Recommendation for a stove for small finished basement.

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samstringerhye

samstringerhye

New Member
Jan 8, 2024
15
Philadelphia, PA
We purchased our house last year and the previous owner had a coal or wood stove, I'm not sure which installed in the corner of our finished basement. Unfortunately they took the stove with them but left the hearth. The house itself is a three story town-home that is roughly 1600 sq ft. The basement is only 300 sq ft. We'd like to replace it with a new stove, but I'm not really sure what I'm looking for. It seems like most stoves might be more than we'd need for such a small space. The stove itself would mostly be used for heating the basement since the rest of the house is on radiator heat. Thanks for any tips.

[Hearth.com] Recommendation for a stove for small finished basement.
[Hearth.com] Recommendation for a stove for small finished basement.
 
Even a small stove will overheat an insulated 300 sq ft quickly. Is there a way for the heat to get upstairs pretty easily?

What is the middle black cap covering?

The picture looks like a coal stove. Serious overkill for heating this space.
 
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Yeah I thought so too. I guess heat could get upstairs through the floor boards or go up the stair case. There’s also an intake fan for the central AC system so I guess you could run the air circulator to move the air.
 
I'd say first step would be a chimney inspection. It wouldn't be good to buy a stove and find the chimney needs work. What's behind the tile on the wall? Hearth looks a little small and that stove looks very close.
 
Eman85 said:
I'd say first step would be a chimney inspection. It wouldn't be good to buy a stove and find the chimney needs work. What's behind the tile on the wall? Hearth looks a little small and that stove looks very close.
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Yes. I should get that checked out. I’m not sure what’s behind the tile on the wall. I only know the top chimney pipe hole was the one connected. The townhouses have chimneys that I’m imagining were used for coal furnaces back in the day since there’s no fireplace in the house.
 
If it’s at the house, CSST line can be easily run without much drama.

The main benefit of the gas it it can be shut off when temperature is reached. Wood has to burn through its load.
 
samstringerhye said:
Huh. Might be worth looking into. What about a pellet stove?
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Some pellet stoves are smaller than others but a lot put out around 40,000 BTU/hr but can be burned lower. Still at 20,000 BTU/hr it could end up short cycling. A electric woodstove might be the easiest.
 
Check out the cubic mini. It states 6000 to 14000 btu.

This stove is not certified though. Insurance companies might not like it.
 
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Your small room and fairly moderate climate make for a tough install. Physically, you can put a larger stove in, but it’ll chase you out of the room quickly from the heat. Wood stoves don’t turn off. They burn through their load of wood.

Gas stoves turn off once the thermostat tells it to.

Your carpet will cause issues too, but that isn’t your greatest hurdle.
 
EatenByLimestone said:
Your small room and fairly moderate climate make for a tough install. Physically, you can put a larger stove in, but it’ll chase you out of the room quickly from the heat. Wood stoves don’t turn off. They burn through their load of wood.

Gas stoves turn off once the thermostat tells it to.

Your carpet will cause issues too, but that isn’t your greatest hurdle.
Click to expand...
What is the issues with carpet? Yes it seemed like an odd choice from the previous owner in general.
 
There's a good chance that the hearthpad has always been undersized and may need an extension or replacement to meet the stove's requirements.
 
The problem with small stoves is the small burn time. I have a small stove, but since it’s in the normal living space, I can feed it when I’m walking by anyway, or notice it needs a log and get off the couch feed it and sit right back down. I like it pretty good for my space. If it was in a basement, that stove would go cold a lot, and have even more cold relights than I already do.

If you’re willing to haul firewood or pellets to the basement every year, rain or shine, and feed the small stove in the middle of the night, go for it. If you want to spend a half day running a gas line one time, go that route.

If you are sure you want a stove, are there options to add the stove upstairs? You can run a new chimney either internal, or external, or maybe tap into the old chimney if you can locate it in the wall. Thats a pretty good project depending on the stove requirements, but would open up some options for wood burning.
 
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There will be no long burn time in that small 300 sq ft area. In milder weather, more than a 1 hr fire could overheat the space unless the heat can get out and upstairs.
 
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