Q For those who dont run thier furnaces anymore...

The other thread about cold basement temps and potential pipes freezing got me thinking about another problem I've noticed lately... lots of cold air comming up from the registers... What do you do? Cover up all the registers & CAI? Thats a lot of work, and what about the weekend when your gone or the night you may forget to get up early to reload stove and the house dips down to 60 or less (for those without overnight burning stoves)? I didnt IR gun the registers but just sitting in the chair I can hold my arm out about a foot and half above the register and pretty much feel a cold draft. The CAI which is quite large was letting up a whole lotta cold air. Just curious what you all do. Those with heated or otherwise warm basements need not reply, mainly looking for those like myself with old drafty houses and basements (or cellars as we call em) that get down to freezing in spots.

BeGreen said:

Thoroughly seal and insulate the ductwork and/or run the system occasionally with a good sized register in the basement to warm it up.

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Well thats a huge project I probably wont have time to do for quite a while. But perhaps insulating them is the best solution if it would indeed prevent the cold from seeping in.

moshiersr said:

I block all our registers off with a piece of Reflectix insulation and block off the furnace CAI. I just shut off the gas and circuit breaker to make sure there aren't any mis-haps. We use the furnace one week a year when we go to Florida, its about 15 minutes to seal everything off or to open it all back up. Sealing it off makes a big difference in our house.

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That would seem to seal them off the best but would be a major pita in my case. A lot of our registers are not easily accessable (behind sofas, etc) and it never goes too long before we would need the furnace again. In your case, one week a year is a different story. In my case we would need it every couple weeks. If it took you an hour to do all that - moving furniture (and spend an hour cleaning house to get to some of the furniture) to access and cover all them, and you had to do it every 2-3 weeks back and forth, would you? No matter how much I try and train the wife every time I'm on nights (at least 2 stretches in 5 weeks) I come home an the propane is running (house is at 60). So I think I need it available in those times.

yooperdave said:

ohioburner-----why wouldn't you want heat in a basement (cellar) that "gets down to freezing in spots"? aren't you concerned with freeze up of water/sewer lines? do you have enough combustion air for the wood stove? I assume it is on the main level. is it possible that the wood stove is drawing air from the easiest source available (cold air inlets, in your case)?
i'm not sure how much air is vented up the chimney in the form of exhaust when you use the stove, but sure seems like it would need to be replaced, no?

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Other than pipes freezing I have no need to heat the basement and the point of the woodstove is to not need the propane right? The freezing part is a more extreme case that only happens the coldest days of winter some winters, and those times a small space heater solves that problem. Average temp in the basement is typically in the 40's in the dead of winter, so no not too worried about freezing pipes but am worried about alot of cold registers.

FWIW I remember to check the registers and cold air return last night with the IR... most were showing 46-48 degrees. Brrrrr