[Greenlight1]

I asked one on my friends (a plumber) to help me size and install a Modine Hot Dog heater for my basement. My basement is (currently) about 630ft2 and is approx. 50% above grade. The rear wall which is a walk out has R19 FG and a steel insulated door. The rest of the basement is stone foundation with no insulation or any air sealing done to it. He said to get a 75,000 BTU Unit. To me, that seems GROSSLY oversized for my basement. It is TECHNICALLY only half of our basement bc the home WAS a double that we remodeled into a single family. The other “side” of the basement is not done yet so we have it blocked off with at the middle wall with a double layer of 2” Thermaxx that is spray foamed are the edges, so it is pretty much totally isolated. I did tell him that I wanted a unit that would heat the ENTIRE basement once it was done, but even at 1300ft2 that seems like way too much heat from the area. Any thoughts?

 

[user_12345a]

Do a load calculation, 75k input/60kj output will do most 2-story+basement detached houses, a lot with capacity to spare! ( unless you're in the northern part of the continent - but still...)

That plumber doesn't have a clue and should stick with plumbing.


Doubt it needs more than 25k (output) of heat absolute worst case.

A unit heater btw is really not suitable for a basement. They're for garages and warehouses - they'e ugly, make noise directly in the living space and don't supply very comfortable heat.

A direct vent gas fireplace or wall heater would be much better.

I believe you asked about this before and we told you it's not a very good option. If I remember correctly, some suggested mini-split heatpump, I suggested waiting until re-doing the heating system and adding a zone for the basement at the same time.

 

[user_12345a]

https://www.loadcalc.net/

 

[Greenlight1]

Do a load calculation, 75k input/60kj output will do most 2-story+basement detached houses, a lot with capacity to spare! ( unless you're in the northern part of the continent - but still...)

That plumber doesn't have a clue and should stick with plumbing.


Doubt it needs more than 25k (output) of heat absolute worst case.

A unit heater btw is really not suitable for a basement. They're for garages and warehouses - they'e ugly, make noise directly in the living space and don't supply very comfortable heat.

A direct vent gas fireplace or wall heater would be much better.

I believe you asked about this before and we told you it's not a very good option. If I remember correctly, some suggested mini-split heatpump, I suggested waiting until re-doing the heating system and adding a zone for the basement at the same time.

I do remember that in a previous thread. Thank you for the input on that. My plumber (a different guy) said it’s gonna be easy to run a zone for basement separately. At this point, we need to put some sort of heat in basement ASAP. my thought process was that this unit could be moved into garage at a later time (I hope). But in the mean time, is such a large unit going to work correctly in my basement?

 

[coolair111]

How did he calculated such a huge estimate. 75k BTU is way much oversized. Does he have any idea at all ? you should get someone else. Calculate your load as suggested above . for basement you do not need such a large unit either.

 

[Greenlight1]

How did he calculated such a huge estimate. 75k BTU is way much oversized. Does he have any idea at all ? you should get someone else. Calculate your load as suggested above . for basement you do not need such a large unit either.

When I did a calc it only called for 26,000 BTU so I was going to round up to next size available. Believe 30,000 BTU would be sufficient for my space. I agree, this friend was only trying to help but ended up giving me a headache lol

 

[user_12345a]

Your basement shouldn't be super cold without heat if the rest of the house is heated.

I would use electric until you can add hot water heat, there's no point of installing a gas fired unit only to remove it.

If you gas company will charge you to run a line if you don't have enough installed BTUs worth of appliances, just put that heater in the garage right away.

 

[surferdude2]

Listen to user_12345a, he's giving you good advice. My gas supplier (Ameren) charges me a meter charge that usually exceeds my usage fee for 9 months of the year. I often use $10 worth of gas + distribution fees and pay an additional $25 for a "Meter Charge." Friends like that, I don't need!

I have 1/4 Mil $ of their stock and still get no respect!