Heating a bonus room, separate from main heat

[Lucky C]

Yes good call. Not sure what I want to do with our fireplace just yet. I'm thinking a standalone pellet stove with a simple exhaust pipe would make most sense vs. an insert with chimney liner.

Maybe my $1k estimate was too low. To get a more efficient and reliable unit with installation could easily cost $3k plus, but it could still be about a 10% return on investment for me vs. oil, or more if oil keeps getting pricier.

[Riggerjack]

The free standing pellet stove need to go up a lined chimney, or build a chimney pipe yourself. Either way won't be cheap.

Exhaust coming out of a pellet stove is slightly pressurized, so just blowing it into the fireplace and hoping you started a draft up the chimney before the CO poisoning kicks in seems like false economy.

Really, if you want cheap, go solar thermal. Free fuel means you can spend more up front...

[Frugalitifree]

I own 2 Whitfield pellet stoves. They came with my first house, I have replaced nearly every component, between the two. Combustion fan, auger motor, auger bushings, distribution fan, vacuum sensor, control board, high and low limit switches. They are pretty simple to troubleshoot, but parts are unreasonable, and needed too often. BTW, the Whitfield is very popular for a pellet stove, in that you can get parts, many of them were made by companies that folded without parts support.


Reminds me of this:

https://youtu.be/BUl6PooveJE