wood stove safety?

[irishfan]

I was thinking about a good place for a wood stove since I have no room on the main level to put it. What I wonder is can you put one in a basement and vent it out of your chimney? My thinking is that it would be able to heat the basement and my wood floors like radiant heat but also a good source of heat if vented properly in a ice storm or disaster if you had to stay in the basement. Also, I have 2 coal stoarge rooms and a coal door to throw the wood through to the basement. Any thoughts or concerns would be great.

 

[caverjamie]

A friend of the family has a wood stove in their walk-out basement. It was installed under the air intake for their regular heating system. The idea being, they can circulate the heat from the wood stove through their whole house by just turning on the fan on their furnace. The heat will certainly rise on its own too. The house we live in has a wood stove insert in the old fireplace - I'm not sure how the exhaust pipe was installed, but it can be done.

Jamie

 

[LEaSH]

I'm considering doing this at our house as well.

I might have to alter the steps going down to the basement, but that should be ok.

I'm going to inspect the chimney for integrity and/or feed a stove pipe down from the top to the basement and just avoid getting in the way of the existing furnace exhaust.

If anyone finds a good deal locally please let me know - I'll do the same here.

Check out one of these beauties: Ecofan

 

[Regionnus Rattis]

If you are ever worried about the chimney integrity for the stove, you can always send a pipe sleeve down the chimney and elbow it into the basement and top off the other end with a cooley hat

 

[ThrottleJockey]

No one wants to hear this, but the pipe has to be double wall insulated with a double collar sleeve. This stuff is almost always stainless steel and VERY expensive. Plan on about $300-$500 bucks for pipe/sleeve alone. The other BIG problem can be your homeowners insurance. With nearly all policies today, a wood burning stove requires a costly rider.


But since this is survival/disaster prep, I recommend getting all the normal single wall cheap stuff and stacking it along side the stove ready to rock if needed.

 

[6birds]

The other BIG problem can be your homeowners insurance. With nearly all policies today, a wood burning stove requires a costly rider.

Not with State Farm or Am Fam.
Who requires one?

 

[Regionnus Rattis]

No one wants to hear this, but the pipe has to be double wall insulated with a double collar sleeve. This stuff is almost always stainless steel and VERY expensive. Plan on about $300-$500 bucks for pipe/sleeve alone. The other BIG problem can be your homeowners insurance. With nearly all policies today, a wood burning stove requires a costly rider.


But since this is survival/disaster prep, I recommend getting all the normal single wall cheap stuff and stacking it along side the stove ready to rock if needed.

The double-wall stove pipe I've seen isn't stainless....most of it is galvanized, substantially cheaper than stainless. At least the pipe with just the stainless liner and galvanized outer wall...

 

[bft131]

Double wall "B" vent pipe CAN NOT be used for wood burning appliances...

If you are going to put a stove in your basement and vent it up the existing house chimney you will need a properly installed liner rated for a woodstove and not a furnace. This properly vents the heat, smoke and exhaust gasses of the stove and prevents all of the formentioned by-products of combustion from coming back into your house and possible killing YOU or your family....

I know there was a rant against chimney sweeps a month or so ago, but I have been on both sides of the fence as a sweep and a firefighter for 22 years, so I am not doing this to make money..It does no good if you have a SHTF situation if you burn your house down due to half-a$$ or cut rate installation. A liner can be done by your average home-owner with proper knowledge and simple handtools.

And as "throttlejockey" said..the proper stainless and insulated piping is not cheap but it is the proper pipe to use on an exterior chimney mounted to the side of a residence.

My two cents....

 

[Cpt Caveman]

Yup. Do your research and install it right. I set up a wood burning furnace in my basement 5 years ago , plumbed it into the plenum on the furnace. It paid for itself the first year in propane savings. Its electric so its not good for when the power is out. I have a large fisher stove in the garage set aside though. If I have a long term outage I can move the stove into the basement and hook it up to keep the house from becoming too cold. We'd probably sleep in the kitchen at that point I guess. When the wood furnace is running the floor in there is so warm. We burn about 8 ricks a winter.
Your coal room/door is gonna make it easy to get the wood into the basement. Well its never easy but it'll be easier than carrying it down the steps!
You don't wanna vent your wood burner and your gas furnace into the same flue. The double wall stuff you want IS stainless steel. The galvanized stuff is not for wood burners. It'll off gas some nasty stuff and its not designed to stand up to the heat so use the stainless.
Now all you need is a good chainsaw!

 

[dieselrealtor]

It sounds like you could be talking about my basement. I have an existing stove in mine, don't know if it is coal or wood. Mine is currently vented into the existing chimney, I do not believe it is lined & I don't think I would use it without it. We have only lived here for a few months.

This setup has an abandoned cold air return directly above the stove, presumably it was used to suppliment coal, fuel oil or other central heat at one time.
With a coal door, you may be able to remove the door & stuff a stack out of it. I don't know how high it would have to be to draft properly, something to consider. If we are talking about emergency use then function is more important than looks.

I believe the stainless flu liners are the way to go for a permanent installation, costly but it should greatly reduce the risk of a flu fire.

If you can disconnect the air returns in the basement this would work for temporary use. For a more permanent installation you could run a separate return & have dampers or shutoffs installed to close the one you don't want to use.

Even if jacklegging something together safety is king.

 

[longbow]

All my insurance wanted was a recent picture of the area. When they heard what I did for a living, they left me alone..........

Keep things that burn at least three feet from all sides of the wood stove, a good fire extinguisher, a metal trash can for ashes, and a fresh air supply near the unit. You don't want to pull in cold air from other parts of the house when the stove is working.

 

[Leadeye]

I had an insert installed when we built the new house and it has been working well this fall. It has a fan on it but I have it hard wired into the generator circuits so it's one of the the things that stay on if the power goes out. We located it in the walkout basement and placed the wood pile a short distance from the concrete deck.

 

[yotewacker]

If you have to buy wood. do not put it in. But if your wood is free or your going to use it for emergencies then put it in.

 

[swatdoc]

I used to have a wood stove installed in the basement. Just a word of advice. Keep your eye on it. If it's in a basement, it might tend to be neglected. We had a Vermont Castings which was very nice--capable of putting out a lot of heat. But needed to be adjusting frequently. I let it go a little too long once and came back to find the firebox glowing red. Not good! It was installed inside of a very large woodburning fireplace, so no damage done, but it could have been much worse! Definitely make sure the flue is up to spec. A chimney fire is a very scary thing.

 

[fyrefyter101]

I agree, I am a firefighter also, and every year around this time we get calls because someone thought it would be OK. Look at your family, look at yourself, and look at your home, then deside if you want to cut corners? Not to mention the guys that are there to repair or replace it after the shtf situation (you or family are in the hospital and your home is no longer livable) and the fire dept. put thier lives on the line so that someone could save a couple bucks... when you are talking safety thats why there they have guide lines.

 

[Indy317]

The other BIG problem can be your homeowners insurance. With nearly all policies today, a wood burning stove requires a costly rider.

Not with Nationwide. They just said you had to have a person who held certifications and would write on the invoice everything was installed to current day codes.

These things are nothing to mess around with. Save a grand or so and start there, but make sure you do it right.

 

[dhnorris]

I have a Dutchwest extra large wood burning stove and can supply all of my heat with it. I built a brickpadd for it to sit on and went 3" bigger than dutchwest said for the clearances to flammables. A good saw ie Stihl jonsered echo efco something like that is a must do not dick around with a cheap saw. I'm well into the the money saving phase of wood burning. Get ready to walk around in shorts and to having doors/ windows open at various times.

 

[IndianasFinest]

I just finished installing a wood stove on the main level of my home as our new primary heat source. My house is insured through American Family, and all they required was that my agent come out to take pictures, and measurements to make sure the stoves clearances were acceptable. I had the chimney installed professionally since I really didn't want to cut a hole in my roof, and be responsiable for it leaking. I did everything else which included making the proper hearth pad for the stove to sit on. Every stove is different when it comes to there clearances to combustiables. I personally exceeded all the required clearances to give us a little more peice of mind. Wood heat is great, but it requires constant attention, and can be very dangerous.

 

[kwatters]

I have been heating with wood for almost 20 years now and love it. Keep the chimney clean and only use seasoned wood, that will eliminate a lot of problems.
I installed an insert in my existing fireplace and even though I had a good chimney already I put an 8" stainless steel liner from the stove out the top with a new cap. It wasn't cheap but makes cleaning much easier and gives us peace of mind.

 

[kwatters]

I just finished installing a wood stove on the main level of my home as our new primary heat source. My house is insured through American Family, and all they required was that my agent come out to take pictures, and measurements to make sure the stoves clearances were acceptable. I had the chimney installed professionally since I really didn't want to cut a hole in my roof, and be responsiable for it leaking. I did everything else which included making the proper hearth pad for the stove to sit on. Every stove is different when it comes to there clearances to combustiables. I personally exceeded all the required clearances to give us a little more peice of mind. Wood heat is great, but it requires constant attention, and can be very dangerous.

That is a nice looking setup!