I wonder how many who have only a first floor wood stove are now thinking due to this artic cold of putting another stove in the basement to keep pipes from freezing?
Freezing cold=basement stove ?
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Squisher
Minister of Fire
I've always heated my whole home from a basement stove. warm floors are nice!
Prof
Minister of Fire
I put a stove in the basement, thinking that I would just use it ever so often to keep the pipes from freezing. The basement is unfinished, but a weird thing happened--we started cooking on the stove a lot. Started out with me and the kids making some eggs. Next thing you knew, my wife suggested that we bring the patio furniture down stairs. We find that the basement is much easier to clean up than upstairs, and we all seem to be doing some project of sorts that lends itself to the basement.
That's great that the basement is finding a new life as a family center. Maybe consider insulating the walls. An uninsulated basement is a big outdoor heatsink. About a third of the heat from the wood burned is lost to outside.
Prof
Minister of Fire
It is well insulated--my house is only a couple years old, so we took some steps to allow for flexibility down the road. When the place was under construction we were able to keep the first and 2nd floor above 60 with just the wood stove in the basement--this was of course, after the 1st and 2nd floor were insulated.
Chas0218
Minister of Fire
No need the basement stays around 60 with the first floor stove.
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I have a basement stove, and it has seen some use in the current cold snap. It was, before this year, my only stove, supported with electric baseboards. This year I'm using it just to keep the basement around 60-65, and to help the fp25 keep up.
In the future, I'd like to insulate the basement, but that first requires the addition of a French drain and some piping to direct water from the gutters away from the house.
In the future, I'd like to insulate the basement, but that first requires the addition of a French drain and some piping to direct water from the gutters away from the house.
It wouldn’t make sense for me. I just had baseboard freeze up because the stove was doing such a good job heating that the furnace didn’t turn on. It thawed out today and now I’m running it periodically...-20 this weekend though so we will see !
My only stove is in our unfinished bacement. The house is a 70's ranch with a walk out bacement. The stove did great heating the house in the early season. Its been an uphill bagel in this deep cold but it's helping keep the chill off. It should have no problem heating the house once we get the walls insulated.
No need and unable to do so even if I wanted . . .
Generally with the snow around my foundation the basement/crawl space is well above freezing . . . although I did recently find one area where cold was getting in and hopefully I've fixed that issue.
To be on the safe side when we get extended sub zero temps I'll run the boiler's three heating zones once or twice a day to move heated water through the pipes. I figure between the heat coming off those pipes and the domestic hot water pipes all water pipes in the basement should be OK.
In truth, in all of the years I've been heating with wood and living in this home I've only had three freeze ups and none of them were in the basement -- one was under the kitchen sink where I discovered air coming in from outside, one was me being dumb and forgetting to shut off the hose bib and the most recent was in the drain pipe under a bathroom sink which was near another potential air leak.
That said . . . as mentioned . . . even if I wanted to have a basement stove I could not since my basement is really more of a crawl space . . . or I should say my crawl space is more of a basement as it is a dirt floor covered by plastic and granite rock chips and you have to bend over since it's about 4 feet six inches tall. . . there's nothing down there except for plumbing, wiring and the well pump . . . and probably lots and lots of spiders.
I had friend who rented a room in a older home with a woodstove on the main floor and an unheated basement. The basement was quite wet so they didnt go down there often. In cold spells they would get up in the AM and may not have water running so they hooked up kerosene jet heater on pedestal hooked to lighting circuit in the basement. If they didnt have water, they would flip the jet heater on and in few minutes they would have water.
I definitely dont recommend that method. What I do recommend is foam on the interior wall and the in the box sills. Assuming the basement isnt full of air leaks, that should raise the basement temps significantly. Foam works on the outside of the foundation but sunlight degrades the foam and carpenter ants like to tunnel in it so its best put on the inside.
I definitely dont recommend that method. What I do recommend is foam on the interior wall and the in the box sills. Assuming the basement isnt full of air leaks, that should raise the basement temps significantly. Foam works on the outside of the foundation but sunlight degrades the foam and carpenter ants like to tunnel in it so its best put on the inside.
Ashful
Minister of Fire
Ditto. No stove in my basement anymore, but it typically hovers around 60F, anyway. There is some heat loss from the boiler, which is tucked away in a back room of the basement, but I think it’d be hard for any sub-grade area to freeze. It’s the folks with crawl spaces, not proper basements, who seem to have all the trouble.
Dieselhead
Minister of Fire
I have a 1600 sqft unfinished but insulated walk out basement, would be great to have a stove down there but I would need about a 35’ chimney to vent!
RandyBoBandy
Minister of Fire
I have been thinking about a basement install all winter. I have a ranch style with garage under the living room attached to the basement. When the stove is humming away in the living room the basement gets rather cold. Especially with the garage doors being extremely drafty. I already bring my firewood in
RandyBoBandy
Minister of Fire
(Oops accidentally hit the post button) through the garage and basement so it's just as easy to load up a basement install. I also plan on tearing out one of the garage doors and framing a wall in its place and just putting in a normal door. I'm going to hinge the wall though so I can bring in firewood and such easier.
The trade off with a basement installation is unless you have a insulated basement and floor, you are heating the ground under and around the house.
My parents had a basement install near an exterior wall. My moms roses were always the first to bloom in the neighborhood as they were on the other side of the basement wall. Look at any home with uninsulated basement with a wood stove and the snow will normally be melted back from the house. I have 1" of foam and it quite noticeable how long the snow stays up against the foundation.
My parents had a basement install near an exterior wall. My moms roses were always the first to bloom in the neighborhood as they were on the other side of the basement wall. Look at any home with uninsulated basement with a wood stove and the snow will normally be melted back from the house. I have 1" of foam and it quite noticeable how long the snow stays up against the foundation.
So Jake you say the snow pack helps to keep the crawl spaces from freezing ?
Shaun643
Member
Yes I have been thinking about it I have a full unfinished basement that is not insulated. How ever I do have a guy coming to give me a quote on spray foam 
. The reason I did not install my stove in the basement was due to pressures and possible draft issues also wanted an interior piping to keep more heat in and help with draft. Now I just have a basement that's 45° and cold floors on the main floor
. The reason I did not install my stove in the basement was due to pressures and possible draft issues also wanted an interior piping to keep more heat in and help with draft. Now I just have a basement that's 45° and cold floors on the main floor
RandyBoBandy
Minister of Fire
Snow is a good insulator . . . it definitely helps when the temps really turn cold to have snow around the outside.
Jeremy8916
Member
I put one in because I gota nice used stove that matched my upstairs stove and found a new stainless liner for the cost of the cap. Its nice to be able to get the uninsulated basement warm, and will likely become my primary stove when i insulate the basement in a few weeks. It's nice having warm floors.
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