Stove in unfinished basement

[jdinny]

Hi all, and Happy New Year!

We currently have a P43 in our living room that does a great job heating our whole house.
My wife does woodworking projects in our unfinished basement and we're contemplating picking up another P43 to install down there.
My question is, will it heat that space or will all the heat be sucked up and lost in the concrete ?
Anyone do this with any success ?
Again, not looking for heat to migrate upstairs, just keep the basement 50 to 60 degrees.
Thanks all

 

[bogieb]

If you leave the heat on full time, it should heat that space. Sure, you will be heating the concrete, but once it is heated, it will be fine. My downstairs is unfinished and was completely uninsulated last winter and it would stay nicely in the mid 80's while I was trying to heat the upstairs. This year, about 1/4 of the basement is insulated (that portion closest to stove), and I have a stove upstairs, and the Harman easily keeps the basement at 72-75. Of course it isn't an even heat as the part closest to the garage is a bit cooler - but it is very comfortable throughout.

 

[AccentraRRT]

I currently have my Harman in a half finished basement. The walls are studded and green board (no insulation between). Running the Harman on 2 1/2 to 3 with the basement door open keeps the basement at about 80-85 while drifting heat to main level at 66 and upper level around 67 without supplemental oil heat. If it's under 30 I need to boost the temp knob a bit for the upper level heat increase but the basement is always toasty regardless.

 

[bags]

A basement shouldn't be much below 50* if it is all sub grade but every situation is different. I am sure you could heat it down there with another stove. Much of the heat will get sucked up by the concrete but once that happens you have a huge thermal mass working in your favor. That crete will retain heat for awhile too and maintain a decent temp there. However, Like Bogie said it makes more sense to keep the stove running the entire time even if at a lower temp. She has a unit down stairs and another up. She has some good experience with this situation.

It takes a lot of heat to bring all of the thermal mass back up to temp. A LOT of energy. If you keep it at a comfy temp it still may possibly help your upper level also. Where things get lost in translation is when people think ALL of this warm air is going to rise and heat their upper level. Makes sense but not evident many times. Those concrete floors and walls are BTU sponges soaking it all up. Plus side is once they have that heat they keep it just like a sponge holds water. IMO you will be fine and are thinking correctly.

This was one challenge I have heating my place. It is two main levels with different levels on each of the two main. I Have a timber frame and in a nut shell my first floor level is a lower level open basement. Slab on grade with different levels. Very unconventional custom home. I have three levels on my 1st floor with only a few feet total difference in elevations. It is all concrete with tile through out the lower levels or 1st floor which can suck up the BTU's. I am still doing both levels with one stove but am adding the second to get another area currently closed off by doors and to supplement the far reaches of the main stove. I have experience how the cold crete really likes to eat some BTU's but once up in temperature it holds onto the warmth and gives it back slowly in radiant heat. Obviously if you frame out and insulate the walls more warm air will want to head upstairs but still might have difficulties getting there.

The thermal mass being heated is a great problem to have on shoulder season days because I can shut my stove off and my place will only drop 3-4 degrees in a 12 hr. time frame. What sucks the life out of heating BTU's can be used as a benefit also. Good Luck! Just threw that out for you so you aren't just looking at the basement as being an energy vampire sucking the life out of your overall comfort in your home. Those large thermal masses of concrete can and will help you in the grand scheme of things. They can kill the heat of one stove and people hoping for more out of a single basement dweller doing two levels. Basement dwellers are not as evil as they are portrayed. Just not the right answer for some.

 

[chken]

Hi all, and Happy New Year!

We currently have a P43 in our living room that does a great job heating our whole house.
My wife does woodworking projects in our unfinished basement and we're contemplating picking up another P43 to install down there.
My question is, will it heat that space or will all the heat be sucked up and lost in the concrete ?
Anyone do this with any success ?
Again, not looking for heat to migrate upstairs, just keep the basement 50 to 60 degrees.
Thanks all

Have you considered a DIY insulating project?

 

[jdinny]

A basement shouldn't be much below 50* if it is all sub grade but every situation is different. I am sure you could heat it down there with another stove. Much of the heat will get sucked up by the concrete but once that happens you have a huge thermal mass working in your favor. That crete will retain heat for awhile too and maintain a decent temp there. However, Like Bogie said it makes more sense to keep the stove running the entire time even if at a lower temp. She has a unit down stairs and another up. She has some good experience with this situation.

It takes a lot of heat to bring all of the thermal mass back up to temp. A LOT of energy. If you keep it at a comfy temp it still may possibly help your upper level also. Where things get lost in translation is when people think ALL of this warm air is going to rise and heat their upper level. Makes sense but not evident many times. Those concrete floors and walls are BTU sponges soaking it all up. Plus side is once they have that heat they keep it just like a sponge holds water. IMO you will be fine and are thinking correctly.

This was one challenge I have heating my place. It is two main levels with different levels on each of the two main. I Have a timber frame and in a nut shell my first floor level is a lower level open basement. Slab on grade with different levels. Very unconventional custom home. I have three levels on my 1st floor with only a few feet total difference in elevations. It is all concrete with tile through out the lower levels or 1st floor which can suck up the BTU's. I am still doing both levels with one stove but am adding the second to get another area currently closed off by doors and to supplement the far reaches of the main stove. I have experience how the cold crete really likes to eat some BTU's but once up in temperature it holds onto the warmth and gives it back slowly in radiant heat. Obviously if you frame out and insulate the walls more warm air will want to head upstairs but still might have difficulties getting there.

The thermal mass being heated is a great problem to have on shoulder season days because I can shut my stove off and my place will only drop 3-4 degrees in a 12 hr. time frame. What sucks the life out of heating BTU's can be used as a benefit also. Good Luck! Just threw that out for you so you aren't just looking at the basement as being an energy vampire sucking the life out of your overall comfort in your home. Those large thermal masses of concrete can and will help you in the grand scheme of things. They can kill the heat of one stove and people hoping for more out of a single basement dweller doing two levels. Basement dwellers are not as evil as they are portrayed. Just not the right answer for some.

That does make sense.
I would leave the stove on all the time as we do with the one upstairs. I found early on, it's easier to keep it at a steady temp, rather than have to warm it back up every day when we were lowering it down in the evening. Once it reaches the set temp, the stove runs way less than it does to bring it back up from colder temps at night. Our basement is under ground on two sides and one end, and the other end is daylighted. All 10" thick, so I do understand, once all that concrete is up to temp, it should make it easier on the stove to maintain that temp.

Have you considered a DIY insulating project?

Yes, we are going to start on that as soon as I get a stove hooked up and running in the basement. We have a condensate boiler in the house as a primary heat source. Right now, the only zones that we have running are in my 90 yo moms room, and our domestic hot water. Even before we had a stove upstairs and the boiler ran to heat the whole house, it gave off no convective heat so the basement was always cold. We had 10 days of sub zero weather last year and the basement never got over 42*.