Choosing a Basement Heating Source - Insert?

[Coltrane]

This forum is great, lot's of collective wisdom.

My dilemma is this: My house has a walkout basement that has been poorly insultated over the years (read: no insulation). During the coldest winter months the temperature drops to the low 50s (F) in this area. The catch is that 85% of the basement is finished, but due to the cold temperatures, unusable from December to April. I have since gutted the basement and am in the process of insulating all of the walls.

Now on to heating. I know that insulation alone will not make the environment comfortable in the winter. Fortunately, there is an open wood fireplace in the basement with a rather large firebox. My hope is to add an insert to this fireplace to provide auxiliary heating for the nearly 800 sq. ft. in my basement. Mainly I am looking for this insert to make the basement comfortable on evenings and weekends.

Can you provide recommendations interms of which type of insert I should focus on (i.e. gas, pellet, wood)?

 

[tkirk22]

This forum is great, lot's of collective wisdom.

My dilemma is this: My house has a walkout basement that has been poorly insultated over the years (read: no insulation). During the coldest winter months the temperature drops to the low 50s (F) in this area. The catch is that 85% of the basement is finished, but due to the cold temperatures, unusable from December to April. I have since gutted the basement and am in the process of insulating all of the walls.

Now on to heating. I know that insulation alone will not make the environment comfortable in the winter. Fortunately, there is an open wood fireplace in the basement with a rather large firebox. My hope is to add an insert to this fireplace to provide auxiliary heating for the nearly 800 sq. ft. in my basement. Mainly I am looking for this insert to make the basement comfortable on evenings and weekends.

Can you provide recommendations interms of which type of insert I should focus on (i.e. gas, pellet, wood)?

That's kinda like saying: I need a car to get to work. Should I get an F-150, a Volvo or a Nissan. Do you feel like cutting wood or schlepping it into the basement? Do you have a good source of gas nearby or is your house already running on gas? Are you worried about the future price of fossil fuels or pellets for that matter? Do you want to just turn the thermostst and have heat?, etc. etc.

There's a lot of other considerations necessary to make that type of personal decision.

What type of heat is in the main house now? Perhaps some type of basement boiler or furnace will kill two birds with one stone.

BTW, I use wood because I have it on the property, I can cut it myself, and I don't mind bringing it into the house. I also like the looks of a wood stove when it's burning. Your mileage will vary. I have a feeling you may want something more turn-key though.

 

[Coltrane]

Good points/questions. The house is currently heated by a forced-air gas furnace, and the utility room for this furnace backs up to the fireplace. So in terms of logistics, it would not be difficult to get a gas line to the existing wood fireplace.

Convenience is important, but not overwhelmingly so. I am okay with maintenace and feeding, I just don't want to have to 'load' the insert every time I need to use it. Ideally the system would have a timer and start heating the basement before my wife or I got home from work.

 

[sapratt]

Sounds like you'd be better off getting a gas insert. If you want something
that will turn on and warm up the basement before you get home.

 

[yukiginger]

I assume it gets lower than the 50s in the winter in Nebraska and you made a typo in your original post.

Either way, a walkout basement and a suitable chimney near the existing furnace screams add-on wood furnace to me. That would be real sweet, as you have an easy way to get wood into the unit and using your existing distribution system you could heat your entire house. Make sure there are vents in the basement to heat it, although having the wood furnace down there should help. This assumes that the furnace could be vented with a suitable chimney pipe over to your existing chimney.

MarkG

 

[BrotherBart]

I am okay with maintenace and feeding, I just don't want to have to 'load' the insert every time I need to use it.

That puts wood out of the picture right there. Wood stoves have to be loaded with wood and the fire started.

Ideally the system would have a timer and start heating the basement before my wife or I got home from work

For pellets that timer thing eliminated about 98% of the pellet units because most need somebody to push the button to start them..

Put you a free standing nice looking gas stove in that fireplace. Or consider a pellet insert realizing that with the insulation you are putting in that when you get home you go down there, hit the button and go upstairs for a little while and it will warm the basement up.

 

[begreen]

You can connect a digital thermostat on some pellet stoves and have it warm up the room before you get home, then shut down at bedtime.

 

[bluefrier]

You could also add vents in the basement from your existing gas furnace.
That might be the most cost effective and simple solution, especially if you don't mind making the gas companies richer :coolsmirk: