Basement Wood Stove

[morganp107]

Hi All,

Currently have a wood stove on the first floor of my house, which does a great job of heating the first and second floor. Last year, I finished my basement, and now I am considering what type of heat source to place in that space. Right now, I am wavering between a small wood stove, or a natural gas heater. I really love the low gas bills with the wood stove upstairs, but I am also unsure of what sort of considerations would be needed to install a wood stove in the basement. The finished area in the basement is about 600 sq. feet. Currently, there is no chimney that could be used in this area, and most likely it would need to be an exterior chimney.

Any thoughts from folks who have experience with this idea would be appreciated.

 

[stoveliker]

Considerations:

Basement can have negative pressure; other appliances.there? (Furnace, boiler). The home can also function as a chimney, leading to lower pressure in the basement. That can lead to smoke issues there.

An outside air connection could then help. But if it's below grade, that's not possible.

If it's not a walk out basement, you'll have dirt all over the place including stairs.

Is your floor insulated? It can suck up a it of heat.

If you have to go thru the wall, you'll have two 45 degs elbows and a 90 outside. And a horizontal section. That decreases draft and can lead to issues. How tall would the outside chimney be?

That all sounds negative, but the ambiance of a stove in a basement recreation area is fantastic.

 

[EbS-P]

Running two stoves on different floors adds many trips up and down the stairs. It may get better once I get to know the new downstairs insert but it’s gotta get really cold down there be I decide to light up both. I knew I wanted a mini split down there now I feel I need one. I figure it’s going to see 40 loads a year.

My thoughts were this. It’s not a primary heat source It’s a backup for when it’s really cold and my undersized upstairs stove can’t keep up. I already had the wood in hand. It was almost as cheap as a diy mini split. I really need both.

 

[morganp107]

Thank you both for your input here. It is not a walk-out basement unfortunately, and I would need to consider going up and down the stairs to load, etc. I don't have an exterior entrance to the basement, and my current stove is very convenient to load, right next to exterior door.

At this point, since we really only need the heat down there during the coldest days of the year, I will probably opt for a natural gas heat source (most likely a direct vent Rinnai system), as the gas line is only a few feet away for our boiler, and can be more easily vented outside than adding the chimney, etc for a wood stove. Just seems like the simpler option, even though I do love my wood stove upstairs.

Thank you all for the input and giving me other points to consider.

 

[stoveliker]

Sounds like a decent solution to the problem indeed.

 

[Mainely Saws]

Hello ,
I have had Rinnai heaters for many years and am very satisfied with them . They are efficient and require very little maintenance and are very quiet . However , have you considered a gas woodstove install such as Lopi ,Jotul or others ? When it came time to replace our wood burning stove we installed an older Lopi Berkshire . It has a standing pilot with a wall thermostat which is a plus for us as it will run ( minus the blower ) during a power outage . It isn't as efficient as a Rinnai but it has a very realistic flame and puts out plenty of heat for our needs . Just a thought ..........

Bob

 

[velvetfoot]

Why not add a zone from the boiler?