Hi everyone. Im putting a wood stove in my basement and putting registers in the floor. My little stove in the den just wont keep up. I am gone 12 to 14 hours a day and would like something that will keep the house warm all day and with any luck at least have coals to get it going again when i get home. Ive seen a bunch of brands but i was hoping to get input from some of the people that own woodstoves like this. Thanks everybody.
buying a big woodstove, which one to buy?
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Swamp Yankee
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What is the approximate square footage of your home you're trying to heat? Is the house well insulated and what shape are the windows in?
What is the budget? Do you want cast iron or steel construction?
I use a Jotul F118 to heat the basement and upstairs in my small ranch, approximately 2K square feet total.
Take Care
What is the approximate square footage of your home you're trying to heat? Is the house well insulated and what shape are the windows in?
What is the budget? Do you want cast iron or steel construction?
I use a Jotul F118 to heat the basement and upstairs in my small ranch, approximately 2K square feet total.
Take Care
sorry, I should have included that. the upstairs is 1100 square feet and the unfinished basement is a little less. Not really worried about the price as long as it aint a million bucks. I dont have any preference to the materials of it as long as it meets the needs im looking for. thanks for the reply
Depends on your budget. I have pretty good luck with my Englander NC30, Couple big Drolets out there, and then the is the BK KIng, which is a cat stove. Cat stoves will give longer burntimes. The other option is a wood furnace, but with those for that kind of burn time $4k class. Some of these also have cats in them.
chadihman
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My Quadra fire 5700 is a beast and heats close to 3000 sq/ft with the add on fan. Good burn times. A basement takes a lot of heat to warm the cold basement. My brother goes through much more wood than I do because he is heating an unfinished basement. After his basement is toasty the heat moves into the upper level of his ranch style house.
I would most likely install an indoor wood furnace in the basement. I never owned one but some furnaces out there sure do sound nice.
I would most likely install an indoor wood furnace in the basement. I never owned one but some furnaces out there sure do sound nice.
Uncle John
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An efficient furnace would burn much less wood!
I also would recommend a wood-fired add-on furnace of some sort... piped into existing duct work (if you have it).
In the past I've heated a two story home by just using a "stove" in the basement. Once you get the basement really, really hot so the floors above are radiating heat it's very comfortable... but even with a few vents cut in the floors it still takes a ton (and I mean a ton) of wood. And if you let the fire go out, and allow the basement to cool off, it takes a long time (and a ton of wood) to get the house back up to temp. A wood-fired furnace will still radiate heat into the basement (some more than others), usually enough to take the chill off anyway... worst case, you cut a vent in the basement duct work.
In the past I've heated a two story home by just using a "stove" in the basement. Once you get the basement really, really hot so the floors above are radiating heat it's very comfortable... but even with a few vents cut in the floors it still takes a ton (and I mean a ton) of wood. And if you let the fire go out, and allow the basement to cool off, it takes a long time (and a ton of wood) to get the house back up to temp. A wood-fired furnace will still radiate heat into the basement (some more than others), usually enough to take the chill off anyway... worst case, you cut a vent in the basement duct work.
Good points. I dont have any duct work to tie into in the house. Using less wood would be nice but i have all the wood i could ever need for free. Its definetly something to consider though. Thanks
fireman33
ArboristSite Member
I have a PE summit in my 1400 sq/f finished basement and it takes me about 1h to get it real warm starting from scratch. Once the basement is up to temperature, a couple hours after the 1400 sq/f upstairs is nice and warm also. I burn roughly 4 cords of wood ''maple, white and yellow birch mix'' starting in october until april. I have electric heat also but i never turn it on except in the baby's room at night because the door stays closed. I can stoke it up around 9pm and still have LOTS of red coals in the morning to start the fire.
stihly dan
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I went your route in the basement. DID NOT like it. used a lot of wood (unfinished basement) If the temps fell in the house it took forever to get it up to temp. Especially when you had to burn down the coal bed. I installed a furnace, and all the headaches went away. Less wood, longer burn times, Quicker warmer house. I would not go back to stove in the basement ever. If I had to use a stove, I would do what ever was necessary to install it on the main floor.
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I'm cheap, I use a Hotblast 1400 to heat 2000 basement and 2000sq ft on 1'st floor. It cooks us out if we want to. It's in the middle of the basement with one 8' duct into the middle of kitchen and livingroom. The other 8' duct is split up and runs to corner of living room, one to bathroom, and one in the 30' hallway. It also has a diverter on it to open it to the basement because the upstairs gets too hot. My wife has clotheslines in the basement and dries clothes there, duct blows on them. I also use it to heat a 24x24 insulated attached garage for a fair amount of the winter ( snowmobiles) also have propane in there. We use about 5 to 6 cord of wood a season (I like it hot) and no one ever says our house is cold. Hotblast was $1300 before taxes, new chimney was $800. In my opinion, for me it was the cheapest way to go and we're happy. I would like a better stove but for the dollars I don't see any that are worth it. I have an old OWB that I can have for free and I'm still trying to decide if I will even bother with it. I'm putting in a 24x 54' shop right now and it's a tough call between another Hotblast or the OWB. PS, there is almost always someone home or closeby so burn times close to a OWB aren't a concern. We do easily get overnight burns and if I did abit of tweaking I'm sure we could get even longer burn times. Been at least 3 years since electric heat was used.
Be aware of marketing hype on relatively inexpensive wood furnaces ( those under 2k). Most of these were designed to burn coal, and ya you can burn wood in them as an after thought. Automatic damper controls on these are less than adequate designs, about 4 hr usable heat times, are wood hogs and have a nasty habit of over firing on a full load of wood. Ya I am going to get ripped on here about this and ya I know plenty have them and work fine for them. Problem is the controls lag way behind the fire if equiped with auto ones. Most are not of the secondary burn school. I have one it is fine if I am there to meter in fuel to it, it is not something I would full load and walk away from, as likely I would be looking for temporary housing for the next 6 months. Yes it is installed code or better just can't feel safe about it.
shelbythedog
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+1 on looking into Quadra-Fire, my 4300 easily keeps this 1300 sq ft ranch above 75 deg on the coldest of days, and I can come home after 10-12 hours to a nice bed of coals. A 5700 should be just what you're looking for.
mizzou
ArboristSite Operative
Do you have a flue already?
Just me personally, but I couldn't be comfortable with automatic draft/damper controls on any wood-fired appliance installed inside any building. I'd never get any sleep... I'd be laying awake, eyes wide open, constantly getting up to check it. In the case of malfunction you still have a fire burning, and no matter how well the system is designed there's the possibility of the draft freezing open, or the draft blower remaining on, resulting in an over-fire. Now, I realize that a gas or oil furnace can malfunction also... but they have multiple safety sensors/systems with multiple routes to shut the fuel supply off, as well as a manual/mechanical shut-off. Shutting off the fuel supply to a gas or oil furnace is an instantaneous fire-killer... not so with a wood-fired appliance. And really, any newer gas or oil fired furnace (if installed and maintained properly) should be able to run continuously without being any real danger... but would make the house really warm.
Like I said... just me, but I wouldn't have automatic controls on any indoor wood-fired appliance.
yes i do but where it is wont do me much good. I am going to have to come out the side of the foundation and run stainless up the side of the house. That will make three chimmneys on my house! The current wood stove is know where near where this one will be.
mizzou
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dhopkins55
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Check out the Yukon-Eagle line. Yukon Klondike Wood and Coal Furnace
I have an Eagle IV Klondike. This is my third heating season with it, and I absolutely love it. I put it in the basement of my 2500sqft ranch and just had it ducted into the existing duct work for the already installed propane furnace. It's incredibly efficient, and you can burn either wood or anthracite coal. I burn both, and it's great. Puts out tremendous heat, and quickly! :msp_biggrin:
I have an Eagle IV Klondike. This is my third heating season with it, and I absolutely love it. I put it in the basement of my 2500sqft ranch and just had it ducted into the existing duct work for the already installed propane furnace. It's incredibly efficient, and you can burn either wood or anthracite coal. I burn both, and it's great. Puts out tremendous heat, and quickly! :msp_biggrin:
How much money are you prepared to spend? Low end I would probably try one of those Englander 30's from the big box outlets. I would consider a Blaze King if you have the money. I have a Pacific Energy insert and have been only marginally impressed. The damn firebox is just too damn small (2.3 cu ft), not to mention the ridiculous build up of ash and coals that takes about a day and a half to burn down. If you live in the country and dont have to worry about EPA baloney I would try one of these.
www.discountstoves.net/Cunningham_203_Woodstove_p/cunningham-203.htm
Iron Head
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Lopi or Blaze King
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