I got my 2400 installed recently, put It in the basement of my 2000 ft ranch house. Basement in not finished and is wide open. My basement started out at about 68 degrees. I haven't been able to warm it up hardly at all I'm up to about 73 and it's not even cold outside (been about 30-37 during the day all week). I haven't been able to get much heat upstairs and gas furnace is still running regularly. I have been keeping stove around 500-700 degrees as constantly as possible. Everyone on here says how much heat these things put out and I can't even get my basement warmed up much. I'm wondering if I need more heat or If I should have bought a wood furnace instead. My house is hard to heat and I knew that going in but, I thought this would do it the way everyone on here talks. Any thoughts are appreciated.
New osburn 2400 owner not impressed
- Thread starter Xc1974
- Start date
-
Active since 1995, Hearth.com is THE place on the internet for free information and advice about wood stoves, pellet stoves and other energy saving equipment.
We strive to provide opinions, articles, discussions and history related to Hearth Products and in a more general sense, energy issues.
We promote the EFFICIENT, RESPONSIBLE, CLEAN and SAFE use of all fuels, whether renewable or fossil.
- Status
Not the stove's fault. Unfinished basements are a huge heat sink. Wish I could find the study that was linked here years ago studying the BTU loss to the walls and out to the dirt in a basement stove install.
Here to tell you it is true. I have had a wood stove in my basement for thirty years and I have to crank it non-stop for eight hours just to bring the basement up from its constant 55 degrees to sixty five or seventy. And zip for heat makes it upstairs.
Here to tell you it is true. I have had a wood stove in my basement for thirty years and I have to crank it non-stop for eight hours just to bring the basement up from its constant 55 degrees to sixty five or seventy. And zip for heat makes it upstairs.
Grisu
Minister of Fire
Welcome to the forum!
Were on the stove do you take those temperature readings? Could you please tell us more about the way you are operating the stove? When and by how much do you adjust the air? How dry is your wood? Have you checked its moisture content with a moisture meter?
An unfinished basement can easily mean that one third of the heat generated by the stove goes to heat the ground. Any plans to finish and insulate the basement or maybe move the stove upstairs?
Were on the stove do you take those temperature readings? Could you please tell us more about the way you are operating the stove? When and by how much do you adjust the air? How dry is your wood? Have you checked its moisture content with a moisture meter?
An unfinished basement can easily mean that one third of the heat generated by the stove goes to heat the ground. Any plans to finish and insulate the basement or maybe move the stove upstairs?
I forgot to mention that the exposed part of the concrete outside is spray foamed and there's styrofoam hung on the inside four feet down. I had it cranked up for two days and hardly gained 2 or 3 degrees. Every time the fire dies down the basement immediately starts to cool. Do I just need to get the concrete warm once, or is it a futile effort?
Yeah I finally put a pellet stove down there just for a quick warm up of the small area of my workbench when I need to be down there. Start it, work, shut it down and flee to heat upstairs.
Swedishchef
Minister of Fire
Welcome to the forums!
As per BrotherBart's comment; a non finished basement is nearly impossible to heat. The concrete keeps sending the heat out towards the air/ground. Cement is a great big heat sink.
Is the surface area the stove is trying to heat 2000 sq ft?
We tend to forget that wood stoves are space heaters. IE the space where the stove sits. Not house heaters. That's why we have wood furnaces.
My osburn 2300 sits in my basement. My basement walls are R23, my basement is 1250 sqft and my stove easily heats the entire basement + upstairs quite well. And I live in Quebec: we have so much cold in the winter, we build an ice hotel
I think that if you invested $1000 in insulation for your basement you'll be much more satisfied with the stove's performance.
Andrew
As per BrotherBart's comment; a non finished basement is nearly impossible to heat. The concrete keeps sending the heat out towards the air/ground. Cement is a great big heat sink.
Is the surface area the stove is trying to heat 2000 sq ft?
We tend to forget that wood stoves are space heaters. IE the space where the stove sits. Not house heaters. That's why we have wood furnaces.
My osburn 2300 sits in my basement. My basement walls are R23, my basement is 1250 sqft and my stove easily heats the entire basement + upstairs quite well. And I live in Quebec: we have so much cold in the winter, we build an ice hotel
I think that if you invested $1000 in insulation for your basement you'll be much more satisfied with the stove's performance.
Andrew
Futile effort. I put insulation five feet down all the way around and cut off half of the 1,000 sq. feet with insulated hung blankets to no avail. Every couple of years I go down there and fire the crap out of a stove, not learning my lesson, to the same result.
The slab is what gets ya the most. Sucks heat like a vacuum cleaner.
ETA: Seems to some confusion about this post. Me and Swedishchef were posting at the same time last night. This is not a reply to the Chef. It is to the original poster.
The slab is what gets ya the most. Sucks heat like a vacuum cleaner.
ETA: Seems to some confusion about this post. Me and Swedishchef were posting at the same time last night. This is not a reply to the Chef. It is to the original poster.
Last edited:
Swedishchef
Minister of Fire
I don't know what the weather or the ground frost is like in Iowa. Where I live, they now require R18 walls from top to bottom in the basement. The frost can go down up to 5 feet (and 3 feet of my foundation is above ground). So it's not only the exposed walls that need insulating, it's all the walls.
The concrete will never warm up: it will keep passing on the heat you feed it to the cold ground.
Andrew
Osagebndr
Minister of Fire
I have my stove in a finished basement and sometimes still have problems getting heat upstairs and it's open to the upstairs(like a loft almost). How close is the stove to the stairs ? Do you have a blower on it? I believe there was a thread about doing some insulation around the stove area might be helpful.
Swedishchef
Minister of Fire
I tried using a fan or blower on my stove to get the heat to move to my staircase for 3 years. It never worked.... This year I stopped using the fan and the heat rises up the staircase within 30 minutes. I realized that the fan was pushing the hot air around the basement. The natural convection of my basement let's my stove room build up a large thermal pocket. Once that pocket reaches the stairs: POOF. THe heat rises like a hot air balloon..
Took temp readings top center about half way between front and chimney. Today I have kept it stoked and pretty constantly heated around 500-600 degrees. Prior few days I add wood every 4-6 hours. Wood is seasoned red elm and oak loading east west. After I get the fire Rollin I shut the air just about all the way down trying to keep a long burn time. Even with air shut down it seems to keep the temp right up there.
Osagebndr
Minister of Fire
I don't have one on mine either and quit using the ceiling fan . It works better without all that.Good point Andrew
Grisu
Minister of Fire
That sounds like you are operating the stove correctly. And with the air fully closed but the stove maintaining temps (and fire in the top of the firebox?) your wood is probably ok, too. Nevertheless, oak is notoriously slow to season. How long has it been split and stacked in a sunny and windy spot?
Right now, my main guess is that your unfinished basement is the main culprit.
There's not much frost in the ground right now, we've had a really mild winter. That's what gets me about this it's not even cold out, the low since I started it is maybe 20 and we were over 40 one day.
Ram 1500 with an axe...
Minister of Fire
I don't have the blower it was back ordered when I ordered the stove. I have a fan blowing from behind the stove and today I put another blowing up the staircase. Maybe I should turn them off and see what happens.
I have a finished basement of about 800 square feet. The entire area is all carpet with thick padding. I have a cheapo vogelzane down there and it heats the entire basement just fine. But it is all well insulated and it will cool down a lot quicker then the upstairs where I have an Osburn 1600. The upstairs is 1500 square ft and that little Osburn will cook me right out. Air tight and insulation make a big difference.
Last edited:
Grisu
Minister of Fire
Have a fan at the top of the stairwell blowing cold air down into the basement. That will force warm air up the stairwell along the ceiling. However, it sounds like your basement is not getting warm at all. When there is not heat then fans will not be of much help.
Wish I'd asked this before I bought this thing. What do you guys recommend for furnaces I was looking at the caddy or energy king 385. I didn't think the caddy would be big enough, plus it has a pretty small firebox.
marajade
Member
A few weeks ago we had a professional efficiency analysis done on our ranch home. We have 1800sq ft on the main floor (which is actually sorta 3 mini levels when you consider raised and sunken rooms) and 1800 in the cheaply finished basement.
The walls were only finished in the basement guest room. The rest are painted concrete.
The analysis came back that we really need to have the basement insulated and finished properly. Otherwise we are always going to be wasting money and heat. We just put a stove in our living room and it's doing an amazing job of warming the entire main level and we still haven't even fully loaded the stove to capacity.
The walls were only finished in the basement guest room. The rest are painted concrete.
The analysis came back that we really need to have the basement insulated and finished properly. Otherwise we are always going to be wasting money and heat. We just put a stove in our living room and it's doing an amazing job of warming the entire main level and we still haven't even fully loaded the stove to capacity.
BIGDADDY
Feeling the Heat
- May 17, 2012
- 416
5' feet down all the way around? Are your basement walls 5' high? If your walls are 8' high that would leave a gapping gap of 3' between the floor and your hanging insulation. Not what I would call insulating the basement walls.
I suggest foam board XPS glued to the basement walls the higher the R value the better. At least R 15 which is 3 " thick.
There will be a noticeable difference even if you don't insulate the slab and you can insulate the slab if desired.
In short insulating the basement is not futile if done correctly.
- Status
Similar threads
