Basement ideas? What do you guys do?

[AddictiveStew]

So here's the dealio... I'm about to put the old Harman in on the first floor. I'm confident she'll do just fine heating floors 1&2. What about the basement? I live in an old farmhouse and my foundation is the old rubble style. Some of the foundation is underground but a good portion is above ground too as it is built into the side of a hill. I suspect that the normal 55 degrees underground rule may not apply once it gets really cold. What do you guys do? Currently the beast of an oil furnace puts out enough heat during it's daily churnings to keep the basement somewhat stable. I'm afraid with the furnace off most of the winter next year (hopefully) that I might have some issues with frozen pipes. Do you guys run 2 stoves? I was thinking that or maybe just putting some baseboard heat down there with the thermostat set at 50*. To make this thread even longer... I currently use oil as my DHW too. I plan to put a Marathon water heater in this summer and shut down the boiler completely until winter. Does this really have the adverse effect they describe online or is that all a bunch of crap to get you to buy into the oil man's line of keeping it on to keep the seals intact? It's an olllllllllld steel Fitzgibbons boiler. I would love to convert it to a cold start boiler but I fear that might TKO her for good. As much as I'd love to be run 100% on pellets, I need to keep the backup in there. Sorry for the book guys!

 

[johnchap]

I started out with one (harman accentra freestanding) 2004 in a sunroom - I had redid the whole thing ... walls and windows etc and oil was not going to happen. a year later I installed a harman accentra insert - 2006/7- into the main fireplace. (only one!) ... my cellar is completely done (care giver apartment from prior owners) and oil heat bills were still coming ... so I installed a lopi and that is how my cellar is ....lol
and last year my 45 year old furnace bit the dust .... I did replace that only for resale and emergency heat.

keep your furnace tuned ... is it for hot water ? (mine is so there is some use ...used about 500 gallons in past 2.5 years)

it is cheaper to slam another pellet stove in the long run and your floors will absorb some heat ......

you will be very happy with your purchase

 

[jgrz0610]

I have an old block foundation (not rubble farmhouse style but still looks like a diy project down there) and the basement stays pretty well above freezing all winter. Granted, my upper floor is about 72-74 and when it gets down way below zero I run the boiler manually a few times to circulate the water. Someone will chime in with the thermoguard info which is on my to do list but luckily I've not needed it here in CT lately. I wrapped the pipes over the garage (under house bay in a ranch) because my wooden garage door sucks and I actually shove blankets in the cracks around it to keep out the cold air.

As far as not running the boiler, I know that I hadn't used my zone for about two years and when I went to use it the powerhead on the valve wouldn't open. I replaced it and it worked fine so I took the old one apart. It was just stuck from not being used for so long. Cleaned it and put it back together as a spare but if a $150 powerhead will fail from non use I imagine other parts will go as well. I wonder if there's an expert to confirm or deny but that has been my experience.

Think about it this way, if you throw another stove in the basement you can join that cool cellar dweller club Jay started...and if you have 6 stoves like some of the guys on here you don't really need oil for a backup...you'd have 4 or 5 more stoves to rely on!

 

[heat seeker]

My furnace provides our hot water, and a smidgen of heat for the second floor. Since it's been running so much less with the pellet stove running, the basement is noticeably colder. When we get to single digit temps, I run the zones for a few minutes a couple of times a day for fear the pipes will freeze. There are units that will do that automatically, do a search here and you'll find out plenty about them. I have considered a pellet stove for the basement, but the venting would be a nightmare.

 

[doingitonadime]

this one is right up my alley my house was built in 1782 the foundation is about 2 ft thick stone two walk out door easy for pellet delivery for my sons haha, anyway my oil burner hasn't seen use in two winters I have a quad 1200fs in basement with a ceiling fan mounted right were the heat hits the first floor this has seen a low of 65 this year mind u the basement is 1300 sq ft including a 20 by 12 dirt floor add on were water lines flow threw, by the way I purchased this stove for 300 bucks first owner said it didn't work his wife said get it out , my 1996 lopi foxfire I that I bought for 100 bucks heats the living room two bedroms and bath plus the 2 bedrooms and bath upstairs, my 300 cascade heats front addition and my 20 by 30 kitchen, I use a oil fired hot water heater and im just above a 1/2 tank filled it before last winter LIFE IS GOOD

 

[imacman]

.....When we get to single digit temps, I run the zones for a few minutes a couple of times a day for fear the pipes will freeze. There are units that will do that automatically, do a search here and you'll find out plenty about them......

ThermGuard

www.bearmountaindesign.com

Unfortunately, the OP doesn't have a basement zone.

 

[AddictiveStew]

ThermGuard

www.bearmountaindesign.com

Unfortunately, the OP doesn't have a basement zone.

I don't have a basement zone, however, I have pipes running along the entire perimeter of the basement. Might as well have a basement zone with all that open pipe! I currently have a Nest thermostat running the show. I should be able to program that to cycle the furnace a few times a day with little effort similar to the ThermGuard. Excellent suggestion all! Thanks! Although I am wondering... can I run the pellet stove off a Nest? Wouldn't mind controlling the thermostat remotely from my phone...

 

[imacman]

.....Although I am wondering... can I run the pellet stove off a Nest? Wouldn't mind controlling the thermostat remotely from my phone...

It's been discussed previously on the forum....do a search with "nest".

 

[AddictiveStew]

It's been discussed previously on the forum....do a search with "nest".

Already on it... found the transformer info. Thanks!