My first home has a wood stove, need help.

[Lderby]

Hi everyone!!

My wife and I just had our offer accepted on a home.

The basement is not insulated at all (the walls are just painted plywood over the stone wall). It does seem to have one heating vent and a ceiling fan.

My questions are how old do you think this stove is, can it heat the basement, should we use it over the regular furnace to heat the basement, and do you have anything else to maybe comment related to heating the basement and heating costs of the stove vs regular gas furnace.

oh also is it safe to run if no one is in the basement?

 

[begreen]

For safe operation, it's best to only burn fully-seasoned, dry firewood. The long horizontal run is correctly pitched upward, but it is going to slow down the draft and cool down the flue gases, perhaps too much. Have the flue system checked for integrity and cleaned. The uninsulated block wall is going to suck up a lot of heat to the outdoors.

 

[Lderby]

For safe operation, it's best to only burn fully-seasoned, dry firewood. The long horizontal run is correctly pitched upward, but it is going to slow down the draft and cool down the flue gases, perhaps too much. Have the flue system checked for integrity and cleaned. The uninsulated block wall is going to suck up a lot of heat to the outdoors.

I know that flue gasses are the exhaust fumes, but what do you mean about the gasses getting cold?

 

[bholler]

I know that flue gasses are the exhaust fumes, but what do you mean about the gasses getting cold?

The flue gasses need to stay above the condensation point. (About 220f) untill they exit the top of the chimney. If they don't water will condense out of the smoke bringing creosote particles with it and cause problems with buildup which could lead to a chimney fire.

 

[bholler]

Btw the stove looks like an early 80s one

 

[stoveliker]

Apart from getting the system in better shape (less horizontal run): insulate the basement. "A lot of heat" (absorbed in the walls) is on the order of 30 pct...

 

[begreen]

If the goal is to keep using this stove, consider moving the hearth to the right and placing the stove at a 45º angle in the corner closest to the wall thimble. That will liberate a lot of wall space and will shorten the stovepipe run considerably. If the stove was replaced with a modern stove the room would have a nice fire view too while using less wood. Insulating the exposed block walls will also help reduce fuel consumption.

 

[clancey]

I would do some more research on wood burning and stoves for there are a lot out there and if you want to heat the basement with the stove you have it needs a lot of work to make it more feaseable for you especially that set up that you have and I think it could be made better especially with the insulation of your basement--your basement looks pretty...I have no experience with stoves and only used mine about five times so I would suggest get a stove installer out there to look at the situation before you attempt to use it and this could be a "eye opener" as well..old mrs clancey

 

[bigealta]

I'm guessing this is in Utah?, and yes is there good easy access to bring firewood down into the basement? Carrying firewood up or down stairs gets old pretty quickly. Fine to do for occasional use though.