Home Heating question

[ktfinch2000]

I have a breckwell p23 installed in my living room and I am planning on heating my 1100sqft living area. I used oil to heat my home last year and I would like to try and avoid using it at all this winter. I still will be using oil to run my oil fired water heater. My question is that my basement is unfinished and I noticed that the furnace used to keep the basement in the mid to low 60's last year when it would kick on to heat upstairs so will I have an issue with any pipes freezing or my floors up above being extremely cold? My basement is insulated but I'm worried about the basement getting to cold. I only use the basement as storage and my washing machine and dryer are in the basement as well. Thanks

 

[j00fek]

i wouldn't foresee it being a problem if the basement is insulated, and the furnace will cycle for hot water

 

[nailed_nailer]

I see you are in RI. Your winter temps are about the same as mine here on Cape Cod.

I heated my house all of last year on 3 tons of pellets using our living room stove. Our house is all one floor and is very open. I used no oil. Our cooking stove and hot water are propane.

I am an avid woodworker. My shop is in my basement. Without the oil furnace running it did get cool down there during the winter. I had to were an extra layer to work down there. But, I think it remained above 50 degrees all season. I never had any fear of freezing pipes.

So unless you have a lot of basement weather exposure you should be all set.

---Nailer---

 

[ktfinch2000]

I feel better now thanks guys

 

[imacman]

..... so will I have an issue with any pipes freezing..........My basement is insulated but I'm worried about the basement getting to cold. .......

Unless you have pipes that are very close to a window, I wouldn't think it should be a problem. When the temp here got down into the teens last winter, the temp in the unfinished part of my basement only got down to around 45 degrees. So I don't think it will be an issue, but you'll probably want to get a thermometer and put it where it will be the coldest and keep an eye on it.....better safe than sorry.

 

[ktfinch2000]

I hope we have a mild winter here in Rhode Island. The more I read and talk to people about this upcoming winter it's not looking to promising. I hope I made the right choice in getting a pellet stove to help with the heat. I have 7 people on my street that use pellet stoves. 4 of them use stoves to replace the heat output of there oil fired furnaces in the winter and all are installed in a finished basement. They all swear by it. So my thinking was it should work very well to heat my raised ranch since its on the floor that we basically live in 24/7. Only time will tell I guess.

 

[mralias]

Keep an eye on those forced hot water pipes that run near the outside wall. If a freeze is gonna happen it is gonna be there. Insulate heavy in that area and wrap the pipe up. You won't be sorry.

 

[Souzafone]

I replaced an oil fired forced hot air system in our 1200sf ranch 4 years ago. The last 2 years we've got it really dialed in. The pellet stove does almost all the heating for the entire house, but the furnace still kicks on from time to time. I put the thermostat for the furnace in our bedroom, when we close the door at night it's set to kick on at 54, which it usually does on the coldest nights at 3 or 4 AM. The valves in the ductwork are all shut except for the bedrooms and the one for the basement. I noticed the basement gets quite a bit cooler without the furnace being used, and with our well pump being down there I don't want to take chances. In using the furnace this way we've used less than 1/8 of a tank of oil in 2 years, and while the basement is cooler, the living area is much warmer than it was using FHA only. We burn 1 bag a day on average, maybe 1.5 on the coldest weekend days.

 

[rap69ri]

I'm in a similar situation, and last year I ran my baseboard heat when the temp dropped into the single digits. I only ran it for about 20 minutes just to make sure water was circulating and nothing had frozen. Needless to say I had no problems, and the basement hovered in the low 50's.

 

[imacman]

....I have 7 people on my street that use pellet stoves.

Sounds like you all should get together in the spring and set up a group buy of a tractor trailer load of pellets.....maybe save some more $$.

 

[rap69ri]

....I have 7 people on my street that use pellet stoves.

Sounds like you all should get together in the spring and set up a group buy of a tractor trailer load of pellets.....maybe save some more $$.

macman makes a good point. A trailer load saved us approx. $10/ton plus the delivery charges. We ordered in March and had 24 tons of Barefoot's deliverd in June for $224/ton.

 

[ktfinch2000]

yes I agree we are doing a group buy next season. I need to save as much as possible. I thing 310 a ton delivered is way to much for pellets this year but I needed them so what can you do?

 

[rap69ri]

Maybe we could get multiple truck loads and save even more for next season, unless I do decide to go with coal. I love being cheap, I mean frugal.