Basement Stove Install

Yes. Woodstock website (woodstove.com) has a article basically states 6 inches of poured concrete without insulation is R1 meaning you will never heat it. Only hope is to have heat rise before absorbed into walls

 

Ok the heated air rise..

 

Some heated air does seem to radiate

 

I would move the stove closer to the stairs and install some kind of metal sheet shielding along the stairs.. that would make your run to the chimney a little easier and move the stove away from the front side of the furnace.. depending on aesthetics, maybe even angle it at a 45 away from the stairs..

 

So (thanks to ya'll) I did some more reading and I now see that having the cold air return above the stove is not a good Idea for 2 reasons: 1. It violates code, and 2. It's really not an effective way to move heat.

Definitely think I'll be using the black double wall pipe. Thanks for that insight as well!

Okay next thought - My wife is very frugal.... (not a bad thing - better than the opposite) ......and thinks another woodburner is a waste of money. I disagree, especially since she always complains about how cold the floor is in the winter.

Yes, the best thing to do is to wait until I can really buy the right stove. BUT - how crazy would you say I am if I was to install another Fisher? Momma bear's have always intrigued me. I have a Baby bear in the garage and I love this little thing but I only burn it occasionally.

With properly dried wood (~15%), what does the wood consumption look like between a non-cat tube stove and a Momma Bear?

 

I wouldn't call you crazy...I would however encourage you to do the baffle mod, if it isn't already done...I hear that gives a nice increase in efficiency on the Fishers.
No idea on the difference in wood consumption really...some for sure. 40% more (?...just based on what others have said they seen going from old school to modern)
If it is about money, this time of year you can often find some nice deals on stoves...likely can find a large modern stove for cheap...I know there are 3-4 listed here locally right now for a few hundred.

 

Similar to a mamma bear, I burn about 5 cord to heat 2500 sq ft

 

If you get a used stove, it’s not likely to lose much value. Something that you can fairly quickly turn into cash, close to what you paid for it. is not a waste of money. Now adding in the stove pipe, that changes the math a bit. But in my opinion, worth it.

 

Double wall stove pipe is nice also because it helps keep the chimney air a little warmer, especially with a cold start.
I dunno about single wall stove pipe not lasting. Buy good pipe. Like many other things in life.

 

Thanks everyone for the kind replies and for sharing knowledge. I can always count on the FWHC!

So far I've learned 2 important things for my install: 1. Do not cut hole in cold air return - leave HVAC system alone as there are no returns in the basement. 2. Use black double wall pipe as my connection between the stove and the chimney adapter.

Now to the next point... the stove. My wife is giving me a real hard time about spending money on this. There is a Woodstock soapstone for sale at a great used price very close to me but she wont have it... So, until she realizes how nice it is to have warm feet in the kitchen, laundry room, and bathroom all winter AND that our electric bill will be sub $100 (all electric house - AC/Heat, Dryer, Hot Water, Stove) - it looks like I'll have to go ultra budget.

With that, I checked marketplace yesterday and there is a VERY nice looking Mamma Bear close by for a price that my wife will accept. I have a Baby bear in my garage and I love it.

 

so one thing that might be obvious. At least for my set up you really don’t feel the heat upstairs for quite a while when the stove is lit from cold. So it’s not great or doesn't work for me to light the stove occasionally. Once it’s lit it pretty much stays going for the season unless we are away from home long enough for the stove to go out. I guess this won’t really matter as you have the buck upstairs.

 

That was exactly what I had going on when I tried heating with a stove in the basement...lost 80% of it to the floor n walls before it could even go upstairs...but my place is just not laid out well to pull this off anyways.

Well...baby steps

 

Well I did it. I cheaped out and bought a smoke dragon. The flue pipe will cost 4 times what I paid for the unit but oh well. Someday, if I like the basement stove, I'll reuse my stovepipe on a new modern efficient unit.

1970's Fisher Momma Bear.

I'll see how this works this winter. I realize its not going to heat my house well, but I think it will make quite a difference. If it doesn't work, I'll definitely get my $$ plus some for the stove - although I may be at a loss on the flue pipe. Oh well.

 

My uncle heats a house with that same stove

 

Im referring to the above comments about the heat absorption into the block and flooring of the house.

My house is 2850 sq.ft. total (1st and 2nd floor). I have a full basement below the 1st floor which is about 1750ft square. If I can heat that area, I'll be happy as a firewood hoarder who just finished CSS a large pile of hickory!

 

Just to clarify I didn’t say it wouldn’t do a good job. The stove I pictured heats the house just fine after you get the cement up to temp and you keep it full of wood.

 

Some basements heat well with a wood stove. If your basement is fully in the ground and no walls are exposed to the cold you might be golden. Soil acts as an insulator- they use it in earth bermed construction and greenhouses as a heat sink all the time. Hopefully you end up with nice warm floors. Some people spend big bucks on warm floors.

 

My basement is fully underground and I've been slowly working away at insulating the walls with foam board insulation and installing BAT insulation in the Rim Joist areas around the perimeter. I hope you're right!

Last year, when my Oil furnace died the week before Christmas, I went about 6 weeks with the woodburner on the 1st floor on the far end of the house, and a small 220V electric space heater running in the basment on a very low setting. Believe it or not, this setup worked quite well considering how big the house is.

Just the 220V space heater running in the basement, set on maybe 55 or 60, seemed to make a huge difference. Having a woodburner pouring out heat down there outta make a HUGE difference!

There's no way I will be able to not try heating the entire house with just the basement stove. I'll shut the furnace off for a few days, leave the 1st floor stove off or on very low, and see how well it works!