Am I going to waste my cash with an insert ?

[cg711]

I have a 1600 sq ft ranch with a fireplace in the unfinished basement which is more or less centered in the house. I would like to put an insert in the basement with the intention of heating the upstairs living areas which is heated with oil fired baseboard.

I guess I would have to size an insert to cover 3200 sq ft - I have heard some conflicting info regarding the effectiveness of this approach. I have been told everything from no problem to I will have a heat block in the stairwell to the upstairs and will have minimal heating upstairs.
I am looking at either the Regency I3100 or Quadrafire 5100 i.

Anyone have any experience heating the living space from the basement ?
Will I be comfortable next winter or burned by spending about 3600 bucks for next to nothing as far as heating is concerned ?

 

[begreen]

Welcome. There are lots of threads discussing this here. Try a search on basement.

Here are some guiding factors:

A wood stove is an area heater. If the house layout is very open and there is good air circulation between the floors, then natural convection may work well for getting a lot of heat upstairs. If there is a narrow stairway with a door at the top, then this is unlikely. You would probably do better to having a woodstove on the first floor if the goal is comfortable first floor heating.

Another factor is the unfinished basement. If this space is uninsulated, it will wick a large portion of the heat generated. Essentially you may be heating the soil around the house.

That said, there are some reasonably successful basement installs where adequate heat gets to the floor above. It may be 80 degrees in the basement, but tha's ok with some folk.

 

[gpcollen1]

I have a split level where my family room (think finished basement ala 1972 - not very insulated on slab) is basement-like. I have the wood stove down there and it does the following:

1 - Heats the heck out of that room if I want it to - but I run wide open when it gets really cold for sure
2 - Heats the ceiling/floor above to a point where it is nice on the feet and my heat does not go on too oftne in the rooms above.
3 - Excess heat is directed up the stairs with a little doorway fan (75 cfm). It gets the circulation going with the upstairs and you can really feel the cold coming down.

 

[burntime]

I heat an open floor plan 1400 square ft ranch in Wisconsin built in 1957, great attic insulation, mostly newer windows and r7 in the walls. I think it will heat the room and possible the whole floor where you locate it but it will be hard to heat a whole nother level. These units are space heaters as stated above, and if you are lucky to have an open plan the floor they are in... That being said it will definitely help with the heating bill but I would not count on it doing the job unless you can cook the basement hot and live in a mild climate.

 

[Jerry_NJ]

I have used an airtight stove in and unfinished basement in a two story house with force-air central heating. The cross-section is about 1000 sf, i.e., 2000 sf of living space on the main floor and upstairs (bedrooms). My central heating has the ability to run a circulating fan continuous, and we do/did. I found in NJ that when it was cold, that's 20 degrees hereabouts, the stove in the basement greatly reduced the run time on the central heating, but if we wanted to maintain 66 degrees or better on the main floor, we had to use some central heating power.

In contrast, we also have a fireplace on the main floor in which we had an old fashioned insert that was just "stuck" into the fireplace, not a true airtight as is now required by code. We could, and did, run that and it kept the central heat off. Under this scenario we'd keep the central heat off for hours, all evening and up to midnight, we didn't try to burn overnight while we were asleep. The living room where the insert was located would be running in the 70s and the bedrooms upstairs in the lower 60s, the back corner of the house, connects the house to the garage, was the furtherest from the insert, and best I can recall the heat back there would drop to 60, maybe a bit below that.

Our staircase to the upstairs is wide an open, no doors, an open area with overlooking railing, so it has good convection airflow.

 

[RedRanger]

If ya want tough built, go with an enviro stove,they make a biggy,3.1 cu.ft firebox. And if ya like lots of steel, how about 5/16 on top and 1/4 on the sides. And I can say thay my enviro insert really chucks out the heat.

Hey, if the summit guys can blow their horn, then why can`t I??

 

[cg711]

Thanks for the feedback -
The reason I have to try to heat from the basement is because I have a double sided fireplace between my living room and dining room. Blocking one or the other side off is not an option.
How much radiant heat can I expect on the floors above ?
There is just open joists and sheathing with some rooms carpeted and others hardwood or vinyl flooring -

 

[begreen]

Thanks for the feedback -
The reason I have to try to heat from the basement is because I have a double sided fireplace between my living room and dining room. Blocking one or the other side off is not an option.

Is this strictly an aesthetical question? What is the end goal? If it's cost effective heat, some compromise may be required.

Don't depend on a lot of radiant heat coming through the floor.