Putting the Stove in the Basement? Will It Work.

So I have been reading as a guest for a few weeks and finally realized I just needed to join and ask.

We have a fireplace in our living room and this is where we were originally looking to put our coal stove.
We are looking at a KeyStoker as this is what I grew up with. Now KeyStoker only makes one model that is the closest to an insert. This one sits in front of my pre-existing fireplace. It is pretty big and wont be the nicest looking thing in the main room of our house.
but if it is the only options that works and saves my money over my current oil heat... I am all for it.

A few people have mentioned to me in looking into putting a Stoker stove in the basement of the house. (unfinished)
And venting to the 1st floor.. and if need be to the 2nd floor)

Here is some more information:

House Sq Ft 1,444.
Built 1928
original hard wood floors in the entire house.

Basement (unfinished) covers the entire length of the house but is separated into 4 rooms. (the two other rooms are on either side of where we would put the stove. (with the last tiniest room being under our cement Porch)
The stove would be directly under the dining rooms which is the center of the house and has the steps to the 2nd floor in it.

Putting it in the basement would do several things.
#1 make the living stay looking nice. (important to my wife) as well as not ruining the floors by possible ash spill of ash pan burns.
#2 not make that room unbearably hot.
#3 We could get a cheaper Back Hopper fed model, because it doesn't have to sit in front of the fireplace.
#4 all coal and ash would go in and out of the basement Bilco doors.
#5 7 month old baby wont really ever be in the same room with the stove.

Issues:
#1Will the heat reach our 2nd floor where all the bed rooms are? (will I burn/waste more coal... heating my basement where I am never in)
#2 will the venting work?
#3 more money to properly vent the stove... to a chimney and such?

I am in the Pottstown Area. (close to Reading)
Is there someone to call and come and give us a possible quote on the stove, and proper venting of the stove?
My father and I can vent the house for heat.

Your help, thoughts and time are appreciated.

Kurt

Is your house currently heated with ductwork or a boiler?
Keystoker seams to build units that can be conected to ductwork to move the heat around, they also build boilers.
Ash and the burner in the basment sounds good to me, do you have inside stairs to the basment?

I think if you were to post this in the coal stove section of this forum you will get more to read it and respond

And stupid me forgot to mention,,,, " Welcome to the coal forum !!!! " You you meet alot of very good people on hear that will help you with any questions you may have! Again,, Welcome to the forum

Ahh yes.... My fault... It is currently a Boiler... with Hot Water Radiators.

I tried to post it in the strict coal section, but it would not let me.

Maybe Richard can help us out

With a seven month old, I'll guess that you are late 20s early 30s.
If you are going to stay in the house, consider a coal boiler.
You have everything you need. Just add the boiler in series
with the one you have. Done.

a couple options, but a coal boiler would be the best solution, then all rooms would be same temp using you existing system, and you don't have have to run duct work....

Agree boiler is best. I think if you take down the chimney connector of you present boiler and disconnect electricity to it you could use the present chimney saving some cost.

If money is tight I would put a used Franco Belge in front of the fireplace if that fireplace is not on an outside wall. Total cost 150 to 350.

Kurt David,

Since I know you so well because we both had the same grandfather that you are named after, give me a call at the shop and we can discuss this further. Both you and your dad are welcome to come down to our place and see a coal boiler in operation. Or I can take you across the driveway and show you a stoker insert in a fireplace in my sister in law's house.

The shop number is still the same even though I moved it to Royersford. Your dad should still have even though he hasn't called me in a while. He must be driving a lot better these days.......

Rick

tsb wrote:With a seven month old, I'll guess that you are late 20s early 30s.
If you are going to stay in the house, consider a coal boiler.
You have everything you need. Just add the boiler in series
with the one you have. Done.

Excellent advice. If there is room near the oil boiler, it should not be difficult to tie in a coal boiler and use the existing chimney.

I did just that with a 2200 square foot ranch with a 900 sqft finished basement. I have a hearth model stove from L.L. which worked great, though yes I did have to over heat the basement to keep the upstairs at 70. Your key is air circulation. My air circulated though the staircase which was closer to 1 end of the house, and radiated through the floors (warm floors are nice to walk on. The room directly above the stove was very warm, but no one sleeps there anyway so it did not matter. All in all it does work great, but like the other replies the way to go is the coal boiler... and inline with the existing boiler is a great backup if it is in good shape or buy a dual fuel unit. I'm installing a dual fuel boiler this year and expect a big reduction in coal usage. First year I used 6 tons or coal. Second year I used 5 tons a year after I replaced some single pane windows. With the new boiler I bet 3-4 tons. The stove in the basement did provide a nice dry basement though. Getting heat to the second floor would be tough from the basement without ductwork. Heat the baseboards, that way you put the heat where you want/need it.

Curious if you made any progress on selecting a stove and placement.
Thx

I have tried doing this with limited success. I had a Harman Mark III burning nearly wide open, the stove temp was in the 500 degree range, anyway the basement was 90 degrees the cats were sweating, the upstairs was about 70, after cutting a few holes into the floor to get more air moving it didnt make much of a difference. SO, after selling the stove and being tired of hauling coal buckets into the basement and ashes out of the basement, I finished the entire basement.

That was when I noticed something that I should of done from the beginning to get more heat upstairs that is - DRYLOK the basement walls, poured concrete walls suck in so much heat and wastes coal in the process. The basement temp rose 4 degrees just by DRYLOKing the walls, I left an 2" air gap around the perimiter and installed 6mil plastic as a vapor barrier and then studded the walls and insulated them, the basement temp rose 2 more degrees to a steady 65 year round. Anyway, now that all that is done I'd like to try it again but the wife will have no coal dust inside the now finished basement, and frankly, I'd rather not haul it up and down the bilco door anymore either.

The saveings was very little, I was burning a ton of coal a month to save about 150 gallons of oil, so I was only saving about $300 / month in todays money, it wasnt worth the effort to save $1200 per heating season... .... if you want a stove down there just to heat the basement and for nice atmosphere (they flames do look nice when they dance), then it willl work fine and you'll be happy and warm in the basement, but my advice is buy a boiler if you really want to heat the entire house.

You gotta admit ... it sure is nice to have warm floors in the morning without spending a dime or removing a nail for a radiant install.

My stove is in the basement basically because there's no room for it anywhere else. To have it in the living area would've cost more money too, due to all the necessary safety items (slate or brick floor, longer pipe for clearance to combustibles, etc ...). All I can say is it works 100x better than the oil heat. We went thru 4 tanks of oil to freeze our asses off between 56° - 60° in here with oil only. I'm able to maintain the high 60's in here on the coldest days with the coal stove. I have nothing but the basement door open. For this house, maintaining that temp is an extraordinary feat! It's the most comfortable I've ever been in this place & I'm
extremely happy with the results. My coal consumption isn't all that bad when you consider all the leaks, drafts, & shoddy construction in this place.

Some of the negatives to having it in the basement end up being positives on the other end. For example, if the stove burns out due to neglect, the fieldstone & concrete hold enough heat in them to keep the house temp from dropping too far. It can be out for a few hours ... then you have to figure a few hours for the stove to ramp back up to temp again ... and the temp here never drops more than 5°. As an added bonus for us, it dries out an area that hasn't been remotely dry for almost 2 centuries.

Remember - heat can only go up. It's a win-win.