heating entire house from basement

[tcassavaugh]

as you can see, a number of us heat or have heated from the basement, me included. I have had a VC downstairs and a couple of years ago got a PE summit. i also have a small 3FCB Jotul upstairs that i used when it got really cold. last year, because it was so mild, i pretty much used the upstairs jotul only. i went through way less wood. you have to burn pretty hard and long to get temps up to a comfortable level in the house when you burn downstairs and have it go through the house. you might consider buying a primary heater for upstairs and pick up a used one for downstairs. i'm going to try another winter with using the jotul as the primary. only problem is that it was originally purchased as a back up and you have to feed it more often.

cass

 

[bambam]

IS the electric heat base board or forced air? This is my experience with heating my home from the 2nd floor stove. I have NG for air furnace and the thermostat is on the same level as the woodstove so it hardly ever kicks on (maybe around 4 in morning for 1-2 cycles). My basement is below grade except for about 2' and it doesn't ever seem to drop below 60 degrees down there. I dont really have the place for a woodstove down there and really wished I had baseboard heating as it doesn't take much to heat the area. I like having the stove in the living area and seeing the flames. If I had the room I would have 2 stoves but barring that baseboard heaters in the basement would be my next option.

yes it is electric baseboard heat and there is a stone fireplace already in the living room upstairs to the fire viewing is taken care of, 2 sides of the basement are below grade and the other 2 sides are completely exposed

 

[bambam]

thank you everyone for your responses to my thread, I believe if we are able to get this property (which right now isn't promising because there is a problem with wells around this property running out of water around at different times of the year and seeing that the house is bank owned there is no warranty, representation or disclosure about this well, neighbors say they have seen the man who lived there pump water from the creek that runs through the property to the house at different times) I do think I could get enough heat to get through but not having water is not something I could live without

 

[KaptJaq]

... but not having water is not something I could live without

Lot of negatives in that sentence, I'm confused...

How deep are the current wells? Where is the water table on the surrounding properties? Have you spoken to the local drillers to see if anything can be done?

KaptJaq

 

[bambam]

Lot of negatives in that sentence, I'm confused...

How deep are the current wells? Where is the water table on the surrounding properties? Have you spoken to the local drillers to see if anything can be done?

KaptJaq

we talked with one of the neighbors that used to be the township supervisor and she said when they bought there house that borders the property we are looking at they had a draw down test done on there well but found out from man who did test that he was paid off by the seller to forge the test results, they ended up drilling 600 feet and never hit water so she said she would have test done on well which I can't do until I get a contract on our current house so I can show proof of funds to buy this property before the bank that owns it will even talk to me, I did talk to a local plumber\friend of ours and he did say he knows of the problems around that area but isn't sure if there was a problem with the property that we are interested in, he also told me who does the tests and they are certified to do them, so know it is a waiting game to see what is going to happen with our house which sucks because both my wife and I really like the place we are looking at and for what they are selling it for and what it is worth it is to good of an opportunity to loose out on (1456 sq/ft on one floor with full basement full attic, 6.16 acres of hardwoods, mostly white and red oak and maple with a large creek bottom on property that is viewable from house for $147,900 was sold in 2008 for $259,900)

 

[tcassavaugh]

wow, sounds nice. too bad about the wells. that does make it a no-go

cass