New house build. Stove location

[Brendan713]

Hi we are planing a new house build and would like a wood stove in the basement ideally to heat the hole house. 1400sqft.

Can anyone give me some pointers on where they would place the stove ?

Thank you
Brendan

 

[stoveliker]

I would say there where you can keep the full flue inside the home. WOrks better. (less gases cooling on the way up, less deposits).

If you have a choice, I'd put it near (right across from?) the stairs. Heat can go up the stairs nicely then.
However, this works best if you are able to create a air flow circuit: get cold air to go to the basement *in a different place from where the warm air goes up*.

See this thread how I did it.

Post in thread 'Moving heat from basement'

May 1, 2023

I heat from the basement, and if I include my basement squre footage, I have 2500 sqft.
825 in the basement and 1700 above that. Late 70s. Brand new triple pane windows, fantastic sealing and insulation (R57) in the attic. Mediocre wall insulation.

My basement walls are insulated, but the floor is unfortunately not.

Heating my home above the basement is easy. Only when it gets to be 5 F do I have to push the stove (as in 8 hr reloads), still keeping my main floor around 70 F.

However, I second the comment above that heating from a basement benefits from consistency, i.e. you heat...

• stoveliker

• 

If you make a cold air return down to the basement on the outside wall between kitchen and living room , you get some good flow to that side of the home. But the other rooms will remain quite colder,

However, in general, it's not easy to heat a whole house with what is a space heater.

 

[begreen]

Is there an exterior entrance to the basement? If not, how does the wood get to the stove? Also, basement locations can often be a negative pressure zone. That can make installing a stove there a gamble. Definitely plan on an interior chimney up through the house and if possible an outside air supply to the stove for combustion air. Possible chase location here? Or better yet, put the stove there on the main floor.

 

[stoveliker]

Regarding outside air supply, these cannot go "up" but should end up at or below the location the air enters the stove.
So if outside grade is above the stove air inlet, that's an issue.

Also I see a furnace; unless they have their own air supply from outside, they can they suck and exhaust a lot of home air. This can lead to (more) negative pressure in the basement (see BG above).

 

[begreen]

Regarding outside air supply, these cannot go "up" but should end up at or below the location the air enters the stove.
So if outside grade is above the stove air inlet, that's an issue.

Also I see a furnace; unless they have their own air supply from outside, they can they suck and exhaust a lot of home air. This can lead to (more) negative pressure in the basement (see BG above).

Yes, that's a concern. There are no elevations showing grade. An outside air connection can be made if there is an air gap. Some stoves have this built-in to avoid the potential for reverse venting. Another important point, if the goal is to heat both floors, is that the basement walls (and ideally the floor too) need to be insulated.

 

[qwee]

And, is the basement insulated?

 

[Brendan713]

Is there an exterior entrance to the basement? If not, how does the wood get to the stove? Also, basement locations can often be a negative pressure zone. That can make installing a stove there a gamble. Definitely plan on an interior chimney up through the house and if possible an outside air supply to the stove for combustion air. Possible chase location here? Or better yet, put the stove there on the main floor.

View attachment 346433

If I place a stove on the main floor. How cold will the basement be?

And, is the basement insulated?

Yes, the basement will be insulated.

 

[kborndale]

If I place a stove on the main floor. How cold will the basement be?

Heat doesn't travel downstairs without ducting and fans, no heat from a stove on the main floor will be going downstairs. Myself and others on here heat successfully from the basement. That said in some instances (negative pressure being a big one) problems arise. I personally have no interest in a stove on my main floor, keep the wood scraps and ash and smoke mess downstairs, not in my living room.

 

[begreen]

If I place a stove on the main floor. How cold will the basement be?

If the basement is mostly underground and well-insulated it will probably settle in at around 50-55º in the winter. The hvac system could be zoned so that the basement has its own thermostat. In that case, its temperature will be what the thermostat is set to.

 

[qwee]

If you know you are going to burn in the basement, I might design in/ask builders to construct a well placed small opening in the foundation wall where you could slide in a chute in order to slide the firewood down into the basement - a real work saver. Like a small horizontal door/window. Or have the basement door placed where you can get wood to the stove - a straight shot. Maybe by using a chute down the stairs. He used a large plastic pipe cut in half as a chute (like city pipe leftovers).

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[Brawndo71]

I'd plan for the laundry to be upstairs first.

 

[Brendan713]

Was thinking of making shoot through one of the basement windows.

I'd plan for the laundry to be upstairs first.

there is place up stairs but sorta want that to be a mud room..

 

[begreen]

I personally have no interest in a stove on my main floor, keep the wood scraps and ash and smoke mess downstairs, not in my living room.

That's not a big issue if one loads carefully. Our stove is in the living room where we can enjoy the fire view. There is minimal mess with a log carrier bringing in the wood from the wood box on the porch. My wife is a fussy housekeeper. I would hear it if there was a big mess.

 

[Brendan713]

That's not a big issue if one loads carefully. Our stove is in the living room where we can enjoy the fire view. There is minimal mess with a log carrier bringing in the wood from the wood box on the porch. My wife is a fussy housekeeper. I would hear it if there was a big mess.

Do you have a basement? If so does it get quite cold?

 

[begreen]

We have a pit basement in a fully insulated crawlspace. It never has dropped below 55º, but our lowest temperature has been 14ºF (-10C). That is with no supplemental heat and 100yr old construction.

With the utility room in the basement, I would add a separate zone to the HVAC so I could heat it when desired. Or put a mini-split down there.

 

[reaperman1]

You may want to consider a wood furnace that ties into the forced air duct work. That’s really the only true way you’re going to heat the house evenly and efficiently.

 

[Brendan713]

You may want to consider a wood furnace that ties into the forced air duct work. That’s really the only true way you’re going to heat the house evenly and efficiently.

I thought about one, might be the better way.

 

[reaperman1]

I thought about one, might be the better way.

Some furnaces have attachments that tie into the water heater also. A furnace will most likely burn more wood than a free standing stove.

 

[begreen]

Discuss with the furnace option with folks in the boiler room forum. It may be overkill, especially in milder winter weather, if the house is well insulated.

 

[Brendan713]

Heat doesn't travel downstairs without ducting and fans, no heat from a stove on the main floor will be going downstairs. Myself and others on here heat successfully from the basement. That said in some instances (negative pressure being a big one) problems arise. I personally have no interest in a stove on my main floor, keep the wood scraps and ash and smoke mess downstairs, not in my living room.

How do you avoid negative pressure?

 

[stoveliker]

Sealing upstairs so no air escapes there.
And being mindful of exhausting appliances (fans etc)
Ultimately an hrv or erv

 

[begreen]

How do you avoid negative pressure?

Sometimes it's hard to prevent, but not having any air leaks on the main floor or to the attic helps. Unfortunately, items like bathroom and kitchen exhaust fans, and/or a clothes dryer have to pull the air from somewhere. Radon fans can also cause negative pressure in the lower part (basement) of a house.

 

[vatmark]

If you place the stove on the main floor the basement really wont get any heat from it. I have my stove in my great room on the main level of my house and then I have a finished walkout basement. Each level has it's own heat pump. We recently had a crazy ice storm come through. They were calling for 1/2 to 3/4 inch of ice. We decided to play it safe and turn both heat pumps off and cover them to prevent icing and damage. They can handle some ice but not that much. We used the stove to heat our main level. I set up a fan at the bottom of the stairs in the walkout basement to push cold air up and see if I could get a heat loop going. It increased the temp in the basement by only 1 degree.

 

[begreen]

I set up a fan at the bottom of the stairs in the walkout basement to push cold air up and see if I could get a heat loop going. It increased the temp in the basement by only 1 degree.

Correct, this works best from room to room on the same floor.

 

[Geezer77]

I don't know about Canada but I'd check with my Home Owners Insurance agent before I went any further. Here in the States I know of two instances where the insurance companies made the owners pull the stove out of the basement.