Woodstove question

[rguseman]

When we purchased our house it came with both a fireplace in the family room and a woodstove in the basement. We use the fireplace virtually every weekend mid-October to mid-April. We have not used the stove because our sweep told us we needed a new liner (this is a separate masonry chimney from the fireplace) and I personally think the stove looks like a POS. We would like to trim our heating bills a little in the next couple of years.
House is about 2200sq. ft (ranch) and stove is in basement. The stove is near the open staircase to the main level. Since nobody is home during the day, we would generall be using the stove/insert Friday evening through Sunday evening. Maybe at night during the week if it is worth the effort. Here are my questions:

1. Would a stove in the basement, with a circulating fan, have a substantial impact or would I only be heating my basement with no appreciable impact on heating bill

2. Would a fireplace insert be the better option.

3. Pros/Cons either way

 

[ShoerFast]

Heating the basement has everything to do with keeping the whole house warmer, heat rises.

By all means fix/replace th bad liner, I think you will find that a good basement wood-stove will heat more then twice the space or have twice the efficacy of the fireplace.

Good time to watch for good stoves on CraigsList, but anything safe goes a long way to saving on your heating bill.

 

[Tree Slayer]

A good stove in the basement would help out a lot, do you sit down there is it a finished basment? I have both a wood stove in the basement and a fireplace insert. If I was only able to have one it would be the insert upstairs in the living room. just because it doesn't have to be fired that hot to heat the main 2 levels of our house. the fireplace thing is ok but a good waste of wood and heat IMO. I was using ours last year for a month or so after taking a set of gas logs out and it was just not cutting it for me, even after buying a fireplace radiator,Which did work but still burns a lot of wood. So in went a new Jotul insert.

 

[omegajim]

rguseman

When we purchased our house it came with both a fireplace in the family room

Does the current insert have doors? Do they shut tight? Is there a circulating fan to help circulate the heat?

These questions and more will determine what to do. Replacing an insert with a better, tight sealing insert (which will come with a draft hook up that requires outside air to function) would most likely be your best bet.

It won't be cheap, but replacing the lining and replacing the wood furnace in the basement won't be cheap either. Besides, with a furnace in the basement you will need to stoke it twice a day to keep the fire going. It can get to be a pain.

So says my mother. Her folks had one, and she wouldn't have a wood furnace in the basement of her house.

 

[rguseman]

We don't currently have an insert upstairs. The chimney is lined. The day we moved in we found out that the previous owner had a chimney fire and never had the flu tile fixed. Nice $2000 (liner, tuckpointing, misc. repairs) housewarming gift. Don't necessarily mind trudging up and down the stairs a couple of times a day as my six-year old daughter says I need to lose weight. We will see if she is that honest when she wants to use the car in a few years.

 

[wobdee]

I recommend putting a stove where you will spend most of your time. Heating your house from the basement can be tricky. If your basement isn't insulated and just has a bare concrete floor your going to have a hard time getting that stove to heat anything but the concrete. I know, I've tried. Then there are other problems such as negative pressure. Dryers, bath fans, furnaces, and water heaters if you have them in the basement, all compete for air and are notorious for creating neg pressure in basements, and guess where your basement will get the air to relieve the pressure, your chimney. So draft will suffer and or you could have smoking problems.

I'm not saying it can't be done. I heat my house from the basement, but its a finished off, insulated walkout basement with an air supply ventilator. You have to think supply/return to get that heat upstairs. I have a floor vent with a fan right above the stove that helps create a circular air pattern with the stairwell which works rather well. But I would'nt recommend cutting holes in your floors and breaking your natural fire/smoke barrier.

 

[yukiginger]

Heating with wood

It's up to you what you want to start with. I have a 2-story and I put an insert in on the first floor and a woodstove in the basement. The insert heats the 2,600 sq. ft. home pretty well and the stove in the basement helps take the chill off down there, and definitely helps the rest of the house, if by nothing else heating the ceiling/floor.

One other consideration you might make concerns the logistics of wood. Where can you bring in wood from the outside? Do you have a walkout basement to make this easier if you put the stove down there?

Also, consider burning more than the weekends. All new stoves are perfectly safe to run 24/7, as long as you operate them properly. If you get one with a big enough firebox you can load it up, get it burning well, damper down and come home 8 hours later to hot coals that will allow you to get back going.

Check out more information here: http://www.**********/econtent/index.php/forums/

MarkG

 

[Basso]

Hello,
I would stop using the fireplace as a fireplace ( you lose more heat out of the flue than you gain, but looks nice) and I would buy a Regency Hearthstove to sit on your hearth. It is not an insert, but a little more shallow in depth than most full size woodstoves. It will return lots of heat for the wood you burn, so less wastefull than a fireplace. It beats any insert, hands down. Too bad that the flue needs work for the basement woodstove......I'm sure your house would be toasty if you had 2 stoves burning. Just something to think about !!!!!

 

[scalo]

I currently have Vermont Casting Defiant in my basement and I heat my 2 story colonial with it. We like it a little chilly upstairs at night when we sleep, but the basement and 1st floor are nice and warm. The woodstove in the basement keeps the mess in the basement, I use my bulkhead as a wood locker. I put a piece of plywood inside in front of the door to hold the wood in and when I open the door there is the wood, just have to reach in and grab what I need and throw it in the stove.