Wood stove for a split level house

[student2016]

Hello everyone, I have 0 experience in wood stoves and have a couple of questions about a new wood stove installation. I moved to a split level house, about 2200 sq ft. There is a main level with entrance room, a kitchen and a large living room. There are 2 small rooms in basement with an old wood fireplace. Above basement, there are 3 bedrooms with 2 bathrooms. the basement and the main living room are the coldest rooms in the house. Initially I thought to install a fireplace insert to heat up the basement and the bedrooms. But it seems that it may not work or the room with the insert will be too hot. Another option is to install a freestanding stove in the entrance room, please see the attached plan (hopefully it makes sense). There are 2 air grilles near this location so ideally the hot air from the stove will be distributed to all the rooms. I thought to install a big (3000 sq ft) stove to heat up the whole house but I'm concerned about the room size and if there is enough air to burn the wood. Could you please take a look and share your thoughts? Thank you so much.

 

[begreen]

The stove is an area heater. The best location to put the stove is where the heat is needed. In this case, that sounds like the living room. the entrance room will get quite hot. Also, a return vent needs to be at least 10 ft away from the stove per mechanical code.

 

[student2016]

The stove is an area heater. The best location to put the stove is where the heat is needed. In this case, that sounds like the living room. the entrance room will get quite hot. Also, a return vent needs to be at least 10 ft away from the stove per mechanical code.

Thank you. Yeah, the living room is the biggest one (and has 12 ft ceiling) however due to the house plan, I really doubt the heat will reach basement rooms and bedrooms.

Is it possible to roughly estimate the right size of the stove regarding the amount of air required for burning? So it won't be too big for the room.

 

[logfarmer]

You can place a fan at the bottom of the basement steps blowing up to “push” the air “towards” the stove! It will be a job to heat the downstairs either way. Or use a pellet burner insert in the basement and install a wood burner in the “main” part of the house as long as it’s not in the same chimney as downstairs.

 

[kborndale]

Trying to get heat downstairs by convection is a challenge that you will not win.

 

[begreen]

Yeah. It may be possible to convect some heat up the stairs, but not down. I won't say it's impossible, but most attempts have unsatisfactory results. Based on that unpredictability, the stove should probably be sized on the small side. It won't be heating the basement or living room. The house was not designed with wood heat in mind.

 

[Garbanzo62]

What type of heating system is in the house. If you have a forced hot air system, you could turn the fan on to circulate air throughout the house. Shut off the vents and close doors to any unused rooms. (i.e.spare bedrooms)

 

[stoveliker]

If any of the ducts run thru uninsulated space, that would be the worst thing you can do...