Can W/M steam furnace be used to heat basement?

Ron Wassel

HI, I have a new W/M Steam Furnace with a one pipe system that is now working great because of all of the good advice I got here. Thank you! I now have a new challenge. My old furnace was very inefficient and made the basement extremely warm. It is now extremely cold. What is the best way to put heat down in the basement. It is just a basement - laundry & exercising, but we like it very warm. Would a Modine heater be a good choice for basement heat? I'm looking for a reasonbly priced way to heat my basement using my new furnace. Thank you. Ron Wassel

Ron Wassel

how can basement be heated with W/M Steam Furnace?

HI, I have a new W/M Steam Furnace with a one pipe system that is now working great because of all of the good advice I got here. Thank you! I now have a new challenge. My old furnace was very inefficient and made the basement extremely warm. It is now extremely cold. What is the best way to put heat down in the basement. It is just a basement - laundry & exercising, but we like it very warm. Can radiators be used at all when main steam lines are only a foot and a half from the ceiling. Are there any other options using my W/M Furnace? Thanks! Ron Wassel, NH

bob young

absolutely yes

install an auxilary hot water loop off boiler water

Matt Undy

Take a look at this

http://www.heatinghelp.com/heating_howcome6.cfm

Matt Undy

Thats genericly called a unit heater. One option would be a direct vent type gas unit heater or direct vent type console heater or wall furnace (direct vent means it can vent out a sidewall with the appropriate type of vent fittings). Depending on what type of flue your boiler is using and how it is sized, it may also be possible ot vent any of these options up it.

Another option would be an electric baseboard, unit, or wall heater. This would be the least expensive to install providing your electric service is up to it but the most costly to run. Electric baseboard heat could be made as comfortable as hot water off a condensate loop if designed properly.

Its all a question of how much of the time you will be heating the space, how even you need the heat to be, and what the installation cost differences between the different options are vs the cost to operate them.

If you won't be using the heat much and you can save $1000 on installation of electric over a unit heater, but the fuel savings of gas over electric for how much you are using it are only $80/year, it probaly isnt' worth the added expense of using a gas heater.

Just make sure whatever option you choose that you have somone who knows how to correctly install the equipment do the job.

Matt