Should I add a second stove?

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EbS-P

EbS-P

Minister of Fire
Jan 19, 2019
5,944
SE North Carolina
Hi.
I’m considering adding a second wood burner as part of a walk-out basement remodel. I have a functioning fireplace downstairs right now that is has an 8” liner. The upstairs woodstove has a separate flue in the same chimney. Heating needs will need to be addressed as they tend be to inadequate now and we will be adding 400sf of space that will need to be heated.

The layout of the walkout basement as seen in the photo has one bedroom to the left, a playroom behind the fireplace, and a large two car garage behind the wall with the rainbow that is the full depth of the house. The stair way is open to the upstairs living room with the F400. The flue is 23’ from damper and has on offset bend but you can still see a bit of daylight.

The remodel plan is to add double doors to the garage or completely remove the rainbow wall and finish the garage as a multi use living space. The basement has always been colder than upstairs and was really cold this winter as we didn’t use the heat pump much at all. During the summer is always much cooler down there than upstairs.


Things that I’m thinking about...

It is a basement. Will I have draft problems? How or can I test for those?

Do I want to keep two stoves running? (We have four boys 8 months to eight years. We are already kinda busy)

If code prohibits stoves from garages what makes it a garage? Do I have to keep the wall if I put in a stove? Does taking out the wall violate code leaving fireplace as is?

Would I be better served by a mini split HVAC?

Have I missed anything?

Thank you for any feedback in advance.

Evan
1021547B-E8DF-4E81-87E0-61694F2DE888.jpeg
 
If you can install a decent sized insert (2.5-3.0 cu ft) in the fireplace it may take care of most heating needs with the Jotul upstairs as backup during the coldest days. A lot of heat will convect up the stairwell as long as it is open at the top.

The garage will no longer be a garage if the door is framed in and replaced. Then it becomes part of the living space. Pay close attention to sealing all gaps and insulate well, including the floor.

A quality mini-split heat pump will provide heating and cooling for the area if sized properly, though it may take 2 head units.
 
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I am not sure lol. But unless you drained the gas out of it it would be against code regardless lol.
 
WinterinWI said:
If you remove the overhead door and frame in a wall while a vehicle is still inside, would it still be considered a garage?
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Hopefully spring will arrive in time up there for you to regain some semblance of sanity. ;);lol
I wouldn't want to give up a garage. Saves your cars from ice and snow, bird poo, leaves and catkins plugging your body drains, having to walk to the car in the rain, and so on. But if you need the room for the kids, you may have to do it, or add on upstairs.
Two stoves is about double the work. I would go with begreen's suggestion of a bigger insert downstairs...find out what will fit. But you have to go down there to load it, and get wood down there. I guess I'm stating the obvious...
 
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Woody Stover said:
Hopefully spring will arrive in time up there for you to regain some semblance of sanity. ;);lol
I wouldn't want to give up a garage. Saves your cars from ice and snow, bird poo, leaves and catkins plugging your body drains, having to walk to the car in the rain, and so on. But if you need the room for the kids, you may have to do it, or add on upstairs.
Two stoves is about double the work. I would go with begreen's suggestion of a bigger insert downstairs...find out what will fit. But you have to go down there to load it, and get wood down there. I guess I'm stating the obvious...
Click to expand...
Conversely I wouldn't park my car in my house. I like having a garage but I am glad mine isn't attached
 
bholler said:
Conversely I wouldn't park my car in my house. I like having a garage but I am glad mine isn't attached
Click to expand...

Well in 9 years a car has been parked in there once when a hurricane was coming but didn’t get too close. That was quite some time ago. It then got filled with “treasures”. It is at the back of the house and jut too much of a pain to drive back there. When Florence was coming the car just got parked under the the second story deck in front of the garage. In my budget-less I’ll be getting big glass garage doors. My father, just down the street, is building a shop/pool house so I am more inclined to make it a living space than a shop space. In my mind a BK princess insert is what I would choose. It is at this point I should say that the fireplace extends into the garage in one of those design necessities that I always question with who messed that one up.
image.jpg I appreciate the humor.
 
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Got Kidz? :)
 
When our family lived in a raised ranch in Virginia, we did most of our heating from an insert in our walkout basement. We bought it originally with the very definite idea of not heating the whole house. Before the insert, our basement was cold and stayed too cool when the thermostat upstairs was as high as we were willing to turn it. After a couple of seasons of space heating with the insert (which turned our basement rec room into everybody’s favorite place to spend time—a wonderful redemption of space), we did move to 24/7 burning and whole house heating. The stove was undersized for our square footage and couldn’t keep up during really cold snaps, but we had no problem using our natural gas furnace to help out.

From your description it sounds like a Princess Insert would be a good fit for you. Before we knew that we needed to relocate, we had actually bought one on a great sale. It was a good bit larger than what we were running, and we thought it would be a help with a bigger firebox and lower burns for shoulder seasons in the mid-Atlantic. I’m afraid we never had it installed to find out if it would have been the improvement we were hoping, so I can’t help you there.

I can’t give you a comparison with a mini-split, and I’ve never had to manage two stoves. I just thought I’d share our successful story of heating a walk-out basement (and whole house) with an insert. We did have to crack a window sometimes on cold starts, and we made sure that the furnace or dryer wasn’t running, but we really didn’t have trouble with reverse drafts or the like. Our house was pretty well insulated and air sealed, and there was some negative pressure in the basement, but it was never a problem in day-to-day stove operation.

Hope this helps.
 
I run two stoves during severe cold. It feels like more than twice the work but it's worth it.
 
Well the decision was made today to put off any second wood stove indefinitely. The choice would have been a Drolet 1800i. With a DIY install. I could not justify spending more than that. Then earlier passed up a deal on a ventless Jotul propane stove (looked last or it was missing the door). Not ready to go down the path of adding propane probably don’t want ventless either.
Instead a mini-split heat pump will be installed. Birch ceramic gas logs and ethanol burners I have been ordered.
I’m not going to be in two places at once and if I want a nice looking fire I’ll go up stairs. If I want to be warmer downstairs I’ll bump up. the thermostat.

I find the simplest solutions often win me over.
Evan

41C39BF4-8FE3-42AD-95DD-59C1AC3ADEDF.jpeg
 
That space looks like it would be a bear to heat in anything but a mild climate.
 
I’m sure it would be. Our water meters are only 6” deep. We average 2400 heating degree days. We’re not done yet with the project. Been weighing the cost benefit of insulation and framing in block walls. Also been weighing heating versus cooling needs we run 2200 cooling degree days. And to be honest it just doesn’t stay cold here. Average December high is 56F. So I can probably get away with it . Kids thinks shoes are optional year round in the back yard.
begreen said:
That space looks like it would be a bear to heat in anything but a mild climate.
Click to expand...
 
Thanks had to pick a complementary wall color for it. Had bumper wheat crop in the early 70s and my grandmother had it recovered. Just can’t find gold crushed velvet furniture these days.
SpaceBus said:
I love the sofa!
Click to expand...
 
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EbS-P said:
I’m sure it would be. Our water meters are only 6” deep. We average 2400 heating degree days. We’re not done yet with the project. Been weighing the cost benefit of insulation and framing in block walls. Also been weighing heating versus cooling needs we run 2200 cooling degree days. And to be honest it just doesn’t stay cold here. Average December high is 56F. So I can probably get away with it . Kids thinks shoes are optional year round in the back yard.
Click to expand...
That's the perfect setup for a high-efficiency mini-split
 
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