Wood insert in basement

[Thewiz]

Hello all,

After a year or so of reading through the site and talking to local dealers I have decided to go with a Enviro Kodiak 1700 insert. The price is right for the insert and the hight restrictions I have limit the options available.

I would like to place in the insert in my basement but after reading the forums I hear this may be a bad idea. I have a fully finished basement with the insert on one end. The total size of the basement is 900sq feet but 1/3 of the basement it a garage. Our staircase is located in the middle of the house and the upstairs where we spend a lot of our time is located directly above the fireplace insert.

I hear that most people on the site say it is a waste of time but the house I grew up in was heated only by wood heater located in our basement. If I am able to have the insert in the basement that woujld be my ideal situation but I do have a masonry fireplace upstairs as well.

Any thoughts or previous experience would be appreciated

Thanks

 

[realstihl]

I've had a basement burner for 15 years in this house. It works for me. The first and second floor get a little cool sometimes but with the walk out basement the mess stays down there. I will suggest that the basement walls must be insulated. Mine weren't when we first moved in. Wood stove was almost worthless and the concrete walls just absorbed the heat. It's not a waste of time, just not the best.

 

[shawneyboy]

It is always best to have the stove in the main living area. That being said I have mine in the downstairs (walk out) rec room, which is not used that much anymore since the kiddos have grown up. If it is insulated, and if you can get wood there easily it may work for you. The important thing is that it is properly insulated, otherwise you will be sending most of those BTU2 through the walls to the earth.

Is it a walkout?
Is it well insulated?

If you can answer yes to both of these questions, then it may work for ya. You will most likely need to have a fan at the bottom of the stairs blowing towards the stove, this will pull the cool air down the steps and blow it towards the stove.

Since it is an insert I would assume it has a blower, which will help to pust the warm air around. I personally think that inserts are a smidge less effecient than a freestanding stove. Have you considered a stove as opposed to an insert? The other problem with inserts is if you lose power, then you lose a ton of heat with no blower, but with a stove you lose far less even if you have a blower on the stove that has no power.

Just some thoughts.

Shawn

 

[Wood Heat Stoves]

It all depends on how open the path is for the heat to get upstairs. Since heat rises this can work well if you have a stairwell open to the upstairs near where the insert is installed. You can also install a vent in the ceiling on the opposite side of the room if necessary to allow a return path for cool air from above to come down setting up a convection cycle.

 

[begreen]

If you spend a lot of time in the basement room, then an insert in the basement fireplace could be very nice. The amount of heat that gets upstairs is going to vary with the location and size of the stair opening and the amount of heat loss through the basement walls. If the walls were insulated before finishing you may get some decent heating. If it gets too hot in the basement when the fire is going, sometimes placing a fan at the top of the stairs, blowing cool, 1st flr air, down into the basement will work to equalize temps.

 

[KB007]

First off - where in Ontario are you?

Is your basement cieling finished or a dropped cieling? If it's a dropped cieling, you may be able to cut a register in the floor to bring cold air down into the basement. Check you local building codes, especially as it related to finished v/s unfinished basement cielings.

900 sqft is not huge, we heated our 1800 sqft basement and 1800 sqft main floor for 2 years with a napoleon 1450 and before that an old nap smoke dragon for a couple of years. Can we correctly presume your upstairs is also 900 sqft? Bungalow or 2 storey?

For an insert - definitely need a blower to get the heat out. Basement will be warm, but with a couple of simple fans to move the cold air, the house should be good (unless you're way north...)

 

[FyreBug]

+1 as above

I have an insert in a finished basement with a drop ceiling. took 2 tiles out & cut out some registers for natural warm air convection. I also placed a corner door fan to help distribute the heat. It wont heat the house because there is no easy path for the warm air to move upstairs but it keeps the basement toasty and the living room floor upstairs nice and warm.

 

[kingquad]

I have the same insert in a basement install. It's a great insert. My problem is that my layout kinda sucks. My staircase is at one end of the house. The room at the top of the stairs (kitchen) gets really warm. The basement can get really hot too. My upstairs floor plan isn't very open so moving the heat can be a struggle. I also have poor insulation and tons of air leaks. I would take the time to remedy them, but my wife and I are talking about moving soon so we wouldn't see a return on our investment.

As far as the unit goes, my wife and I really like it. Very ruggedly built. Over night burns are no problem at all. It will probably work even better with your setup since you have a centralized staircase.

If you have any particular questions, feel free to ask. If your measurements are close, reference the manual for the Venice. All the 1700 inserts have the same firebox dimensions. The manual for the Kodiak had the improper rear width for the 1700. I contacted Enviro to clarify and they got back to me in a day with an answer.

Good luck with the install and be sure to post some pics.

 

[Todd]

I have a 2000 sq ft mostly open floor plan ranch style house. The basement is half the sq ft and has a Woodstock Keystone stove which is my primary burner and heats the whole house by itself except when it gets real cold and windy. To even out the heat I have a second Keystone upstairs in the old fireplace that I like to burn on the colder days. I also have a register in the floor and the stairwell is centrally located which helps. I don't get even 75 degree heat throughout the whole house from the basement stove alone and there is no way it will happen for anyone with a similar setup but it does work to a certain extent.

Wood stoves are space heaters so if you want to heat the whole house from a basement install you can do it but it will either be too hot in the basement with a larger over sized stove or you could try the other option of two smaller stoves on each level to even out the heat some.

 

[Thewiz]

Thanks for all the quick replys. Just to clear up some of the questions that were floating around...I live in northern B.C. so it can get very cold in the winter..-30 degress celcious is very common. My staircase is located in the center of the house. My upstairs is very open concept for the kitchen and living area. I have a hallway which leads to the bedrooms and bathroom. The living area is directly above the location of the insert in the basement. The basement is not larger then 650 sq feet due to a built in garage. The upstairs is 950 sq feet. The bedrooms are above the garage so I am a little concerned about them being cold in the winter but a small space heater would work for our master bedroom.

One more question...has anyone successfuly used the fan system build into their furnance? The dealer said it would help move the heat in the house very easily and help deliever an even heat.

Thanks for your help

 

[FyreBug]

Thanks for all the quick replys. Just to clear up some of the questions that were floating around...I live in northern B.C. so it can get very cold in the winter..-30 degress celcious is very common. My staircase is located in the center of the house. My upstairs is very open concept for the kitchen and living area. I have a hallway which leads to the bedrooms and bathroom. The living area is directly above the location of the insert in the basement. The basement is not larger then 650 sq feet due to a built in garage. The upstairs is 950 sq feet. The bedrooms are above the garage so I am a little concerned about them being cold in the winter but a small space heater would work for our master bedroom.

One more question...has anyone successfuly used the fan system build into their furnance? The dealer said it would help move the heat in the house very easily and help deliever an even heat.

Thanks for your help

My set up is very similar to yours. Even though the insert will help, dont expect miracles. If your furnace is in the room adjacent to your insert and there a way to get some air flow from your insert to your furnace its not likely to do much. Other wise, well place fans will probably do more to move heat around.