wood stove or wood furnace?

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Kosmonauts

Kosmonauts

Member
Jan 15, 2016
220
Pennsylvania
hello,

I am looking into getting a wood furnace or stove this summer and as of now all I have is a fireplace. I live in a ranch style home and live in the upstairs but downstairs is the "basement" where I sometimes work and do things like laundry. I have a furnace room with a direct vent gas furnace and a gas water heater and I am curious if I could tie in a hot blast to the current duct work. However, I am also curious if a nice sized stove downstairs with a blower would put out enough heat and travel upstairs to heat the upstairs. I could also put a stove upstairs, however, I am worried about the downstairs getting a bit to cold. New to the whole stove and furnace thing but not wood and fires, and just wondering if anyone has any ideas or has tackled this sort of thing before. Thanks!

Joe
 
A woodstove in the basement may work if certain factors work in its favor. It helps if the basement is open and the stove is located close to an open stairway that allows most of the heat to convect upstairs. It also really helps if the basement walls are insulated. For the pros of a wood furnace install and the caveats I am going to link this to the boiler room.
 
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Kos - I have a raised ranch home looks like a big shoe box and its about 1200 sq ft, I have a woodstove in my basement, for the most part works great with my house, the only time I start to have trouble with it heating is when the temps go into the single digits or in the teens with a brisk wind around 20 mph.
My basement is block wall and un-insulated, the stove is located near the wall that runs on the east side of the house, my chimney goes straight up through the dinning area then through the attic to day light, I have centrally located stairs that go into the basement so the heat travels up the stairs into the main part of the house, for the most part I keep the place around 70 - 72 deg, bedrooms slightly cooler since there on the other side of the house.
One thing that I would do over is before I put the stove in I would insulated the block wall, so much heat gets sucked into that block, but you live and learn, also if you go with a free standing unit a blower is a must, and an unimpeded path for the heat to travel is a must, floor grates really don't work either.
 
More often than not people are disappointed with heating the whole house from a wood stove in the basement...some make it work, not too many though. And like has been stated already, if the basement is not finished, you have an even lower chance of it working.
A wood furnace would be the ticket...it will heat both floors. I'd steer clear of the Hotblast though...there is a reason that there are more of them for sale used on CL at any given moment than all of the other models combined.
 
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Ya personal experience here. Do not buy a hotblast. It will work but that are tempermental, have crappy blowers which you will have to change if you want any decent airflow, and burn a ton of wood and make a ton of creosote, plus have a tendency to over fire if your not careful There are so many better options furnace wise.
 
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I do have a finish basement but I think the furnace is the safest most efficient way to go. Any furnaces other than hot blast you guys recommend? That's all I really know about.
 
I was thinking, I could always put a stove downstairs this year in the finished bassment. And then perhaps the year after put one upstairs as well. I just don't know that I want to blow into the ducts.
 
Don't know your feelings on the subject but a suburban home with an unfinished basement would seem perfect for an outdoor boiler. You can run 1' pex to heat exchangers mounted on the cold air return and use the existing thermostats (but disconnect the heat source in the existing furnace so it doesn't fire up).
You can also just add a air handler that holds a heat exchanger, fan and filters, then just exhausts into the basement. You then add studs and insulation to the block walls at your leisure while heating with wood....
If you need more heat somewhere just run some pex and add a radiator....
Also there is the aspect of carrying wood downstairs each day. It gets old quick...
 
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Pat32rf said:
Also there is the aspect of carrying wood downstairs each day. It gets old quick...
Click to expand...
Makin 10-12 cords of wood per year to feed a OWB...it gets old quick.
Kosmonauts said:
I think im gonna go with a stove anyways for now
Click to expand...
Well I have a deal for you then! Go onto Home Depots site, set "your store" as Durango Colorado, look up the Englander 30nc stove, it is on sale at that store for $519 right now...$99 more gets it dropped in your driveway by the end of the week (they drop ship it from the factory in Virginia I think it is) Look it up...this is one of the top rated stoves out there...so much bang for the buck!
 
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brenndatomu said:
Makin 10-12 cords of wood per year to feed a OWB...it gets old quick.

Well I have a deal for you then! Go onto Home Depots site, set "your store" as Durango Colorado, look up the Englander 30nc stove, it is on sale at that store for $519 right now...$99 more gets it dropped in your driveway by the end of the week (they drop ship it from the factory in Virginia I think it is) Look it up...this is one of the top rated stoves out there...so much bang for the buck!
Click to expand...

THANK YOU... just ordered one. Total with shipping and tax was $659.

Now I need a screaming deal on a chimney liner...
 
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RichW_SC said:
THANK YOU... just ordered one. Total with shipping and tax was $659.

Now I need a screaming deal on a chimney liner...
Click to expand...
No problem...glad someone can put this lil secret to good use. I'm trying to get my inlaws to order one but I can tell that they are gonna screw around until after the sale is over. !!! ;hm
As far as a liner...you are on your own there...there are a ton of options out there...my opinion...find a good deal and roll with it...insulation is highly preferable if there is any way you can make it fit. Oh, and don't waste your money on the two ply liners (two ply, not the double wall pre-insulated stuff, that is fine)
 
Oh god!! Brenn will be here shortly with that too. You are feeding a heating deal monster right now. You may have to send his wife some flowers.
 
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You'll love the NC30. I made some changes to mine to make it more like a furnace but it is not ducted. Much beefier blower, adjustable thermostatic control for said blower in the convection deck, made a convection deck for the stove top that really strips heat and blasts it out. I can go through a firebox full in about three hours holding 700 on the stove top.

Really, I should have bought a furnace but none were legal in my state. These days I know of one or maybe two that have gotten clean enough to be legal but they still aren't on our approved list yet. Soon.

And I paid 699 for my NC30! Plus 99 delivery, plus state sales tax, so almost 800$! Great deal.
 

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Highbeam said:
You'll love the NC30. I made some changes to mine to make it more like a furnace but it is not ducted. Much beefier blower, adjustable thermostatic control for said blower in the convection deck, made a convection deck for the stove top that really strips heat and blasts it out. I can go through a firebox full in about three hours holding 700 on the stove top.

Really, I should have bought a furnace but none were legal in my state. These days I know of one or maybe two that have gotten clean enough to be legal but they still aren't on our approved list yet. Soon.

And I paid 699 for my NC30! Plus 99 delivery, plus state sales tax, so almost 800$! Great deal.
Click to expand...
Yea that's super nice I'm gonna look at that one!
 
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