Basement Woodstove

[mikedsvt]

I have a Walkout daylight basement.

8' Below grade on one side and 8' + above on the daylight side...

The basement is insulated on the daylight side with fiberglass insulation not sure what R value (previous owner).

The rest of the basement is finished off or will be when I am done. It will be using 2" Owens Corning Foam Insulation, framed up and drywalled.

Last winter I moved in after buying the house and had a Vermont Castings Vigilant in the basement. The heating sucked, it has no fire brick and i hate the built in damper.

So now I have the a Engalnder 13- NCH and I am hoping with the fire brick and the newer stove the heat will be better. I like in a cape / 3 story on the back with the walkout. I have a vent directly above the stove and one in the living room.

What are the opinions on this setup. Everyone says no on basements but what if they are finished. I want to keep my oil coast down and use my basebaord hot water heat for when i am not home...

I have a Burnham Hydronics OL Oil fired boiler with 2 zones and it is 87% efficient.

 

[billb3]

All the basement stoves that I've seen do a decent or better job of getting some heat upstairs were raised ranches. Big open stairway in the middle with additional floor vents.
I'm not saying all raised ranches will do well with a stove in the basement, just that those are the only instances of working well that I've seen.

I've had a small stove like the Englander 13 ina bungalow basement with just a single narrow coarse stairway into the basement via a porch and it heated the porch fair in all but the coldest weather and the first floor floors were nice and warm, but I never believed much of that heat reached the gas furnace's thermostat. I liked to sit in that porch all evening so it was still worth all the feeding.


I've found that dryer earth around a basement seems to insulate better than wet earth.
If you can get all that roof water as far away from the house as possible and all the rain water drains away well, you may find that helps with heat losses through the concrete as well.
That and look for air infiltration. Basements can be bad in that regard. I've seen some sloppy construction at sills and joists / piers.

 

[begreen]

You may see reduced wood consumption, but I'm not sure if you will get more heat. The Vigilant was a respectable heater. As noted, the best way to heat the upstairs is to have the stove upstairs or at least a large open staircase leading into an open 1st floor plan.

 

[mikedsvt]

I have a stairway that is probably 4 feet wide and is the chimney rides right against the stairways left side. The 2nd stairway is directly above the 1st.

The 1st floor is all open dining room, living room, kitchen and one bedroom which is off the hallway perpindicular to the basement stairs.

The issues is i could only but my wood stove in the dinning room if i wanted to hook it to the chimney.

Cheesy paint pic attached

 

[Todd]

I've heated 3 different homes with finished basement installs. They all worked to some degree but you have to live with the 5-10 degree difference between floors. Your layout looks like it will work well since the stove is right next to the stairs and you have an open floor plan. I bet the previous stove was loosing alot of heat up the tall chimney? The new stove should work better, but if it is a tall chimney you may need a pipe damper to slow her down. Fans can help some too.

 

[begreen]

Thanks for posting the picture, it really helps. Agreed, this setup has at least the ingredients for greater success than some. How many square feet are on each floor? Is there a second story above or is that it?

 

[brewerpete]

Ok... I know you peeps like pictures..so I'm going to hop in here... with my configuration

I've used the pellet insert in the cellar to heat that 900 sq ft space. Some mild heat comes up, but not much

This year I'm adding the Hampton insert to keep oil burner from kicking in on the main and bedroom floors..
How realistic is it to heat bedrooms with hampton?

bp

 

[gpcollen1]

Ok... I know you peeps like pictures..so I'm going to hop in here... with my configuration

I've used the pellet insert in the cellar to heat that 900 sq ft space. Some mild heat comes up, but not much

This year I'm adding the Hampton insert to keep oil burner from kicking in on the main and bedroom floors..
How realistic is it to heat bedrooms with hampton?

bp

I have a split level too and initially I had my Avalon in the Living room. The heat was just dying to go up to those bedrooms. It got mighty toasty in the shoulder months up there and it stayed comfortable in the winter. If the heat does not naturally circulate up there, maybe a booster fan would help. I think you should be fine.

 

[begreen]

There will be some convection up the stairway, but it may need a table fan at the top of the stairs, blowing down towards the stove to boost circulation. One thing for sure is it will work a lot better than the pellet stove in the basement did.

 

[brewerpete]

So the fan blows the cold air down the hall , down the stairs toward the insert, forcing hot air back up? cool

The fan should be located at the end of the hall.. floor? on a table?

 

[begreen]

What you are trying to do is create a convection loop. It may naturally convect, but if not use a fan. The fan should be low, put it on the floor. The lighter hot air will rise to replace the denser cold air sinking down towards the family room.

 

[brewerpete]

got it thnx!!

 

[mikedsvt]

I have 1500sq ft not including the basement.

I will be adding vents for both floors and possibly a blower.

I also plan on adding a fan on both floors blowing down.

 

[begreen]

I'd try running it as shown without cutting any holes. Your setup is one of the few that might actually work well with natural convection. If not, try a fan first.

 

[johnnywarm]

i did fined out last year that blowing the cold air too the stoves is the way it works best.just remember cold is on the bottom and warm is on top

 

[mikedsvt]

This is a cool idea i got from some searching last year to circulate heat upstairs.

http://www.kronosrobotics.com/pj_stovefan/stovefan.shtml

 

[begreen]

As noted in other thread. A power vent over the stove is not a cool idea.