Hi all, I’m new here and I’ve had my house for a couple years and I’m trying to figure out the best thing to do as far as having a wood stove goes. My house is a 1904 and has had an addition put on many years ago. Originally this house had a single coal furnace in the basement with 3 chimneys spidered through the house and then combined again in the attic and out a central chimney in the roof. The old chimneys are there but the roof is capped. The furnace is gone. My house is about 1800sqft single level with an unfinished basement and crawl space. It’s half basement half 2’ crawl space. The basement and crawl space ceiling is not insulated and neither are the basement walls. My question is if I had a free standing wood stove in the basement would any worthwhile heat radiate through the floors of the house? Right now it’s electric baseboard heat and it kills electric bills. Any advice would be appreciated!
Basement Stove
- Thread starter Cjw1974
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Heat moves between floors mostly by convection, not radiation. Usually, this is up a close-by, open stairwell. The uninsulated walls will suck up a lot of heat, which is another reason to rapidly convect the heat upstairs. If the crawlspace is not totally sealed off from the basement area, that will also cause a large heat loss, making the stove less effective. If stairwell is not close by to the stove location then the stove may be much less effective unless a large floor grate is added. In this case a wood furnace might be worth looking at unless the plan is to insulate the basement walls and close off the crawlspace.
Gearhead660
Minister of Fire
This post is in the classics forum. Is the intent to install an old stove or a modern, efficient one?
I didn’t know which section to post in so I figured I’d pick this one since more than likely it would be an old stove I’d install. Something old and cast Iron probably
Yeah the crawlspace and basement are completely connected. Running ducts would not be hard in all honesty
Sealing up the basement sills and isolating the crawlspace could really help keep the floors warmer in the house.
I have a basement install with stove on 1 end of basement.
These guys taught me alot. Insulation on any exposed masonry walls. I have an open stairway in middle of the house but unfortunately it is finished at the bottom so i leave the 2 36" doors open. I get great natural convection.
I have a blaze king ultra and would definitely recommend one. Or at least some high efficient stove. I can't imagine going back to a smoke dragon.
Im heating a big home 2600sq ft up and about 2000 down. Built 2003.
If you can't afford a new epa stove find a good used one on fb classifieds. There's some good deals on there.
These guys taught me alot. Insulation on any exposed masonry walls. I have an open stairway in middle of the house but unfortunately it is finished at the bottom so i leave the 2 36" doors open. I get great natural convection.
I have a blaze king ultra and would definitely recommend one. Or at least some high efficient stove. I can't imagine going back to a smoke dragon.
Im heating a big home 2600sq ft up and about 2000 down. Built 2003.
If you can't afford a new epa stove find a good used one on fb classifieds. There's some good deals on there.
Yeah I was actually looking earlier and saw some good deals. The convection is the issue at hand I think. I think the only thing I could do is put in ductwork
You don't think you could convect like i do?
I do have 2 16" fans blowing on my stove. One hanging on ceiling blowing down on stove and one blowing at glass door on front. That pulls a lot of heat off the stove and keeps air moving around
This is a year worth of trying a little everything. So far this is working better than anything I've tried.
I don’t have anywhere for it to convect to because the basement door is in a side room by my back door without good access to the main house
Yeah you need to look for a furnace and run ductwork. What chimney are you going to be running it through?
That’s the other issue. I’d have to make a new one. Probably the most economic way would be to put a double walled chimney pipe up through a closet.
Before you even think about a furnace or stove, you should be sealing and insulating. In terms of labor, money spent, and comfort, insulation is a priority.
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