Choosing a heat source for basement?

[hunterpa64]

I have a big decision to make on project #2 in my home. I want to obviously think this through and get all the advice I can.

Here's my situation. 1050 sg ft of semi-finished basement and finished 1st floor, same. Chimney runs up through the center of the house with the top 10 ft or so exposed to a cold attic and outside. 20 year old construction. Previously had an older Buck woodstove in the basement. 8" round out of the stove going vertical 4 Ft then horizontal 4 ft then up through square tiled flue 7 x 7 for about 25 ft. The current 7 x 7 tile is not usable and must be religned if used and a new stove purchased to match the liner.

I'm not nuts about the horizontal runs and the height, but I didn't build it. I was considering going with a pellet or multi-fuel stove. If I line it with 6" can I safely and efficiently hook up a pellet to hat flue at that height and design or is it not going to work? Let me back up a second. My goal is not neccessarily to heat my whole home from the basement but rather just keep the chill off and occassionally maybe spend an evening downstairs in the winter witout freezing.

I have a current forced air oil furnace nearby the area the stove was positioned with a 4 flue large chimney, 3 of which are open. 1 appears to be capped off. Might have been installed for an appliance other than a stove since it appears to be smaller in diameter.

My concern with installing a 2nd wood stove is that it appears keeping that old tile chimney hot enough looks like it may have been an issue. It's glazed with a thin layer. I realize that a SS liner would most likely improve on that but I also don't want an install that is going to be a problematic setup. That's why I was going to opt towards an alternative stove.

I've considered add on furnaces as well as LPG through the existing setup, after needed repairs of course. If we line it with 6" SS am I going to limit myself to a woodburning stove 6" or would I be able to go the other way with the pellets, LPG or ?

I also have a wood insert upstairs that I use in the evenings. My furnace thermostat is in the same room, so the furnace doesn't run when burning it. Hence the need for some means to take the edge off the basement, if needed.

I know there's alot of if's and's and but's here. I'm really up in the air about how to proceed and could use some guidance.

Thanks everyone!

 

[ikessky]

If you are only looking to take the edge of at occasional times, I would say your pellet option would be good. I don't see any reason you couldn't reline the existing chimney for a pellet stove, as they often need less than 6" liners.

If you were to have a load of wood in an add-on furnace in the basement and the t-stat is in the same room as your wood insert you are running, I would be worried that the damper (forced draft of manual) would never open and you would end up smoldering a fire in the add-on.

With all that said, I'm heating about the same size as you are with only the add-on in the basement. I have one heat duct in the basement and the rest of the basement heat is provided through radiant off the wood furnace. Usually, I end up having the house at 74-76 and it stays there very easily. I relined my existing chimney with a 6" liner and have a 7"x7" inside diameter just like you. You will not be able to wrap insulation blanket around your liner and get it down that space. My tiles were in pretty good shape, so I opted not to insulate and it's work fine for 1.5 years now. However, I'm seeing that the portion of the chimney above the roofline needs some work, so I'm thinking that pouring in some perlite will help to keep the liner from transfering heat into the surrounding masonary and contributing to the freeze/thaw issue.

 

[begreen]

A pellet flue will be 4" and should work ok. An alternative might be to have a simple separate zone setup off the furnace with it's own thermostat. But if wood is chosen, a lined flue with a modern EPA stove that is fed good, dry wood should not be a creosote maker. Instead of the horiz. run, consider coming up diagonally off the stove at a 45° angle to connect with another 45 at the chimney thimble.