by daveesl77 » Wed Nov 14, 2018 8:01 am
I just put in a small pellet stove in our basement in West Virginia. We are using it for an additional- primary heat source as the temps drop and the heat pump efficiency drops. The basement is 1,000 ft2, non-finished, non-insulated, fully below grade. House is 1,344 ft2, with 2" thick oak floors and super insulated in all areas.
During my initial test runs, with outside temps dropping down to a low of 16 two days ago and avg daily temps in the 30s, the stove has maintained the house at an even 68-70 degrees, all rooms, running at about 40%. It takes a bit under a 40# bag per day to keep this going. Heat from the main part of the stove is ducted into the return side of the air handler. Side stove heat goes into a brick thermal mass and some aluminum heater fins I took out of some old baseboard electric heaters. These get up to the 200 F+ range and that heats the basement, which heats the underside of the flooring on the main level.
Full costs - refurbished stove with 5 year factory warranty =$600 ($675 if they delivered)
6" Stainless steel chimney liner = $300
4" Aluminum flex for combustion air = $75
40 brick pavers for thermal mass = $20
6" aluminum ducting for heat duct to return = $40
Various fittings for exhaust air, combustion air, room air = $100
Uninterruptible power supply, battery backup, already had. Aluminum heat sinks, already had. So, out of pocket costs about $1,200 so far.
1 ton of bagged, hardwood pellets (on sale from local mfg) $170. That is about 2 months supply. Entire unit is sealed as to combustion. This thing would have no problem keeping a decent sized garage warm.