Basement Gas Heat? Multiple advantages / Disadvantages?

Alan_Koziol

Afternoon Forum and Happy Holidays,

Being on vacation the next couple of weeks decided on focusing on what can be done around my residence so I'm not bored. Decided on clearing out my basement for the purpose of making more of a work area for me... The only drawback is the cold / dampness of the basement.

The area is roughly 500 square feet, no actual ceiling, just the floor joists of the 1st floor and some wiring.

Came across these NG heaters, ranging anywhere from 6K - 30K BTU.

Link: https://ghpgroupinc.com/products/dyna-glo-10k-btu-lp-blue-flame-vent-free-wall-heater

Was thinking it could serve multiple purposes:
1. A Warmer basement to work in.
2. Possibly have drier air (may deter some of the insects IDK).
3. Give my 1st level floor a warmer feel. (The basement area is the footprint of my 5 first floor rooms).

Any feedback is greatly appreciated.

Thank You.
Take Care.

dopey27177

The most economical and safest way to heat the basement is taking a hot water loop off the existing boiler'
Although it shows running heat to a second floor all you need to do is run the heating elements below the water level of the boiler.

See enclosure

Jamie Hall

I'm not really keen on vent free combustion heaters, such as these. The problem being "vent-free". But -- some people do use them. Your local codes may not even allow their use at all. The ones in your link, however, are LP, not natural gas, so if you are looking for something fired by natural gas, those won't do at all, anyway.

If you have the electrical capacity, a more satisfactory and cheaper way to do the job would be one or two "barn heaters" -- they take 15 amps and put out around 4500 BTUh. Home Depot has them (they call them "milkroom heaters" for about 25 bucks each.

JUGHNE

Most here will probably not recommend any vent free heaters, myself included.
IIRC, they rely upon an oxygen depletion sensor to shut down as a safety.

Also any vent free combustion adds a fair amount of humidity to the room.
This would not help your damp basement out.

mattmia2

However there are direct vent gas heaters.

bburd

@op What type of system heats the rest of your house?

Alan_Koziol

The link that I used was solely as example. If I was to go that route it would be NG. In regards to Bburd's question... The House is an NG system with FHW baseboard on the 2 floors

pecmsg

If you have the Hight, a couple inches of insulation and in floor radiant.

Mosherd1

For a basement workshop area, in a house with HW heat, what about a few kickspace heaters?  

bburd

I would probably put in a separate baseboard zone for the basement, If the boiler has the capacity. That way the gas exhaust goes out the existing boiler vent instead of into your basement, or a separately installed vent. 

EBEBRATT-Ed

Gas fired heaters won't do well if there is a lot of dust & saw dust can be an issue.

Hot water would be the way to go with a hot water unit heater or a fan coil/ahu with filtration. Faster responce if you don't heat it all the time