Just looking for thoughts/opinions to verify my train of thought.
I live in Colorado and have a 1970s 2 story ranch. Basement is ~800 sq/ft and top is 1000 sq/ft w/two bedrooms. We have a single chimney with a fireplace in the basement and in the living room. We like the open fireplace upstairs and are planning on putting an insert in the basement to help heat the house and to stop smoke from being drawn into the basement when we use the upstairs fireplace. So my questions are:
1. Is putting the fireplace downstairs to warm the whole house the right line of thinking? Will enough heat transfer thru the floorboards to keep the upstairs warm. The downstairs has carpet but there are three sides with concrete walls. Never got unreasonably cold downstairs but the furnace with a fan is down there so I was thinking I could leave the fan running on the furnace with the downstairs fireplace to help heat the house.
2. As far as selecting an insert, which ones are the easiest to repair and obtain parts for? I've read around that some places make you go thru dealers vs. being able to purchase online so consideration of future repair parts.
3. I dont have a particular cost in mind, but what I definitely do not want is to hear the metal popping as it heats and cools. So far the Jotul is the only brand I have seen that is fully cast iron which I think will help with that. Are there any other brands that are completely cast iron or have thick enough metal to prevent popping?
Anyway, thanks for you time and I would appreciate any personal experiences, thoughts, or advice.
I live in Colorado and have a 1970s 2 story ranch. Basement is ~800 sq/ft and top is 1000 sq/ft w/two bedrooms. We have a single chimney with a fireplace in the basement and in the living room. We like the open fireplace upstairs and are planning on putting an insert in the basement to help heat the house and to stop smoke from being drawn into the basement when we use the upstairs fireplace. So my questions are:
1. Is putting the fireplace downstairs to warm the whole house the right line of thinking? Will enough heat transfer thru the floorboards to keep the upstairs warm. The downstairs has carpet but there are three sides with concrete walls. Never got unreasonably cold downstairs but the furnace with a fan is down there so I was thinking I could leave the fan running on the furnace with the downstairs fireplace to help heat the house.
2. As far as selecting an insert, which ones are the easiest to repair and obtain parts for? I've read around that some places make you go thru dealers vs. being able to purchase online so consideration of future repair parts.
3. I dont have a particular cost in mind, but what I definitely do not want is to hear the metal popping as it heats and cools. So far the Jotul is the only brand I have seen that is fully cast iron which I think will help with that. Are there any other brands that are completely cast iron or have thick enough metal to prevent popping?
Anyway, thanks for you time and I would appreciate any personal experiences, thoughts, or advice.