# moving heat to other rooms



## rawlins02 (Nov 3, 2012)

I have a Vermont Castings Vigilant that I inherited when I bought my house last January. House is around 2100 square feet. On the floorplan the blue rectangle marks location of the stove. I'm using a fan (marked with the F) siting up about 4 feet off the floor to blow air across the top of the stove in an attempt to get some heat through the doorway and out toward the other side of the house. Some of the heat also is rising up the stairway to the second floor. In 3-4 hours (stove running about 500F) the temperature in the family room went from 59F to 76F. At the thermostat (red dot) the temperature went from 58F to around 63F. The kitchen and dining room have tile floors and are just rather cool. Upstairs in the master bedroom the temperature may have increased 2-3 degrees. I have a cold air return located where the blue circle is shown. My furnace is not currently set up to run fan only. A friend suggested I enable that and see if I can distribute heat from the room through the house. I think I need to do that, as I'd rather not have the family room hot and entire house 15 or so degrees colder. But temperature at cold air return is only 64F as it's on the floor. Does this temperature distribution through my house sound about right. I'm curious how folks use these stoves and move heat in their homes. Suggestions?


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## begreen (Nov 3, 2012)

Duct heat loss often negates any distribution gains by using the furnace fans. This is especially true if the ductwork is uninsulated and running through a cold basement.

What you might try will at first sound counterintuitive. Blow cold air toward the stove room. Based on the floorplan here is what I'd try. Set a basic 12" table or box fan on the floor, in the Living Room, along the stairwall, pointed toward the Family Room. Run it on low speed. This is indicated by the green star in the picture. What I'm thinking here is to set up a clockwise convective airflow that will pull heat through the kitchen, then living room and back to the FR. Another test to try would be to place the fan at the purple star location blowing into the FR (with blue fan F off) and see how that works.


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## HDRock (Nov 3, 2012)

I did as begreen says a few days ago,(1300 sq ft house), a 12 in fan in the farthest room,another strange little 4in fan,in the hall, that draws air from the top and bottom, and is like 2-1/2 in off the floor, both on low , and It works super good, 4 to 6 deg difference from stove room, and my floor plane is _*NOT*_ open, rooms are isolated


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## rawlins02 (Nov 4, 2012)

begreen: Interesting. I have >25 credits worth of college atmospheric science courses and I teach climatology (hence my multiple observations in the horizontal and vertical...) I'm quite familiar with the process of convection and with temperature/pressure gradients. I assume your second option should result in a counterclockwise flow through the first floor. I will try each and report the results in this thread in a few days.

HDRock: How is the small fan oriented? In other words, how does the fan draw air from top to bottom?  Is this simply mixing in the vertical due to turbulence?


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## begreen (Nov 4, 2012)

I have tried this experimentally with our master bedroom. The trick is to have the fan set low, blowing denser, cold air toward the warm. You can visualize the airflow (and get some chuckles from your wife) by hanging a couple feet of toilet paper in the center of doorways. In the case of our master bedroom there was a strong inflow of warm air at the top of the doorway in spite of a steady outflow at floor level. The room temp went up about 5 degrees in 30 minutes.


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## Dune (Nov 4, 2012)

Stove is small for size of house too.


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## rawlins02 (Nov 4, 2012)

Dune: How would a bigger stove reduce the temperature difference between my family room and my dining room?

I have set up a fan at the location of purple star begreen mentions. 
	

		
			
		

		
	





The stove is visible in the family room (FR). I note a strong flow through doorway to living room and into the foyer.



Above photo taken in center of LR. Doorway to FR is at left. Note the toilet paper blowing in the breeze. But here are the challenges to my setup. First, the kitchen and dining room are on north side of house and have tile floors. They are always 5-6 degrees colder than the south-facing LR, FR, den. Second, as shown in photo the foyer opens to second floor stairway. So I suspect much of the heat from the counterclockwise flow will go up and not into dining room. Well, at least the second floor should get much warmer.


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## Dune (Nov 4, 2012)

rawlins02 said:


> Dune: How would a bigger stove reduce the temperature difference between my family room and my dining room?
> 
> I have set up a fan at the location of purple star begreen mentions.
> 
> ...


 
Not saying it would, just pointing out that you have a large house and a small stove. When I heated with a Vermont Castings, it was a Defiant (twice the size of a vigilant) in a house half the size of yours. Likely the folks who owned it before hung out in the stove room till bedtime, then pulled up heavy blankets.
Begreen has given you the best advice you are going to get. Keep experimenting with fans.

Put some rugs on your tile floors. Tiles always feel colder regardless of your heat source (with the exception of radiant floor heat).


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## Ducky (Nov 4, 2012)

My situation is a little different as my shop is mostly an open floor plan,  2200sq ft.  However there are racks, which create isles in the building...  My biggest issue,  has been getting the heat,  to the front corner,  where the water line comes in to the building,  then goes from the floor to the cieling,  and spans 70ft acrossed the front wall over the two overhead doors, and around back torwards the back wall near the stove....

I have gone so far as putting a space heater in that corner...  

However,  I have found,  that using the cieling fan, that is pretty much dead center in the shop,  which the stove is dead center from end the end,  but sits back about 10ft from front to back...  (10-15ft back, but centered - if that makes sense,  from the fan)  turn that on HIGH when im working in the shop,  or after I leave,  helps to DRASTICALLY increase the warmth of the shop...

In my case,  I have so much stuff,  tools, equipment, and materials,  the trick isnt to warm the air so much as to warm the STUFF!  Once the STUFF gets up to say, 62-65F keeping the air,  in the shop at 70 is a piece of cake...  However I have to time my burn times correctly,  in the begining of the year, to catch the stuff from dropping in temp... cause getting it warmed up is a bear!  Right now the STUFF is 57F...  

From last winter's experience,  I found out,  that running the stove at night...  (when I can tend to it every cpl hours, add wood, ect...  gives me 2 things.  1) i use 1/2 the wood... and 2) gives me more heat...

but the ceiling fan,  in the center of the shop, running full speed,  all night WITH the stove,  seems to heat up all the stuff rather well...  vs using a bunch of fans.  In my case,  my ceiling is 13ft high...  and its easily 10F warmer with in 5ft of the ceiling....  with the fan on,  the heat is much better 'spread out'.


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## rawlins02 (Nov 4, 2012)

Dune said:


> Likely the folks who owned it before hung out in the stove room till bedtime, then pulled up heavy blankets.


 
That is what I'm doing too. I'm trying my best to avoid using the furnace. Last winter I went through $400/month in propane for heat alone, while keeping the thermostat at 55F and running the Vigilant on weekends (house has cathedral ceilings). And we had a *very* mild winter, warmest on record, which extends back to 1836! During weekdays I plan to come home from work and go right up to master bedroom with my 1200 watt space heater (25 cents per hour). Same as last winter. I should mention it is just me in this 2100 sf contemporary.



Dune said:


> Put some rugs on your tile floors. Tiles always feel colder regardless of your heat source (with the exception of radiant floor heat).


 
It's becoming clear that the thermal inertia of those tiles is the biggest factor in the considerable  temperature difference. But there is now a slight breeze going from foyer and into dining room, which undoubtedly helps. Will try other locations for fan(s).


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## HDRock (Nov 4, 2012)

rawlins02 said:


> HDRock: How is the small fan oriented? In other words, how does the fan draw air from top to bottom? Is this simply mixing in the vertical due to turbulence?


The small fan is actually a little heater I had,It is squaty, with little legs, an opening at the top and bottom, with a squirrel cage fan, and blows out the front, I am using it on fan only, no heat.
I have it setting at the end of the hall, where three doorways meet.
I wasn't sure how well it would work, being so small, but I works really good, I guess because it is so close to the floor , and just a gentle air flow .

Another fan I bought for a different spot is Honeywell HT900 - Super Turbo Three-Speed High-Performance Fan, Black ,at Menard's, 16 bucks, *$22.87 At Amazon*
http://www.menards.com/main/applian...able-air-circulator-fan/p-1393844-c-12727.htm
I only mention this cuz It's a good price and made by Honeywell , plus It's perfect for this type of use, I think, because of it's round shape and it's size, there is a lot less chance of bumping into it, like the corner of a square fan.


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## begreen (Nov 5, 2012)

rawlins02 said:


> That is what I'm doing too. I'm trying my best to avoid using the furnace. Last winter I went through $400/month in propane for heat alone, while keeping the thermostat at 55F and running the Vigilant on weekends (house has cathedral ceilings). And we had a *very* mild winter, warmest on record, which extends back to 1836! During weekdays I plan to come home from work and go right up to master bedroom with my 1200 watt space heater (25 cents per hour). Same as last winter. I should mention it is just me in this 2100 sf contemporary.
> 
> 
> It's becoming clear that the thermal inertia of those tiles is the biggest factor in the considerable temperature difference. But there is now a slight breeze going from foyer and into dining room, which undoubtedly helps. Will try other locations for fan(s).


 
That's why in older times they only had cathedral ceilings in cathedrals. If I bought a house with this setup I'd be tempted to turn that space into a loft or at least setup a sheet plastic barrier for the winter. Have you considered a wood furnace for the future?


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## rawlins02 (Nov 5, 2012)

begreen said:


> That's why in older times they only had cathedral ceilings in cathedrals. If I bought a house with this setup I'd be tempted to turn that space into a loft or at least setup a sheet plastic barrier for the winter. Have you considered a wood furnace for the future?


 
Ceilings aren't high everywhere. Just half of the living room, family room, and dining room. So no place to build a loft. Haven't thought seriously about a wood furnace. I understand a natural gas line is getting close to my neighbourhood. That would be first choice.

I wish I had the nerve to run the stove at night. Given that the damper has flopped open a time or two, I just can't bring myself to load the firebox and turn in. Waking up to 55 degrees is tough. Call me cheap. I'm just hoping to run the furnace Dec-Mar only to keep from freezing to death  .

Edit: Then again, perhaps I should hook up a sling like cmonSTART came up with!


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## begreen (Nov 5, 2012)

Sounds like your stove needs some attention. The bypass position should be entirely reliable.

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/vc-vigilant-damper-flops-open.79036/


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## rawlins02 (Nov 5, 2012)

begreen said:


> Sounds like your stove needs some attention. The bypass position should be entirely reliable.
> 
> https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/vc-vigilant-damper-flops-open.79036/


 
Yes, it should be reliable. I believe the fireback is warped. After I get my roof done ($10K)  and save up a few bucks, I'll likely sell it and upgrade to modern technology and a bigger stove. For now I'll run her when I can watch her.


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## HDRock (Nov 10, 2012)

I picked up an 8 inch fan, because I figured once it really got cold. The little one in the hallway wasn't going cut it, and now I only have a three  degree difference to the other end of the house, as opposed to 7° before..
This is great. The information that I can get from you veterans here


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## rawlins02 (Nov 26, 2012)

Starting to believe that it's going to be a real challenge getting my kitchen and dining room to a decent temperature. For two reasons. Tile floors and a cold garage below the rooms. They are also on north side of house. I'm running the fan (schematic above) in the living room, pointed toward family room. There is a slight clockwise convective air flow. It's like the heat vanishes. Family room with stove can be 75F, and it will be barely 60F in kitchen. Using electric space heaters there now. Sometimes you can only do so much with a wood stove, 2100sf, and high ceilings.  Will have to run propane-fueled furnace quite a bit (sucking sound of dollars going out the doors)


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## WhitePine (Nov 26, 2012)

How is the insulation between the garage and kitchen? The thermal mass of the tiles is actually a good thing, but it sounds like they might be conducting heat away from the house because of poor insulation below them.

Also, do you have any ceiling fans? It sounds like the house could use a couple. We have several which we keep on low blowing upwards. It helps to distribute the heat. You probably could use a really large fan below that cathedral ceiling.


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## Kenster (Nov 26, 2012)

We have a 4000 sq foot house with a 60 ft x 30 ft full cathedral ceiling Great room with two open lofts upstairs that open up onto the Great Room, which is in the center of the house running front to back.  A large kitchen/dining area runs on one side of the Great room and two bedrooms and baths on the other side of the GR. 

We  heat solely with a VC Vigilant and oak firewood.   We have two heat pumps installed new six years ago that have probably been run (for heat) less than ten hours total in those six years.  With the fire going well, the temp in the Great Room (thermostat on opposite side of stove) will be about 74 degrees.   Bedrooms may be mid 60s but we like it cool while sleeping.   The lofts can get quite warm. 

Ceiling fans are our friends.


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## Augie (Nov 26, 2012)

To the OP,

2 Questions

Do you have a ceiling fan in the Dining room?
And more importantly are the ceilings the same height from the stove room into the dining room?(IE: no doorways)

If so your solution may be as easy as turning on the fan in the dining room.

I have a ceiling fan in the Master bedroom at the opposite end of my house, a ranch, as the Stove.

I removed the wall above the doorway and turn on the fan in the MB. This encourages a convection loop that keeps the bedroom about 2-3 degrees cooler than the stove room with the fan on. Only 4-6 cooler with the fan off. I have no Fans in the Stove room or the rest of the house. Most of the time I turn on the fan for 30 min to jump start the loop when I reload the stove first thing in the morning then turn it off. The fan is more effective pushing air down than pulling it up too. 

It is all about encouraging a convection loop. Hot air across moves the ceiling to as far away from the stove as possible. as it moves away from the stove and heats the rest of the house it cools, becomes denser and falls to the ground. To be replaced by more hot air behind it and the cool air on the floor moves back to the stove room to rise as it is heated.

So for 30 min of fan in the morning my house is pretty even all day long. 74 in the Stove room and 70ish in the bedrooms. After a 10 hr burn Mornings tend to be 64 in the Stove room and 60 in the bedroom till I stoke the stove. This is using a mix of pine and maple right now.


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## rawlins02 (Nov 26, 2012)

Augie said:


> To the OP,
> 
> 2 Questions
> 
> Do you have a ceiling fan in the Dining room?


 
No. Ceiling is 8 ft in the dining room. My ceiling fan is high above the stairway, above hallway on second floor. That does help push warm air down, but obviously not much to DR and kitchen.



Augie said:


> And more importantly are the ceilings the same height from the stove room into the dining room?(IE: no doorways)


 
There is, unfortunately, a doorway between the stove room and the hallway leading to kitchen. I get your point. Moving heated air out of family(stove) room and out to kitchen.

Seems no easy solution give the north side of house, tiles, and cold garage beneath those rooms. And of course it's tough to warm up all the cool stuff after coming home from work. Everything sucks up the heat, leaving nothing for the air!


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## rawlins02 (Nov 26, 2012)

WhitePine said:


> How is the insulation between the garage and kitchen? The thermal mass of the tiles is actually a good thing, but it sounds like they might be conducting heat away from the house because of poor insulation below them.
> 
> Also, do you have any ceiling fans? It sounds like the house could use a couple. We have several which we keep on low blowing upwards. It helps to distribute the heat. You probably could use a really large fan below that cathedral ceiling.


 
There is drywall for ceiling in garage. Not sure what is up there above the drywall.  Ceiling fan is at top of stairs, way up there, about 15 feet above second floor hallway. Since the kitchen and dining room have low ceilings, nothing there to push down.

Maybe I should try simply pushing hot air out of the stove room. Running space heaters in those rooms does make a big difference. Get the sense most folks here can't relate to inability to warm a house with just a wood stove. I could try pushing stove room up to 85F, then seeing if other side of the house becomes comfortable... LOL.


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## TradEddie (Nov 26, 2012)

rawlins02 said:


> Get the sense most folks here can't relate to inability to warm a house with just a wood stove.


 
Far from it, there are probably dozens of threads about this problem every year.  Every house is different, but most find that it is far more efficient to blow cold air into the stove room than trying to blow hot air out.  I've spent countless hours trying to use my central air fan to distribute the warm air, with limited success.  This year I tried the opposite, using it to blow more cold air into the stove room, and it is a dramatic improvement.  I simply partially close the supply vents in nearby rooms, this has a double effect, increasing supply to the stove room, and drawing more air from the stove room to the return ducts in nearby rooms.  Using this method I can get much better heat distribution.  Some furnace fans can have variable speeds for the "fan only" setting, I also increased mine from "low" to "med low".

TE


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## rawlins02 (Nov 27, 2012)

TradEddie said:


> Far from it, there are probably dozens of threads about this problem every year. Every house is different, but most find that it is far more efficient to blow cold air into the stove room than trying to blow hot air out. I've spent countless hours trying to use my central air fan to distribute the warm air, with limited success. This year I tried the opposite, using it to blow more cold air into the stove room, and it is a dramatic improvement. I simply partially close the supply vents in nearby rooms, this has a double effect, increasing supply to the stove room, and drawing more air from the stove room to the return ducts in nearby rooms. Using this method I can get much better heat distribution. Some furnace fans can have variable speeds for the "fan only" setting, I also increased mine from "low" to "med low".
> 
> TE


 

I have no central A/C, and my furnace is not set up to run fan only. I'm having some trouble following your logic. Does duct heat loss, as begreen said above, not a negative factor? What do you mean by "...increasing _*supply*_ to the stove room..."

I'm not comfortable running my stove 24/7. Too risky for me. Perhaps overnight soon as I trust the setup. So the house and everything in it get cool during the workday (Mon-Fri), and heating all the stuff up in a short amount of time, I'm finding, is quite the challenge. That said, I can easily get my kitchen and DR up to a tolerable (60F) level on weekends, provided the stove room is over 75F. That large gradient in temperature between the stove room (FR) and dining room I find most interesting.

Looking forward to reading other similar threads on overcoming this challenge.  Good news yesterday: propane rates have been going down here, now around ~$2.50 per gallon. Yippee!


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## Dune (Nov 27, 2012)

rawlins02 said:


> There is drywall for ceiling in garage. Not sure what is up there above the drywall. Ceiling fan is at top of stairs, way up there, about 15 feet above second floor hallway. Since the kitchen and dining room have low ceilings, nothing there to push down.
> 
> Maybe I should try simply pushing hot air out of the stove room. Running space heaters in those rooms does make a big difference. Get the sense most folks here can't relate to inability to warm a house with just a wood stove. I could try pushing stove room up to 85F, then seeing if other side of the house becomes comfortable... LOL.


 
Cut a hole and see what's up there. Chances are it is not insulated. 15% of heat loss occurs through the floor. 
It sounds as if you are not using the ceiling fan? That's just not going to work. Hot air rises.

As to your last comment, not sure about 85F, but you would certainly need to have the stove room hotter than the other rooms, no way around that.


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## Dune (Nov 27, 2012)

rawlins02 said:


> I have no central A/C, and my furnace is not set up to run fan only. I'm having some trouble following your logic. Does duct heat loss, as begreen said above, not a negative factor? What do you mean by "...increasing _*supply*_ to the stove room..."
> 
> I'm not comfortable running my stove 24/7. Too risky for me. Perhaps overnight soon as I trust the setup. So the house and everything in it get cool during the workday (Mon-Fri), and heating all the stuff up in a short amount of time, I'm finding, is quite the challenge. That said, I can easily get my kitchen and DR up to a tolerable (60F) level on weekends, provided the stove room is over 75F. That large gradient in temperature between the stove room (FR) and dining room I find most interesting.
> 
> Looking forward to reading other similar threads on overcoming this challenge. Good news yesterday: propane rates have been going down here, now around ~$2.50 per gallon. Yippee!


 
Is there something wrong with your setup which makes you feel unsafe? 
Yes, bringing a cold house up to temp with a too small stove is no easy task.


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## rawlins02 (Nov 27, 2012)

Dune said:


> Is there something wrong with your setup which makes you feel unsafe?
> Yes, bringing a cold house up to temp with a too small stove is no easy task.


 
During the dozen or so runs during spring, the damper showed a propensity to flop open. But, interestingly, it is working better now. Over summer I cleaned the area (top of fireback?) on which it pivots. Or perhaps there had been a small piece of wood/ember stuck in there. Seems to lock in fine now. But can I trust it to not flop open?

More unfortunately, the stove pipe vents into the top of chimney smoke chamber. Fireplace is on other side of chimney, and I'm thinking wood stove was added after chimney was built. No separate flue. I hear this can lead to extra creosote. I intend on having everything cleaned once a year, and I only burn about a cord or so a season. Long story short, I'm just a bit too concerned about a) runaway fire in the box and/or b) chimney fire to leave the house for extended time. Frankly I don't know how folks do that. For god's sake, there's a fire burning in your house...

Yes, I could have a bigger stove, but then I'm sure a big hot stove would run me out of the stove room. Guess I could just avoid that room LOL.

Yes I run the ceiling fan at top of stairs. Will check ceiling in garage. Yes, warming up all of my cold stuff is a challenge. I do enjoy retreating to my large master bedroom, with vaulted ceiling, on weeknights, with my space heater. Gets toasty up there in no time!


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## Dune (Nov 27, 2012)

rawlins02 said:


> During the dozen or so runs during spring, the damper showed a propensity to flop open. But, interestingly, it is working better now. Over summer I cleaned the area (top of fireback?) on which it pivots. Or perhaps there had been a small piece of wood/ember stuck in there. Seems to lock in fine now. But can I trust it to not flop open?


 
Pretty sure too much inlet air is what you are worried about, rather than a chimney damper


> More unfortunately, the stove pipe vents into the top of chimney smoke chamber. Fireplace is on other side of chimney, and I'm thinking wood stove was added after chimney was built. No separate flue. I hear this can lead to extra creosote. I intend on having everything cleaned once a year, and I only burn about a cord or so a season. Long story short, I'm just a bit too concerned about a) runaway fire in the box and/or b) chimney fire to leave the house for extended time. Frankly I don't know how folks do that. For god's sake, there's a fire burning in your house...


Think you need a liner. Not sure your setup is even legal anymore.
As to the fire in the house, when I used to use my oilburner there was a fire in the house too.
Did you see the nice residential craters up in Springfeild where a bunch of houses used to be? Gas.


> Yes, I could have a bigger stove, but then I'm sure a big hot stove would run me out of the stove room. Guess I could just avoid that room LOL.


Once you get the house warm don't run it hot. Now you are starting with a bunch of cold thermal mass and trying to heat it. That takes a long time and to be effective at all, the stove room gets uncomfortably hot. With the stove running constantly, you just have to make up for the heat loss.



> Yes I run the ceiling fan at top of stairs. Will check ceiling in garage. Yes, warming up all of my cold stuff is a challenge. I do enjoy retreating to my large master bedroom, with vaulted ceiling, on weeknights, with my space heater. Gets toasty up there in no time!


 
Sounds like you might be a candidate for an outdoor boiler.


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## rawlins02 (Nov 27, 2012)

Dune said:


> Pretty sure too much inlet air is what you are worried about, rather than a chimney damper


 
Yes. Correct. I'm doing the gaskets very soon. But I was speaking not of chimney damper, but the one in the Vigilant.

I've just confirmed one source of trouble with damper. It seems to be related to how I open and shut the griddle top. The little hooks on griddle top can impede the smooth operation of stove damper, at times. Likely related to warped fireback, I've surmised. If I lift upward/forward when opening griddle, it opens easier, and, just a moment ago, the damper closed very easily.



Dune said:


> Think you need a liner. Not sure your setup is even legal anymore.


 
Liner can't be installed without blocking off flow from fireplace, from what I understand. Not that I use the fireplace these days....



Dune said:


> As to the fire in the house, when I used to use my oilburner there was a fire in the house too.
> Did you see the nice residential craters up in Springfeild where a bunch of houses used to be? Gas.


 
Never thought of it this way. Interesting take. I'm sure I'd be comfortable running 24/7 with newer stove and the flue liner.



Dune said:


> Once you get the house warm don't run it hot. Now you are starting with a bunch of cold thermal mass and trying to heat it. That takes a long time and to be effective at all, the stove room gets uncomfortably hot. With the stove running constantly, you just have to make up for the heat loss.


 
Becoming quite apparent lately.  Thermal inertia is not my friend here.



Dune said:


> Sounds like you might be a candidate for an outdoor boiler.


 
Possibly. But I understand regulations are getting tougher here in MA.


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## Augie (Nov 27, 2012)

Temperature swings will defeat you.  get comfortable running it 24/7 and you will have less issues with keeping the whole house warm. Even in my place if I let it cool too much it takes 4-6hrs to get everything toasty.  by that I mean where things like the furniture in the rooms farthest away from the stove are warm. It is a question of mass. The house is a huge mass getting it warm takes a lot of heat energy keeping it warm takes much less


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## rawlins02 (Nov 27, 2012)

Augie said:


> Temperature swings will defeat you <snip>


 
I *will not* be defeated! 

One other challenge. As you assumed yesterday, doorways are an issue.

Fan is in room through doorway on right, pointed toward stove room. I've got quite the convective breeze blowing through doorway to left, into hallway toward cool side of house. But note the ~16-18 inch barrier at top of doorway. The hot air is being impeded. It's nearly 8F cooler just past doorway. Small fan needed up there perhaps?


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## Dune (Nov 28, 2012)

rawlins02 said:


> I *will not* be defeated!
> 
> One other challenge. As you assumed yesterday, doorways are an issue.
> 
> ...


 
Fan needs to be IN the doorway, not blowing towards it.

You may as well forget about trying to move the hot air with a fan. Cold air is denser, fan is actually effective. Hardly so with hot air.

I would actually put the fan just inside the doorway in the stove room, then around the corner, put another fan pulling the cold air into the first room.


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## TradEddie (Nov 28, 2012)

rawlins02 said:


> I have no central A/C, and my furnace is not set up to run fan only. I'm having some trouble following your logic. Does duct heat loss, as begreen said above, not a negative factor? What do you mean by "...increasing _*supply*_ to the stove room..."


If your furnace has forced air, everyone's first idea is to try get the hot air from the stove into the return ducts, but most find that it doesn't work.  I tried to take most of my return air from the stove room, and although the air entering the return grille was over 80F, by the time that air mixed with air from other returns, and cooled due to duct losses, I could never get more than 70F out the supply vents. This year I tried the counter-intuitive opposite, I closed supply vents in nearby rooms, and reduced the return air from the stove room.  This forces more air out of the supply vent in the stove room, driving hot air out of the stove room, into the other rooms. In this way, heat was more uniform in the house, and the air temperature entering the return ducts was higher overall, so even with duct losses,
I can't stand the idea of fans on the floor, but the same basic idea applies, it's easier to blow cold air into the stove room than blow warm air out.  The air you blow in will force warm air out into other rooms.

TE


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## Augie (Nov 28, 2012)

I'm still standing by my previous statement, once you get comfortable with 24hr burning this will get easier or nonexistent.


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## rawlins02 (Nov 28, 2012)

Appreciate all the info. Very helpful.

TradEddie: I've heard that shutting vents (either return or supply, I'm not sure) can put potential harmful pressure (for lack of a better term) on the furnace. Hope I'm articulating this properly. Thoughts?

All: So if, during the week, I'm only up and around in the house for 3 hours at night and 30 minutes in the morning, does it really make sense to burn all that wood? Given how little warm air gets through that doorway (blocked at top perhaps), along with tile floors and cold garage, I'm just not sure it's worth all the effort. With the small firebox, reloads are frequent too. Guess I can get about 6 hours of good heat on full box. I'm thinking of switching to 24 hour stove runs from Friday at 6pm until, say, Monday at 6am. Yea, it's not ideal to have all this space and not use it (heated) several days of the week, but I'm sure it's not terribly uncommon to frequent only parts of one's house during winter.


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## TradEddie (Nov 29, 2012)

rawlins02 said:


> TradEddie: I've heard that shutting vents (either return or supply, I'm not sure) can put potential harmful pressure (for lack of a better term) on the furnace. Hope I'm articulating this properly. Thoughts?


 
Pressure (or vacuum ) in ducts should not be a concern, unless you shut everything or something else was built wrong, but in theory at least you could increase wear on the furnace fan if you restricted too much air. This is one reason why supply vents can be closed, but return grilles cannot, also most ducts can handle pressure better than vacuum. All I did was close *some* supply vents, and restricted one of four return grilles. I even made a crude manometer (pressure gauge) to watch what effect this had on my ductwork, and borrowed a real one from work to check it.

TE


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## rawlins02 (Nov 29, 2012)

TradEddie said:


> Pressure (or vacuum ) in ducts should not be a concern, unless you shut everything or something else was built wrong, but in theory at least you could increase wear on the furnace fan if you restricted too much air. This is one reason why supply vents can be closed, but return grilles cannot, also most ducts can handle pressure better than vacuum. All I did was close *some* supply vents, and restricted one of four return grilles. I even made a crude manometer (pressure gauge) to watch what effect this had on my ductwork, and borrowed a real one from work to check it.
> 
> TE


 

Interesting. I will try this.


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