I am hoping some people can answer your poll as "Can be, with proper air flow and the right size stove" so that they can give me hope. I hope the pole does not end up as never, but I can't prove it otherwise with my experience:
I have a stove in a basement, and not been satisfied with the amount of heat moved to the upstairs. Now, it does keep the gas furnace from kicking on, but it is too hot in the room the stove is in, and not quite warm enough upstairs, and can not be run when the temp. is at 30 deg. or above outside. The floor plan of the basement is not the best for circulating warm air upstairs, too many doors and walls between stove and stairway. One thing I notice is that the concrete in the basement takes a while to warm up, and stays warm a few days after the stove has been shut off. The basement floor is not insulated, so I am assuming that some heat is lost downward, but the mass of the concrete does retain some heat.
I am looking for solutions. I have tried fans in the basement to move air around with little success. I have run the furnace fan all the time to circulate air in the house, but don't like having it on all the time, as it seems to cool the upstairs. I have a thermostat wired into the furnace that will circulate air 5 minutes every 40 minutes, and I think this helps, but don't have enough control over it. If I don't get a different stove, my next step is to get a Thermguard or make something similar, to cycle the furnace system a little more often, and hopefully learn how to get it set up to run the fan at a slower speed. My air handler is variable speed, faster with air conditioning than heat. The fan speed for air circulation is at air conditioner speed, and simply moves too much air for winter use.
I would really like to get an epa listed stove, in particular a cat stove with thermostatic air control, and see if that helps with the lower heat long burns to extend the time I can run the stove in the milder parts of the winter, and not cook me out of the room the stove is in. I am currently running a pre-epa earth stove, and I think it is big enough to heat the whole house, circulation I believe is the problem, along with the fact that a low burn has created a little more creosote than I want to produce with this stove. I have also been studying the masonry heaters some and like the theory, but not the expense, and have doubts about it heating the upstairs any differently. We don't have a good spot to install a stove in the upstairs living space, so the stove will stay in the basement, hoping to hear some solutions to this problem other than moving it upstairs, which I'm positive would be the best solution. I do not have the budget for a new, top of the line stove or masonry heater, but I love to scrounge and hunt, and so I am limited to what can be found used or highly discounted in my area.
I think that 2 stoves would be more efficient, but is not an option in my case. Hope you get the information that you need to help with your decision. This group is great on sharing information.