Not sure if your area has rules and regs for smoke, but both my inserts are garage sale buys. $50 and $80 They are wood hogs, but they have blowers and the heat pump never runs and I don’t have to give 300/mo of hard earned dollars to duke energy. My wife is home a lot and she burns wood like it fell from the sky. More wood makes it warmer right?
I'm gonna do some research. I'm thinking I could put a stove in the basement. a) it would heat the basement which is currently unheated because I ripped out our central ac gas furnace and ducting and b) I wouldn't have to redo the fireplace and c) heat rises and wouldn't be confined to the living room. We had a closed layout so lots of walls everywhere.
As a mason for 40 years who has built 100’s of fireplaces,,,,STOP!! Fireplaces are for ambience and emergencies not for heating your house. Start another thread if you wish but there’s gotta be a way to install a stove in that house. You’ll find your on the five year plan overnight, and warm.
Can you DIY? Any local codes against it? I have about $700 in my Drolet 1400i stove in my fireplace...and $400 of that was the chimney liner! Yes, I stole the Drolet for $250 off CL. You should be able to DIY a new insert style stove in there with an insulated liner for $2k or so...if you are ok with running a basic steel stove like the Drolets, which are a great value...Canadian made stove with good customer service.
Put some big time thinking into that plan!!! First of all, you are right that heat rises, BUT, you will find it is extremely difficult to get basement heat upstairs. In theory it sounds like a good plan but many have found the just don't get much heat to go upstairs. In addition, what are the basement walls like? If not insulated really super good, most of the heat will be sucked into those walls and although you can get warm standing next to the stove, not much else will get warm. You will also find your need for a much larger wood pile has increased drastically. In short, based on what you have stated, a basement heater might not do what is expected and you might find you've spent way too much to get too little. I've known some who put stoves in basement and were really sorry with the results. I'm not trying to scare you or others but just letting you know that putting a stove in a basement usually is not the best idea. Better to have the heating source right where it is needed; in the living area. Good luck.
Not to get too far off topic, but I agree with the others. Fireplaces are nice for the few hours you’re in that room, but they chew through wood like a beaver coming back from a 2 week fasting. As soon as you let it go out, the heat goes right up the chimney flue. Used stoves can be found easily on CL and FB Marketplace for cheap.
Yep, I’m looking for a friend who wants to replace his old Shenandoah with something a little sturdier. $200 budget and no real knowledge of woodstoves,,,,or wood. Working on that. They’re out there but his wife is slow on grabbing at them. Plus if they don’t look exactly like the old stove they get scared off. I just send them, I’m not doing any major footwork. An old all nighter or something can be installed in that fireplace relatively cheap. Now it won’t make today’s codes or a NY inspection. That’s a different story altogether. Personally I don’t worry about such things as long as it’s safe. Look around and you can find some cheap flex pipe too. Save up for the real thing later on. Install it yourself with a little knowledge and it’s safer than a fireplace.
This ^ ^ ^ ! I was going to mention the same thing and forgot (SQUIRREL!)...basement installs can be tough...if I said they work out 50% of the time, I would probably be telling you too high. I tried it when I first started out in winter 2008/2009...colossal failure...but yet a much smaller stove in the living room fireplace does the job without even breaking a sweat.
A rabbit chases a carrot on a stick because the rabbit likes it. The person holding the stick may or may not like carrots, irrelevant. PS. Your the rabbit
