THinking of adding an insert upstairs

[KB007]

So, we've been burning wood in the basement stove to heat the house now for about a year and a half and the novelty has not worn off. Replaced the non-EPA stove in the basement with a Napoleon 1450 at Xmas time and still love the heat / process / mood etc. Even my wife is into it and will now spend quite a bit of time in the basement using her laptop at a desk in front of the stove - very Norman Rockwell...

On a mild day ( the whole house is toasty - basement will run between 80 and 95, with the upstairs running 68-72, the bedrooms a couple of degrees cooler. On a cold day the basement stays 85-95, but the upstairs will hover around 67-68, bedrooms more like 65.

I'm starting to think about replacing the Gas fireplace we have in the livingroom with a small to medium insert. this would probably be run 7X24 as a primary heat source for the upstairs. The floorplan is somewhat open-ish, approx 1800 sqft upstairs, with 3 bedrooms down a hallway (see below).

As it stands we rarely use the gas fp - it burns propane and doesn't really heat much other than the couch It's rated at 23000 btu's I believe.

So, a couple of questions:
1) Does this make any sense at all?

2) How do I figure out how big an insert I can get in there without ripping out the old gas fp?

3) Those of you who have similar situations and have wood burners upstairs and down, do you find you use 1 or the other much more often? Will I start using the upstairs way more and forget about the stove downstairs?

4) Would having an insert upstairs in the LR tend to run me out of the LR? It's also our main home theatre / TV room with an HD projector and 100" screen, we do tend to spend s lot of time there watching movies, eating, listening to music, playing with our parrots and dog

5) Does a small insert make more sense in this situation? Say the size of the NAP 1100 or go for medium NAP 1400 if it will fit?

6) Am I crazy - will the wife yell at me for getting ash and wood chips all over our living room?

Thanks in advance

 

[Barnbuilder]

Woodstoves are like guns; more nicer ones are always better. That said, it seems to me like a lot of extra dirt and trouble (2-stoves to feed&clean to heat the upstairs on a cold day. did you consider firing harder and using a fan to move more air on cold days? Or, trading off basement stove some 100,000 btu model? Just trying to be helpful.

 

[begreen]

Having a wood stove up there would work for heating the LR/DR area. Opening up the entrances to the kitchen would help get some heat there too. However, it will not work with the gas fireplace as an insert. The gas unit would need to be torn out and a new flue system installed. Sooo, it may take some rethinking of the layout and what (kitchen) space saving may occur and what living room space would be needed for a freestanding stove and where would be the best place to locate it.

 

[KB007]

Having a wood stove up there would work for heating the LR/DR area. Opening up the entrances to the kitchen would help get some heat there too. However, it will not work with the gas fireplace as an insert. The gas unit would need to be torn out and a new flue system installed. Sooo, it may take some rethinking of the layout and what (kitchen) space saving may occur and what living room space would be needed for a freestanding stove and where would be the best place to locate it.

"I’m starting to think about replacing the Gas fireplace we have in the livingroom with a small to medium insert. "

The chimneys are 2 masonry flues in a cinder block enclosure. The wood stove in the basement uses 1 of them, the gas fp uses the other. I believe it was originally built as a wood burning fireplace.

 

[BrowningBAR]

So, we've been burning wood in the basement stove to heat the house now for about a year and a half and the novelty has not worn off. Replaced the non-EPA stove in the basement with a Napoleon 1450 at Xmas time and still love the heat / process / mood etc. Even my wife is into it and will now spend quite a bit of time in the basement using her laptop at a desk in front of the stove - very Norman Rockwell...

On a mild day ( the whole house is toasty - basement will run between 80 and 95, with the upstairs running 68-72, the bedrooms a couple of degrees cooler. On a cold day the basement stays 85-95, but the upstairs will hover around 67-68, bedrooms more like 65.

I'm starting to think about replacing the Gas fireplace we have in the livingroom with a small to medium insert. this would probably be run 7X24 as a primary heat source for the upstairs. The floorplan is somewhat open-ish, approx 1800 sqft upstairs, with 3 bedrooms down a hallway (see below).

As it stands we rarely use the gas fp - it burns propane and doesn't really heat much other than the couch It's rated at 23000 btu's I believe.

So, a couple of questions:
1) Does this make any sense at all?

2) How do I figure out how big an insert I can get in there without ripping out the old gas fp?

3) Those of you who have similar situations and have wood burners upstairs and down, do you find you use 1 or the other much more often? Will I start using the upstairs way more and forget about the stove downstairs?

4) Would having an insert upstairs in the LR tend to run me out of the LR? It's also our main home theatre / TV room with an HD projector and 100" screen, we do tend to spend s lot of time there watching movies, eating, listening to music, playing with our parrots and dog

5) Does a small insert make more sense in this situation? Say the size of the NAP 1100 or go for medium NAP 1400 if it will fit?

6) Am I crazy - will the wife yell at me for getting ash and wood chips all over our living room?

Thanks in advance

As you seem to have addressed BeGreen's question I'll just comment on what you originally posted.

Yes this makes sense. Additionally, you won't have to run the stove in the basement as hard (and I am assuming you are running it hard if the downstairs in 85-95). I would go with the larger stove over the 1100. If you are happy and comfortable with the NAP 1400 down stairs having one upstairs will be easier as you are familiar with the stove already.

Why would I go with the larger stove? You are trying to heat 1800 sq ft and a larger firebox is easier to work with. An over night burn will be very tough with the 1100. With the 1400 you can always build smaller fires, run the blower at a lower speed or don't run the blower at all if the area is heating up too much.

As you mentioned, you spend most of your time on the main floor. This means you will run the stove more often than the downstairs stove.

MY question is; why did you put the stove in the basement if you spend most of your time on the main floor? Do you spend any time in the basement? Were you worried about frozen pipes? If you simply thought the stove in the basement would heat the whole house you many want to try relocating the stove to the main floor as oppose to purchasing another stove. It would save you quite a bit of money.

Otherwise, multiple stoves works really well for me. For me, three stoves means the Fireview will run 24/7 and the Vigilant will run a bit less than that and the Intrepid will run during day time hours or when the temps really dip.

 

[KB007]

The 1450 is in the basement as there was a stove with chimney, pad, wall liner all setup when we bought the house. I burned with the old non-epa srove last winter and decided to swap it out for the 1450 (plus they had some nice incentives before Xmas. Installation was cheap and easy as it re-used the same dbl wall pipe and chimney etc.

I'm looking at removing the gas insert and installing a wood burning insert (like say the Nap 1101 or 1402) I'm not interested in a free-standing stove upstairs at all - just don't have a good space to put it that wouldn't seriously compromise our living space, so I'd leave the 1450 in the basement. We do use the basement some of the time, I've even moved some of my office gear down there (I work at home a fair bit of the time) so I can work in front of the stove. Pool table is down there and it's kind of a party room since it's nice and big and open with big windows on one side.

I'm trying to look ahead a little, thinking that eventually I'm not going to want to run up and downstairs all the time.

Given that we don't use the gas insert much at all, I'm thinking that it might make sense to install something that I would use (wood burner) and get some use out of it. I believe were the gas insert is was originally a wood burning fireplace when the house was built, so all the masonry is there and intact - just need an insert and liner installed.

I guess I'm trying to figure out just how much of a difference it is when the wood burner is upstairs rather than downstairs. In my case, I know I'll have to either lug wood upstairs (my supply is right outside our basement patio door under the deck), or I'll have to have a wood pile in the front of the house somewhere close at hand.

Here's the gas insert as it is today:

 

[BrowningBAR]

The 1450 is in the basement as there was a stove with chimney, pad, wall liner all setup when we bought the house. I burned with the old non-epa srove last winter and decided to swap it out for the 1450 (plus they had some nice incentives before Xmas. Installation was cheap and easy as it re-used the same dbl wall pipe and chimney etc.

I'm looking at removing the gas insert and installing a wood burning insert (like say the Nap 1101 or 1402) I'm not interested in a free-standing stove upstairs at all - just don't have a good space to put it that wouldn't seriously compromise our living space, so I'd leave the 1450 in the basement. We do use the basement some of the time, I've even moved some of my office gear down there (I work at home a fair bit of the time) so I can work in front of the stove. Pool table is down there and it's kind of a party room since it's nice and big and open with big windows on one side.

I'm trying to look ahead a little, thinking that eventually I'm not going to want to run up and downstairs all the time.

Given that we don't use the gas insert much at all, I'm thinking that it might make sense to install something that I would use (wood burner) and get some use out of it. I believe were the gas insert is was originally a wood burning fireplace when the house was built, so all the masonry is there and intact - just need an insert and liner installed.

I guess I'm trying to figure out just how much of a difference it is when the wood burner is upstairs rather than downstairs. In my case, I know I'll have to either lug wood upstairs (my supply is right outside our basement patio door under the deck), or I'll have to have a wood pile in the front of the house somewhere close at hand.

I'll post a pic of the current gas FP when I get a chance.

I would say do it. You will notice a huge difference in heating. You will find a solution to getting the wood to the main floor at some point. But, you will definitely have whole house heating. I am a big fan of multiple stoves. It's kind of like zone heating with a furnace. I find with multiple stoves you don't run any of the stoves as hard which results in more even temps. No one room (in your case the basement) is blistering hot because you don't have to run the stoves nearly as hot.

Is the 1400 good at running at a lower temp or is it an 'all or nothing' type of stove?

 

[KB007]

1450 seems to work great cruising along at 400-500.