questions for the pellet furnace user and basement dwellers

I'm getting pretty close to pulling the trigger on a St. Croix Revolution, and had two questions.

1. Pellet furnace users - Did you hook up the cold air return? If not, do you have to keep the basement door open to ensure adequate airflow? I have a well insulated, almost finished basement with registers and cold air intakes so I'll still be able to heat the basement even if I hook up the cold air return. I was considering replacing the POS hollow core door at the top of the stairs with a nice solid oak door, but I'm not going to do that if the door is going to need to be open all winter.

2. Basement dwellers/furnace users - How do you get the pellets into the basement? I have a colonial with a full basement. I have a few windows, but they're small, and I don't think I'll have much luck putting pellets through the window. Slide them down the stairs? Pellet bin in the basement? No bulk pellets around here.

 

Slide them down the steps...

Horrible shooting out your way this weekend!

 

I carry mine down. One at a time.

 

I use plastic folding tables on the stairs and landing to get the pellets downstairs. I have stairs in the garage also. Usually the kids are at the top feeding me one bag at a time, unless they're not around. Works good, can move 4 ton in less then 2 hours with their help. The pallets are also parked within arms reach at the top, and not very far away at the bottom.

 

I hooked up my cold air return. I had to extend the return duct 4 feet, but not a big deal.

I carry the pellets downstairs one bag at a time. They're stored out in my pole barn which is about 25 feet from the attached garage. I bring 10 bags or so into the attached garage then take them downstairs as needed. It gets me off my rear end in the winter.

 

Well my setup is a bit different my garage is actually a garage under, the house was basically built into the top of a hill. So my pellets get put into the garage as loaded pallets.

From there I carry them one bag at a time to the stove room usually this is done in blocks of 10 bags. After which this critter needs a rest because he is old. Now will and others will say have a drink instead of resting, but that also results in me resting .

 

No kidding. I thought I moved away from that stuff when I moved out here. Now, I don't frequent the bar scene anymore, but it's still a sad situation for the families involved. At least they caught the guy that did it.

 

Cat door eh...I like that idea. We don't have a cat at the moment, but the wifey has requested kittens for the girls this year, so I imagine there will be a cat door in the future. That will make a nice cold air return. I think I'll start without hooking the cold air return up, and see if it overheats the basement. I don't expect a lot of heat loss for the basement, I have that sealed up pretty well. The rest of the house, on the other hand...summer projects.

 

Looks like most carry the pellets down to the basement by hand I guess. Might have to try the slide method at some point before I hook the slide up to the playset.

The main reason behind that question is that I have occasional issues with sciatica, and sometime's it's a struggle to get a bag of pellets from the garage to the stove. I'm dreading what it might be like to get bags to the basement if I'm in the middle of an episode. I keep looking around, but can't seem to find that little gnome that keeps stabbing me in the leg...Anyway, I'd like to have as many as I can fit in the basement ahead of time just to decrease the likelihood of having a sciatic episode at the same time as my stash is running low.

I know homemade bulk bins are unpopular due to CO and dust and static/spark issues. What if it's just a open top bin that I manually fill from outside through a pipe? Not connected to the furnace, just close enough to easily scoop into the hopper? If the pellets are slowly feeding in via gravity, does that take some of the static issues out? I'd have to rig up some sort of dust collection I think. Thoughts?

 

How about 2 pipes (4" or 6"), the same size and at as steep an angle as possible. Both pipes have nice caps on them outside. The bin downstairs is sealed, no way for dust to get out into the basement. Get or make the right sized giant "funnel" that will drop into one of those pipes when dumping the pellet bags into it. The other pipe is to allow all air and dust to escape while loading. Make a tall hatch inside the bin in the basement that can open in vertical sections as you use up the pellets.

As for static elec problem… that doesn't sound good if that's an issue. I don't use pellets, but I built a 5 ton coal bin like this. Worked great.

 

Static can be eliminated w/proper grounding.

 

Yep, but most days it's not too bad for me. I can function normally the vast majority of the time. I have some slight stiffness or soreness when I sit too long, or don't move enough, but most days aren't too bad. Problem is, when it's bad, its BAD. I've gotten stranded in the middle of the night in the bathroom before because I can't figure out a way to move without feeling like I got stabbed in the leg. We went on vacation to the Adirondacks a few years ago, and I had a flare up when we went hiking. That was horrible. Had to hobble down off the mountain on one leg. Other than those episodes here and there it's not too bad.

I was just hoping to find an easier way to get pellets down the stairs. I'm starting to think that maybe a bin would be more work than it's worth though. How in the world would you ground a plywood bin? Might just carry them down a ton at a time the first year, and go from there.

 

How about some version of those roller ramps? Could roll a half dozen bags down, then go down and sort.

 

If I were installing a pellet furnace or boiler in my basement, I'd build an enclosed holding bin near the unit. If bulk pellets couldn't be obtained in my area, I'd make an outside chute leading directly into the bin. Pellet bags laid on beginning of the chute and the bottom slit open and bag emptied. Also, I'd make an attachment for a large shop vac on the bin, on the opposite end of the chute inlet, that would be running while I filled the bin, whether it was by bulk truck or by bags.

 

Just made the call. I ordered a St. Croix Revolution pellet furnace. I'll start the install thread when I actually have the furnace and am installing it. I'm keeping the 10-CPM for now. I'd love to find it a new home if the Revolution carries 100% of the heat load, but I'm not in a hurry to get rid of it quite yet. I'll probably use the CPM during the shoulder season and during the worst weather to take the load off the furnace.