Stove Location Discussion

[BSD]

I thought I'd raise the question of "where should I put my stove" this winter.

Currently our stove (70's era All Nighter Mid-Moe) is in my office of my house, a cental location. Our home is ~1000 sq ft single floor ranch. We've heated two winters with our stove and are very happy wood burners. My question is, what effects would it have if I move it to the basement and use the duct work from the defunct oil furnace to move the air. Currently use a blower on the stove and 3 small fans to move cold air around the house. it works well, but i'm tired of cold feet and a basement that averaged 42* over the winter. I've suspected since we bought our house that there is little to no insulation. A recent roof inpection confirmed, zero insulation in the roof and I'm 99% certain there is nothing in the walls either.

My thought was to move to the basement.

1) I can bring my 1/2 cord bags of firewood into the door of the basement with the tractor then use a pallet jack to move and store a few bags in the basement
2) it'll keep the kids away from the stove. the 2.5 year old knows not to touch the stove, but we will have a 9 month old who will just be getting mobile in the winter time.
3) I'll have warm floors
4) I can possibly tie into DHW system very easily in the basement, and reduce our propane bill for the winter (we still get clobbered here in the northeast... 4.29/gal)
5) should be easier to regulate temperature upstairs in all rooms and reduce cool spots since we have more registers than fans.

The basement is not insulated either. Am I going to be fighting the basement foundation all winter (in regards to it being a heat sink? I suspect it'll take a while to warm the basement up initially, however as long as we keep the fire going (like we do now anyway) we'll be fine, i think?.

I'm going to add some insulation to the roof when I do some repair work in the fall but not going to do anything with the walls as we're going to rebuild next year.

what am I missing?

 

[CTYank]

I thought I'd raise the question of "where should I put my stove" this winter.

Currently our stove (70's era All Nighter Mid-Moe) is in my office of my house, a cental location. Our home is ~1000 sq ft single floor ranch. We've heated two winters with our stove and are very happy wood burners. My question is, what effects would it have if I move it to the basement and use the duct work from the defunct oil furnace to move the air. Currently use a blower on the stove and 3 small fans to move cold air around the house. it works well, but i'm tired of cold feet and a basement that averaged 42* over the winter. I've suspected since we bought our house that there is little to no insulation. A recent roof inpection confirmed, zero insulation in the roof and I'm 99% certain there is nothing in the walls either.

My thought was to move to the basement.

1) I can bring my 1/2 cord bags of firewood into the door of the basement with the tractor then use a pallet jack to move and store a few bags in the basement
2) it'll keep the kids away from the stove. the 2.5 year old knows not to touch the stove, but we will have a 9 month old who will just be getting mobile in the winter time.
3) I'll have warm floors
4) I can possibly tie into DHW system very easily in the basement, and reduce our propane bill for the winter (we still get clobbered here in the northeast... 4.29/gal)
5) should be easier to regulate temperature upstairs in all rooms and reduce cool spots since we have more registers than fans.

The basement is not insulated either. Am I going to be fighting the basement foundation all winter (in regards to it being a heat sink? I suspect it'll take a while to warm the basement up initially, however as long as we keep the fire going (like we do now anyway) we'll be fine, i think?.

I'm going to add some insulation to the roof when I do some repair work in the fall but not going to do anything with the walls as we're going to rebuild next year.

what am I missing?

I've seen estimates of masonry basement walls being around R-2 in insulation value. Then toss in the various air-leaks from/to the outside.

Stove in bsmt might work for you (does for me) if it's in a closed-off part of the bsmt, with good exterior insulation. Else you're whizzing in the wind. Honest.

Someday soon, I've got to insulate the rest of the bsmt here, if only for the comfort factor.

 

[Mac88]

I thought I'd raise the question of "where should I put my stove" this winter.
what am I missing?

FWIW,
Our house is different (2-story plus finished basement, well insulated). We have central air/natural gas heat. Our stove
is located in the kitchen, directly beneath an AC/Heat return air duct. We use the circulating fan to move the heat
throughout the house. The basement seldom gets gets above 60 in the winter (concrete floor). Our average outdoor
temperature is probably several degrees higher that yours. We generally don't run the heating system over the winter.

I don't see why your plan wouldn't work. Can you tie into the existing stack or would you have to run a new one?
I'm sure you know about triple-wall, fire-stops and all that stuff. You probably have to deal with heat loss through
the floor, but if you can duct some of the ceiling heat (or use a ceiling fan) down to the floor, it will help.

 

[Davisio]

I posted in here earlier in the morning. It showed fine for a couple of hours. It has now been deleted?


Anyways......
What it said was:

You will be happy with the warmth provided to the home with the stove placed in the basement.
You will not be happy carrying wood downstairs.

I know that my furnace fan does a nice job moving the warm air throughout the house when using the circulation setting.
I know that it is relatively easy to maintain temperature once the basement is heated up.

I would recommend somekind of air kit. The open window idea, while it will work, would be, in my opinion, less than ideal. However, don't make it too complicated. In an unfinished basement, it's pretty easy to install a "dryer vent".

 

[Steve2910]

Our stove is in the un-insulated half of the basement. The house is a 1000 s.f. Cape Cod. Our oil heat is no longer hooked up (using it's chimney for the stove). There is no duct work, as the oil system was hot water baseboards. I can make the main living area 75* any time I want. The master bedroom (first level, opposite side) & second floor bedrooms stay just a couple degrees cooler.

 

[BSD]

I posted in here earlier in the morning. It showed fine for a couple of hours. It has now been deleted?


Anyways......
What it said was:

You will not be happy carrying wood downstairs.

I know that my furnace fan does a nice job moving the warm air throughout the house when using the circulation setting.
I know that it is relatively easy to maintain temperature once the basement is heated up.

I would recommend somekind of air kit. The open window idea, while it will work, would be, in my opinion, less than ideal. However, don't make it too complicated. In an unfinished basement, it's pretty easy to install a "dryer vent".

I posted this morning too but apparently there was another server crash.

I will thoroughly enjoy getting wood into the basement... drive-in with the tractor, drop half a cord on a pallet next to the stove. I could even stack 3-4 cords in there with the pallet jack I have too. much better than driving it up to the window with the tractor and loading through the window. every 2 wks

I guess what I was asking was, I can't be any worse off by putting it in the basement, right?

 

[Steve2910]

I guess what I was asking was, I can't be any worse off by putting it in the basement, right?

I think better. If you have a man cave in your basement as I do, a LOT better!

 

[Davisio]

I think better. If you have a man cave in your basement as I do, a LOT better!

That's what happened here! Got the stove. Moved a couch and the tv. Now my computer's down there too. Works well and.... the wife doesn't complain (since I keep it warm in the house by spending time down there. LoL).

But really, the house heating has been phenomenal. Thoroughly enjoy it. Both the heat and the fire.