How to heat 20x20 basement room that is 'underheated'?

[K1052]

Check for insulation in the walls and proper carpeting.

This.

Don't assume they properly insulated before you invest in another heat source.

 

[Hacp]

BTW, according to my back of the envelope calculation, assuming perfect insulation and a 1500watt space heater with perfect efficiency with the room at 12 feet high, it'll take roughly 2 minutes to raise the temperature per 1.8F. So if you're starting out at 55 degrees and want to get it up to 80, you'll need 28 minutes.

 

[SpatiallyAware]

What temperature is it at usually? 80F is pretty high.

I'd guess 55-60 with no heater at all, 60-65 at most with the 1500w oil heater full blast 24/7

 

[SpatiallyAware]

....and I'll check for insulation in the walls.. What's the best way to do this, pull the plate covers off of exterior power outlets?

 

[vi edit]

Build a raised subfloor and install radiant heating using a second small (10-15 gallon) water heater? Probably well on the way in terms of cost as just updating the HVAC to the proper size...but it's something you could mostly do yourself if you have water & natural gas closely located to that room.

 

[SunSamurai]

I'd guess 55-60 with no heater at all, 60-65 at most with the 1500w oil heater full blast 24/7

Heating is obviously not the problem.

 

[dullard]

1 occupant, girl who is cold all of the time. She'd have it at 80F if possible, so I'd prefer to not have anything that can be left on like those small space heaters...

Thanks for the advice..

You are welcome even if it doesn't really help.

A 20x20 room with good insulation* would require a 4500W (15000 BTU/hr) heater to heat the room to 80°F. So, what you have is way under powered. Whatever you do, make certain that you triple the heat output of what you have now.

And don't worry too much about the cost. You are basically right about the $120 price to run 1500W electricity continuously (I assume you live in a reasonably expensive electricity area). But that isn't $120 wasted. Instead, the vast majority of that heat goes into the rest of your house, lowering the heating bill there. True, a gas furnace would provide you with 1500W of heat cheaper than electricity would. But it isn't completely money down the drain.

What about a ceiling fan? Get some of that oil-heater heat back down to her level. That shouldn't cost over $100 (possibly even less). Depends on the basement height I guess.

* Basements generally are great insulation since they are surrounded by the ground which is an insulator.

 

[mmntech]

What temperature is it at usually? 80F is pretty high.

70F is better. Some 220v baseboard heaters would work. That's what's in my basement. If it's really cold, you could have an insulation problem.

 

[zinfamous]

stick a fan over the vents such that it blows the warm air throughout.

 

[Paperdoc]

One thing to watch out for: IF you choose en electric heater, do NOT fall for the pitches that one type is "more efficient" than another. All electric heaters convert ALL of their power consumed to heat - 100% efficiency! There may be small differences in how well that heat gets moved around the room, but even that can be handled easily with just about any fan.

Your problems appear to be from two main sources. First looks like: the insulation is really poor, because putting heat into the room is not raising the temperature much. So, all that heat you pay for is escaping somewhere. IF you can do something about that it will help. The other is the size of the heat source you're using. You cannot buy / install any electric heater larger than 1500W (well, maybe 1800 Watts if you actually have 120 VAC and it pulls a 15 amp current to max load the breaker) that plugs into a standard wall outlet. Even if you were to buy three or four of these, do you have that many separate 15-amp circuits supplying the room that you could devote entirely to electric heaters, with NO other appliances (not even a lamp!) on each such circuit? Not likely. So, you would have to look at adding 15-amp 120 VAC circuits, or installing 240 VAC specialized heating circuits to baseboard heaters (IF your breaker panel has the additional capacity for those extra loads).

Your idea of installing a modest vented natural-gas fired heater is a much better one. You indicate that such an installation job is not too hard for you to handle, and certainly not much more difficult that adding significant electrical capacity. But even better, you probably could size the unit so that it provides all the heat you need (be sure to include some provision for modest air circulation to move the heat around the room) AND natural gas is a MUCH cheaper heat source than electricity!

 

[SpatiallyAware]

Couple of things, for one my breaker box is in this room although I sorta doubt it can handle another 220v line. I may be able to put my garage on one breaker and etc to try and free up room for those larger 220 breakers but meh..

This basement room is primarily underground - I'd guess 75% is underground.

I believe I'm going to price out some of these natural gas heaters and possibly baseboard stuff... I'll report back what I find


Thanks again all for the help!

 

[RadiclDreamer]

I have a finished basement (done by previous owner) which is not properly heated. It has one return and two supply vents, but the flow on all of them is very low. I had an HVAC guy come out last winter who basically said the furnace and a/c is not large enough to properly service the basement as well as the rest of the house. I suspected maybe crushed vents in the wall but he said no, that they're just long runs from the main unit.


So.. I tried one of those oil heaters, and even on high 24/7 (it's a 1500 watt heater = ~$120 a month) it's not enough.

What next? I had someone tell me that there is a new type of large ceramic heater which is far far more efficient. I also remember in-wall natural gas heaters that worked well from my childhood...

Thoughts?

Its my understanding that electric heaters are nearly 100% effective, other than the small amount of energy lost by light they are converting 100% of their power into heat

 

[Ken g6]

Its my understanding that electric heaters are nearly 100% effective, other than the small amount of energy lost by light they are converting 100% of their power into heat

Correct.

So...you could try putting a bunch of computers down there running distributed computing projects.

But seriously, insulation sounds like a good next step.

 

[lxskllr]

Correct.

So...you could try putting a bunch of computers down there running distributed computing projects.

That's what I do. In a closed room, it makes a noticeable difference in temperature.

 

[kalrith]

Its my understanding that electric heaters are nearly 100% effective, other than the small amount of energy lost by light they are converting 100% of their power into heat

I think this is true. Other than the heat possibly going straight up to the higher levels, spending $120/month on one electric heater will produce the same amount of heat as spending $120/month on any electric heater.

Going to great lengths to install new electric heating doesn't seem like it would save you a lot of money.

You never answered dullard's question about ceiling height. If you could install a couple ceiling fans down there and set them to push the heat down, then that might make a huge difference.

FWIW I heated my 900 sq. ft. house with one of those light-bulb heaters with a blower on it. It probably only heated it to 65°, but it was about 20° outside, and our furnace decided to take a sabattical . I don't think the problem is that you can't heat 400 sq. ft. with a 1500W electric heater. I think it's that you're losing too much of the heat to the upper floors. Ceiling fans should help with that.

Also, my 30' x 15' unfinished, walk-out basement stays about 62-65° (that's my guess) with the furnace down there and one furnace vent.

 

[K1052]

....and I'll check for insulation in the walls.. What's the best way to do this, pull the plate covers off of exterior power outlets?

Cut a hole in the drywall somewhere inconspicuous, check what's behind, then repair the hole. It's the only way to really be 100% sure what is there.