Ideas to heat basement

[subpared]

Still debating between woodstove, pellet stove, zero clearance. I live in a 2700' ft bugalow. I know it would make more sense to put a stove in the basement. I cant do that because when I work out of town my wife cant haul wood pellets, etc into the basement. I need some ideas how to have a stove on the main floor but get some of the heat into the basement efficiently.
Had a qoute for a RSF Opel $8500 installed into the ducts, seems expensive.
All ideas will be appreciated

THX

 

[BrowningBAR]

Still debating between woodstove, pellet stove, zero clearance. I live in a 2700' ft bugalow. I know it would make more sense to put a stove in the basement. I cant do that because when I work out of town my wife cant haul wood pellets, etc into the basement. I need some ideas how to have a stove on the main floor but get some of the heat into the basement efficiently.
Had a qoute for a RSF Opel $8500 installed into the ducts, seems expensive.
All ideas will be appreciated

THX

Two stoves.

 

[certified106]

I doubt you would like the results of trying to heat the whole house from the basement. How about an outdoor wood boiler?

 

[BrotherBart]

Made it work for two day. A few years ago I put high velocity fan in the basement door off the family room where the stove is aimed down into the basement. Kept the basement warm and sounded like there was a 747 landing in the house. The separate stove in the basement is a lot quieter and uses a hell of a lot less electricity.

And no, I didn't buy the fan just for that experiment. It is the one I was using in the warehouse in the summer.

 

[DexterDay]

Still debating between woodstove, pellet stove, zero clearance. I live in a 2700' ft bugalow. I know it would make more sense to put a stove in the basement. I cant do that because when I work out of town my wife cant haul wood pellets, etc into the basement. I need some ideas how to have a stove on the main floor but get some of the heat into the basement efficiently.
Had a qoute for a RSF Opel $8500 installed into the ducts, seems expensive.
All ideas will be appreciated

THX

Two stoves.

Wood Stove in the basement and a Pellet stove upstairs. . . . . Sounds familiar??

This is my 1 st year w/ a Woodstove (Fireplace upstairs also), the pellet stove has been great for 3 seasons now (LP furnace has not been used), and would not change a thing. Takes a little more maintenance, but will run for up to 2-4 weeks depending on model, before needing a little cleaning. The Quad I have has an 80 lb (Some have larger or smaller hoppers) hopper, Can run for almost 2 days on Low, without needing touched. Runs on a thermostat, so its so simple the Wife can handle the loading. You want it warmer? Just turn up the heat setting.

The Woodstove is my experiment to see how well I can heat from the basement. I have read and seen that it can be done. This will be my baby. Until I get the hang of Load cycles and burn temps. The Wife will have no part in it. I will teach her, but if it goes out while I am at work, the pellet stove will take up the slack (She will learn the Woodstove. Just not immediately) . My whole intention is to reduce my pellet consumption. I have reduced my LP usage by 100% (For heating, still needed for cooking), if I can reduce my Pellet consumption by 50% then I have about 4 years of pellets on hand right now.

Everyone has there own idea of what works. Everybody has different lives, jobs, homes, etc. Decide what works for you. Do your research? Buy from a good dealer? (If you buy an Englander? There customer service is phenomenal! But you are your at home "Tech".) Have you started a thread in the "Pellet Mill"?

Toss around ideas. Pellets are easier to handle than wood. The common misconception is electricity usage? I run mine 24/7 on low and on my Kill-a-Watt meter? It costd less than $90 (About $80 actually) a year to run that stove for about 6 months. Some use less/more than that.

I still say do 2. If you need heat in the basement, Put it there. But you also need a stove (Remember? These are just "Space Heaters") in your main living area. Where you spend your time. Just my 2 cents.

 

[daleeper]

Edit: After reading the op a couple of more times, I see you don't have a stove currently, but would like to get some of the heat downstairs. It really depends on the way the air moves in your home as to how well it will work, and there are so many variables that it is difficult to say what would work the best.

(Deleted question that was answered in op)

Heating the upstairs from the basement is hit and miss depending on how the system is set up and the way air flows through the house, heating the basement from upstairs would be more difficult yet. The best would be two stoves, or a furnace/boiler central heating system. If you chose to put the heat downstairs, just have enough wood/pellets in the basement that she doesn't need to carry it while you are gone.

I had considered the zero clearance fireplace with ducting, but the cost is prohibitive to me, compared to a stove. There always seems to be compromises with their ability to heat as compared to a stove installed in the area to be heated, and along with the extra cost, does not seem practical to me. Much less expensive to add the second stove. However, if you are starting with no stove at all, it might make more economic sense to go that route.

The Opel would be on my short list, if I were going that way. Hopefully someone with some success will comment on how these zc fireplaces work with the duct system to move heat to other parts of the house.

 

[oldspark]

Still debating between woodstove, pellet stove, zero clearance. I live in a 2700' ft bugalow. I know it would make more sense to put a stove in the basement. I cant do that because when I work out of town my wife cant haul wood pellets, etc into the basement. I need some ideas how to have a stove on the main floor but get some of the heat into the basement efficiently.
Had a qoute for a RSF Opel $8500 installed into the ducts, seems expensive.
All ideas will be appreciated

THX

Cant you have enough fuel in the basement to last until you return home? Is the basement insulated?

 

[DexterDay]

Put the pellets in the basement. If she can't lift 40 lbs. Put them in buckets of 15-20 lbs. That's what I did when my Wife was pregnant last season. I have 9 ton in my basement. Stacked correctly. They don't take up to much space. Using the words "too much" sparingly. Depends on how much you wanna put up and store. Pellet stoves are more work. But they need less attention to keep them going (Depends on Brand also. Some need Daily attention).

 

[pen]

I vote for 2 stoves as well. What I put in the basement would depend on how easy it would be to get the fuel down there. If it's a walk in type basement like I have firewood is fine as I bring the wheel barrow right in. If not, throwing it in through a window may not be practical if the basement is finished in any way. Do you want this basement heated full time or just once and a while?

pen