Any advice for a newbie on a basement stove to keep pipes and the floor above warm?

[RKS130]

I am new to pellets and loving every second of the heat from my stove.

Madame Defarge is a different story. While she loves the heat, and the savings over oil, she constantly worries about the pipes in the basement freezing during a prolonged cold spell and is decidedly not happy with the cold floors on the first floor.

Our basement is unfinished and I (at 6' even) can't stand erect down there. I have been thinking that, perhaps, for next year, it might be a good idea to put a stove in the basement to keep the pipes (and the wife unit) happy, as well as warming up the floor on the main floor. Seems to me, little as I know (but tons more than I would have without you guys!) than a utilitarian stove with a big hopper (or an extension) in the basement, set on low to run 24/7 in the cold months, might alleviate the domestic situation.

Any suggestions on a good stove for that purpose or thoughts on the idea generally? My guess is that keeping the floor warm on the lower level would also generally help keep the house warm.

The house is about 1500 sq. ft of living space on two levels, although the first floor includes an integral garage that we use for storage and do not heat. The basement is half below grade and formed of the stone foundation and a cement slab. We take some water, as we are halfway down a hillside, but nothing the sump pump can't handle. We are generator equipped thanks to a blackout in our second year here during a heavy rain storm when we almost lost the boiler - yes, the same one I am now happy not to be using. Of course oil was 89 cents a gallon then.

All suggestions and help gratefully received.

 

[bonesy]

For starters if you don't heat the basement, throw in some batt insulation in the rafters of the floor. This will help keep the floor surface a little warmer upstairs.

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

For starters if you don't heat the basement, throw in some batt insulation in the rafters of the floor. This will help keep the floor surance a little warmer upstairs.

Make certain your water pipes are on the warm side of that insulation, you could do something about the walls of the basement to get an insulation layer to just below the frost line, like the above water pipes need to be on the warm side of any insulation.

How are you heating your domestic hot water?

 

[kinsmanstoves]

Pellet stoves are spot heat. Put the stove were everyone is. If your basement is finished and that is where everyone hangs out put it there. If you just go down there to do the laundry, forget about it and put it upstairs. Why keep the basement at 75 degrees and the upstairs at 65?

Do not try to make a stove do the job of a furnace.

Eric

 

[RKS130]

My DHW is still on a coil in the oil burner so it cycles from time to time (too much for my taste) and probably often enough to keep the pipes from freezing unless there is a prolonged cold snap in the teens, which is a couple of times a year here. Then again, even one frozen and burst pipe is one too many. By next season I hope to find a better source of DHW.

The basement does get cold, however, so Madame Defarge is not completely off base.

As always, thanks to Smokey for the valuable help that is so freely given.

 

[RKS130]

[email protected][/email]]Pellet stoves are spot heat. Put the stove were everyone is. If your basement is finished and that is where everyone hangs out put it there. If you just go down there to do the laundry, forget about it and put it upstairs. Why keep the basement at 75 degrees and the upstairs at 65?

Do not try to make a stove do the job of a furnace.

Eric

I guess that is my point. Perhaps I want spot heat in my unused/unfinished basement to serve a specific purpose - keeping the pipes warm and warming the floor above. Is there a stove you think best for this use? My criteria would be a large hopper (with or without an extension) and relatively minimal service requirements vis-a-vis cleaning. By this I mean that my Accentra does great on once weekly general cleaning/vacuuming/glass cleaning but I see many posts that imply folks are cleaning their stoves every 2 or 3 days. For the purpose I described I would want the longest interval between cleanings as is reasonable, bearing in mind no one would care if the glass was dirty.

 

[flynfrfun]

Insulation is good, but before I'd put another pellet stove in just to heat pipes, I'd try those electric pipe heaters first. Don't know anything about them, but it seems like a lot of extra pellets and maintenance on a second stove just to warm some pipes would be expensive in comparison. From what others are saying, concrete will suck up the pellet heat and you might not even feel much difference in the floor(s) above.

 

[flynfrfun]

I guess that is my point. Perhaps I want spot heat in my unused/unfinished basement to serve a specific purpose - keeping the pipes warm and warming the floor above. Is there a stove you think best for this use? My criteria would be a large hopper (with or without an extension) and relatively minimal service requirements vis-a-vis cleaning. By this I mean that my Accentra does great on once weekly general cleaning/vacuuming/glass cleaning but I see many posts that imply folks are cleaning their stoves every 2 or 3 days. For the purpose I described I would want the longest interval between cleanings as is reasonable, bearing in mind no one would care if the glass was dirty.

If you do go this route, I'd recommend a self cleaning burn pot stove, like Enviro's M55. I think Englander makes one too. These stoves can go a long time with little burn pot maintenance. Yes, you still have to clean them, but not nearly as often as non-multi-fuel stoves.

 

[kinsmanstoves]

[email protected][/email]]Pellet stoves are spot heat. Put the stove were everyone is. If your basement is finished and that is where everyone hangs out put it there. If you just go down there to do the laundry, forget about it and put it upstairs. Why keep the basement at 75 degrees and the upstairs at 65?

Do not try to make a stove do the job of a furnace.

Eric

I guess that is my point. Perhaps I want spot heat in my unused/unfinished basement to serve a specific purpose - keeping the pipes warm and warming the floor above. Is there a stove you think best for this use? My criteria would be a large hopper (with or without an extension) and relatively minimal service requirements vis-a-vis cleaning. By this I mean that my Accentra does great on once weekly general cleaning/vacuuming/glass cleaning but I see many posts that imply folks are cleaning their stoves every 2 or 3 days. For the purpose I described I would want the longest interval between cleanings as is reasonable, bearing in mind no one would care if the glass was dirty.

The best new stove for the money is a Heatilator.

If you have a stove upstairs that is great. Insulation is the cheapest to keep pipes from freezing. A heatilator is $1600, venting $400, and the install plus pellets. That will buy a lot of insulation and glass block windows. A decent basement should not need heat to keep it above freezing. Yes there are bad basements but invest in fixing the basement so you do not take pellets down the steps. You will be much more happy this way.

Eric

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

If you get some wall insulation, foil faced if possible foil to the inside, the boiler should provide enough heat keeping the hot water hot to prevent the basement from going below freezing. The insulation has to reach below the frost line on the walls.

This of course does little or nothing for the floor, the lady of the house could use slippers.

Or one of the thermo-guard units put on the heating system to cause a timed call for heat which starts the pumps etc ...

 

[RKS130]

You guys are the greatest! The perfect combination of esoteric, theoretic and practical advice.

Thanks

Obviously every situation is different but, among all of you, the right answer seems always to emerge.

 

[Don2222]

Hello

I have a basement install (Middle of the house) of a 45K BTU Avalon Astoria with registers and a little ductwork to the upstairs. This heats the entire 2,000 sqft 2 level split entry house with NO oil just fine. It was 72 Degrees in the Living Room upstairs and the Bedrooms were 70 Deg all night last night with the Low at 22 Degrees F early this morning and the stove burning on heat level 3 out of 6

The house is the warmest it has ever been!! We like it!

One of my neighbors has the exact same house with the pellet stove in the living room on the top floor at one end of the house. They just use it during the evening hours and use the old tankless coil oil burner for the cold morning hours.

So it all depends on where you locate the stove and how you use it

 

[Murphy118]

Or one of the thermo-guard units put on the heating system to cause a timed call for heat which starts the pumps etc ...

I have my own self made version of the themo guard, made with 1 two pole relay and a 1 hr. timer that closes the 2 zone t-stats for 4 minutes 3 times every hour to keep the warm water circulating in the forced hot water system. WHile my stove is running the furnace never calls for heat so this keeps my pipes in my crawl space from freezing.

John

 

[tjnamtiw]

Insulate the floors as Smokey said, insulate the walls, buy a used wood burner (VERY cheap at stove shops. The shop where I got my pellet stoves couldn't sell mine in 2 years!), and blast it during the very cold spells to heat every thing up down there and then let it go out. With the residual heat in the floor and walls, the temp will stay above freezing. Madame will be happy with the insulation and you'll be happy because you don't have to spend $2K+ pellets.
Even an old pot belly stove and some stove coal would do the trick.

 

[ShizzelDizzel]

If you are worried about the pipes, just get the pipe wrap that heats up when it gets cold as someone else here mentioned. Insulation should help the floors from getting too chill as well.

 

[Levamealone]

Check out basement waterproofing paint by BEHR. We had a similar layout and painted the exposed cement walls and floors. This made a HUGE difference on the temp., humidity and the general feel of the basement. We also did a basement install of a stove and it heats clear up to the 2nd floor to 65 degrees. Good Luck!