"Area Heating Suggestions" Topic

I have an unfinished, walk-out basement.
It is unheated. It's also a bit large (~1500 ft^2).

We have organized it as the Kid's play area, but now that it is getting cold outside, it is too cold for them to play down there. We have a couple of electric space heaters to try to help, but it just doesn't do the job.

I plan on roughing out finishing the exposed walls (e.g., the non-sub-terranian parts of the basement that make it "walk out") and insulating to make a dent on the heat loss as quickly as I can. BUT, I still need to add heat to the room.

So, looking for suggestions for a way to heat the area (or at least a section of the area) in a short-term fashion until I fully finish the basement and add a baseboard heating zone.

The criteria are:
1. Safe (don't want a big Kerosene rocket heater!)
2. Quick Heating (don't want to wait an hour to get up to temp)
3. (Realtively) energy Efficient (don't want to be surging through megawatts of power)
4. Cheap OR Reusable (Cheap meaning, essentially, disposable;Reusbale beign something like an Electric (or even gas) fireplace unit, wood-burning stove, etc.

Thoughts, suggestions are all greatly appreciated in advance.

If you have forced air heat, and the ducts are exposed in the basement, you could add some vents to those ducts and redirect some of the heat going upstairs into the basement.

I would not recommend it as a permanant solution, as the upstairs will no longer heat as efficiently.

But you can close the vents off after you finish installing the baseboard heating and solve that issue.

I have baseboard heating in the rest of the house…

Out in the garage I have one of those electric tower heaters. It has a multi-speed blower, adjustable temps and rotates almost 180 degrees. If it is not perfectly level it cuts off, likewise if something obstructs the rotation or it gets too hot. I think I bought it at a home depot like store.

Something along these lines: link

You could try a big buddy heater. I runs on 2 camp stove propain tanks.
I use the smaller one at work to heat my hands up and it is nice.
It has mounting brackes on the back so you could put it on a wall.
Are you in the USA? PM me as I work in heating and air.

link

We have a propane fireplace. Not the most efficient as heating systems go but it will work if the power goes it, which is not rare around here.

One thing with ANY non electric heater to consider is proper ventilation. Kerosene heaters, propane, natural gas, it doesn't matter. They all need proper ventilation. If not you will have a Carbon monoxide buildup problem. Check with your local authorities as to any permits required if you need to do ventilation work, etc.

Ours was finished years ago with the forced air jfleisher mentions.

When we're not using the room, which is most of the time, the vents can be closed to force the heat, or AC, upstairs. On game night it only takes a short time to get the room warmed up once it's opened for use.

A tip: don't put an air vent in the closet like some genius did with our place. What a waste.