Stove for old three story farm house

[Timbertotide]

Hello, I'm new to this forum. Hoping to gather some advice on wood stove sizing, placement, and air movement, etc.

I live in a an old three story farmhouse that is somewhat poorly insulated. The main floor is 1200sqft and where all the living happens. The upstairs is 600sqft and is, for the time being, used for storage. The basement is 800sqft, unfinished, and used for tools and freezer storage. The house is currently poorly heated by an old forced air wood furnace in the basement. It burns dirty and it burns a lot. The ducting to the two floors above are only half insulated...I'm sure you get the picture. It's not working well.
I'm planning to remove a center dividing wall between the two main areas on the main(middle) floor. I'd like to get a large woodstove to replace the furnace, but I'd like it in the living area on this main floor. I assume I can tie it in to the existing chimney which runs up at one end of this central wall that I'll be removing.
So here's where the questions start.
Will the basement get cold and damp(we're located in the PNW) and therefor need supplementary heating?
Will the heat make it upstairs enough to keep it warm and dry for storage, or will venting need to be added?

I hope I've come to the right place. Thanks in advance for any thoughts or advice.
Cheers

 

[begreen]

At first I was thinking of just replacing the old furnace with a new, cleaner one but WA state has very tough certification requirements. If tapping into the chimney, it will probably need a 6" liner for a modern stove. Yes, the basement will be colder, though not necessarily damper unless there is water intrusion. The main thing to watch out for is pipes freezing if it gets very cold. Where in PNW are you? This is a large area with different climates.

 

[Timbertotide]

I'm actually in lower mainland coastal BC. We get a ton of wet weather and low temps of 5 deg F at worst but only for a short time. There are no water intrusion issues in the basement.
How big of a process is installing a 6" liner in an old brick chimney? Get a good sweep and then just lower it in, and right angle out where the stove sits?
The floors between each story are not insulated, so I would assume if the main floor was kept at a comfortable temp that the basement would not reach freezing temps. A big improvement I'm looking forward to is overnight burning. The old furnace never makes it. We burn well seasoned Douglas Fir in this area, fyi.

 

[begreen]

The ease or challenge of dropping a liner in an existing flue depends on the inner dimensions of the current flue. Code requires that most liners be insulated here, not sure about BC. Heat from a stove on the main floor will not reach the basement. If a modern wood furnace sounds interesting, stop by and post in the boiler room forum on this site. I was thinking of a Drolet Heat Max II. But if you prefer to have a nice stove in the living space, then an electric space heater in the basement may be sufficient to prevent pipe freezing during very cold weather. Each has its advantages.

We primarily burn doug fir also. It's a nice fuel.