Does heating the basement even make sense?

[williaty]

This is one of many in the flood of heat-related questions I'm asking about the new house we're moving to. The house a large ranch with a full basement. In the basement, there's an existing (ancient) wood stove that's venting into the masonry chimney and out to the roof. I'm not wild about the setup and I'm not wild about carrying firewood down the extremely steep steps a couple of times a day. However, given where the basement is, I'm pretty dammed sure I could devise a way to pour pellets into a funnel in the garage and have them end up in a bucket in the basement, kind of like an old coal chute. Since it would be in the basement, the constant blower noise also wouldn't be a problem.

But does it even make sense to heat the basement? It's not intended to be a living space. The only thing I think will be down there will be my reloading bench and a darkroom. I am wondering, though, if at least some of the heat would conduct through the floor and make the floors in the whole house warmer (which my wife would LOVE). The furnaces and hot water tank are also down there, so I'm wondering if keeping the air temperature in there a little higher would give the other appliances a boost as well.

 

[stoveliker]

If you have to use stairs, and if you don't use the space, then no.
Put the stove where you want the heat.

Basements can (but do not always do) have issues with negative pressure.

IF you have issues getting down there with fuel, you're not using the basement, I'd not put the stove there. Why make things harder on you and risk negative pressure issues.


I have a walk out basement and it's ideal; keep the dirt (sawdust from bugs etc) downstairs,.can even ride a wheelbarrow from outside to next to the stove if I want to, wood rack in the garage (going from basement thru garage to go outside).

 

[Tonyray]

we have a basement [ or cellar] which is used for storage, oil furnace, hot water tank etc..
a pellet stove down there would be a waste as the block walls /cement floors would absorb lot of the heat there fore just wasting pellets..
put your stove in the living space..

 

[Murray01]

If your stove is safe to run, if your chimney is clean and safe, if the previous owner left some seasoned wood I’d give it a shot. Nothing to lose.

A lot of if’s.

Maybe you might end up with a man cave with a rustic poverty theme.

 

[Whitenuckler]

This is one of many in the flood of heat-related questions I'm asking about the new house we're moving to. The house a large ranch with a full basement. In the basement, there's an existing (ancient) wood stove that's venting into the masonry chimney and out to the roof. I'm not wild about the setup and I'm not wild about carrying firewood down the extremely steep steps a couple of times a day. However, given where the basement is, I'm pretty dammed sure I could devise a way to pour pellets into a funnel in the garage and have them end up in a bucket in the basement, kind of like an old coal chute. Since it would be in the basement, the constant blower noise also wouldn't be a problem.

But does it even make sense to heat the basement? It's not intended to be a living space. The only thing I think will be down there will be my reloading bench and a darkroom. I am wondering, though, if at least some of the heat would conduct through the floor and make the floors in the whole house warmer (which my wife would LOVE). The furnaces and hot water tank are also down there, so I'm wondering if keeping the air temperature in there a little higher would give the other appliances a boost as well.

They must have had plans to insulate the basement and have a wood chute of some kind. It would be best not to heat it right now. If you are going to keep your basement cold, you would want the floor joists insulated

 

[Turbo89]

If your stove is safe to run, if your chimney is clean and safe, if the previous owner left some seasoned wood I’d give it a shot. Nothing to lose.

A lot of if’s.

Maybe you might end up with a man cave with a rustic poverty theme.

This x2! If it’s pre-existing the old owner must have had a system to get wood down there. There’s no way to slide the wood down the stairs with a temporary chute (like a piece of plywood)?

I’m also partial to reloading by a wood stove, you can use your missed powder drops to get the fire going!😎

 

[begreen]

Not every previous homeowner has the wisdom of woodburning. We have no idea whether what was left is from a failed experiment or not. If the basement walls are uninsulated, about 1/3 of the heat (one cord in three burned) will go to heating the outdoors.

If the plan is to go ahead and try it, then absolutely make sure the installation is safe and the flue system clear and cleaned. At that point, a test fire or two should indicate draft strength and convection to upstairs. Then the decision needs to be made on lots of fronts like wood storage, wood delivery to the basement (chute installation?), insulation of the basement walls, convection improvement, etc. Personally, I am with the put the heat where it's needed crowd. There's not a lot of sense if it takes a very lossy system heating the basement to 90º in order to feel comfortable upstairs.

 

[johneh]

I have no idea what kind of low temp you experience where you are.
Here in Eastern Ontario, we heat your basements because our temps can get to -40.
I heat mainly with a wood furnace and a pellet stove in my Family room . My home
is log construction from 1850. My basement (was a crawl space) has 3 ft. thick rubble stone walls
My wood is put in the basement through a walk-out 4.5 cord of Maple, Oak, Ash, Ironwood and beach.
The basement stays at around 65 , so I have no problems with frozen pipes. It all depends on
what temp you want your basement at. We have to heat October through the end of April. People
worry about bugs, but in 46 years of doing this, I have never had a bug problem. Clean up with just a broom
and a dust pan. Use the sawdust, bark, and wood chips as kindling

 

[Whitenuckler]

This is one of many in the flood of heat-related questions I'm asking about the new house we're moving to. The house a large ranch with a full basement. In the basement, there's an existing (ancient) wood stove that's venting into the masonry chimney and out to the roof. I'm not wild about the setup and I'm not wild about carrying firewood down the extremely steep steps a couple of times a day. However, given where the basement is, I'm pretty dammed sure I could devise a way to pour pellets into a funnel in the garage and have them end up in a bucket in the basement, kind of like an old coal chute. Since it would be in the basement, the constant blower noise also wouldn't be a problem.

But does it even make sense to heat the basement? It's not intended to be a living space. The only thing I think will be down there will be my reloading bench and a darkroom. I am wondering, though, if at least some of the heat would conduct through the floor and make the floors in the whole house warmer (which my wife would LOVE). The furnaces and hot water tank are also down there, so I'm wondering if keeping the air temperature in there a little higher would give the other appliances a boost as well.

"The furnaces and hot water tank are also down there, so I'm wondering if keeping the air temperature in there a little higher would give the other appliances a boost as well."
Keep an eye on the temperature down there. Maybe they have a hot air supply from the furnace. You are in Ohio, so it gets cold there.
There is the odd chance that stove was used to keep it from freezing down there. You would be making many many trips down the stairs every day to keep up with wood. For a big pellet stove, you might burn 2 bags a day, but you can bring them in from the garage each day.
I wouldn't mess with the bags too much. You could pure a bag into 2 buckets in the garage. That's what I do.