Hi, My husband is constantly talking about a fireplace or a wood stove in the
basement to heat the house. Our house is 2200 sq. Ft. The garage is under the
first floor/ or half of the basement. The rest of the basement are four
rooms. The first level is over basement and living room over the garage. He is
always praysing how good would be to heat the entire house with anything else
but not electric. I don't see the house can be heated from the basement just
with a wood stove. Because of the floors and the walls would trap the heat.
Yes I understand the heat rises. This year he installed a fireplace we both
like the look of them. He likes the wood stove better anyway. We burned a lot
of wood and thought would save or help something with the electric bill. But
we got an unexpected very high bill. More then the years before and in our
lives every where we lived we didn't have that high. Now he is back to the
wood stove how great they are and would heat the house. He is mad at the
electric company and I don't see the wood stove can do the job. Though I
understand the basement will get warmer. I am afraid we will spend a lot of
money to save $5. on electric. He wants to have registers through the floors
to let the heat rise. And I am thinking in summer those registers will let the
cold air fall. The basement is year round cold, summer and winter. Any ideas
or suggestions. Thanks



--
for full context, visit https://www.homeownershub.com/mainte...s-1157676-.htm

On Monday, January 29, 2018 at 8:14:06 AM UTC-5, Megan wrote:
Hi, My husband is constantly talking about a fireplace or a wood stove in the
basement to heat the house. Our house is 2200 sq. Ft. The garage is under the
first floor/ or half of the basement. The rest of the basement are four
rooms. The first level is over basement and living room over the garage. He is
always praysing how good would be to heat the entire house with anything else
but not electric. I don't see the house can be heated from the basement just
with a wood stove. Because of the floors and the walls would trap the heat.
Yes I understand the heat rises. This year he installed a fireplace we both
like the look of them. He likes the wood stove better anyway. We burned a lot
of wood and thought would save or help something with the electric bill. But
we got an unexpected very high bill. More then the years before and in our
lives every where we lived we didn't have that high. Now he is back to the
wood stove how great they are and would heat the house. He is mad at the
electric company and I don't see the wood stove can do the job. Though I
understand the basement will get warmer. I am afraid we will spend a lot of
money to save $5. on electric. He wants to have registers through the floors
to let the heat rise. And I am thinking in summer those registers will let the
cold air fall. The basement is year round cold, summer and winter. Any ideas
or suggestions. Thanks




--
for full context, visit https://www.homeownershub.com/mainte...s-1157676-.htm

First, I'd consider all heating choices. You don't say what's available,
I'm guessing nat gas probably isn't. If it is, that's usually the lowest
cost option. Another option would be oil, though it's more, but still
almost always less than electric resistance heat. You don't say where you
are, but in moderate climates, an electric heat pump is another option.
You could look at mini-split heat pumps where you have a few separate
units that heat and cool the place. Those are easy for installs like
yours where there is no existing ducting. There is propane too. I'd
get some contractors in and go over the options.

I agree with you, a stove in the basement isn't going to heat the whole house
unless you have some active means to force the air from the stove around.
The fireplace was likely a disaster because most of them are not designed
with heating as the primary objective. And unless the fireplace has it's
own vent to the outside, it draws cold air into the house for combustion.
That air will come in via cracks, gaps, around doors, windows, etc.
Then the electric heat is heating that. A stove will put out a lot more
heat than a fireplace and it will certainly help heat the whole place,
but your still going to need something else. Stove downstaris and heat
pump upstairs might be an option.

On 1/29/2018 8:14 AM, Megan wrote:
Hi, My husband is constantly talking about a fireplace or a wood stove
in the
basement to heat the house. Our house is 2200 sq. Ft. The garage is
under the
first floor/ or half of the basement. The rest of the basement areÂ* four
rooms. The first level is over basement and living room over the garage.
He is
always praysing how good would be to heat the entire house with anything
else
but notÂ* electric. I don't see the house can be heated from the basement
just
with a wood stove. Because of the floors and the walls would trap the heat.
Yes I understand the heat rises. This year he installed a fireplace we both
like the look of them. He likes the wood stove better anyway. We burned
a lot
of wood and thought would save or help something with the electric bill.
But
we got an unexpected very high bill. More then the years before and in our
lives every where we lived we didn't have that high. Now he is back to the
wood stove how great they are and would heat the house. He is mad at the
electric company and I don't see the wood stove can do the job. Though I
understand the basement will get warmer. I am afraid we will spend a lot of
money to save $5. on electric. He wants to have registers through the
floors
to let the heat rise. And I am thinking in summer those registers will
let the
cold air fall. The basement is year round cold, summer and winter. Any
ideas
or suggestions. Thanks



I have a neighbor with a wood burner incorporated into his oil heater
system so air is circulated throughout the house. A tank of oil will
last him for years.

On 1/29/18 7:14 AM, Megan wrote:
Hi, My husband is constantly talking about a fireplace or a wood stove
in the
basement to heat the house. Our house is 2200 sq. Ft. The garage is
under the
first floor/ or half of the basement. The rest of the basement areÂ* four
rooms. The first level is over basement and living room over the garage.
He is
always praysing how good would be to heat the entire house with anything
else
but notÂ* electric. I don't see the house can be heated from the basement
just
with a wood stove. Because of the floors and the walls would trap the heat.
Yes I understand the heat rises. This year he installed a fireplace we both
like the look of them. He likes the wood stove better anyway. We burned
a lot
of wood and thought would save or help something with the electric bill.
But
we got an unexpected very high bill. More then the years before and in our
lives every where we lived we didn't have that high. Now he is back to the
wood stove how great they are and would heat the house. He is mad at the
electric company and I don't see the wood stove can do the job. Though I
understand the basement will get warmer. I am afraid we will spend a lot of
money to save $5. on electric. He wants to have registers through the
floors
to let the heat rise. And I am thinking in summer those registers will
let the
cold air fall. The basement is year round cold, summer and winter. Any
ideas
or suggestions. Thanks

Where is the wood coming from? It isn't free if one factors in
the cost of
the saws, splitter, and time. My ancestors used wood and coal. They
were farmers
with pasture and had trees on their own land. The cook stoves ran off
the wood/coal combination, too.

On 1/29/2018 7:14 AM, Megan wrote:
Hi, My husband is constantly talking about a fireplace or a wood stove
in the
basement to heat the house. Our house is 2200 sq. Ft. The garage is
under the
first floor/ or half of the basement. The rest of the basement areÂ* four
rooms. The first level is over basement and living room over the
garage. He is
always praysing how good would be to heat the entire house with
anything else
but notÂ* electric. I don't see the house can be heated from the
basement just
with a wood stove. Because of the floors and the walls would trap the
heat.
Yes I understand the heat rises. This year he installed a fireplace we
both
like the look of them. He likes the wood stove better anyway. We
burned a lot
of wood and thought would save or help something with the electric
bill. But
we got an unexpected very high bill. More then the years before and in
our
lives every where we lived we didn't have that high. Now he is back to
the
wood stove how great they are and would heat the house. He is mad at the
electric company and I don't see the wood stove can do the job. Though I
understand the basement will get warmer. I am afraid we will spend a
lot of
money to save $5. on electric. He wants to have registers through the
floors
to let the heat rise. And I am thinking in summer those registers will
let the
cold air fall. The basement is year round cold, summer and winter. Any
ideas
or suggestions. Thanks



Â* Well , at least this isn't a 15 year old post ... OK , first off ,
fireplaces are NOT usually used for main heat , they suck more heat up
the chimney than they produce unless you're using an insert that is
closed on the front . That's where your high bill came from . A wood
stove in the basement will help , but without a way to circulate the
heat up to the living space I don't think you'll save much . I heat with
wood , but my house is an open floor plan and all on one level - and
there are still a couple of corners that are a bit chilly at times .

Â* You don't say what kind of electric heat you have , but if it's via a
forced air unit , you may be able to use that to circulate the air . I
did some poking around , at $200/cord and $.15/KwH (IIRC) wood is
actually cheaper than electric . But the amount of work involved makes
up for that - pellet stoves are less work , but more expensive to run .
My wood is "free" because /I/ live out in the woods , but cutting your
own is a lot of work and some might not be up for that . As someone else
noted , I also have a pretty good chunk of money in the equipment needed
to process trees into firewood .

--
Snag
Ain't no dollar sign on
peace of mind - Zac Brown

On 1/29/2018 7:14 AM, Megan wrote:
Hi, My husband is constantly talking about a fireplace or a wood stove
in the
basement to heat the house. Our house is 2200 sq. Ft. The garage is
under the
first floor/ or half of the basement. The rest of the basement are four
rooms. The first level is over basement and living room over the garage.
He is
always praysing how good would be to heat the entire house with anything
else
but not electric. I don't see the house can be heated from the basement
just
with a wood stove. Because of the floors and the walls would trap the heat.
Yes I understand the heat rises. This year he installed a fireplace we both
like the look of them. He likes the wood stove better anyway. We burned
a lot
of wood and thought would save or help something with the electric bill.
But
we got an unexpected very high bill. More then the years before and in our
lives every where we lived we didn't have that high. Now he is back to the
wood stove how great they are and would heat the house. He is mad at the
electric company and I don't see the wood stove can do the job. Though I
understand the basement will get warmer. I am afraid we will spend a lot of
money to save $5. on electric. He wants to have registers through the
floors
to let the heat rise. And I am thinking in summer those registers will
let the
cold air fall. The basement is year round cold, summer and winter. Any
ideas
or suggestions. Thanks



Amazing how a couple of sweatshirts and hoodies can make a difference
in comfort and heating bills. Do you have to keep all 2200 of living
space heated? Your solution might be less heat instead of more.

On 1/29/2018 8:14 AM, Megan wrote:
Hi, My husband is constantly talking about a fireplace or a wood stove
in the
basement to heat the house. Our house is 2200 sq. Ft. The garage is
under the
first floor/ or half of the basement. The rest of the basement areÂ* four
rooms. The first level is over basement and living room over the garage.
He is
always praysing how good would be to heat the entire house with anything
else
but notÂ* electric. I don't see the house can be heated from the basement
just
with a wood stove. Because of the floors and the walls would trap the heat.
Yes I understand the heat rises. This year he installed a fireplace we both
like the look of them. He likes the wood stove better anyway. We burned
a lot
of wood and thought would save or help something with the electric bill.
But
we got an unexpected very high bill.



My house is a raised ranch. Where you have a garage, I have a family
room with a woodstove. Garage is detached. Size about the same. I've
burned many cords of wood the first 20 years here.

The stove will do an excellent job of heating the room it is in, and OK
job on the rest of the floor, a poor job of the rest of the house.

Fireplaces can actually have a negative effect sucking out more air than
they heat so I'm not surprised at the higher bill. Stove are better in
that respect.

You can put registers in the floor. They can be closed in summer. You
need two, one at each end of the house to get air flowing, up in the
same room as the stove, down at the other end. Keep in mind two thing.
It may be a violation of building code. Should the woodstove start the
house on fire, those registers will help spread the fire faster.

To move the heated air enough to help, you need a fan or two.

My experience is you will be disappointed. I've not burned my stove for
15 years because it is just not very good at heating or saving money for
the amount of work required.

If your house is all electric, consider propane if natural gas is not
available. Heat pumps are better than electric baseboard. If you put
in propane, down the road ditch the electric dryer and water heater too.

Check out comparisons of fuel cost here
https://coalpail.com/fuel-comparison...r-home-heating
Update the cost for your area.

On 1/29/2018 5:14 AM, Megan wrote:
Hi, My husband is constantly talking about a fireplace or a wood stove
in the
basement to heat the house. Our house is 2200 sq. Ft. The garage is
under the
first floor/ or half of the basement. The rest of the basement areÂ* four
rooms. The first level is over basement and living room over the garage.
He is
always praysing how good would be to heat the entire house with anything
else
but notÂ* electric. I don't see the house can be heated from the basement
just
with a wood stove. Because of the floors and the walls would trap the heat.
Yes I understand the heat rises. This year he installed a fireplace we both
like the look of them. He likes the wood stove better anyway. We burned
a lot
of wood and thought would save or help something with the electric bill.
But
we got an unexpected very high bill. More then the years before and in our
lives every where we lived we didn't have that high. Now he is back to the
wood stove how great they are and would heat the house. He is mad at the
electric company and I don't see the wood stove can do the job. Though I
understand the basement will get warmer. I am afraid we will spend a lot of
money to save $5. on electric. He wants to have registers through the
floors
to let the heat rise. And I am thinking in summer those registers will
let the
cold air fall. The basement is year round cold, summer and winter. Any
ideas
or suggestions. Thanks




You would be better off to replace the fireplace with an EPA certified
insert. It should be located where you spend the most time, and you can
learn to deal with cooler temps elsewhere. If you have to have it in the
basement, you could make sure there is a cold air return to the furnace
you can open nearby, and turn on the furnace fan to circulate the warm
air. This all assume you have a cheap source of wood, and like to spent
a lot of time and energy splitting, stacking and fetching wood and
tending the fire and have appropriate space to store wood for drying.

You could look at various heat pump systems which could cut your heating
bill in half or more, depending on your local climate.

On 01/29/2018 06:14 AM, Megan wrote:
Now he is back to the
wood stove how great they are and would heat the house. He is mad at the
electric company and I don't see the wood stove can do the job.

Are at least one of you at home all the time? Pellet stoves can be set
up with a feed auger but pellets are relatively expensive. Otherwise the
stove has to be fed regularly. My experience was the place was quite
cold when I got home from work even though the fire hadn't gone out
completely. It would take a while to get it back up to a comfortable
temperature.

This also precludes a wild weekend in Vegas if you have house plants or
tropical fish Having a house sitter when I was in the hospital for a
few days didn't work out well for me. The kid must have thought he was
living in a sauna and burned a good portion of my winter supply.

Coal isn't much better even if you can find a reliable supply of coal.

Then there is the wood supply. The local ranch supply has a humorous
itemization of the cost of burning wood. After buying the chain saw,
pickup, and other needed tools you also have to factor in the cost of
repairs, gas, and oil. Fixing the pickup can be quite expensive. A
friend concluded, correctly, that if he cut on the uphill side of the
road, he could roll the logs downhill rather than lugging them up to the
road. He didn't take into account the trajectory of a rolling log after
bounding over a couple of rocks. At least the truck was drivable.

On Mon, 29 Jan 2018 13:14:01 GMT, Megan
m wrote:

Hi, My husband is constantly talking about a fireplace or a wood stove in the
basement to heat the house. Our house is 2200 sq. Ft. The garage is under the
first floor/ or half of the basement. The rest of the basement are four
rooms. The first level is over basement and living room over the garage. He is
always praysing how good would be to heat the entire house with anything else
but not electric. I don't see the house can be heated from the basement just
with a wood stove. Because of the floors and the walls would trap the heat.
Yes I understand the heat rises. This year he installed a fireplace we both
like the look of them. He likes the wood stove better anyway. We burned a lot
of wood and thought would save or help something with the electric bill. But
we got an unexpected very high bill. More then the years before and in our
lives every where we lived we didn't have that high. Now he is back to the
wood stove how great they are and would heat the house. He is mad at the
electric company and I don't see the wood stove can do the job. Though I
understand the basement will get warmer. I am afraid we will spend a lot of
money to save $5. on electric. He wants to have registers through the floors
to let the heat rise. And I am thinking in summer those registers will let the
cold air fall. The basement is year round cold, summer and winter. Any ideas
or suggestions. Thanks

My niece has a forced air wood burning furnace in her house. (product
of the Carter era) It is a real pain in the ass and she got tired of
the whole house smelling like smoke all the time.

On 01/29/2018 12:05 PM, wrote:
My niece has a forced air wood burning furnace in her house. (product
of the Carter era) It is a real pain in the ass and she got tired of
the whole house smelling like smoke all the time.

Depending on what you're burning, it smells better than a coal burner.
Around here it's all softwood which isn't the best firewood but when
that's all you've got... Cottonwood technically is hardwood but it's
not worth dragging home.

On Mon, 29 Jan 2018 13:21:28 -0700, rbowman
wrote:

On 01/29/2018 12:05 PM, wrote:
My niece has a forced air wood burning furnace in her house. (product
of the Carter era) It is a real pain in the ass and she got tired of
the whole house smelling like smoke all the time.

Depending on what you're burning, it smells better than a coal burner.
Around here it's all softwood which isn't the best firewood but when
that's all you've got... Cottonwood technically is hardwood but it's
not worth dragging home.

It really doesn't matter. After a while the smoke smell starts to make
you sick. This is like the one Frank was talking about with a
supplemental oil burner and I think that is all she uses now. When her
hubby was alive and in the construction business they had access to
lots of wood but it still got to be a pain.

On 1/29/2018 2:21 PM, rbowman wrote:
On 01/29/2018 12:05 PM, wrote:
My niece has a forced air wood burning furnace in her house. (product
of the Carter era) It is a real pain in the ass and she got tired of
the whole house smelling like smoke all the time.

Depending on what you're burning, it smells better than a coal burner.
Around here it's all softwood which isn't the best firewood but when
that's all you've got...* Cottonwood technically is hardwood but it's
not worth dragging home.

* Around here it's red and white oak , hickory and other hardwoods . A
lot of people won't burn sweet gum or black gum , but it's OK .

--
Snag
Ain't no dollar sign on
peace of mind - Zac Brown

On 01/29/2018 01:50 PM, wrote:
It really doesn't matter. After a while the smoke smell starts to make
you sick. This is like the one Frank was talking about with a
supplemental oil burner and I think that is all she uses now. When her
hubby was alive and in the construction business they had access to
lots of wood but it still got to be a pain.

I have a neighbor that I think throws flammable kitchen trash in or else
he's burning old CRTs. Nothing like the smell of burning plastic in the
morning.

On 01/29/2018 03:32 PM, Terry Coombs wrote:
On 1/29/2018 2:21 PM, rbowman wrote:
On 01/29/2018 12:05 PM, wrote:
My niece has a forced air wood burning furnace in her house. (product
of the Carter era) It is a real pain in the ass and she got tired of
the whole house smelling like smoke all the time.

Depending on what you're burning, it smells better than a coal burner.
Around here it's all softwood which isn't the best firewood but when
that's all you've got... Cottonwood technically is hardwood but it's
not worth dragging home.

Around here it's red and white oak , hickory and other hardwoods . A
lot of people won't burn sweet gum or black gum , but it's OK .


About the only real hardwoods in Montana are stuff people planted along
city streets. They get real ****ed if you cut them down. Cottonwood and
aspen makes a nice campfire but that's about it. Western larch is as
good as it gets.

That's one thing I miss about back east. You can walk for miles here and
see nothing but ponderosa pine and douglas fir, maybe some lodgepole,
larch, or cedar. Lot of monoculture and when you have a pine beetle
outbreak, a lot of dead trees waiting for an excuse to burn.

On Mon, 29 Jan 2018 19:50:51 -0700, rbowman
wrote:

On 01/29/2018 03:32 PM, Terry Coombs wrote:
On 1/29/2018 2:21 PM, rbowman wrote:
On 01/29/2018 12:05 PM, wrote:
My niece has a forced air wood burning furnace in her house. (product
of the Carter era) It is a real pain in the ass and she got tired of
the whole house smelling like smoke all the time.

Depending on what you're burning, it smells better than a coal burner.
Around here it's all softwood which isn't the best firewood but when
that's all you've got... Cottonwood technically is hardwood but it's
not worth dragging home.

Around here it's red and white oak , hickory and other hardwoods . A
lot of people won't burn sweet gum or black gum , but it's OK .


About the only real hardwoods in Montana are stuff people planted along
city streets. They get real ****ed if you cut them down. Cottonwood and
aspen makes a nice campfire but that's about it. Western larch is as
good as it gets.

That's one thing I miss about back east. You can walk for miles here and
see nothing but ponderosa pine and douglas fir, maybe some lodgepole,
larch, or cedar. Lot of monoculture and when you have a pine beetle
outbreak, a lot of dead trees waiting for an excuse to burn.

Down here it is slash pine and live/laurel oak. The slash pine
heartwood burns like an old tire and it is hard to get the oak to burn
at all. Buttonwood is real popular for smoking meat and fish but it is
protected most of the places you find it.
We have a fire pit but I have trouble finding decent firewood. When my
wife was building high end houses we burned red oak flooring scraps
and white pine moulding.

On 01/29/2018 08:35 PM, wrote:
We have a fire pit but I have trouble finding decent firewood. When my
wife was building high end houses we burned red oak flooring scraps
and white pine moulding.

It was a long time ago so I'm vague on details but iirc it was a state
or TVA campground in Tennessee. Anyway there was a furniture factory
nearby and they dumped their scraps and rejects in bins for free
firewood. It was all well seasoned oak. I still have a piece that was
probably supposed to be a chair leg that I use to prop up the bunk in my
pickup to get to the storage underneath.

On Mon, 29 Jan 2018 19:36:21 -0700, lowbrowman, yet another endlessly
driveling senile idiot, blabbered again:


I have a neighbor that I think throws flammable kitchen trash in or else
he's burning old CRTs. Nothing like the smell of burning plastic in the
morning.

Well, tell the nurse to have a serious talk with your funny room mate,
senile lowbrowman! BG

On Mon, 29 Jan 2018 19:50:51 -0700, lowbrowman, yet another endlessly
driveling senile idiot, blabbered again:

FLUSH so much more idiotic senile drivel

On Mon, 29 Jan 2018 22:54:19 -0700, lowbrowman, yet another endlessly
driveling senile idiot, blabbered again:


It was a long time ago so I'm vague on details but iirc it was a state
or TVA campground in Tennessee.

FLUSH more senile drivel

Look, lowbrowman, there MUST be some special newsgroups for senile oafs like
you that have nobody in RL to talk to. Get happy with one of those!