Husband wants to install a wood stove for emergency heating in our old smallish farm house.

[enduring]

We have an older home, and the basement is unfinished. The home is insulated, but not air tight. We have new double paned windows 2 years old. We live in Central Iowa with winters that have periods of sub zero degrees Fahrenheit. We have talked to a chimney sweep and 3 different people who work in heating and cooling, either with wood burning stoves, or typical propane type furnaces. DH wants to get a supplemental heat source in case the electricity goes out.

We live on a farm and lots of wood resources. This would only probably be run a monthly in the winter time, unless there is a power outage. We have a concrete floor, unfinished basement, with access to the hold chimney that is partially lined with double walled stainless steel duct without packing. The old brick chimney was taken partially down and terminates in the attic just below the rafters at the peak of the roof. The most recent duct was installed in the 70's I believe, when my in-laws remodeled and put a wood burning furnace attached to the propane gas furnace for supplemental heat. We moved in 31 years ago and had it taken out and abandoned the chimney.

A Chimney sweep, and 2 Heating and Cooling people actually looked at the chimney on site, and thought it was in good shape, though the chimney sweep thought it needed to be lined all the way to the stove connection. But, when pressed by my DH the sweep thought it would be ok as is. The heating and cooling people thought the chimney looked in good shape as is, because the bricks are intact and the mortar is intact. The history of using the chimney has always been good. My DH is the 3rd generation in the house, so knows much of the mechanical history.

We are looking at a small wood stove option, one that will put out 40,000 to 50,000 btu peak. Our house is 1200 sf on the main floor, the basement is about the same size divided into 2 larger rooms, 2 smaller rooms, and 2 crawl spaces. The "old" part of the basement, under the older 780sf part of the house is where the stove would be placed, in a 400sf room. My DH's goal is to just heat the basement, to warm the basement ceiling and warm the main floor living area. Also some heat to come up the stairwell.

The wood stove salesman thought if we went to a slightly larger stove, we could allow the furnace fan to circulate the warmed basement air to the rest of the house. But DH doesn't want to make daily fires a practice in the winter, he just wants emergency heating source. We are in our late 60's. He still cut wood for his stock tank heater, until last year when the 68 year old concrete tank finally become too leaky to bother with any longer. Point being is that he is used to stoking a fire. Also DH thinks he will be cleaning the chimney every year, as he did growing up and into his 30's until the old stove was abandoned. I think its time to turn that over to a pro though.

This is a long winded post, I hope it makes sense. Any thoughts would be welcomed. BTW, I want the chimney totally lined! I don't want CO leaks or risk of heat and creosote impacting the integrity of the mortar and brick, causing fire risks.

These are the stoves I've been looking at:
Small stove https://www.drolet.ca/en/products/stoves/spark/
Medium stove https://www.drolet.ca/en/products/stoves/columbia-ii-wood-stove/
Medium stove https://www.quadrafire.com/products/discovery-i-wood-stove
Medium Stove https://www.quadrafire.com/products/2100-millennium-wood-stove

 

[Ashful]

Placing a stove in the basement is always a poor choice. It can be made to work, but why would you put a space heater in the basement, rather than in the space you actually want to heat?

I clearly missed something in this part of your long, rambling post:

The old brick chimney was taken partially down and terminates in the attic just below the rafters at the peak of the roof. ....the sweep thought it would be ok as is.

 

[TWilk117]

People on here will tell you heating from an uninsulated basement is impossible however there are folks that do it. It takes time to heat the masonry up down there before you feel the heat up stairs.

I would choose a bigger stove for this reason.

Is there an open stairwell to the basement? That would be helpful. Otherwise you may need to cut a hole in the floor above the stove and install a grate.

Having one installed somewhere on the first floor may be best. Or perhaps a wood burning add on furnace.

Lining the chimney with an insulated stainless steel liner is crucial.

 

[Highbeam]

I would go so far as to say do not consider the rated btu output when stove shopping. That specification is not very applicable to a wood stove because wood heaters provide heat in a cycle. More at the beginning and less as the coals dwindle.

Instead I would just consider firebox size. For most stoves, 2 cubic feet is about the minimum for overnight burning in any home and up to the largest size at around 3.5 cubic feet if you have anything more than a medium heating demand plus want overnight burns.

I’ve heated from a basement. It’s totally possible but not ideal. Your finished basement would be a great place for a stove.

 

[moresnow]

Welcome to Hearth @enduring . Where in Iowa are you located? Post pictures of the chimney where you intend to plug the stove in as well as where it currently terminates upstairs.
Definitely look into your main floor stove install options. Much more efficient use of the heat produced. Expecting your existing forced air furnace to move basement heat through the house is sketchy at best in my opinion. I've tried it with very minimal effectiveness. Hauling wood downstairs is a tad bit more taxing than bringing it only to the main floor. A few thoughts to consider.
"DH" ? Domesticated husband?

 

[enduring]

Placing a stove in the basement is always a poor choice. It can be made to work, but why would you put a space heater in the basement, rather than in the space you actually want to heat?

I clearly missed something in this part of your long, rambling post:

People on here will tell you heating from an uninsulated basement is impossible however there are folks that do it. It takes time to heat the masonry up down there before you feel the heat up stairs.

I would choose a bigger stove for this reason.

Is there an open stairwell to the basement? That would be helpful. Otherwise you may need to cut a hole in the floor above the stove and install a grate.

Having one installed somewhere on the first floor may be best. Or perhaps a wood burning add on furnace.

Lining the chimney with an insulated stainless steel liner is crucial.

Thanks for the recommendation of the insulated stainless steel liner. What if it was uninsulated, what is the drawback with double walled uninsulated? Condensation of the exposed areas?

The basement is Unfinished. The stairwell is open though at one end of the house. My husband does not want to put a stove in the living area. We have a old small house and the rooms are large at 12x12'. Also current furnace ducting would be in the way, let alone our living room furniture.

This is the beginning of my enquiry with a project like this and I am not sure of the distances needed for ducting in a room. The basement is all clay block in the area we are considering, except for the clay brick of the chimney and a rather close furnace and accessories that go with the furnace like electric, propane, and PVC fresh air intake.

 

[enduring]

Hi Moresnow, I'm located outside of Madrid Iowa in the country. We are traditional family farmers, except the kids aren't farming and are all gone.

Lots of stuff in the way, and In don't know if it can be moved. I will have to see if my husband can get up into the attic later to take a picture of the chimney in there.

Here is my "domesticated husband"s description of the chimney, in a drawing below. And some pictures of the actual space in the basement
BTW, DH is a term they use on Garden Web to mean Dear Husband, and I have this post over there, but forgot to edit that expression out

 

[MoDoug]

Welcome @enduring . I'm new to the wood burning world, almost two months now. I wanted one for the ambiance, and possibly as an emergency backup. We got a 1.8 cubic foot firebox, which I was concerned about being a little oversized, I'm wishing I would have gone a tad bigger for longer over night burns. I find myself using it a lot and enjoying it. I wouldn't be surprised if you and the Mr. ended up like that as well, especially with all the wood that you have readily available.

 

[begreen]

Looks like a midsized, 2.0 cu ft stove will suffice for the purpose stated. Look at the Drolet Escape 1800 too in addition to the Columbia. It's a good value and solid heater. The Quad Discovery is a bit fancy for a basement heater. Stick with their basic stoves. In this case the Milenium 3100. The Century FW2700 is the Drolet cousin and also a good inexpensive stove. Also look at the Englander 13NC and True North TN20.

The proximity of the PVC piping for the furnace will be an issue. Double-wall stove pipe can have a clearance of 6" to the side and 8" above it. The chimney should be inspected for any flaws and most likely should have a stainless liner.

 

[moresnow]

The proximity of the PVC piping for the furnace will be an issue

The proximity of the L.P. gas line feeding the forced air furnace may be worth a thought or two as well.

 

[weatherguy]

I took a few guesses at DH and dear husband wasnt any of my guesses.

 

[enduring]

Ok, talked to Husband, and discussed options of locating it in our dinning room or living room, each room is about 12x12 and are connected to make total area 12x24. One location is at the furnace return and is in the center of the 24' length. that is where the chimney comes up through the house. The other location is at one end of the room next to the kitchen, where there was probably a cook stove pre electric days. I think I like the idea of having the stove in the corner out of the way, though I would have to downsize on the furniture. The central location will take away the only seating for the recliner to watch the TV. If the stove was at the dinning room end, it would be in the corner and I've read that that complicates clearances. We also don't know what the chimney looks like in the corner, but Im sure it could be lined and a new hole in the roof made. The central location in the middle of the long wall would be in front of the air intake and I don't know what that would do to safety and circulation of the propane furnace.

The chimney along the 24' long wall that is 12' deep:


View of the return air vent for the furnace:


corner of the dinning area with an old chimney of unknown condition that is not exiting the roof:


from the kitchen side, same unknown chimney option. here the cabinets are just placed around the chimney, nothing was done to that area when the cabinets were put in 8 years ago:

 

[begreen]

The return is a problem. By code it should be at least 10 ft away from the stove.

I think you are overthinking this if the goal is just emergency supplemental heating. If the stairwell is nearby the basement stove location you may be able to heat ok from there. It won't be spectacular in -10 weather, but it will keep you and the pipes from freezing. In normal 20º winter weather it will probably work fine. If you get cold, go down to the basement. It will be toasty down there.

 

[jetsam]

If I was you I'd find an upstairs location away from air returns and crumbly old chimneys, central to the house if possible, and do a new roof penetration for a freestander there.

As discussed above, basement is a last resort option- unless you want to consider adding a wood furnace to your existing forced air system. This can be pretty cheap and let you un on wood instead of LP whenever you wanted.

In Iowa (Iowa boy here!) you could build an extension onto the house to hold the stove cheaper than you could rebuild an abandoned 100+ year old chimney.

 

[bholler]

If I was you I'd find an upstairs location away from air returns and crumbly old chimneys, central to the house if possible, and do a new roof penetration for a freestander there.

As discussed above, basement is a last resort option- unless you want to consider adding a wood furnace to your existing forced air system. This can be pretty cheap and let you un on wood instead of LP whenever you wanted.

In Iowa (Iowa boy here!) you could build an extension onto the house to hold the stove cheaper than you could rebuild an abandoned 100+ year old chimney.

The chimney doesn't need rebuilt just a new liner and possibly a new class a extension.

 

[jetsam]

The chimney doesn't need rebuilt just a new liner and possibly a new class a extension.

I think there is a second completely abandoned and roofed over interior chimney pictured in the second set of pictures, and it is not the same sound looking one from the first set of basement pictures, and we're discussing using the abandoned one for the stove?

I could be wrong.

 

[bholler]

I think there is a second completely abandoned and roofed over interior chimney pictured in the second set of pictures, and it is not the same sound looking one from the first set of basement pictures, and we're discussing using the abandoned one for the stove?

I could be wrong.

No not at all. The chimney in question was taken down below the roof line then extended with what you see sticking out the roof. So the chimney needs a liner from the top of the masonry to the crock. Then class a from the masonry.

 

[tommyH]

I would get a bigger wood stove than you think you need and NOT place it in the basement.

 

[enduring]

To clarify the pictures:
The basement pictures, and exterior shot, are of the main chimney in question with this post. The interior living room pictures with the exercise bike is the same chimney going through the living room. This chimney is the one that our people have looked at, and report they think it is a stable chimney. See the elevation drawing of the chimney layout with the first set of pictures.

My new thought was to bring the stove upstairs, because of the suggestions. I took the pictures of the living room to show the option of hooking the stove into the chimney in this discussion, near the exercise bike. But the cold air return is there, as seen in one of those pics. @begreen above, said that the cold air return needs to be a min of 10' away from the stove, by code, so that nixes that location.

The last set of pictures, posted out of order. The picture of the corner, with the 2 long black framed prints, is a second, mystery chimney, that I thought might be another contender to locate a living area stove. But we don't know the history of that chimney, probably from an old cook stove, before grandparents-in-laws had electricity. Mystery chimney is seen 1/2 exposed in the dinning room corner wall, and 1/2 exposed in the corner of the kitchen (above the toaster). Husband doesn't know where that chimney terminates in the attic. Regardless, it is out of the running, because it too is within the "10' no stove zone", due to the nearby cold air intake.

We are again in the basement for the install of this stove project. This makes husband happy.

Are people in agreement, that for the space of approx 400-780sf basement space, we should have a 2cf fire box? My original thought was to get the smaller 1.3cf Spark by Dorlet. But would consider the Columbia by Dorlet, or other medium size, depending on recommendations and price. Thanks so much for the other stove recommendations that are posted above.

 

[begreen]

"But DH doesn't want to make daily fires a practice in the winter, he just wants emergency heating source. "
2.0 cu ft will do the job.

 

[Highbeam]

I would not waste time with any stove under 2 cubic feet in any case other than a boat or purely decorative novelty type stove. This is 1200 sf unfinished area with another 1200 above of old farmhouse in Iowa. Stove is to be used for primary heat when furnace is down. No less than 3 cubes down there. 2400 sf of poorly insulated.

Really, 3 or more cubic feet. You’ll be sorry if you skimp in size.

 

[MoDoug]

Just curious, have you been in your house very long, have you experienced outages a lot, or are you just preparing for the eventuality of it? If it's very infrequent, have you thought about a cheap generator and a space heater or two? It would be a lot less work and expense.

My apologies to the mods here for suggesting something other than wood.

 

[bholler]

Just curious, have you been in your house very long, have you experienced outages a lot, or are you just preparing for the eventuality of it? If it's very infrequent, have you thought about a cheap generator and a space heater or two? It would be a lot less work and expense.

My apologies to the mods here for suggesting something other than wood.

There are times woodstoves aren't the best answer. Not sure in this case yet but no harm in suggesting something else.

 

[begreen]

I would not waste time with any stove under 2 cubic feet in any case other than a boat or purely decorative novelty type stove. This is 1200 sf unfinished area with another 1200 above of old farmhouse in Iowa. Stove is to be used for primary heat when furnace is down. No less than 3 cubes down there. 2400 sf of poorly insulated.

Really, 3 or more cubic feet. You’ll be sorry if you skimp in size.

400 sq ft room in the basement and part of upstairs will be what the stove is actually heating in an emergency. The backup generator question is not a bad one. With a big propane tank on site for heat, running on propane makes sense.

 

[Seasoned Oak]

"But DH doesn't want to make daily fires a practice in the winter, he just wants emergency heating source. "
2.0 cu ft will do the job.

And also placing it in the basement may make sense if its for emergency use. Do you really want to take up a large space in your living area for an emergency heater. The drawbacks of basement heating are not a big factor for once a year heat. But remember without power there will be no fans to help circulate the heat up thru the floors and stairs. May not work so well thru just a tight set of stairs. My basement stove heats 2 floors above it but with help from fans.