Here's my delima...which Ive posted other places as well. Still not sure what direction to go in.

I am in the process of re-evaluating my heating method. I am in a 1500 sq. ft ranch home with an unfinished basement. I currently have an Alaska Kodiak wood stove insert propped up on blocks in the basement which I fire around 4 months a year. I typically burn about 6 cords of wood. It does an ok job heating and looks exactly like this:

My preference would be to stick with a wood stove but get something more efficient that would heat both the basement and upstairs. I will likely be insulating the basement in the near future which will help tremendously I would think. However, my question is what happens if I add a room in the basement and hang a ceiling? Will the stove still be effective at that point? My plans are to have a family room and possibly one bedroom in the basement, but it will mostly be open. Or, should I just bite the bullet and install duct work and a furnace? If the wood stove would still work once the basement I would prefer that.

Last question, would the insert I have be less efficient than a free standing stove of the same type? Or, are the basically the same?

 

I too am looking at options for heating and I will share any info I can think of.

If your wood burner is using house air for combustion you are pretty much shooting your self in the foot. Your fire is sucking the heated air from the house and that air is replaced with cold outside air.

If you add a bedroom you will need to figure something for heat. If it is just one bedroom that is not used much then some electric baseboard might work for you. Another option would be a fan to pull the warm air through a duct in the wall.

I have been looking very closely to wood add on furnaces. These can be added to existing duct work or you could run dedicated duct work just for it. They range between $800 - $3000. However they don't look as "cute" as your stove.

 

Thanks for the info. Ive looked at the wood furnaces. They are intriguing for sure but I dont have ductwork and dont really have the money to install it either.