Some questions from a beginner

Seasoned Oak said:

Remember the earth surrounding the basement is about 57 Degrees ,much warmer then the winter air surrounding your next floor up.

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True, but earth and concrete are much better conductors than air and insulated framed walls. This is why an un-insulated concrete basement wall will always be cooler than an insulated first-floor wall, given equal indoor room temperatures, even when the outside temperature is well below 57 degrees. Not saying it makes heating from the basement impossible, but it is a factor.

Joful said:

True, but earth and concrete are much better conductors than air and insulated framed walls. This is why an un-insulated concrete basement wall will always be cooler than an insulated first-floor wall, given equal indoor room temperatures, even when the outside temperature is well below 57 degrees. Not saying it makes heating from the basement impossible, but it is a factor.

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I wouldnt want to insulate my basement as its to hot already being uninsulated. For sure everyones situation is different.
IT probably works for me (basement Install) cuz my stove usually puts out more heat than i need even when run on the lowest setting. Unless its very cold out the whole house gradually approaches 80 avg temp. Usually i can let the stove run on embers for many hours as the house temps come back to a more reasonable level like low 70s. No way would i want this stove in my living room unless it was a huge room, it would be too hot. This way the basement and the floors are above 80 but the main living floor is a comfortable 75 or so.

levsmith said:

Thanks backwoods. I'm not really sure what you need me to explain about the house, so some of this may not be needed and may not have what you need. It is a single story brick ranch style, with a full basement, half finished. right at 1200 sq ft not including the basement. 3 bedroom (all on main floor), 1.5 bath and built in the mid 60's. Hopefully this helps some and if there are anymore questions, I'll be glad to answer.

I have already started gathering wood, but admittedly, most of it is still wet. I am getting my wood by helping a tree trimmer friend, so i should be able to get ahold of some dead stuff soon. If I cant get ahold of any here, I can go cut at my parents place where there is plenty of dead stuff laying around

Thanks for all of the advice so far everyone!

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Lev, that sounds like it should not be difficult to heat at all. We have a little larger space but no basement. Our stove is a radiant heater and we have no problem heating even the far rooms. With our old stove we did have a problem. That stove was larger than our present stove and we used to have to close off part of the house every winter. We burned around 6 cord average and I think the high was about 7 1/2 cord. When we installed the Woodstock Fireview we noticed a tremendous difference immediately. Our first year heating we went through 3 cord of wood. Well, we also found our second and third years etc to be the same. So we cut our wood needs in half and our house stays much warmer and we are heating the whole house now. In addition, we keep our home at 80 or above all winter. We used to have to run an electric heater in the bathroom before we showered. No more of that. Another big thing is the chimney problem. Where we used to clean our chimney 4 times per year and sometimes more, in the six heating seasons with the Fireview, we have cleaned our chimney one time. There was absolutely no creosote; only some soot and fly ash. That was 4 years ago and we might clean it this summer just to see what we'll get out of there.

So with your home size, a stove with a firebox size like our (2.2 cu. ft.) you should heat that home really easy. If you have some of the far rooms a little cool we can give you some helpful hints in how to take care of that problem very easily. I will say that Woodstock is perhaps number 1 in customer service and they will also give you a 6 month guarantee on the stove! If you aren't happy, send it back for a full refund! Of course there are other stoves that could suit you very well too. I'm sort of partial to Woodstock because of some of the things they will do for you and their products are really built solid by professionals.

On the wood, yes, if you can get some dead wood, by all means grab it. Beware though. Even though a tree might be dead, that does not mean all the wood will be ready to burn. For example, we cut quite a bit of dead elm. We wait until all or most of the bark has fallen from the tree before we cut. Then we typically find the top half or the top third can be burned right away. The bottom of the tree will be full of sap and it can take from 6 months to a year to dry it.....after it has been split.

Take good care of your friend the tree trimmer. A nice friend indeed. I'd make sure to stop occasionally when he is working and supply him with some cold drinks or maybe coffee and donuts ore even a pizza. That will show your appreciation and you will reap many benefits from this good will gesture.

Good luck to you.

Interesting read so far, All but the 2 flues into one idea. I'm going to jump on board with most of the others with getting that burner into the main floor vs the basement on the premise of the work involved with managing the stove and also being able to enjoy the stove more in your direct living area.
I currently use two stoves on my first floor and both are fairly easy to handle once they are lit. Something to think about while your deciding on what to do.
And I also have to agree with the members who ask for as much info about your place that you can provide, these folks know that the info and pics if you have any, will make for better advice the first time.

Welcome to the forums!

We put ours in the living area upstairs and no regrets. The basement gets pretty chilly with our Manitoba canada winters(down to -30 degC) but we supplement with baseboard heat down there.

Pacific Energy- Alderlea T5
Husqvarna 240
Fiskars X27
...and a minivan.

[quote="BrotherBart, post: 1457756, member: 6". It takes nine to ten hours before heat from a stove in my basement start adding to heat on the first floor. And I have some major firepower stove wise down there.
.[/quote]
Same here, but with some fairly strong air movement through either ductwork or floor vents,i heat 2 upper floors from there in less than an hour. I would not attempt to heat from the basement without moving a lot of air on a continuos basis. If you cant move the air you wont like the result.