If you are considering an electric fireplace, you may be wondering if you can put it in your basement. Luckily, the answer to that question is yes, and using an electric fireplace in a basement is considered very safe. Not only that, but many homeowners have done just that. Furthermore, they are considered a highly effective and energy-efficient way to heat your basement during the winter. If you are considering doing this, this MagikFlame buying guide will tell you everything you need to know.
If you’re wondering, “Will an electric fireplace heat my basement” the answer will depend on the specific fireplace. However, they are often quite effective, and they can be a safer and more cost-effective option than conventional fireplaces and ones that burn gas. Although, they are typically best used as supplemental heat rather than as the primary heat source.
Furthermore, the insulation in your basement will play a role in how effective the heater is. You’ll also need to consider the ground temperature in your area, which will be the annual average temperature in your region. If this temperature is higher, it will be easier to heat your basement.
In regions where the ground temperature is particularly warm, you might be able to use the modern electric fireplace with a mantel as your primary source of heat. However, this will not be possible in most parts of the United States. That’s because the soil temperatures are too low.
Will An Electric Fireplace Heat My Basement As A Primary Heat Source?
This will be possible if you live in Florida, southern Texas, or the Gulf Coast. It also will be possible in southern Arizona, parts of southern Nevada, and southern California. It also may be possible to use an electric fireplace as the primary heat source if you will only be heating a portion of your basement.
Can You Heat A Basement That Has Not Been Finished?
It is possible to heat a basement that hasn’t been finished, but it can be significantly more difficult. There are several reasons for this. One of them is that an unfinished basement usually will not be insulated, making it significantly harder to heat. However, that is not the only reason.
The other reason is that unfinished basements typically do not have ducts. Therefore, you’ll need to install them, creating an expense. In most cases, you will not be able to use an electric fireplace as the primary heat source for your basement.
How Many Square Feet Of Space Can Be Heated By Our Products?
In most cases, our products will provide some heat throughout your entire basement, around 400 square feet — but up to 1,000 square feet as a secondary heat source.
The ground temperature is typically significantly higher than the outdoor air temperature during the winter, making it possible for an electric fireplace to heat a somewhat larger area. This is especially true in the southeast and other warm climates in the US and elsewhere.
Will An Electric Fireplace Heat My Basement If I Use Returns For Air?
While an electric fireplace usually will not be able to act as a primary source of heat, it might be possible if you install air returns on your product. This will allow you to circulate air from upstairs into your basement, which will enable you to have a warmer basement than you would otherwise. This can make it easier to heat a basement with an electric fireplace, increasing the area where it can be used as the primary source of heat.
How Do You Create One?
To create a system to return air, it is essential to understand how the process works. In most cases, heated air will rise in relation to cooler air. Therefore, you will need a blower to generate the appropriate flow of heated air downwards into your basement. If you do not set one up, the warm air from upstairs will never make it into your basement. Here are the steps that you need to follow to create a system to circulate air into the basement:
- First, you will need to figure out where to install the ductwork for the vent. Ensure that you set it up in a place where you’ll be able to circulate air into any bedrooms or other primary living spaces.
- After you have figured out where to set it up, you’ll need to install both the ductwork and the fan. Make sure that you pick out a blower that will last, and ensure that it is easy for residents to turn on or off.
- Test the system to ensure that it works properly. You can do this by first turning the blower on and off, which will ensure that the switch properly responds.
Properly Insulating Your Basement Can Make It Easier To Heat It With Your New Fireplace
One of the most important parts of improving the energy efficiency of your new fireplace is making sure that your basement is properly insulated. This is often the first step to effective basement heating in a cellar that has been finished. Not only will you need to use proper slab insulation, but you will need to ensure that you have joists that are thick enough to meet the code in your area.
In most cases, this will be 2×4 or 2×6 joists. However, make sure that you check the building code in your local area. This will ensure that you can install enough fiber insulation to trap heat in the basement effectively, which will improve the efficiency of any fireplace. The fiber insulation you use will typically be made out of fiberglass, but other materials are available. In fact, some of the latest high-tech materials are even more effective as insulation.
Will An Electric Fireplace Heat My Basement More Effectively If I Put It In The Right Place?
To ensure that your fireplace is as efficient as possible at heating your basement, it’s important to put it in a location where the warm air will be able to drift throughout the basement. Doing this will require that you ensure that the air will not be blocked by a door, which will keep the air from reaching residents in the main areas of the basement. Here are a few ideas for places to put the new fireplace:
- Bedrooms: Bedrooms are one of the rooms in the space that are occupied most frequently, and it’s essential to ensure that the room where people sleep remains warm. So, your electric fireplace can be an excellent addition to the bedroom in a basement.
- Dens And Living Rooms: Dens and living rooms are two of the most popular places to put a fireplace in a basement that has been finished. This is considered the traditional place to set a new fireplace. This is because it is typically centrally located, and it’s a place where people tend to socialize and enjoy the flames.
- Other Areas Of The Space: These are not the only places you can consider putting your new fireplace. You’ll need to look at your unique floor plan to find the right place to put the fireplace in your home.
It’s important to ensure that the circuit will not impact appliances in the basement.
Always Consider That Warm Air Rises And Cool Air Sinks
It’s important to ensure that your fireplace is close to the floor. Do not place it on the stairs to the basement, in landing rooms on the way down, or anywhere else above the rest of the space. The heat is not likely to reach the area below if you do.
Keep Doors To The Upstairs Closed
If you leave the doors to the upstairs open, heat from the basement space will escape. This will make it significantly harder to heat your basement. As a result, the temperature in the basement may drop, or your heating costs will dramatically increase. Not only that, but it’s best to limit the number of doors that you have to the upstairs. Ideally, you should not have more than one door. This is because small amounts of air can escape upstairs through the cracks at the edges of the door.
Can You Use Multiple Electric Heaters?
If you want to add to the heating of your basement, an additional space heater-style fireplace can be an excellent option. Even if the MagikFlame fireplace is the main electric heater, a space heater can be an excellent addition, even if it’s fairly small. A small electric fireplace can generate as much as 1,000 BTU. Here are a few ideas for using multiple electric fireplaces and heaters:
Consider Ways That You Can Make Your Basement More Energy Efficient
If you are looking for ways to make it easier to heat space, you can harness the sun’s natural power. One great way to do this is to have small windows at the top of your basement, which will allow light to enter your home. Ensure that you place these windows on a wall that faces south. This will enable you to harness the sun’s power when it is at its strongest.
East and west-facing windows can be a great way to harness the sun’s natural power. However, you’ll want to make sure that you close the blinds on east-facing windows in the afternoon. You will also want to keep the blinds on west-facing windows closed during the morning, which will ensure that heat cannot escape out of shaded windows.
North-facing windows generally do not contribute to the energy efficiency of a basement during the colder months, and it’s important to close the blinds on all of the windows at night. This will prevent heat from escaping on cold winter nights, making heating your basement a lot easier.
Make Sure That You Stop Drafts From Entering Your Main Living Space
It isn’t just important to keep drafts out of the basement itself. You need to prevent drafts in your entire home. Why is this? Unfortunately, because cold air sinks, it can accumulate in the basement if there are drafts in the space upstairs. This can make it harder for you to heat the area located underground. Luckily, if you ensure that all windows and doors make a tight seal, you can prevent most drafts into your home upstairs.
Why Should You Choose MagikFlame To Heat Your Basement?
While there are many brands of electric fireplaces that you can choose from, MagikFlame offers an extensive range of products that you can choose from. Not only that but everything that we offer features 30 different settings to choose from. These settings will allow you to enjoy different flames, which will simulate a genuine fire.
You’ll even be able to choose from simulated brush fires, gas fires, wood fires, and other common types of flames. This is something that most other products will not offer. Furthermore, all of our products offer crackling log sounds, which you can enjoy anytime. Changing the settings on your fireplace will change both the sound and appearance of the flames.
Our Products Are Exceptionally Powerful
Another thing that sets our products apart is that they offer a whopping 5,200 BTUs, but most other leading manufacturers of electric-powered fireplaces only offer around 4,800 BTUs or less.
You Can Expect Anything Sold By MagikFlame To Last For Years
Everything we sell is built to an exceptional quality standard, ensuring that it will last. We use the highest quality materials available, and all of our products also come with a warranty. So, you’ll be able to fix any problems that arise with your new fireplace in the first year free of charge.
How MagikFlame Is Built Ensures That All Of Our Products Are Stylish
Another thing that sets our products apart is that we offer stylish wood and metal frames for our fireplaces. This includes our wall-mounted electric fireplaces, freestanding ones, and Dimplex products. Not only do we offer products with an exceptional appearance, but you can customize the look of our products very easily. Our frames can be painted, allowing you to get the right look for your basement living room or den.
Will Your Electric Bill Be High If You Use An Electric Fireplace?
Fortunately, the answer to that question is usually no. While our products use more electricity than a small electric space heater, the fireplace heater will typically run in a quite energy-efficient way. The efficiency is similar to electric-powered baseboard heaters. The simulated flame display on our fireplace insert only requires a tiny portion of the energy use of our fireplace heater products.
Our Products Are The Best On The Market
We offer numerous alternatives to a traditional fireplace, which will keep you toasty. Unlike conventional fireplaces and ones that burn wood pellets, all of our products are exclusively powered by electricity, and they offer safety features that will protect children and pets.
They are far more powerful than a typical portable space heater, and they use infrared heaters that will keep the basement of your new home warm with radiant heating. They are often powerful enough to provide heat to a large basement. However, they work best for floor heating when they are used along with other heating options, such as a pellet stove, a wood-burning fireplace, another plug-in fireplace with infrared heaters, a radiator, a hot water heating system, baseboard heaters, or a cost-effective and eco-friendly heating solution like natural gas.
The products we offer will create lots of hot air that will not require convection to be distributed. In fact, our 5,200 BTU fireplaces can use the principle of radiant heat instead of convection, which means there is no need for heating ducts.
Can You Count On Our Products To Not Overheat?
Fortunately, installing an automatic off switch on all MagikFlame products is easy. While this is also true of a gas fireplace, you will not have this option for one that burns wood or Duraflame logs. The automatic off switch will ensure that it doesn’t overheat.
Our Products Are Energy-Efficient
One thing that sets our products apart is that they are energy efficient in all thermostat settings. Part of the reason for this is that we use radiant heat, which is a different principle than what’s utilized by an HVAC system.
