should I go about to size a pellet stove? can I go too big? If it's 25 outside, my goal would be to try to hit 74/76 in the basement and bedrooms lower 70's with mid 60's in the kitchen (farthest room from stove). Is there a ball park number I should consider for pellet usage (1bag = 30hr burn?) and planning?

Not sure I was able to articulate my question.

 

Welcome to the forum!

No, you can't get too big of a stove - it is much easier to throttle a stove down than to get more heat out of it than it was designed for. Pellet usage will depend upon temperature - I will use anywhere from 1/2 bag to 3 bags a day between both stoves to heat my basement and main floor (much less space than you are taling about - but also gets a lot colder here).

I don't have forced hot air so can't help you with how that will work for you.

 

Is the basement your most used room/favorite hangout?
If not, cut the stove room down to 1/3 of the basement and insulate it or the heat will not make much difference upstairs where you need it. Moving heat upstairs is possible, but not optimal.
Some here will tell you it's not possible to move warm air with a fan. It is possible , but, more importantly, you need to get cold air return to the stove room.
Can you run your furnace on a low speed? Anything more than low will just be blowing cold air around.

Your looking to heat 3400sf of underinsulated house. That's a huge task.

Probably would take 2 pellet stoves to keep everything warm

 

my choices are between two pellet stoves, one rated for 42,000 btu or 60,000 btu. i have a bank of computer fans installed on the ceiling at the bottom edge of the stairs to draw ceiling heat from the basement and push it up stairs. it creates a decent air exchange. more times than not, we close off the upstairs "den" and kitchen to reduce the area we're heating. this will be out first foray into pellet stoves so just trying to not completely start off wrong lol.

 

It would be in your best interest to insulate the basement walls- those alone can subtract more than 50% of the stove btu output- no sense heating the ground around the house.

 

First, Welcome
I've started with a pellet stove from a wood stove, it worked fairly good until I sound proofed the basement ceilings. Now I have a add-on pellet furnace to the dino juice furnace and no regrets afterwards. It all depends on the heat load requirements

 

looking at an ashley pellet stove (rated at 60,000btu). hahaaha, yes, i think pellet bags will help cut back the mess. had three locations going for wood storage. it appears that 1 to 1.5 bags per day during "normal" winter weather is what i should figure. going to forego the duct system for now.....

 

You may want to make sure you have as adequate supply of good pellets in your area first. There are a lot of pellets on the market that aren't very good.

 

As mentionerd those uninsulated basement walls will suck 1/2 or more of the heat produced by the stove. I tried this 40+ years ago with a wood stove... didn't work no matter how much fuel I fed the stove. Others here have also had unsuccessful attempts at this with pellet heat. If you fully insulate the basement you will have a warm basement with some heat coming up the stairs. You can try insulating the stove from the rest of the cold basement... never did that.

You should install the stove in the room you spend most of your time... it's a space heater not a whole house furnace.

While the price point on an Ashley stove may be attractive those stoves do not have a good long term reputation. Check with members like Don2222 who do stove repairs... you would be better off buying a late model used Harmon, St Croix, England or similar 'name brand' unit... most will be as much as a new big box store stove but will yield better results.

The biggest surprise you will get is that you have to keep the stove clean... and not "you mean with a cloth?" as one famous person said on another subject. Daily and weekly cleanings plus a good 'leaf blower trick' cleaning after every ton burned (look up 'leaf blower trick' on youtube) will keep the stove happy.

 

I would look into running a pellet furnace system as it puts out the most heat and you have only one unit for maintenance . Balancing the heat is an exercise as insulation and existing ductwork are always unique to each house.

I spent three heating seasons to get my furnace where I have a balance overall. I can keep my 2,200 sq ft 100 year old farmhouse at 70 degrees even in subzero temps. Your pellet fuel is also an experiment as materials vary.

 

krooser you have some very valid points. we're in central NC and our "off the floor" choices are VERY limited and not much is listed in the classifieds this time of year. "subsailor" mentioned that there may be a lack of fuel supply here as well (at least quality fuel anyway). the number one reason we're looking at this transition is due to good split wood supply. we burn roughly 1 to 1.5 cord a year in our little wood stove (which keeps the basement very comfy and def takes the chill off the bedrooms). if this appears to be a viable option, then after the winter season is over, we will most likely look to much better built stoves.

 

Englander Stoves ( Wood and Pellet) is located in your section of the country - AMFM is a dealer and Englander's blemished /returned -repair / distributor also located in the southern group of states. Free shipping to a locale depot or $75 up charge, tail drop off at your door. Some alternatives to Ashley. Just got another NC30 from AMFM. $150 cheaper than through Home Depot. Course now that I already have one HD will drop their price for spring clearance I suppose. Steel prices are up so next falls stoves will be pricier, again.