Wood Stove in Second (Main) Floor Living Room?

[saydinli]

We have a Zero clearance fireplace with a remote duct to the basement. I would not recommend a remote duct system “IF” you have bedrooms in the basement for 2 reasons, 1 is noise. The fan is a bit loud for bedroom locations and tends to resonate a bit through the studs and joists if touching. 2 is temperature. Our basement is a walkout with one side completely windows and doors and the remote duct can only keep it around 65 which is fine as it is primarily a rec room. We’re in a high wind area which doesn’t help too.
In hind site I could have installed a second heat dump to send more heat down there or a separate smaller stove to use when needed. I wouldn’t recommend a stove down there if small kids are sleeping and playing down there. Just one thing less to worry about with kids down there.
we have an electric fireplace down there that will help warm it up when were down there.

If I was building new and had natural gas , I would definitely install a zoned furnace to heat the basement and a stove or zero clearance for upstairs. That way you could use wood heat for upstairs and natural gas for the whole house during the shoulder season when you may not want to light a fire to take the chill out.




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[tgumby4]

Another fellow Mountaineer here. I heat a 2100 square foot raised ranch from the basement. My basement is insulated. Home was built in the last late 1960s. I'm using a Woodstock progress hybrid this season but used a Fisher woodstove prior to that. I maintain a temperature of around 75 down stairs and 70 upstairs. I'm located in North Central West Virginia.

 

[jotul8e2]

You are correct, the footprint of the house is roughly 800 sqft. The upstairs is roughly 850 sqft and the downstairs is roughly 750 sqft.

With a footprint under 30X30, getting heat up a generous, open stairwell into an open floorplan above should not be that difficult. I see that in my own, much larger house. The 1/2 story above stays warmer than the downstairs. I attribute this to a lack of doorways, four foot wide stairs, and balusters rather than a closed wall.

That said, with good insulation the downstairs heating costs should be trival. It could easily fall under $150 per year. The argument that the stove should be in the space where you will spend most of your time is compelling. And a wood burning stove is not convenient for bedrooms and their often-closed doors.