How many run 2 stoves to heat your house?

[ChadD]

I just installed a freestanding wood stove in the basement for power outages,extra cold nights or if I want to hang out in the man cave during the winter. Most times I just rely on my insert upstairs that is more than capable of heating the whole house.

 

[UPswede]

Chuck, I've been using a stove in the basement for over 30 years - a smoke dragon for most of those years and more recently a Drolet Baltic. This year we put a stove upstairs in the living room. My only regret is not doing it years ago. I like everything about it except cleaning out the ashes. The only time I run the basement stove is when I will be spending a few hours down there, which isn't very often anymore.

 

[Bagelboy]

Been running two stoves for probably 20 years. Wouldn't change a thing. It evens out the heat in our home. Sure it's a pain to maintain two stoves, but the heat they put out is worth the effort!

 

[Rock Crusher]

Since I have 2 fireplaces, I installed the PE Alderlea first and it does most of the work, which it does extremely well. I followed it up with a Harman 52i to even out the heat distribution and use minimal oil-mainly to ensure no frozen pipes. I only use about 3 cords of wood and 1.5 tons pellets and is this set up is very manageable. I can also swap inserts should I choose or need to.

 

[samfatboy]

I bought my 2200 sq ft house in 1999, it was built in 1975, with little in the way of insulation upgrades. It has the original oil furnace, and an electric water heater. In 2000 through 2007 I averaged about 1000 to 1200 gallons of oil per year, keeping the house at an average of 65 degrees during the winter, with extensive supplementation from space heaters in the bedrooms.

Getting tired of seeing the oil truck pull up on a monthly basis, I bought a wood burning insert for my family room fireplace in March of 2008. I remember the first night I fired it up and my (former) wife telling me it was too hot. I knew I had made the right move.

2009 through 2013 my oil consumption dropped to about 500 gallons per year, while keeping the house an average 68 degrees. Since my family room fireplace is on the extreme opposite end of my center wall colonial home from the bedrooms, getting heat to them was a challenge. The oil burner is forced air, so it will re-circulate the heat from the family room to the rest of the house to some extent, but not very efficiently without running the furnace to heat up the vents in the basement.

This year I finally decided to go for a through the wall installation of a pellet stove in the living room on the bedroom side of the house. My (former) wife had been dead set against this intrusion into her pristine living room that no one was allowed to sit in. Now that she is my (former) wife, her pristine living room furniture has been replaced by a pool table, a flat screen TV, and an Englander 25PDVC.

This has definitely been one of the colder winters since I have owned the house. I have burned 1.67 tons of compressed wood bricks in the wood burner, and 2.5 tons of pellets, and about 75 gallons of oil -- mainly so that I could buy another 150 gallons at the currently, probably short-lived, low price per gallon. The average temp in the house has been 70 degrees. Heat is much more evenly distributed, and we only use the space heaters in the bedrooms for an hour or two on the sub zero early mornings.

Even at $2.50 per gallon for oil -- today's average price -- my cost for this winter would be somewhere around $2850.00 burning just oil and being relatively cold. This winter I expect to use about 5.5 tons of wood -- pellets and bricks -- which will work out to about $1600. Last year oil was significantly higher, and with the speed with which ISIS is lopping the heads off of infidels, I suspect oil will not stay low for long.

Now, I just need to think about what to put in the basement, and the garage. . .

 

[Poindexter]

I looked into it but am sticking with one beast to feed. I am heating 1200 sqft of upstairs with a BK Ashford 30 just fine. Downstairs I have 600sqft of garage and 600sqft of 2bed/1 bath.

I looked at putting a small pellet stove downstairs, but they aren't very efficient that small and pellets are pricier than cordwood. Putting a cordwood stove downstairs would realistically require a $5k chimney and giving up a square yard of the upstairs floor plan to bring the chimney through. I am in too cold a climate to seriously consider an outdoor chimney running up an exterior wall.

If I had two stairwells I could look at putting a big stove downstairs and running a convection loop up one flight and down the other, but I only have one stairwell.

But I have cut my oil bill by two thirds running just the one stove, so sticking with that.

 

[momof2nutlings]

We have a sprawling 200+ year old farmhouse and heat it with 3 stoves (the fourth being in the "man room" tacked on the very end of the house that is used sporadically). Two stoves downstairs, one pellet and one wood. Pellet is great for when we will be gone for an extended period of time and won't be home to reload the wood stove. Upstairs we have the St. Croix, keeps the bedrooms toasty and wood chips downstairs.

Have to say I wouldn't do it any other way. However, in a little disappointed in our insert and will probably be replacing that with something freestanding with a larger box. This week has been brutal with negative temps and she's just not keeping us warm enough.

On the bright side, haven't bought oil in 5 years!

 

[Plow Boy]

After three years of burning I finally came to the realization that I need two stoves. Working on my install now, won't make it for the zero degree low tomorrow

 

[jeff_t]

Here in the wide open, my Blaze King sometimes need a little help. I ran a Hotblast furnace before, and still have it in the basement, but disconnected from the ductwork. I fire it up on cold, windy days or when I want to do something in the basement. Though it's not insulated, the furnace warms it up in a hurry, and having the basement warm keeps the floors and the rest of the house much more comfortable. It eats a lot of wood, but I don't use it enough to replace it with an EPA unit. It is still very effective, and not going anywhere.

 

[KB007]

We have 2 units, but the basement stove rarely gets used any more. The big Regency insert in the LR heats our 1800 sqft bungalow just fine. We're also lucky that half the basement in below grade and keeps itself above 8C all the time regardless of outside temp. Basement is finished, but we just don't spend much time down there. Last time we had folks over to play pool, we had a fire going downstairs too and it was great. I love having the insert upstairs as the main floor is nice and toasty.

If it were me, I'd put something upstairs that could heat the place and worry about the basement only if or when you need it.

 

[ozzy73]

HT2000 heats the main floor and the Heritage heats basement ( side split ). Heritage gets fired up on weekends and when kids are playing in basement. Rarely do I have both stoves running, but when running I stagger the loads not to over heat the house and make my job a little easier.

One thing I also notice, when the house has been warmed up I can let the HT cool down and still keep the house ( basement / mainfloor ) toasty.

*** pointing small fan at bottom of stairs towards stove in basement really makes a big diff in getting the heat upstairs ***