Sized for the room or the house?

[Sel135]

I’ve searched and not found the clear answer…

I just moved into a new house. Ranch style with a full basement. 1740sq ft up stairs plus another 1740 downstairs. I plan to add a wood stove in the basement while I finish it out. The basement has hvac already but as I finish out the basement there will be bedrooms and wall obstructions. Without ducting in any heat, do I size the stove for the open air sq footage without room obstructions downstairs (~1200 sq ft) or do I size it for the full house (3,680)? Thats a huge swing and since it’s not my primary heat source I am leaning towards the smaller option putting me in a medium size stove as I’d hate for that side of the house to get too hot and not be enjoyable or usable.

Photo to show where I plan to put the stove.

 

[kborndale]

Do you plan on insulating those walls and floor? That makes a huge difference on sizing the stove.

 

[all night moe]

A big stove in a confined area, to heat a whole house, is going to roast out the stove room.

 

[BobcatBranch]

While you did not state a goal for the stove, you mentioned it would be a secondary heat source. There are two very good points to consider above. There many more to consider.

What do you want out of the stove? Efficiency? Ambiance? Are looks important?

You're fortunate to be able to start this project fresh. Design your install around your needs, then wants. The flue will be the engine that drives yours stove. Keep that in mind for sure!

 

[stoveliker]

It would help get better advice to have a floor plan to show how the space is going to be divvied up, and where the stairs to upstairs are.

 

[begreen]

Need more info. All of the points made so far are excellent.

• proper insulation of the basement walls will make a big difference, year round.
• a big stove in a confined area will turn it into an oven. even a small stove has that potential if the stove area is small.
• need to see a plan in order to see the relationship of the stove to the stairs and how closed off the stove area will be. (Hint, keep any passageway large and unobstructed)
• before deciding, consider alternative locations and how the stove will be vented (straight up through the house or up and through the wall with an exterior chimney)

 

[xman23]

What's the goal with the stove in the basement? As with all wood stove installations there are limits to how well it will heat. The basement does work, but there are additional limitations.

 

[Sel135]

Do you plan on insulating those walls and floor? That makes a huge difference on sizing the stove.

Yes

 

[Sel135]

While you did not state a goal for the stove, you mentioned it would be a secondary heat source. There are two very good points to consider above. There many more to consider.

What do you want out of the stove? Efficiency? Ambiance? Are looks important?

You're fortunate to be able to start this project fresh. Design your install around your needs, then wants. The flue will be the engine that drives yours stove. Keep that in mind for sure!

It’s secondary, if it could take a little heat duty away from the hvac that’d be great. But ambiance as well so yes looks are important and I am just stating on the journey so I am sure I’ve got a lot of questions I don’t even know about yet.

 

[Sel135]

It would help get better advice to have a floor plan to show how the space is going to be divvied up, and where the stairs to upstairs are.

Stove would go in the top left. Stairs are in the center as marked.

 

[Sel135]

Need more info. All of the points made so far are excellent.

• proper insulation of the basement walls will make a big difference, year round.
• a big stove in a confined area will turn it into an oven. even a small stove has that potential if the stove area is small.
• need to see a plan in order to see the relationship of the stove to the stairs and how closed off the stove area will be. (Hint, keep any passageway large and unobstructed)
• before deciding, consider alternative locations and how the stove will be vented (straight up through the house or up and through the wall with an exterior chimney)

Replied to another with a pic of the layout for framing. Yes, insulating the basement. Trying to keep as much open as I can for open airspace. Stove location I picked was because it can be vented out the side of the block up the exterior of the house.

 

[Sel135]

What's the goal with the stove in the basement? As with all wood stove installations there are limits to how well it will heat. The basement does work, but there are additional limitations.

Secondary heat source and ambiance. Ideally lower the hvac load, but not a primary goal.

 

[stoveliker]

If that.map is for the basement floor (rather than the floor above where the stove.is), I'd go when the a smaller stove.
Having a living room there just means that you can't make it too warm or it would be uncomfortable.
The stairs are narrow. The wider they are, the more heat will escape to upstairs.

Begreen will be able to suggest some good candidates.


One other possibility is to have a fan blowing cooler air from upstairs down, preferably near where you put the stove.
This will cool down the room and move more warm air upstairs.

Be careful how you design this though. I'll post a link to a post of how I did this.

 

[stoveliker]

Moving heat from basement

How many people heat their house with a wood burning stove that’s in a uninsulated. Basement rim joists that are insulated. beside the basement walls ?

www.hearth.com

 

[begreen]

It looks like roughly about 900 sq ft would be heated with some heat heading upstairs. The gym will get almost no heat. Will the upstairs be an independent and separate living space from the basement apartment?

Based on what is shown, a 1.5-2.0 cu ft would suffice. There are several stoves that might work depending on the budget, frequency of usage, etc.

Suggestion - if the intent is to share heat with upstairs then skip the door at the bottom of the stairs or make it 36".

 

[Sel135]

It looks like roughly about 900 sq ft would be heated with some heat heading upstairs. The gym will get almost no heat. Will the upstairs be an independent and separate living space from the basement apartment?

Based on what is shown, a 1.5-2.0 cu ft would suffice. There are several stoves that might work depending on the budget, frequency of usage, etc.

Suggestion - if the intent is to share heat with upstairs then skip the door at the bottom of the stairs or make it 36".

It’s essentially separate by the rooms. As I mentioned, there is already hvac ducted in both upstairs and downstairs and this is a secondary heat source. It doesn’t have to cover the whole house. I just wasn’t sure how to size it. Seems like going with just the common sense of the room plus open door adjoining rooms would calculate the max needed then?

 

[BobcatBranch]

It’s essentially separate by the rooms. As I mentioned, there is already hvac ducted in both upstairs and downstairs and this is a secondary heat source. It doesn’t have to cover the whole house. I just wasn’t sure how to size it. Seems like going with just the common sense of the room plus open door adjoining rooms would calculate the max needed then?

Sounds like it. What are your plans for the flue?

 

[Sel135]

Sounds like it. What are your plans for the flue?

If you’re looking at the picture, it would go out the wall between the exterior door and the corner then up the side of the house externally.

 

[stoveliker]

When going out the wall, do so as high as possible for better draft. Also use two 45 deg pieces rather than one 90 deg pieces for better draft.

For basically a 15*15 ft room plus peripheral spaces, I'd go at the lower end of the 1.5-2 cu ft range; even if only for space issues (it's not a very big room and a stove can take quite some space).

Once a model has been identified, put a piece of cardboard of the [footprint of the stove plus the clearances] on the ground to see how much space it'll take.

 

[kborndale]

Start working on your wood supply now, modern stoves require wood seasoned a minimum of a year and up to 3 years for some species, and you most likely will not be able to buy ready to burn wood (even though every wood seller tells you their wood is ready to burn).

 

[BobcatBranch]

Stoveliker has good points. Since you're starting in the basement, you have the opportunity to install a stack tall enough to get some good draft.

The office occupant is going to love the heat!

 

[joop]

i have a dovre 400 skeeny weeny stove good for 1400max sqft in well insulated open concept bungalow.it will crank out heat like you wouldn't believe 28c in house when -30c outside.thing with small firebox you have to load more.i would lean towards smaller stove

 

[joop]

and being in west virginia not that many days of truly frigid temps

 

[begreen]

Considering this is a basement install, I would also add in a OAK. The size of the stove will depend in part on how it will be used and the technology. 1.0 to 1.5 cu ft will suffice for a secondary, tube stove that is an occaisionally run chill chaser. A larger 2.0 firebox will be ok with a cat stove that can run low and slow.

 

[Sel135]

Considering this is a basement install, I would also add in a OAK.

What is an OAK?