I'm going to burn wood for heat! (What do you say?) 🪓🪵🔥

[fantastic]

Hello Folks, Another member over on the engine oil forum, (mattd), thought it was a good idea to start this conversation over here. I live in MO & my house was built in 1949. It was designed around using a wood stove in the basement. I vaguely remember my Grandparents stove down there when I was a young lad. They bought it in 1985 & by the early 1990's Grandma went to a natural gas stove. Dad kept that trend until I eventually bought the house in 2013. It's a 3 level house including the basement but 2nd floor upstairs is half the square footage where the kids sleep. I just took a tape measure to the inside floor living space & came up with square feet below.

• Level Floor 27.08 feet x 27.08 feet = 733.32 Square Foot
• Basement N/S 26.79 Ft x E/W 26.70 Ft = 715.29 Square Foot
• Upstairs N/S 27.08 Ft x E/W 14.35 Ft = 388.59 Square Foot
• 1837.21 Square Foot total (Interior dimensions)

There are three vents on the main level floor. One of those vents is right above where the wood stove would go into the basement. This house was designed around using a wood stove for heat. That central floor vent is right at the doorstep for the upstairs (2nd floor) where the kids sleep. Here in MO so far the coldest was -7.8F this year. My fear is putting the stove on the main floor I'll get too hot all of the time. I like to be 63-67F or so during the day & night.

HOUSE PICTURES (SAFE MY CLOUD STORAGE)

Stove will go right in front of the chimney with the front door facing you. Circled in RED where the main central floor vent is located.

That floor vent is right below the 2nd floor stairs where the kids sleep (around 360 sq ft).

There's a vent in the middle of the floor in the main living room.

I covered the vent in the bathroom when I remodeled it by making my sons bedroom a bigger bathroom. I'll put one back in there of course.

Basement picture showing where all three vent locations are.

I bought an Englander 500 3.5 cubic foot wood stove advertised as 2700 square feet but their PDF shows this stove is designed to heat 3,100 square feet in "Zone 4" (Missouri). I asked my brother that burns wood in his lower (basement) level & he says I'd be much happier with it installed in my basement. I prefer to stay around 65F & don't necessarily mind putting on a sweater or flannel shirt. My head gets hot easily so having the stove up on the level floor would probably just end up me not using it as much. Although, I'm sure I'd enjoy it on the level floor on the coldest of winter days <19F. The opposing side to this is that I may need to keep my propane around for the coldest of days to make sure I'm heating upstairs (2nd floor) for the kids. So long as it's at least 60F + up there, on the coldest days, I'd be happy but not sure what will happen. Propane heater will remain installed for the first year at the minimum to see if I can get away with using the stove in the basement.

6" Chimney liner will be installed & it'll be around 25-27 feet in length (best guesstimate). Any thoughts about what to expect? Anything about anything to share with me? Either way, I'll update this thread to share with you what I need to do to get there. Thanks!

 

[begreen]

The big concern with a basement install is negative pressure. The best installs can fail if this is an issue in the basement.

 

[fantastic]

The big concern with a basement install is negative pressure. The best installs can fail if this is an issue in the basement.

I had my brother blow his vape smoke past the chimney pipe hole & it seemed to suck it up the chimney. It's an interior chimney & will be double wall insulated flex liner with a 5" fresh air kit. Could you kindly allow me to re edit my post to add the pictures that aren't showing up? Maybe give me a day or so...kids! Thanks

 

[stoveliker]

If the basement is below grade, a fresh air kit may not be possible; the air inlet on the outside of the home should be at or below the height of where the air gets into the stove.
(This is so that a draft reversal does not result in the fresh air line acting like a chimney, which for safety reasons is obviously problematic.)

 

[fantastic]

If the basement is below grade, a fresh air kit may not be possible; the air inlet on the outside of the home should be at or below the height of where the air gets into the stove.

The insulated 5" HVAC style fresh air piping will go right above ground out the side of the house. The stove would be about 5-6 feet below that.

(This is so that a draft reversal does not result in the fresh air line acting like a chimney, which for safety reasons is obviously problematic.)

Well, That's not good & certainly don't want smoke leaving the stove out of the fresh air kit. I don't like the stove using the house's air though. Perhaps make it feel a bit more drafty while the stove is in use? Seemed that way when we used the propane furnace.

What's the odds of this happening?

 

[stoveliker]

The insulated 5" HVAC style fresh air piping will go right above ground out the side of the house. The stove would be about 5-6 feet below that.

That is not okay (unless the stove manual explicitly says it is, and most do not).

Well, That's not good & certainly don't want smoke leaving the stove out of the fresh air kit. I don't like the stove using the house's air though. Perhaps make it feel a bit more drafty while the stove is in use? Seemed that way when we used the propane furnace.

What's the odds of this happening?

I don't know the odds, but doing it this way gives your insurance ammunition to deny a claim to rebuild your biggest investment... your home, in case it does happen.

 

[fantastic]

That is not okay (unless the stove manual explicitly says it is, and most do not).
I don't know the odds, but doing it this way gives your insurance ammunition to deny a claim to rebuild your biggest investment... your home, in case it does happen.

Thanks! Well, it seems you have a great point regarding safely plumbing the fresh air kit. I did read the manual & it just states a fresh air kit is needed if the chimney is shorter than the house or "waterproof" house (no air). While it seems it's going into the basement there's still some drafts coming in where the concrete & base of the house wood meets through the cracks. I think it should get enough air supply. w/o installing the fresh air kit.

Anyone share what their house temps are like with a stove on? Square feet?

 

[Dieselhead]

Anyone share what their house temps are like with a stove on? Square feet?

any info shared will be completely irrelevant to your specific situation as there are SO many variables between stove, location, wood, house size, insulation and on and on.

 

[Bristlecone]

Would have to test it out to make sure it will work.

 

[fantastic]

any info shared will be completely irrelevant to your specific situation as there are SO many variables between stove, location, wood, house size, insulation and on and on.

That is very true. The samples are not equal.

 

[fantastic]

I backed out of my hair brained idea of spending 4k for a splitter. I told myself that I can probably find a good used one on Marketplace. Found an ad stating "Like New 37 Ton for $1500 OBO" so I sent them an offer of $900. They said $1200, then I said $1100, they responded nicely by saying "that will work". It was about 50 miles away, met them at the fuel station & the guy stated he was going through a divorce. I asked how long he'd had it & about how many hours, "I bought it two years ago & probably 20 hours". Then asked if the oil had been changed, "No".

Took it over to my brothers & we fired it up to start splitting wood. After about an hour or so had a good truck bed load. Everything works well!

I plan to change the oil & put in some Euro 0w-40 or possibly a 5w-40 HDEO as soon as I can. Ethanol Free gas, stabilizer, & some Berrymans carb cleaner next time I go back to split more wood hopefully this week. This brand states "Engineered in NC" but yes it's all made in China according to the sticker. 338CC engine had plenty of power but my brother doesn't have anything green to try to push it.

Here's the FB ad pics. Soon as I can get a few more pics of what I'm seeing I'll share.