air leakage ?

[outcast]

hello

i want a wood burning fireplace in my unheated basement. this would be for supplemental heat = mancave hanging out on the weekends.

what i am very concerned with = when the fireplace is not running, how to i seal the flue so that no cold outside air is leaking into my basement ?

the flue would be metal pipes that would go out through a block wall and up the side of a 1 1/2 story house.

thanx

 

[HotCoals]

Flue damper would stop most of it plus close off the primary air.

 

[corey21]

I would just close the primary air when not in use.

 

[Swedishchef]

+1 to all comments so far. I presume you want an insert and not necesarilly a fireplace??

Andrew

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Fireplace would be a poor heater of a basement. In addition, if that basement is not insulated, even a wood stove would struggle as the walls would soak up most of the heat.

 

[Sprinter]

Fireplace would be a poor heater of a basement. In addition, if that basement is not insulated, even a wood stove would struggle as the walls would soak up most of the heat.

+1
I'm new to stoves, but I have had open fireplaces in a few houses. In my experience, they are the worst thing in the world for heating purposes. It would be a nice thing to have in a man cave, but don't expect it to do any serious heating. They pull in so much air from the outside, they can cause some very uncomfortable drafts in the house and all that nice warm air in the house goes right up the chimney. Consider one only for the ambiance.

If you meant a wood stove rather than open fireplace, that's a different story, but even with those, as Dennis said, the concrete soaks up a too much heat and radiates it out to the ground, but it would be lot better for sure. Plus all the new stoves have nice big windows that make them just as nice as a fireplace to watch.

 

[outcast]

sorry, fella's. i meant a wood burning stove.

the basement, i am figuring it wouldn't get much below 50* as it is. so the stove wouldn't have to bring the temp up a lot.

now, i have an idea of how proper flueing would be set up. but, just to make sure i have it right, could someone post a link to whatever would fully explain it to me. and how it works.

also. are there any ways to increase the heat output, without building a larger fire, or getting a larger stove.
i was thinking about putting a large'ish fan blowing on the stove to grab more heat from it.

and while i am asking. can someone post a link on how to put out the fire and clean up the stove without making a big mess.

thanx a ton.

 

[Sprinter]

sorry, fella's. i meant a wood burning stove.

the basement, i am figuring it wouldn't get much below 50* as it is. so the stove wouldn't have to bring the temp up a lot.

now, i have an idea of how proper flueing would be set up. but, just to make sure i have it right, could someone post a link to whatever would fully explain it to me. and how it works.

also. are there any ways to increase the heat output, without building a larger fire, or getting a larger stove.
i was thinking about putting a large'ish fan blowing on the stove to grab more heat from it.

and while i am asking. can someone post a link on how to put out the fire and clean up the stove without making a big mess.

thanx a ton.

Good. I thought maybe you meant a stove. Some people expect to heat a house with a basement stove and that turns out to be problematic because so much heat goes right into the ground since concrete has no insulating value, but as a man cave thing and supplement, it sounds nice. I'll let others tackle the flue question. Not sure why you would need to put out a stove fire. Once the fire is calmed down and not in danger of overfiring or backpuffing or anything, I don't see why you can't just let it die on it's own. If you're worried about leaving it unattended, many people load up their stoves, turn it down and go to work for 8 or 9 hours and come back to enough coals to start up again. Or to bed. Not that I blame you for being cautious, however...

 

[outcast]

i would not sleep well knowing that a perfectly safe fire is burning in my basement. and, after the fire burnt down, cold outside air may get into the basement, making it colder than normal.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

i would not sleep well knowing that a perfectly safe fire is burning in my basement. and, after the fire burnt down, cold outside air may get into the basement, making it colder than normal.

I think you might be concerned over nothing here. Just let the fire go out on its own. I would not own a wood stove if I had to put the fire out daily and I think you would also grow tired over it.

You did not say if the basement was insulated or not. If not, then you may very well be wasting dollars trying to heat it.

 

[semipro]

Maybe a flue top damper like this. There are other styles. They are operated by a cable.

 

[semipro]

Maybe a flue top damper like this. There are other styles. They are operated by a cable.