I have a forced hot air heating system that is fueled with propane.  I'm considering purchasing a wood stove (or pellet, corn, etc.) to suplement my heating system in the winter with the goal of reducing my overall costs.  

In my experience, most people have a wood stove tied into an existing fireplace and it heats a few rooms in the area.  I was hoping to place the wood stove in my basement and to tie it into my existing air duct network with a fan that would move the air.  Does anyone have a system setup this way?  At a minimum, the heat from the basement would rise and heat the first floor of the house....  

Any other learnings from those who have experience?  I'm headed to dealers this weekend and wanted to get some real life feedback prior to listening to the salesman's pitch.

When I lived on the farm as a boy 20 years ago that is how our wood stove worked. It was in the basement and tied into the same ductwork as the gas heater. Dad would fill it at say 11:00 when he went to bed, damp it down and it would burn all night. Our unit was the size of a refrigerator or so. Grandad also had a woodstove in the basement, his was 50 years old or so....it was about the size of a small car. It had alot of thermal mass essentially and was actually more efficient- required less wood.

I am sure there are many modern versions available that are very efficient and any decent heating and air guy should be able to add one on for you.

[sarcasm]Using corn as a fuel....OH THE HORROR!!!!![/sarcasm]

If you're doing this to save money, have you compared the costs of wood/pellets/corn? Do you have a cheap or free source of wood?

Most people around here use wood as a main heat source because it WAS the cheapest if you cut and hauled it yourself. However, that is changing to electricity due to fuel costs and cheap electricity here.

There are at least a couple makers of wood furnaces with blowers that can be tied into your duct work. I'll try to get pics and info today of a couple that friends of mine have. We don't have one ourselves, just wood stoves in the basement and main floor.

Since this is the Survival forum..........keep in mind, wood furnaces, pellet or corn burners all require electricity to work properly. Most stand alone wood stoves don't.

I think that is a very important point to consider.

Stand alone wood stoves don't need electricity to run.  My uncle's house is older, and has a wood or coal furnace in the basement that doesn't need any electricity b/c it uses steam and radiators upstairs to disperse the heat.  It works well.

My FIL has an older stand alone wood stove, but fortunately his living room/den/kitchen are all in one big open area, and the stove heats the big area.  The bedrooms stay cold, but I guess they cover up at night.

If you can find one, get you an old Fisher wood stove.  They are the best.

I have my wood stove in the basement. I had my contractor place an air intake right above it.  I fire up the stove, open the intake grate and turn on my fan in the heating/cooling system.  Heat goes through out the house and it stays warm.

The only down fall is the fan is running constantly or intermittently and could wear out.  

My intake grate is piped into two of my air exchangers so it covers the entire first floor of my house.

Quoted: Since this is the Survival forum..........keep in mind, wood furnaces, pellet or corn burners all require electricity to work properly. Most stand alone wood stoves don't.

I do not know what the electrical requirements are for a system like this are, but could you set up a small dedicated solar arrangement to meet the electricity requirements?

AccurateOne

The older Sears or Monky Ward sheet metal stoves with the decorative outer shell are great in the basement with a plenum right over the top of them.

If you have any source of wood I would stay with wood, even if you are buying it and its a tad more expensive than corn or pellets of whatever.  If worse comes to worse you can always cut your own wood.

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ost

Quoted: I do not know what the electrical requirements are for a system like this are, but could you set up a small dedicated solar arrangement to meet the electricity requirements? AccurateOne

Anywhere but New Hampshire.  Long about the beginning of december when it's 20 degrees out and you haven't seen the sun for 3 weeks I suspect your battery bank might be done for.