We are heating our first floor from the stove in the basement. We have registers in the floor and cellar door open for circulation. Also, have a cold air return in the other end of the house. The stove is in the basement (approximately 1/2 of the basement is heated with it.) The other half is a couple more rooms that I have blocked pretty much off. I think this will heat pretty good but my question is, we have insulation on the basement ceiling, so should we remove the insulation in the ceiling. The basement is partially finished with insulated walls also. Help???
Heating from basement, should you take insulation down from the basement ceiling??
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woodsman23
Minister of Fire
Heat the room you will be in only
! This has been beat to death here. If you live in the basement then yes put it there but if you spend most of your time on the 1st floor then put the stove there in the family room or living room. A pellet stove is not central heating and will only heat so much area. Installing it in the basement will not give you the results you are looking for. GOOD luck...
! This has been beat to death here. If you live in the basement then yes put it there but if you spend most of your time on the 1st floor then put the stove there in the family room or living room. A pellet stove is not central heating and will only heat so much area. Installing it in the basement will not give you the results you are looking for. GOOD luck...
tinkabranc
Minister of Fire
My stove was originally intended to heat my finished basement and office, so I ended up leaving
the insulation in the ceiling to help with noise control from the first floor with kids and dogs.
We were pleasantly surprised because the heat still makes it upstairs and keeps the
rest of the house a comfortable temperature.
the insulation in the ceiling to help with noise control from the first floor with kids and dogs.
We were pleasantly surprised because the heat still makes it upstairs and keeps the
rest of the house a comfortable temperature.
pelletizer
Minister of Fire
If my basement was finished I would put a pellet stove down there and benifit from the extra heat coming upstairs,
But if your basement is unfinished do you really want to start tearing down insulation and have fibres all over?
Also all unfinished basements no matter how dry they may be have a "basement smell" do you really want that coming upstairs?
But if your basement is unfinished do you really want to start tearing down insulation and have fibres all over?
Also all unfinished basements no matter how dry they may be have a "basement smell" do you really want that coming upstairs?
pete324rocket
Feeling the Heat
The biggest factor is the amount or what degree your basement is finished to. We have 2x4 construction with 6 inch insulation set out from the wall so there is no thermals to the concrete wall which is covered with 1 inch bubble strofoam board and all of it is sealed with poly and acoustic sealant plus the headers are insulated and sealed with styrofoam. Only thing better would be to have the outside walls insulated instead. What I'm saying is the heat is like a thief and wants to escape. Do you have enough barriers to stop it?
Hard to comment on your ceiling question without a look. Ideally you want as much transfer of heat as possible. Also the size of the house,layout etc...is a question. Use comon sense but geting back to my earlier point,the level of insulation is the key. Concrete can suck heat to the earth like nothing else!
Hard to comment on your ceiling question without a look. Ideally you want as much transfer of heat as possible. Also the size of the house,layout etc...is a question. Use comon sense but geting back to my earlier point,the level of insulation is the key. Concrete can suck heat to the earth like nothing else!
The insulation is building code mandated so why remove it? It`s not going to make a lot of difference anyway.
Mine is left in place.
Mine is left in place.
ajwoodman said:
I have asked the same question. Whether it was smart or not I've also installed my stove in an unfinished basement with the hopes of heating the whole house. I had a 1st generation stove in the 90's that was in my living room. I have a very small 3br ranch that is 1008 sq ft. The only place that it could be installed was in the LR. We were not happy with it there. The LR was way too hot, the stove too noisy, and it took up needed space. Back to my point. I bought a new stove and intend to install registers in each room but should I remove the insulation from the basement ceiling? Thanks to all for the input.
We installed the stove in the basement because #1 we have a small cape with the second floor not being used. Also, in the basement it is partially finished with a computer room and exercise room in the room where the stove is. Back 10 years ago, we had a big K-1 pot burner down there that heated the whole house to the point of you would have to open windows. I did not like that effect but that is where I am basing the thought that this should work in my house. The circulation is pretty good and the house is pretty tight. We have a programmable thermostat on the first floor and that seems to be working well. I think maybe I will leave the insulation alone for now and focus more on trying to get the damper air adjusted correctly for both the hi/low settings on the stove. I plan on using the stove on hi/lo mode instead of off/on mode. I base that decision on all the wonderful advice I have from this forum. This is the best and most interesting forum on the net for pellet stoves. Everybody is sooo helpful. Thanks
I'm a pellet newbie who also installed a stove in the basement. I did do some research before doing this, and the results were mediocre. Some said the installation would not work, whereas some people said they had good luck with the installation. I'm finding I may be one of those where such an install may not work.
In my case, I have a 24' x 40' ranch home, with a 20' x 23' main area in the basement where the stove is. The remainder of the area is blocked off. Also , there is a 14' x 20 ' addition which is blocked off. The stove is facing the stairway, which is about 18 or so feet away from the stove. I'm also using a small fan to try to force some of the heat up the stairs. As for insulation, the basement is failry well insulated along with having some insulation on the ceiling.
The results I'm having are that the basement is in the mid 70's at best. If the outdoor temps are around 20 degrees, I can get into the mid 60's or so with the stove set on 4. Right now, the outdoor temp is -15. It took 2 hours to get the temp here on the first floor from 60 degrees to 64 degrees. As others have noted on here before, I would say the basement is robbing a lot of the heat. Overnight, I had the stove set on 2.
Part of my issues may be being new to pellet stoves. I also feel another issue is that the stove really is not sell suited for a basement installation.
My reason, and my only reason, for doing a basement install is that I had nowhere else I could legallyput the stove in my living space. That was it.
For the record, I have an Enviro Maxx stove. Nice unit. Would work great if I could put it on the first floor.
In my case, I have a 24' x 40' ranch home, with a 20' x 23' main area in the basement where the stove is. The remainder of the area is blocked off. Also , there is a 14' x 20 ' addition which is blocked off. The stove is facing the stairway, which is about 18 or so feet away from the stove. I'm also using a small fan to try to force some of the heat up the stairs. As for insulation, the basement is failry well insulated along with having some insulation on the ceiling.
The results I'm having are that the basement is in the mid 70's at best. If the outdoor temps are around 20 degrees, I can get into the mid 60's or so with the stove set on 4. Right now, the outdoor temp is -15. It took 2 hours to get the temp here on the first floor from 60 degrees to 64 degrees. As others have noted on here before, I would say the basement is robbing a lot of the heat. Overnight, I had the stove set on 2.
Part of my issues may be being new to pellet stoves. I also feel another issue is that the stove really is not sell suited for a basement installation.
My reason, and my only reason, for doing a basement install is that I had nowhere else I could legallyput the stove in my living space. That was it.
For the record, I have an Enviro Maxx stove. Nice unit. Would work great if I could put it on the first floor.
pete324rocket
Feeling the Heat
the proof is exactly how well your basement is insulated.then the other factor is how many btu's the stove is rated for.
Other considerations are how high you want to run the stove and how much heat are you willing to endure in that finished basement room.
Personally, I see little sense in overheating basement family room(s) rendering them uninhabitable just to heat the upstairs.
I run a small Harman P38 in the finished basement (never on high) that heats it to 75-76 degrees max with some heat rising (floor vent fan and stairway) into the first floor . I supplement the oil furnace, it works well and I don`t worry about frozen pipes.
Personally, I see little sense in overheating basement family room(s) rendering them uninhabitable just to heat the upstairs.
I run a small Harman P38 in the finished basement (never on high) that heats it to 75-76 degrees max with some heat rising (floor vent fan and stairway) into the first floor . I supplement the oil furnace, it works well and I don`t worry about frozen pipes.
save$
Minister of Fire
I have a raised ranch. Basement only in the ground 3 feet and only on 3 sides, the remainder being all above ground. Home is well insulated except the floor is cement, but carpeted. We left the ceiling insulation in some of the rooms, but took it out over the family room. Ran so many wires and plumping that it was in the way. It really didn't seem to matter one way or another about heat transfer as we used floor grates for that. I read so many postings about the pellet stove being a space heater. One administrator said it was the equivalent of 2 portable electric heaters. Being new to this, who am I to argue that point. But for so many of us, results vary. There seems to be just as many who heat their home with a pellet stove, and another group that heat with their stove in the basement. Some say it is primary, others say it is secondary. I think it depends. Size and insulation of home. Where your home is located.
Here is Maine, my pellet stove is in the lower level. It is primary until the outside temp goes into the teens. Then the furnace kicks in. We keep our home very warm. We enjoy it that way and would go without other things to keep it that way. If you have a hard time pulling air upstairs, try putting a fan in a floor grate exhausting the air to the lower level. That pulls warm air up the stairwell and drags it through the house. Remember to pull the cooler air back to the heated space, that will allow the heated air to move in and replace the air that was pulled away.
When we heated with a wood stove. we had it in an unfinished area of the lower level. I had a metal hood fashioned out of the same material used to make duct work. The hood went to a central floor grated. Never cool so long as we kept the stove going. Another consideration is the capacity of the pellet stove. I know of one that will burn about 3 bags daily and is rated at nearly twice the capacity of the stove I am using. I have seen 3 of these working. Don't put them in a small space. They will dive you right out. Odd, but they cost about the same as the other average pellet stoves. Just ugly to look at.
Here is Maine, my pellet stove is in the lower level. It is primary until the outside temp goes into the teens. Then the furnace kicks in. We keep our home very warm. We enjoy it that way and would go without other things to keep it that way. If you have a hard time pulling air upstairs, try putting a fan in a floor grate exhausting the air to the lower level. That pulls warm air up the stairwell and drags it through the house. Remember to pull the cooler air back to the heated space, that will allow the heated air to move in and replace the air that was pulled away.
When we heated with a wood stove. we had it in an unfinished area of the lower level. I had a metal hood fashioned out of the same material used to make duct work. The hood went to a central floor grated. Never cool so long as we kept the stove going. Another consideration is the capacity of the pellet stove. I know of one that will burn about 3 bags daily and is rated at nearly twice the capacity of the stove I am using. I have seen 3 of these working. Don't put them in a small space. They will dive you right out. Odd, but they cost about the same as the other average pellet stoves. Just ugly to look at.
if i read this right i think your house downstairs is finished and insulated on all walls? how many vents do you have in floor and what size house? what did you use for fan in floor grate? i have same stove but not getting enough heat upstairs,basement not full finished is part of my problem.will do something different next year.
Whimpster
Member
[quote author="save$" date="1232914709"]I have a raised ranch. Basement only in the ground 3 feet and only on 3 sides, the remainder being all above ground. Home is well insulated except the floor is cement, but carpeted. We left the ceiling insulation in some of the rooms, but took it out over the family room. Ran so many wires and plumping that it was in the way. It really didn't seem to matter one way or another about heat transfer as we used floor grates for that. I read so many postings about the pellet stove being a space heater. One administrator said it was the equivalent of 2 portable electric heaters. Being new to this, who am I to argue that point. But for so many of us, results vary. There seems to be just as many who heat their home with a pellet stove, and another group that heat with their stove in the basement. Some say it is primary, others say it is secondary. I think it depends. Size and insulation of home. Where your home is located.
Here is Maine, my pellet stove is in the lower level. It is primary until the outside temp goes into the teens. Then the furnace kicks in. We keep our home very warm. We enjoy it that way and would go without other things to keep it that way. If you have a hard time pulling air upstairs, try putting a fan in a floor grate exhausting the air to the lower level. That pulls warm air up the stairwell and drags it through the house. Remember to pull the cooler air back to the heated space, that will allow the heated air to move in and replace the air that was pulled away.
When we heated with a wood stove. we had it in an unfinished area of the lower level. I had a metal hood fashioned out of the same material used to make duct work. The hood went to a central floor grated. Never cool so long as we kept the stove going. Another consideration is the capacity of the pellet stove. I know of one that will burn about 3 bags daily and is rated at nearly twice the capacity of the stove I am using. I have seen 3 of these working. Don't put them in a small space. They will dive you right out. Odd, but they cost about the same as the other average pellet stoves. Just ugly to look at.[/quote
Save$ is right....If you have a basement stove install you need to get that cooler air from the upper floors to dump into the basement and push the warm air up the stairwell or through vents.
My home is a Cape Cod style home....30' by 32' with finished basement and two floors above it.I heat the entire home with a Harman P61-A... 1 bag to 1.5 bags on very cold days.
I installed a large grate out of a 100 plus old house, cut and opening 18"by 36" and now the cold air from upper floors dump into the basement....what a difference in getting the heat to circulate through the house.
Worked so well I cut another 12"by 12" grate hole at opposite end of basement and put a small fan pulling the cooler air from other rooms on the next floor.
My room temps average 70 to 78 in the basement, 66 to 73 on first floor and upper bedrooms at 60 to 65...the trick is getting the heat circulating through out your home.
Here is Maine, my pellet stove is in the lower level. It is primary until the outside temp goes into the teens. Then the furnace kicks in. We keep our home very warm. We enjoy it that way and would go without other things to keep it that way. If you have a hard time pulling air upstairs, try putting a fan in a floor grate exhausting the air to the lower level. That pulls warm air up the stairwell and drags it through the house. Remember to pull the cooler air back to the heated space, that will allow the heated air to move in and replace the air that was pulled away.
When we heated with a wood stove. we had it in an unfinished area of the lower level. I had a metal hood fashioned out of the same material used to make duct work. The hood went to a central floor grated. Never cool so long as we kept the stove going. Another consideration is the capacity of the pellet stove. I know of one that will burn about 3 bags daily and is rated at nearly twice the capacity of the stove I am using. I have seen 3 of these working. Don't put them in a small space. They will dive you right out. Odd, but they cost about the same as the other average pellet stoves. Just ugly to look at.[/quote
Save$ is right....If you have a basement stove install you need to get that cooler air from the upper floors to dump into the basement and push the warm air up the stairwell or through vents.
My home is a Cape Cod style home....30' by 32' with finished basement and two floors above it.I heat the entire home with a Harman P61-A... 1 bag to 1.5 bags on very cold days.
I installed a large grate out of a 100 plus old house, cut and opening 18"by 36" and now the cold air from upper floors dump into the basement....what a difference in getting the heat to circulate through the house.
Worked so well I cut another 12"by 12" grate hole at opposite end of basement and put a small fan pulling the cooler air from other rooms on the next floor.
My room temps average 70 to 78 in the basement, 66 to 73 on first floor and upper bedrooms at 60 to 65...the trick is getting the heat circulating through out your home.
Gio said:
We have way more space in our house than we need. In fact we are not even heating the 2nd and 3rd floor of the house this year, so it's not a big deal if we cook our finished basement since we don't need to be down there either. If we're burning wood, which cost me very little to harvest other than my time, it makes sense for us to heat the first floor from the basement. I tried heating the first floor from the basement with pellets, but it quickly became obvious that it was to inefficient/expensive to do so when I had to pay for the fuel. It worked well to make the area habitable (as you're doing), but it was not a good substitute for our central heating system. So while I would agree that it makes little sense to heat the first floor from the basement with pellets, it can still make some sense to do so with wood if you're willing to harvest your own wood. Personally I like harvesting the wood, but I certainly understand that it's not for everyone. I also agree that it can get pretty warm down there when doing this, but the cat seems to love it and I have to admit it feels pretty good going down there (for a little while anyway) after working outside for a few hours!
Are you starting to get a feel for how much of an impact the pellet stove is going to have on your central heating bill compared to your historical usage?
Stihl029
Member
I do agree that the majority of persons hoping to heat their home from the basement may be asking for trouble and disappointment, but it is possible. I think the trick is taking everything into consideration. I have an 1800 sf raised ranch with an Englander 25 PDV in the basement. The home is very well insulated (blown in) and built in the 80's. I installed the unit with an OAK as the instructions said it was mandatory. From the posts here I think its a good idea with a home that's well insulated. I also cut a couple holes 4"x10"s in two areas below the living room, and kitchen. In these holes I placed a booster fan http://www.atrendyhome.com/durebofan.html. They're quiet and seem to get the air moving. Right now the stoves running on power level 6 and its over 76 in the basement, and 71 upstairs. The temp outside in upstate NY is 9 above. (I'm in a tee-shirt) The bedrooms at night seem to be 62 -64 on cold nights. I've burned about 2 ton of pellets so far. Not to bad I think. So while as said, I do agree pellet stoves are primarily for room heating, the BTU ratings and square footage ratings do tell one that a unit that heats 2200sf, can by all means heat more then one room in a home. Its all in air distribution and placement. Good luck to you!
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mark d fellows
New Member
My vote is yes. Without it, the floors will get warmer. There might be slightly more heat transfer. Of course, if you basement is finished, why tear it about for approx three months of better heat transfer from the basement.
Mark
Mark
My basement is partly finished. This summer, I likely will invest in additional insulation for the basement. In the meantime, I'm still learning about my stove. My attitude right now is more to learn about the thing. If I feel heating from the basement isn't going to work out, then I'll pay a few bucks to have a pro come look the house over to see where or if I can move the stove upstairs.
At about 5:30 this morning, we had -15 degrees outside and 59 degrees upstairs. When I kicked the stove to high for a bit and turned on some fans to circulate some heat around, the temp slowly creeped up to 65 upstairs. At 1:00 in the afternoon, I had to shut the stove off since the first floor was up to 72 degrees. It's now 7:00 and the temp has dropped to 64 and am now getting ready to restart the unit.
At about 5:30 this morning, we had -15 degrees outside and 59 degrees upstairs. When I kicked the stove to high for a bit and turned on some fans to circulate some heat around, the temp slowly creeped up to 65 upstairs. At 1:00 in the afternoon, I had to shut the stove off since the first floor was up to 72 degrees. It's now 7:00 and the temp has dropped to 64 and am now getting ready to restart the unit.
i do the same as GIO mentioned supplement with furance for upstairs as i put my stove in basement because of rec room. i run furnace for main level of house till it reaches 70 a couple times. than stove keeps it decent upstairs rest of day and night. using 2 ceiling fans. temps -20 F here this am. with enviro fire at
10 o clock/11 o clock setting basement 70 upstairs 65. i am happy with that.
10 o clock/11 o clock setting basement 70 upstairs 65. i am happy with that.
ajwoodman said:
I agrre with the latter do not pull down your insulation maybe cut in a couple of floor fans with the price of pellet stoves and pellets of course you want the house heated and furnace off, I presently have a brand new englander 49tcrpm multifuel burner rated at 2200 square feet and thats an expensive space heater for one room plus these things use 175 continuse watts of juice so it even raises your electric bill
The only thing that concerns me with fans and registers cut between floors is the fact that they can act as a great chimney for fire, were one to occur. They tend to greatlydecrease the time it takes for fire to conduct itself from one floor to another.........just a thought.
ChandlerR
Minister of Fire
Lousyweather said:
Being a former call firefighter/EMT, I agree with you. When I built my addition, the inspector was very, very strict on slowing the progression of fire from one floor to another. I have hundreds of dollars in Rock Wool insulation in my walls as well as fire stops, not to mention every hole through the floor is sealed with fireproof silicone sealant. I see this as a good thing.
Chan
nice to see so many basement installs out there. seems like we don't get together enough to chat!
I have a ranch with a basement install and have installation a sheetrock on the ceiling but nothing on the walls. my englander pdvc runs almost always on 1-3 unless its in the teens, and pretty much keeps the house at 70 degrees upstairs. the back bedrooms get down to 66-67. I think the trick is to run the stove somewhat continuously or at least 16-18 hours a day. the beauty of a basement install is that you don't hear the stove, especially with the ceiling insulation. btw I run no fans and have no floor grates. I would like a floor grate but don't really see way to do it to code.
I have a ranch with a basement install and have installation a sheetrock on the ceiling but nothing on the walls. my englander pdvc runs almost always on 1-3 unless its in the teens, and pretty much keeps the house at 70 degrees upstairs. the back bedrooms get down to 66-67. I think the trick is to run the stove somewhat continuously or at least 16-18 hours a day. the beauty of a basement install is that you don't hear the stove, especially with the ceiling insulation. btw I run no fans and have no floor grates. I would like a floor grate but don't really see way to do it to code.
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