Need some convincing

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stevetford

New Member
Oct 23, 2010
12
west Kentucky
Hello everyone, new member to the site but have been reading through the forums for over a year now. Last year I started burning wood. I purchased a used wood stove built by United States Stove Company it was the logwood model. It was cheap and thought I could use it to get the hang of burning wood. It never heated more than my basement but for the cost I feel for the education I got it paid for itself.
Anyways, fast forward a year and I find myself unemployed and really needing to heat with wood more so than ever to save on my propane cost. I am reluctant to think that a wood stove in the basement can comfortably heat the living area of my home. I have been told by several people who used to heat in the same manner but most have gotten to the age where dealing with firewood is just not possible and have turned to gas or electric. So I am hoping so of the many members of this great board can convince me that I can heat my home with wood although the stove is in the basement and I will try to paint the best picture of my house so everyone can get an idea of what I am dealing with.
Firstly, I am thinking of buying a used Huntsman single door wood stove. It is local and seems to be the largest stove I can find for my budget. I will be installing this in my basement simply because that is where the chimney flue is. My basement is 850 sq/ft and the living area is 877 sq/ft or 7893 cubic foot (9' ceilings). Every room in the house has 1 or more vent registers in the floors from a previously installed gas furnace that no longer works, I just tore out all the furnace piping and the vents are now open to the basement. My house was built sometime between 1948-1951 and insulated decent but I know there is much room for improvement in the windows. I do have 2 ventless propane heaters each rated at 30,000 btu installed but last year they ran nearly 90% of the time and we were always cold. I am hoping that by installing this larger stove can take the load off the propane heaters and actually heat our living space as I have been told is possible.
I understand that without actually walking through my house no one can say for sure if a stove the size of the Huntsman will do the job or not, but maybe some stories from users still heating in similar fashion can chime in and convince me that I am not throwing away some much needed cash. Thanks for all the help. BTW, I will be using red/white oak and hickory for fuel. Thanks again
 
It can be done from a basement install, but it helps if basement is insulated. I'm not familiar with your stove but it sounds like an old air tight. Make sure your wood is good and dry and burn it good and hot during startups and reloads before turning it down to minimize creosote. Also buy a couple cheap magnetic thermometers, one for the stove and the other for your pipe, they will help you know what's going on in that stove.
 
Thanks for the tips. I believe the Huntsman is considered a air tight. What are the ideal temperatures for both the stove and stove pipe when using the magnetic thermometers? Forgot to mention, the basement is all poured concrete with a concrete floor. No insulation other than the concrete, the walls are over 8" thick not sure how thick the floor is though. On our coldest winter in this house it was in the single digits outside and the basement never fell below 48 degrees. Normally the basement will stay in the mid 50's on most our winter days.
 
Most thermometers have a 3 color coded range on them, too cool, good burn, and too hot. Your going to want to keep the pipe temp up in the good burn zone to prevent creosote and the stove temp will tell you when the fire is hot enough to turn down and cool enough to reload without having to open the door all the time.

http://www.condar.com/stovepipe_meters.html
 
With all that concrete it's going to be hard to heat the whole house. Concrete likes to suck up all the heat, insulating the walls with some cheap 1" foam board will make a huge difference. I had an old airtight woodstove in a concrete block basement a long time ago in Northern Michigan and throughout the Winter I insulated a little bit at a time. At first I had a hard time keeping the basement above 70 and by the time I was done I could easily get it up to 80. The upstairs was alway about 10 degrees cooler.
 
Todd gave you excellent advice on installing at least foam board on the basement walls. While our heating needs down here (I'm in Bowling Green) aren't as high as most up north posters, we still need to run pretty hard in January & February. Those basement walls/floor will really suck up the heat without any insulation at all. If you could insulate the wall nearest the stove now, & insulate another then another as the funds become available it will really help. Have you checked into weatherization programs in your area? THey might help considerably on the insulation or even replacing the defunct furnace while your income is lower than normal.
 
Thankyou both Todd and Stephen. I never really gave the concrete much thought about sucking up all the heat. The foam board you are talking about would that be like sheathing and how should I attach it to the walls? I am thinking to use caulking because I really don't want to have to drill into the walls and possibly create leaks over time. Also what about distances when installing the foam on the walls near the stove?

Steve
 
I'm not much of a carpenter but this is what I have done. I took 2x2 furring strips on 2' centers, liquid nailed the backs, stuck them on the wall and pounded a few concrete nails to help hold, then I cut 1" thick foam baord insulation and glued it on between the furring strips, then drywall or panel onto the furring strips. I'm sure there are better more insulating ways to do this but this is one cheap option that will make a big difference.
 
Hey Steve

Todd said it right. Insulate those walls. I can speak from advice.

My stove is an Osburn 2300 and my basement is 1275 sqft and my upstairs is the same (bungalow).

I have a basement stove installation. I heat my entire house. I have spray foam on the basement walls with some batting between the studs. The spray foam directly on concrete is the most efficient way to insulate. It's air tight and moisture proof. No air will leak out. Once the basement temperature reaches about 80-90 degrees, the heat then takes over the upstairs part (and I don't have any registers...just a staircase that leads to one end of the house).

Yesterday it was low 40s out. I had a fire going for 5-6 hours. My basement temperature was 87 and my main floor was 78.

Use glue and concrete screws to hold the foam in a few place and make an X pattern with PL300 (foam board glue) on the back. Make sure you run a long thick bead of glue around the edge; it will prevent air flow if it's not 100% air tight. Then strips like Todd mentioned.

You must protect the foam with a non-flamable material such as gyprock right away. Exposed foam is against code (in my area). Especially near the stove!

All that to say, yes it is do-able however it may simply take a bit of time to heat and would require a bit of insulation on the walls first.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask!

Andrew
 
stevetford said:
I will be installing this in my basement simply because that is where the chimney flue is.

As you can see from the responses, if install is in the basement you need to insulate the basement which adds $$ to your install cost. Also, you can see there is about a 10 degree difference between insulated basement install versus living space temps with the basement being warmer. Also, (depends on your homes setup) you have to think about hauling firewood down into the basement all the time.

Is there any way you can tap into your flue on the living space level of your home? If so the install costs should be lower and you will be able to take advantage of higher temp outputs.

Shari
 
Welcome to the forum stevetford.

It still does get relatively cold in Kentucky. The advice you have been given is good. I'll only add that we once did a basement insulate and used 1 x 3" furring strips on 16" centers and fastened 1" foam onto that. We then began with drywall but did near the stove first and then continued as dollars allowed. It took a while to completely finish but we were happy with the results.

Insulation, especially in a basement with cement walls, will give greater returns than a larger stove will.

Good luck.
 
I wouldn't even consider heating from the basement if it's not insulated... you'll probably loose 50% or more of your heat through the concrete heating mother earth. Insulate your basement or tap into your flue on the main floor.
 
Thank you all for the great suggestions and worm welcome. Obviously I need to invest on basement insulation. My wife has been wanting to do for the past year now what Shari and Wet1 have both suggested, taping into the flue from the main level of the house. She always wanted a nice stove with glass so we could all sit and watch the fire. Trouble is where the stove would have to sit in the house would be just in front of the stairs leading to the master bedroom upstairs so that would not work. I have other places in the living area that the stove could be installed but would require complete stove piping which is expensive for me at the moment. I still have a month maybe before the heat is really required, so maybe I will work on the basement insulation for the meantime. Looks like a road trip to Lowes. Thanks again everyone. I appreciate all the help.

Steve
 
Who knows...You may find that your current stove will be adequate in the short term if you do the insulation now. I am certain that doing a really good job of insulating the basement would be lots cheaper than buying a new stove to put down there. I sure would not want to have to go lay out the big $ for a new stove while I was unemployed if I didnt have to. You may find that you could get by this winter by doing that and hopefully by then your financial situation would change allowing you to install one upstairs also like you would want in time for next season. there are also duct vents that you could possibly hook up to your open registers to help force the heated air upstairs...


http://www.espenergy.com/in_line_duct_fan.htm

You may find that you could set up a few registers to blow heated air upstairs and also figure out a way to try to use a few fans to suck air into the basement from other registers from a cooler part of the house? What about the old return ducting? If that duct work is leading into the basement also, you could most likely figure out a way to use it to suck air into the space. If the old central heat and ac fan is still there, you could use it. I bet if you get creative with moving the air with duct fans and/or box fans instead of just passive heat rising, and do as good of a job as possible to insulate the area, you may be ok with the stove you currently have.... It would be a good start if nothing else! Good luck!
 
I agree with Joe. Put the Huntsman in the basement and work on the insulation.
Also, don't under estimate the Huntsman's heating ability. While it was marketed as a "medium" stove back in the day, that sucker will really throw some heat!
 
The huntsman stove will be a big improvement on the longwood stove you currently have! Good luck and I hope it works out well for you!
 
tickbitty said:
The huntsman stove will be a big improvement on the longwood stove you currently have! Good luck and I hope it works out well for you!

I have no doubts about that any longer. Now that I have them close together that logwood is really no comparison. This Huntsman is a beast compared to the logwood.
 
I'm glad I found this thread. We have our stove in the basement which is 1008 sq ft. It is not insulated and I had never thought of the concrete absorbing enough heat to make a difference. Upstairs temps will get close to 80 if my wife is feeding the stove. Way too hot for me. I guess I need to consider insulating just for the sake of burning less wood.
 
Good plan. Insulating the basement walls could reduce wood consumption by 25% or more.
 
Given the age of your house, and your location, I wonder if you have at least the door for a coal chute in your basement? My former 1952 house had one and it was great for throwing wood into the basement. BTW, you have a PM.
 
Stephen in SoKY said:
Given the age of your house, and your location, I wonder if you have at least the door for a coal chute in your basement? My former 1952 house had one and it was great for throwing wood into the basement. BTW, you have a PM.

Well, my house used to have a coal chute, but the previous owner did some major remodeling in the 80's and removed it. Now I just remove a basement window and throw the wood in from there.
Stephen in SoKY, I just checked and there were no new pm's waiting for me?
 
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