Recommend stove for basement install

I use an old VC Defiant in my basement with 6 inch out the masonry wall then up 20+ ft. Great draft from this stove. If you want to heat the basement room and the house, be prepared to have the basement room at 85 degrees in order to have an impact on the first floor. I use the stove to heat a Cape Cod. It does the job very well. The heat has not turned on for the last 2 weeks while the exterior temps were between 15-30. The basement is very warm. Too warm to hang out in. With a Ranch style house, your fighting a much more difficult battle in trying to heat the first floor without duct work.

LongRangr said:

There is no chimney presently. Stove will sit on stained concrete floor and wall behind will be concrete that has been smoothed with a manonry product, then sheet rock "mud" then painted.

Flue size can be whatever is needed for stove chosen. Outside, we would prefer masonry but might convince wife to go with metal if there is a GOOD reason. Basement walls are mostly not insulated, but most walls of the family room are not exterior basement walls.

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So are you saying the wall behind the stove is not concrete?

Relize this, you will NEED an oversized stove. If you have a concrete floor and concrete or block wall area, they will act like a heat sink, you will lose a ton of BTUs to them.

I recently installed a stove in my well insulated 500 sq feet finished part of the basement. I went with a Jotul F500 Oslo. I planned to heat the upstairs as well so a cold air return and heat vents were installed. I am finding it very difficult to heat the upstairs. I basically have to determine if I want to use the basement or not for the day because you have to run the basement around 85 as previously mentioned to get any heat up. I feel like I am going through a ton of wood without much heat upstairs. If I just want to heat the basement, it is hard to keep it below 75 with this stove.

I am sure I still have some things to learn, but unless you plan to install through the floor vents, heating the upstairs is a challenge.

I have a ranch with full basement. its about 52 feet long and about 1400 sq feet downstairs (not all open) and about the same upstairs. I used a VC/Dutchwest Large Cat for years then recently bought a PE Summet. The VC worked well, but you had to keep it fired up pretty goot to achieve upstairs comfort. Like mentioned in earlier posts, that meant 85-90 degrees downstairs to get it to 70 upstairs. My stairwell is located on the oppisite end of the house so the convection line is a long one. The summet has an intergral blower that seems to keep the air moving thus keeping the downstairs cooler between 75-80 while getting the upstairs to about 68 or so. That said, I'm not sure the PE does as well heating overall but it burns better and longer so its a trade off. I also have a small Jotul that i have upstairs between the living and dining rooms that i sometimes burn (like in this recent cold snap) that lets me tone down the downstairs stove for most of the evening and let the upstairs handle the heating of the upstairs until we hit the rack. I put a couple of small chunks on the upstairs stove and shut her down so it burns much of the night, then go down and load the Summit and let it run all night. I put a couple of splits on the Summit when i get up for work at 0330 and my wife fills it in the morning before taking off for work. All in all, the set up works pretty good. Although, I'm really impressed by the conversatoins/posts of the Blaze King loads, fire box depth and burn times achieved because of the thermostat.

good luck

cass

RSNovi said:

I recently installed a stove in my well insulated 500 sq feet finished part of the basement. I went with a Jotul F500 Oslo. I planned to heat the upstairs as well so a cold air return and heat vents were installed. I am finding it very difficult to heat the upstairs. I basically have to determine if I want to use the basement or not for the day because you have to run the basement around 85 as previously mentioned to get any heat up. I feel like I am going through a ton of wood without much heat upstairs. If I just want to heat the basement, it is hard to keep it below 75 with this stove.

I am sure I still have some things to learn, but unless you plan to install through the floor vents, heating the upstairs is a challenge.

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We are located in central MO and have a comparable set up: Jotul Oslo in a finished basement (600 sq. ft basement room, upstairs 1,400 sq. ft) that is 1/2 underground, average insulation, and newer windows. Our heating degree days are approximately 5,000 per year. We are running the stove 24/7 and when burning hard it keeps the basement in the upper 70's to low 80's and the main level of the house at 70 with the back bedrooms (farthest away from the stove) dropping to 60-65.

The Oslo would probably work for you, but it is a little pricey especially with the 30% tax credit ending Jan 1st. Not sure what your budget is.

CJRages said:

RSNovi said:

I recently installed a stove in my well insulated 500 sq feet finished part of the basement. I went with a Jotul F500 Oslo. I planned to heat the upstairs as well so a cold air return and heat vents were installed. I am finding it very difficult to heat the upstairs. I basically have to determine if I want to use the basement or not for the day because you have to run the basement around 85 as previously mentioned to get any heat up. I feel like I am going through a ton of wood without much heat upstairs. If I just want to heat the basement, it is hard to keep it below 75 with this stove.

I am sure I still have some things to learn, but unless you plan to install through the floor vents, heating the upstairs is a challenge.

Click to expand...

We are located in central MO and have a comparable set up: Jotul Oslo in a finished basement (600 sq. ft basement room, upstairs 1,400 sq. ft) that is 1/2 underground, average insulation, and newer windows. Our heating degree days are approximately 5,000 per year. We are running the stove 24/7 and when burning hard it keeps the basement in the upper 70's to low 80's and the main level of the house at 70 with the back bedrooms (farthest away from the stove) dropping to 60-65.

The Oslo would probably work for you, but it is a little pricey especially with the 30% tax credit ending Jan 1st. Not sure what your budget is.

Click to expand...

Any tips on how you are getting the lowest level of the house to 70. I would be very happy with that.

RSNovi said:

CJRages said:

RSNovi said:

I recently installed a stove in my well insulated 500 sq feet finished part of the basement. I went with a Jotul F500 Oslo. I planned to heat the upstairs as well so a cold air return and heat vents were installed. I am finding it very difficult to heat the upstairs. I basically have to determine if I want to use the basement or not for the day because you have to run the basement around 85 as previously mentioned to get any heat up. I feel like I am going through a ton of wood without much heat upstairs. If I just want to heat the basement, it is hard to keep it below 75 with this stove.

I am sure I still have some things to learn, but unless you plan to install through the floor vents, heating the upstairs is a challenge.

Click to expand...

We are located in central MO and have a comparable set up: Jotul Oslo in a finished basement (600 sq. ft basement room, upstairs 1,400 sq. ft) that is 1/2 underground, average insulation, and newer windows. Our heating degree days are approximately 5,000 per year. We are running the stove 24/7 and when burning hard it keeps the basement in the upper 70's to low 80's and the main level of the house at 70 with the back bedrooms (farthest away from the stove) dropping to 60-65.

The Oslo would probably work for you, but it is a little pricey especially with the 30% tax credit ending Jan 1st. Not sure what your budget is.

Click to expand...

Any tips on how you are getting the lowest level of the house to 70. I would be very happy with that.

Click to expand...

Sure. Really nothing other than the natural flow of air up the staircase. It is a split level house so there are seven steps leading up to the landing for the front entrance of the house, then you turn 180 and go up the last seven steps to get to the main level. Hot air rises along the ceiling of the basement and enters the stairwell (there is no ceiling in the stairwell - it opens up to the upper level immediately). At the same time cold air pours down the staircase into the basement. It is hard to describe without actually being there and feeling the air exchange places.

It only works to certain outside temperatures... once temps fall below 25-30 for a high, there is high wind, and no sunshine, then the backup heat pump will have to kick in and help heat + disburse the hot air accumulating in the basement. Our average high temperatures here only fall to 33 degrees in January. Depending on where you live in Michigan it could require 50% to 100% more heat to keep your home the same temperature. Check out this map for a HDD comparative: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heating_degree_day see the map listed in upper right corner.

I am up here in NH. Have a VC Vigilant in the basement (unfinished). Just leave the door open- keeps the first floor at 68-71 depending on the outside temp, upstairs usually stays around 64-65. Heating approx. 2000 sq. feet (not including the basement) only need one zone of heat on and that is for a room above the garage whichis an additional 360 sq. ft.

Grew up in a house like yours- we had a VC Defiant in the basement family room (often watching tv in just shorts throughout the winter). Was even more interesting after my father put an addition on the house and the old family room became my bedroom. Let's just say it was a bit warm!

Wish I could give some advice on the stove, but mine is a 1978 model that is still working like a charm, even more so since I tore it down and resealed everything. Good luck.