Basement Stove - improving efficiency?

[mainematt]

Here's my setup - I bought a small (~1100 sq foot) ranch with a partially finished basement and good sized woodstove. The stove is in the middle of the basement, with a passive register (hole in the floor with a grate) above the stove and a cold air return across the room. Access to the basement is via an unheated attached garage, so using the stairs as a conduit to get heat up to the main level isn't an option.

I'm pretty new to this house, and there are a lot of things I'd do differently if I was setting it up from scratch, but this I what I've got for now, and it heats the house just fine. That said, I feel like I'm burning more wood than I ought to be for a little house, so I'm looking for small ways to get a bit more efficiency out of the existing setup.

It's an open floor plan, so I get decent airflow, but I'm wondering if a register fan (e.g. http://amzn.to/1R26uuz) would help?

Any other thoughts on squeezing out a bit more efficiency on the cheap?

Given a year or two to save up, I'll be making some changes, but in the meantime, I'm looking to get the most out of what I have.

 

[Poindexter]

Is the basement insulated? If not, you are likely pumping a huge amount of heat through the concrete or block into the subsoil of your lawn.

 

[mainematt]

Is the basement insulated? If not, you are likely pumping a huge amount of heat through the concrete or block into the subsoil of your lawn.

Good point- the basement walls are uninsulated. There are built in shelves along many of the walls, but I may wind up putting up some rigid foam insulation where possible. I'm looking into this now - it looks like a couple hundred bucks worth of rigid foam and a bunch of weekend labor could go a long ways.

Thanks.

 

[begreen]

+1 Insulating the basement will be your best investment. Fully a third of the heat (1 cord in 3) is heading out the walls to heat the earth and outdoors. Seal the sill plate and insulate the rim joist areas too.

 

[mainematt]

Another, somewhat related question: There's one of those 'magic heat reclaimer' boxes in the stovepipe, directly under the register - it seems to be an older model, as there's no built-in fan. It seems that they're widely regarded as a waste of money, but since I already have one - is there any harm in leaving it in there? (I had the chimney cleaned this fall and there was minimal creosote buildup).

 

[jatoxico]

Another, somewhat related question: There's one of those 'magic heat reclaimer' boxes in the stovepipe, directly under the register - it seems to be an older model, as there's no built-in fan. It seems that they're widely regarded as a waste of money, but since I already have one - is there any harm in leaving it in there? (I had the chimney cleaned this fall and there was minimal creosote buildup).

Those heat reclaimers get no love here. If its been running and your flue is clean I guess it's not causing any harm the way it's being used but they seem to be a problem waiting to happen. Better IMO to try to heat with the stove and not the flue. The reclaimer will steal heat from the flue making it more likely to lower the flue gas temp to the point that they will condense (<240) so run hot.

 

[tcassavaugh]

another option might be to put in a door and some stairs to the basement. don't have to be closed in but might help the movement of the heat around the house. heating from the basement is always a challenge but once the house is warm, its nice to have the heated floors.

 

[JA600L]

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This is what I did to insulate my basement. It was a piece of cake.

 

[prezes13]

Let me know how it's working for you. I have same kind of layout "raised ranch" but everything is pretty decent insulated. 1994 2x6 construction. Right now I have an insert upstairs and it works but I cannot send the heat downstairs so its get cold down there. My daughter likes to play downstairs and we have a computer there so I am thinking about getting an ashford 30 for that room and I am wondering how would it work if I tried to heat the whole house with it.

 

[JA600L]

I heat from the insulated basement in a split level ranch. It works very well for me after adding some insulation and windows.

The hard part of heating from the basement is overcoming the negative pressure plane and natural stack effect of the house.

Basically your upstairs starts acting like a chimney when heat rises. This creates a low pressure area in the basement causing more stress on the chimney to compete for venting the stove.

It can be difficult to overcome. Air sealing the attic, can lights, attic door etc.. are very important. Chimney height is also very important. If you have a natural back draft in your basement chimney you may be suffering from the stack effect already.

 

[Nelson]

I have a similar setup to JA600L. Focus on air sealing and insulating the basement and, like JA600L said, make sure your main floor/attic are properly air sealed. Insulation is needed but air sealing is a bigger bang for the buck.

I can generally keep our ~3800 sq ft home around 70 with the stove going. I couldn't fully heat the home on wood alone but it's made a drastic dent in our propane bill. Essentially, furnace gets the house up to temp and then the stove has no problem keeping it there.

I should mention that I have an open (no doors top or bottom) staircase from the main level to the basement which obviously helps a ton.

Good luck...