Noob Here: Who has a pellet in their basement to heat the upstairs?

[lessoil]

I heat my house, 2400 square feet upstairs and in the basement total. Im using a Quadra Fire Sante Fe on medium. It was -35 celcius and the whole house was 70 degrees with the sante fe running on medium. I live in northern alberta canada. My house is insulated for Canadian winters. I scratch my head at the folks that say you cant heat a house with a stove in the basement. Must have uninsulated walls.

Not necessarily, my walls are insulated. But they were insulated by an idiot. I've found voids and the windows make a big difference as well. The house was built back when common sense said a 2x4 exterior stud wall was sufficient. You guys up there insulate like you mean it.

I think that same idiot built our house!!
Built in 1968:
2X4 walls with r-12??
Only had R19 overhead in the crawlspace. Now has R38 but should be R48.
I think oil must have been cheap back then also.

For these reasons we put the stove on the first floor. Glad we did!!

Don't forget those windows. We have improved the house with insulation, But these darn drafty windows loose more heat that the walls and attic ever thought of. We even have the widow kits(plastic in a box) installed on most. Wind still blows right through and around them.

Maybe next year!
jay

Yes forgot to mention windows!
Ours were updated to Certainteed (SP) double pane.
Not perfect but good for now.

 

[Havlat24]

Double Pane, triple pane... glazing.. i dont care what anyone says. we put plastic over them. Windows = heat loss, a layer of plastic surely doesnt hurt

Our house was built in 1982. Its 2x6 construction and insulated pretty good. If I ever reside the place, I'll put that 2" styrofoam sheating insulation around the whole house. Our windows are good, but we still put plastic over them We wanted a wood stove, but due to the layout of our finished basement, the family room down there only has exposure to 1 outside wall which is the front of the house, and theres a raised front entrance over half of the ouside wall.... so we couldnt have the woodstove pipe go out the front. But we could put the smaller pellet vent through.

I think attic insulation is key... we have 3 feet of that cellulose blow in insulation up there. I can turn my pellet stove off for 4 hours in -20 celcius and the temp drops about 5-6 degree's on average housewide.