P61 in the basement

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tazz

Member
Aug 17, 2013
40
western massachusetts
Hi all, I finally put a stove in our finished basement, been running a insert in our three season finished breezeway for a few years and love it but I needed to heat the basement. The P61 in the basement is a beast to say the least. The basement is divided into two rooms and I have the air down there circulating pretty well. I know this stove will heat the whole house as this is a mid size cape with a finished and dormered upstairs. The problem is I'm getting the heat from the cellar Doorway and whatever radiates up to the floor. I plan on putting some floor grates in and what I'm looking for is some ideas on what everyone here has done. As in straight up though the floor, up into a wall vent, etc. Some pics would be great cause they're worth a thousand words.
 
Air vent may or may not work. They certainly did not work in my house - kind of a bummer that I cut up some nice hardwood floors to discover that. Even with register fans pulling air up (or pushing cold air down), even with the basement in the high 80's, I couldn't get the currents going in my house that I needed. Ended up with a second stove on my main floor (entire upstairs. The basement is only 1600 sq/ft, so the P61, on paper, should heat it easily.

Others have had success, so I'm not trying to be a Debbie Downer, just relating my experience.
 
I use a lasko pivoting utility fan pointing down the stairs and I get plenty of warm coming up from there it's i just need more warm air in other rooms. I'm pretty sure registers will work for me, I'm really looking for how others have installed them.
 
Hi all, I finally put a stove in our finished basement, been running a insert in our three season finished breezeway for a few years and love it but I needed to heat the basement. The P61 in the basement is a beast to say the least. The basement is divided into two rooms and I have the air down there circulating pretty well. I know this stove will heat the whole house as this is a mid size cape with a finished and dormered upstairs. The problem is I'm getting the heat from the cellar Doorway and whatever radiates up to the floor. I plan on putting some floor grates in and what I'm looking for is some ideas on what everyone here has done. As in straight up though the floor, up into a wall vent, etc. Some pics would be great cause they're worth a thousand words.


We did a basement install to replace our wood stove.

When I first started using it I was a bit disappointed in the heat circulation. The family room lower level was great, but the kitchen, living room and dining room areas were cool (above the stove). There were 2 4x12 vents in the floor in the dining room, with the wood stove under there the heat was so intense it drove the heat up those vents on its own, not so with the pellet stove.

I bought 2 of these Tjerland RB12 fans(Amazon product ASIN B005FNL0SS) register booster fans for the 4x12 registers. Wow what a difference, it certainly balanced everything out and now I am very happy with the set-up. The upstairs and family room are now consistent. The bedroom area is cool, but I like it that way.
 
I've tried passive venting in our old home we built in 1999 back in WV. Didn't work as intended. The heat boxed into the basement and didn't rise with small vents..

I remember our farmhouse in Ohio, built in 1880's.. It used to have a coal furnace in the cellar, and right above that between the kitchen and the parlor was a HUGE ornate floor grate- maybe 4x4. That did move some heat. However the cellar door was always closed and the cellar was drafty- so outside air came in- heated the cellar and it rose.

I think new homes, as efficient as they are, really don't lend themselves to massive BTU passive heating. It gets boxed in. As mentioned- fan vents will do the trick. We ditched our old wood stove and bought an Englander wood furnace with a powerful blower. I ran ducting to the vents and mercy sakes did we get some serious heat! The bleed off radiant heat from the unit was enough to moderate the basement temps..