OT kinda

[chrisasst]

well, my stove isn't keeping up. Very cold in my house (especially mornings) 33 outside, 66 in side (fine for me, but not the wife and kids)
I believe 95% off it is because I have a crawl space under my living / dining room and my basement is not at all tight. Is there anything I can do to block the cold air from coming up from my floor? Insulation, well seems like that would just rot, maybe not...I don't know...but if it keeps up I will be going through more than 6 tons of pellets...any suggestions that you have done to "tighten" up.

 

[woodsman23]

well, my stove isn't keeping up. Very cold in my house (especially mornings) 33 outside, 66 in side (fine for me, but not the wife and kids)
I believe 95% off it is because I have a crawl space under my living / dining room and my basement is not at all tight. Is there anything I can do to block the cold air from coming up from my floor? Insulation, well seems like that would just rot, maybe not...I don't know...but if it keeps up I will be going through more than 6 tons of pellets...any suggestions that you have done to "tighten" up.

You need to get under there and insulate it with r19 at least. I did mine with R 30 faced (no basement) and then covered it all with 1.5" foam. Keep the face side of the insulation batts towards the floor use rods to hold it up. Will make a huge difference.

 

[Shortstuff]

I also have a crawlspace that varies in height from about 2-1/2' to 3-1/2' directly underneath the half of the house I'm heating with my pellet stove. It used to be a very drafty crawlspace with various openings/cracks here and there, I once found a kitten underneath the house, he got in somehow. I also had pipes freeze in the crawl space too.

I have since used the 2" thick hard foam pink insulation panels I got from Home Depot to insulate and seal the exterior sides of the entire crawl space. In addition, I also replaced what was left of a thin cement stucco wall on the outside with 1/2" Durock and stucco cement. On the inside of the crawlspace walls I then used a can or two of spray foam insulation to seal any and all cracks between the 2" foam panels and anywhere else I thought any outside air could get inside - even the smallest of cracks. The idea is to eliminate EVERY chance of ANY air getting in from the outside.

Well, it really made a BIG difference. For example, right now it is 30° outside and I have a wireless remote thermometer located in what I feel would be the coldest place in my crawlspace about 2' away from the exact pipes that had frozen on me before and the thermometer tells me it's 56° in the crawlspace. Now, keep in mind that this is without any heat in the crawlspace at all. What I mean is, all my hot water baseboard pipes are exposed throughout my crawlspace, but I'm not using the boiler for the heat, just the pellet stove, so no heat radiating from pipes. The past week or so we've had overnight temps near 30° and again, it's 56° under the house.

Yes, you can insulate under your floor too, but unless you have a vapor barrier of some kind on the floor of your crawlspace, the moisture will be a problem and can infiltrate your insulation. If you can put these 2" pink panels all around your crawlspace on the inside of your exterior walls and seal them really good with foam insulation, you'll be amazed what a difference just that alone will make. By the way, my floor above the crawlspace is not insulated at all.

As far as your basement, you said it is not well insulated and drafty. If you can insulate the walls that would definately help, but at a minimum, just like the crawlspace, if you can use spray foam to eliminate every possible opening where the outside air can get in, that would make a big difference too.

One more thing. As long as you have eliminated any air movement under your house, you would be amazed at what a few light bulbs hanging underneath will do to help keep the temperature up a bit. I always keep a 100watt bulb right near the pipes I used to worry about with an extention cord that I can plug in at any time. Last week I was working underneath the house and plugged that bulb in to help me see and when I got back upstairs I noticed that the temperature had gone up 2° because of the bulb.

If you do a search on the web for crawlspace insulation (for example) you'll get all kinds of great ideas on what you can do to help. Personally, I think that eliminating ANY and ALL drafts will make a big difference. Oh and since I did all the walls of my crawlspace, I've never had a frozen pipe.

Hope these ideas help and Happy Heating!

Steve

 

[tinkabranc]

At minimum, I would insulate the ceiling in the crawlspace and get a few
cans of that insulating foam spray stuff that swells up.
Spray every nook and cranny you can find where air is leaking in.