Need a recommendation on heating options

[jreed]

I am in the process of re-evaluating my heating method. I am in a 1500 sq. ft ranch home with an unfinished basement. I currently have an Alaska Kodiak wood stove insert propped up on blocks in the basement which I fire around 4 months a year. I typically burn about 6 cords of wood. It does an ok job heating and looks exactly like this:

My preference would be to stick with a wood stove but get something more efficient that would heat both the basement and upstairs. I will likely be insulating the basement in the near future which will help tremendously I would think. However, my question is what happens if I add a room in the basement and hang a ceiling? Will the stove still be effective at that point? My plans are to have a family room and possibly one bedroom in the basement, but it will mostly be open. Or, should I just bite the bullet and install duct work and a furnace? If the wood stove would still work once the basement I would prefer that.

Last question, would the insert I have be less efficient than a free standing stove of the same type? Or, are the basically the same?

 

[daleeper]

I am in the process of re-evaluating my heating method. I am in a 1500 sq. ft ranch home with an unfinished basement. I currently have an Alaska Kodiak wood stove insert propped up on blocks in the basement which I fire around 4 months a year. I typically burn about 6 cords of wood.

My preference would be to stick with a wood stove but get something more efficient that would heat both the basement and upstairs. I will likely be insulating the basement in the near future which will help tremendously I would think. However, my question is what happens if I add a room in the basement and hang a ceiling? Will the stove still be effective at that point? My plans are to have a family room and possibly one bedroom in the basement, but it will mostly be open. Or, should I just bite the bullet and install duct work and a furnace? If the wood stove would still work once the basement I would prefer that.

Last question, would the insert I have be less efficient than a free standing stove of the same type? Or, are the basically the same?

If you really want to heat the whole house with wood, and I assume when you talk about furnace that you mean a wood burning furnace, then get the furnace, install the ductwork and be done with it. Might want to consider a wood gasification boiler and radiant heat if you still have access to the floor joists from downstairs. You might still need some baseboard radiators in the basement, but some get away with just the tubes from the ceiling.

What are you using for heat upstairs now? If that Kodiak is doing a reasonable job of heating the upstairs now, when you insulate the basement walls it will help tremendously, and should cut down on the amount of wood used. However, be careful in your basement interior wall design not to block or restrict air movement to the upstairs.

When we finished our basement, we used suspended ceiling tile, and can't say that it slowed the movement of heat upstairs. Our biggest problem is the wall layout and stairway location hinders air movement to the upstairs. We also have one wall in the middle of our basement that we insulated for when that half of the basement was a garage. Now it is a family/utility room, and is difficult to get heat over there.

I have wooled your questions over myself, and every option has its good points and bad points. If I had ours to do over again, I would consider at least 4 options, 1-wood furnace, 2-wood gasification boiler and radiant floor heat, 3-EPA listed fireplace that can be vented to other areas, 4-new wood stove and fans. Because we have already done the remodel work, I don't want to retrofit radiant tubes to the floor. An add-on wood furnace might work, but would take some remodeling to get it connected correctly to the gas furnace. I am down to a new stove, and am saving up for a Blaze King, and am playing with different fan options right now.

Good luck with your quest for heat, and welcome to Hearth.com

 

[jreed]

Thanks for the great response! A furnace seems the best option in the long run but Im not sure I can afford that at this point. it is what I want to get eventually, but the cash right now just isnt there for it.

Right now I have the wood stove and electric heat. Id say it is a 60/40 split between the two with the stove doing the 60. The kodiak does a decent job and I cant complain but I just hate the thought of wasting firewood when I could get something more efficient. The layout of my house is very simple and the stairs from basement are directly facing the stove so it really helps the convection. Having said that I agree, the insulation would make a huge difference. After that I am considering an Englander NC30.

 

[John the Painter]

I heat my house (1100 ft ² bungalow) with an Drolet Austral wood stove in the basement.My basement is unfinished.I keep my basement door open and have two grates cut into the floor so if you sectioned my house into thirds I have an opening in each third of the house.This works great for circulation.I burn about 6-7 cord a year.This is my main source of heat and it runs 24/7.Ideally a furnace is the best way to go but I'm partial to the stove.Plus it comes in real handy when the power goes out.
Good Luck

 

[daleeper]

If the englander is on your short list, then watch for season ending sales at lowes, home depot, etc. It is about time for them to be marking them down, and snag one cheap. Use that stove till time for the furnace, sell the stove, and I'll bet that stove will have cost you very little.

Get that basement insulated, it will amaze you how much wood it takes just to get that basement warmed up.

 

[jreed]

I heat my house (1100 ft ² bungalow) with an Drolet Austral wood stove in the basement.My basement is unfinished.I keep my basement door open and have two grates cut into the floor so if you sectioned my house into thirds I have an opening in each third of the house.This works great for circulation.I burn about 6-7 cord a year.This is my main source of heat and it runs 24/7.Ideally a furnace is the best way to go but I'm partial to the stove.Plus it comes in real handy when the power goes out.
Good Luck

Im partial to them as well...I love the atmosphere they create.

daleeper, thanks for that information. Ill call around to the area stores tomorrow to see if I can get any info on prices. Is this the cheapest time of the year to buy stoves?

 

[daleeper]

In years past, lowe's has run clearance prices on their stoves to make way for the spring stock of lawn equipment. When they have done so in the past, sometime between Jan. and March, marked the stoves down from 20-40% or sometimes more. Now I will say that my local Lowe's does not even have any wood stoves. It looks like they have either adjusted stock numbers, or have sold them already, so they may not be marked down as much or at all this year. Go to their web site, and shop your local stores, they will have price and availablilty listed.

One of last year's posts:

https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/33302/