I need a recommendation for a very low output pellet stove.

A few years ago, we installed a Woodstock Ideal Steel stove for our main heating. It's fantastic when the weather is under 20F. However, above that, it's way too much heat. Initially, this meant that we did the shoulder seasons on the house's geothermal unit and then used the wood stove for the dead of winter. Unfortunately, global warming is turning our winters into ALL shoulder season and it's costing a fortune to run the main furnace all winter and we're never really comfortable anyway. From some experience heating with kerosene before we got the Ideal Steel and from comparing Woodstock's ratings of this stove, I'd like to find a pellet stove that can run very slow, something around the 5,000BTH/hr range, and throttle up to 15,000-20,000BTU/hr if necessary. The lower range is more important than the upper range. Next priorities are that it has to work with a straight out the back and through the wall horizontal exhaust and that it needs to be very quiet.



I've looked at the Enviro P3 but since we'd basically be running it at minimum all the time, I'm wary due to reports of the P3 and the Mini that came before it not liking being run at minimum without ever being turned up.



In all honesty, I'd love something like a Cubic Mini or other solid wood stove but it seems like low output is linked to short runtimes in solid wood stoves. I'm looking at pellet stoves solely because of the possibility of a very low out put coupled with only needing to tend to it once a day.

 

You would need Auto ignition with a thermostat. That way it can control temps at a desired setting. Stove choices I'm of no help, but consider ease of cleaning to be among your choice of requirements. Someone should be along soon, football weekend is a priority for some

 

I don't think any pellet stove really "likes" to be in a low burn all the time. The burn pot and exhaust system will stay cleaner if they get to a high burn once or twice a day.

That is the great thing about most modern pellet stoves, including the Evniro, the either have a thermostat, or can be hooked up to one, so it will turn itself on and off as the temperature requires. I set up both my stoves on external thermostats that are run into different rooms, since I use them to heat my whole house (propane boiler for back up only).

Some stoves, like Harmans and St. Croix's, can be placed in a mode where the are at a constant burn if you need it during colder temps (also temperature driven, but where they go to an idle burn when temp is reached instead of shutting off).

 

bogieb is correct.....pellet stoves dont generally like to idle away....they tend to burn messy. Id go with a P43