wood stove for emergencies

[hillbillyhandyman]

Good Evening - I am a total stove novice with a very specialized application for a woodstove. I live in a 1200 square foot frame house with an unfinished concrete basement. I want to install a woodstove in the basement for backup heat in case the power is off or some event makes heating oil hard to get. I am looking for an inexpensive stove since it will only be fired a few times a year just to check functioning. I plan to have a professional grade stainless chimney installed and clean the chimney frequently regardless of usage. Based on all this, can anyone suggest an inexpensive wood stove of about 40,000 BTU? I base this figure on the fact that a 25,000 BTU propane heater keeps the house livable but not comfortable ( 50 degrees) in cold weather.

Thanks in advance for your advice

 

[stoveguy2esw]

here ya go

http://www.englanderstoves.com/13-nc.html

or possibly...

http://www.englanderstoves.com/30-nc.html

if you are looking to heat house and basement the 30 might be a better choice

CFM has some nice inexpensive units as well, the century line. sorry i dont have links for them handy , but im sure someone could post them for ya.

best advice i can give you is to look at these units or similar , make sure they are EPA certified stoves and have UL approval, if these two criteria are not posted stay away from them

 

[ncmallard78]

the chimney will cost a good amount to install...

 

[JohnnyBravo]

the majority of your cost is going to be in the chimney and install. with the cash you save by not going into the basement you could get a real nice wood stove on the main floor and use it more often. emergecy burning is a nice feature but sticking to the oil companies everyday (or even on the weekend) sure feels good. not sure if you have space for one on the main floor or not.

 

[Harley]

Good Evening - I am a total stove novice with a very specialized application for a woodstove. I live in a 1200 square foot frame house with an unfinished concrete basement. I want to install a woodstove in the basement for backup heat in case the power is off or some event makes heating oil hard to get. I am looking for an inexpensive stove since it will only be fired a few times a year just to check functioning. I plan to have a professional grade stainless chimney installed and clean the chimney frequently regardless of usage. Based on all this, can anyone suggest an inexpensive wood stove of about 40,000 BTU? I base this figure on the fact that a 25,000 BTU propane heater keeps the house livable but not comfortable ( 50 degrees) in cold weather.

Thanks in advance for your advice

I'm not sure what you describe is really that unusual. A little better description of the house layout would help a great deal. The unfinished basement is not the best place for a wood stove, but if that's the only place it can go, and you have the chimney installed correctly, then you can certainly make it a good backup heater. If you can give a little more description of how you are planning (or could plan out) the chimney installation, and what you can use there - I think there would be a lot of possibilities for an inexpensive stove.

 

[Corey]

There are lots of inexpensive stoves out there. You may hit up the local craigslist, or check ebay if you're near any decent population centers. Although, if you're only looking for one in case of emergencies, you may look into other options like an electric generator and a bigger bottle of propane. Compared to the stove, chimney, installation, and other costs, you could probably buy a decent generator. Then you would also eliminate the hassle of trying to keep a wood pile big enough to last through the emergency, but not so big that it will rot away before you ever need it.

But, who knows...get you a decent stove, and you may just get hooked during one of those test runs on a cold winters night.