Best use of 2 fireplaces with LP Gas

[WisRAM]

Hey everyone - long time listener first time caller.. I've done a lot of reading on the site (and have learned a ton) as I've been burning wood to heat a small cabin for 20+ years but my wife and I recently purchased a new home and this is our first winter in it - I'm looking to get your thoughts on the best heating combination for our setup. Needless to say, its much different heating a 2 story home vs. a 800sq/ft cabin!


- The home is a 2-story with partial finished basement, insulated slab in the living area. 1st and 2nd floor living area is 2100sq/ft and the basement is 1/2 finished (utility and laundry in unfinished portion).

- Upstairs are 2 bedrooms and an office, which are used seldom. Living room has 13' ceilings with a Kozy Heat Z42-CD. Master bedroom is located on first floor connected to living room.

- Downstairs is roughly 1/2 finished with a in-law suite and second living room. This space is seldom used as well, but could be if it made more sense to use this as a primary "TV" room. The downstairs has a second Kozy Heat Z42-CD that is ducted into the return air of a single Bryant 95i furnace.

- The furnace is set up for dual-zone, upstairs & downstairs and runs on LP.

- At this point it is just my wife and I, we typically spend most of our time on the first floor between the kitchen, bedroom and living room. I should note that while the 1st floor fireplace does a great job at heating the living room and upstairs - the master bedroom is typically very cold. I do however work from home quite often (3-4 days a week sometimes especially in the winter), so I want at least portions of the house warm and the furnace not running unnecessarily.

My questions are -
1. what is the most efficient way to heat the 1st and 2nd floors?
2. It seems to me to heat the bedroom using the fireplace I would likely need to build a fire in the basement and then turn on the HVAC Fan to circulate the air
3. I have been leaving the downstairs thermostat off and just using the upstairs zone, but I am afraid of pipes freezing in the basement as we approach the dead of winter in WI (-30 this week) - would i be better off using the downstairs zone as my primary to maintain heat and using the upstairs fireplace for the living space?

Sorry for such a long post my first time - looking forward to hearing the feedback!

 

[firefighterjake]

Not sure if this post will answer your questions . . . but here are some random thoughts of mine.

Freezing pipes happen . . . but it seems as though these happen less often in a modern, well-insulated and properly built home vs. a vintage, not-so-well insulated drafty home where a home owner or contractor may have done something crazy with the plumbing. In my own home I have a crawlspace (well it's more like a basement that just isn't very tall) and it typically stays well above freezing down there. However, when we have several days of sub-zero weather in the forecast I will routinely fire up my oil boiler a few times each day for a while to run some heated water through the pipes . . . and allow the pipes to throw some heat into the area.

Cold master bedroom . . . Each home is different, but in my own home my master bedroom is also one of the coldest rooms in the house due to the lay-out and flow of heat. Generally though this is not an issue as I mostly use this room to dress and sleep in. We do use an electric blanket to keep warm on the coldest of nights.

Moving the heat . . . many folks have found that using a fan or fans can help move the heat from a woodstove around the home quite effectively.

Heating the second floor . . . again, all homes are different . . . but in my own case the heat generated on the first floor with the woodstove naturally moves up to the second floor bedrooms via the stairwell. Honestly, these rooms are among the most comfortable to me as they never seem especially cold or hot.