Little Advice

[hrolson]

Hey Guys and Gals,
We just built last year and we have plans to install a wood burning fireplace before winter. The fireplace will be in a "to be finished" basement. We are looking to get as much heat as possible from the unit to the main level of the home. As we built out of town we are on LP which is significantly more expensive than I had planned for. So basically we are looking for ideas on manufactures to research that have the ability to attach a blower that we would be able to duct to the above story of the home. Any suggestions/opinions. Thanks!

 

[begreen]

Welcome. You are going to want an EPA phase II certified zero clearance (zc) fireplace. There are several good models out there. To size it correctly we need to know a bit about the house. How large is it? How well insulated is each floor including the basement?

Some good brands are Northstar, RSF, Quadrafire, Pacific Energy, Kozy, Regency, Valcourt, BIS.

 

[Dieselhead]

Napoleon nz3000 or nz6000 has the ducts you can run up to the 1st floor that should provide some great radiant heat

 

[hrolson]

House is pretty big about 4000sq ft. We aren't planning on heating the entire thing with the fireplace. Just looking to offset the LP a little. House is well insulated. Walked it with infrared camera last winter and it looked pretty tight.

 

[Ashful]

Pumping heat into an unfinished basement will put most of it into the earth around your home, thanks to the five large heat sinks you call your basement walls and floor. Best to get some insulation and carpet down fast, if you really want to get heat flowing upstairs.

Treat that house like a capacitor... just keep pumping wood heat in, and let your LP do it's thing to make up the deficit. I'm burning two stoves, and that's how we roll.

 

[begreen]

Insulating the basement walls should be first thing on the agenda. Go for a large ZC in the 3.0 to 4.0 cu ft size range.