Basement Ceiling Insulation

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garrymg7

New Member
Hearth Supporter
Sep 26, 2008
10
central Ohio
I have a stand-alone wood furnace in my basement. It has two blowers and two ducts for heating the house. For the time being I have one of the ducts running over to my basement stairs and
the other just blowing into the basement. I leave the door to the basement open and it keeps most of the house around 68-70 degrees. It is a one story double wide with fiberglass insulation in the entire ceiling area of the basement. Should I remove this insulation to get better radiant heat going up through the floors? Any additional help is appreciated. Thanks.
 
With the air being blown thru ductwork and keeping your door open I doubt it would make too much difference. How much warmer is your basement than the rest of the house ? You could rescue the fibreglass and transfer it to a more useful place like your attic.
 
[quote author="garrymg7" date="1228288914"]I have a stand-alone wood furnace in my basement. It has two blowers and two ducts for heating the house. For the time being I have one of the ducts running over to my basement stairs and
the other just blowing into the basement. I leave the door to the basement open and it keeps most of the house around 68-70 degrees. It is a one story double wide with fiberglass insulation in the entire ceiling area of the basement. Should I remove this insulation to get better radiant heat going up through the floors? Any additional help is appreciated. Thanks.[/quot

Heat in your house is moved around primarily by convection, not by conduction or radiation. The temperature differential between your basement and the upstairs is likely no more than 10 degrees. The r-value in the insulation is based on conduction only and at a 10 degree temp differential you are transferring very little heat via conduction.

Simple answer you are better off concentrating on moving air around inside your building rather than removing the insulation. Keep in mind the fiberglass insulation will also help contain an unfortunate fire as well as reduce noise from getting transferred between floors.
 
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