# Anyone heating a raised Ranch with the stove in the bottom floor?



## DanJ (Nov 30, 2010)

I  have a raised ranch with my stove in the fireplace in the bottom floor. The room gets more then warm , I'd like some of that heat to go up stairs. I leave the door in the stairway opened upstairs doesn't seem to be getting any of the heat. I'm planning on putting two  floor registers on either side of the upstairs fireplace. Is this going to be enough to draw heat upstairs through the registers and draw cold air as a return down the stairway? Or will I need something more. It would be nice to know beforwe I start cutting holes in my hardwood floors.


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## SmokeyTheBear (Nov 30, 2010)

DanJ said:
			
		

> I  have a raised ranch with my stove in the fireplace in the bottom floor. The room gets more then warm , I'd like some of that heat to go up stairs. I leave the door in the stairway opened upstairs doesn't seem to be getting any of the heat. I'm planning on putting two  floor registers on either side of the upstairs fireplace. Is this going to be enough to draw heat upstairs through the registers and draw cold air as a return down the stairway? Or will I need something more. It would be nice to know beforwe I start cutting holes in my hardwood floors.



Sort of, I have a ranch the bottom of which is finished and embedded on three sides by good ole dirt.  It even has a heated garage in one side of the basement.

You have to have a means to get a cold air return set up.  

Moving the cold air along the floor towards where the stove is will help tremendously in getting a convection cycle going.  You have to get one going in order for any vents to be of use.  Please note that cutting vents between floors is likely a no no when it comes to code. 

In my place the stairwell between floors has a half wall instead of a full one, this allows the heated air to go up and over as the cold air sinks down the bottom of the stairwell.

The only fan I use is the convection blower on the stove which sits in the corner angled towards the corner diagonally across from it.

The downstairs door into the stove room is always open and is directly across from the corner the stove is in.

In addition to this the stairwell is two stories high within a couple of feet from the doorway.


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## Don2222 (Nov 30, 2010)

Hello

  I have a split entry. I installed the stove in the middle of the basement from left to right and in the middle from front to back and right near the doorway to the upstairs. I cut 2 registers and put a fan in the ductwork to these registers. I also put in a doorway fan. Both fans are connected to the cooling contacts on an older Honeywell Line Voltage Thermostat set for 75 degrees F. When the air above the stove goes above 75 degrees, the fans come on and pull the heat right up. I can heat the entire house no problems. I have not turned the oil heat on yet this year and it was 25 degrees outside last night.

Here is the register system slide show.
http://tinyurl.com/3knkvjh


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## jtakeman (Nov 30, 2010)

I heat my whole raised ranch house from the lower(basement) semi finished level. I have electric heat as main source, But couldn't afford to heat that way! Very similar setup to don2222's. Except I have a large hood collecting the heat above the stove. All the ducts run to it and have duct fans. I used a duct stat to cantrol the fans. Once the heat is about 75ºF in the hood it turns the fans on. I have ducts to the 3 bed rooms and one in the main hallway. My temps are about 80ºF in the basement and 72ºF in the upper level. Kitchen area is the coolest at around 69ºF. I may add a duct to it someday.

Louvered basement door with a fan pointing towards the stove. Fan is mounted on the lower half of the door and is my cold air return.

This involved lots of planning/work to acomplish. If I ever do it again. I would just get a forced air pellet furnace and duct the heat to the upper levels. Why overheat an area that isn't lived in? Put the heat were you want it. Stove on main level would work too!


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## esuitt (Nov 30, 2010)

My father in law set his up not quite the same as above but the same. 
He cut out holes in the floors and installed 4x10 registers to all the rooms and has a fan at the bottom of the stairs plus a whole house fan in the ceiling at the top of the stairs. Usually it stays warm enough that he does not use the whole house fan. It works well enough for him; that I am getting ready to do the same thing here in our Victorian.


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## DanJ (Nov 30, 2010)

Ed S said:
			
		

> My father in law set his up not quite the same as above but the same.
> He cut out holes in the floors and installed 4x10 registers to all the rooms and has a fan at the bottom of the stairs plus a whole house fan in the ceiling at the top of the stairs. Usually it stays warm enough that he does not use the whole house fan. It works well enough for him; that I am getting ready to do the same thing here in our Victorian.


This is simular to what I was thinking but the three bedrooms are above the finished garage so I figured I needed some way of getting heat to the livingroom/diningroom/kitchen. I don't like my house too warm anyway, my wife is of course a different story.


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## WoodPorn (Nov 30, 2010)

Don2222 said:
			
		

> Hello
> 
> I have a split entry. I installed the stove in the middle of the basement from left to right and in the middle from front to back and right near the doorway to the upstairs. I cut 2 registers and put a fan in the ductwork to these registers. I also put in a doorway fan. Both fans are connected to the cooling contacts on an older Honeywell Line Voltage Thermostat set for 75 degrees F. When the air above the stove goes above 75 degrees, the fans come on and pull the heat right up. I can heat the entire house no problems. I have not turned the oil heat on yet this year and it was 25 degrees outside last night.
> 
> ...



Nice job on the ductwork/distribution, I'd look twice at all that wiring though. Don't let the ins.Co through your door!


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## esuitt (Nov 30, 2010)

DanJ said:
			
		

> Ed S said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



No what you mean, my downstairs is now staying between 78 -80*; wife and dogs love it. To warm for me! 
Maybe look into what is posted above and install a piece of round duct with a blower and some registers into your upstairs rooms above the garage.


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## LIpelletpig (Nov 30, 2010)

I also did registers in the floor above the stove room.  It works the only draw back is the stove room needs to be toasty around 78-80 degrees in order for the heated air to move and feel warm through the registers.


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## jtakeman (Nov 30, 2010)

LIpelletpig said:
			
		

> I also did registers in the floor above the stove room.  It works the only draw back is the stove room needs to be toasty around 78-80 degrees in order for the heated air to move and feel warm through the registers.



The duct booster fans are worth the cash and do a decent job of moving the heat to the upstairs rooms. Pick one up and try it. I got mine a HD, But Lowes has them too! Less than $25 out the door. They are a bit noisey though!


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## Don2222 (Nov 30, 2010)

Hey j-takeman

I would like to see some pics of your duct work especially the hood over the stove??


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## save$ (Nov 30, 2010)

About 2200 sq ft heated with my stove. Located int he center of the south wall and facing the split stair well. Works best when I have a fan at the bottom of the stairs blowing air TOWARDS the stove. Cold air moves much more easily than warm. I also have a fan in the stairwell ceiling which is in the winter mode ( pulling air up) Down stairs run 78-82 upstairs 74-76, a little cooler in the bedrooms. Ck the codes in your area before you go cutting holes. I think you might get around it by having duct work that drops down to the floor. Add a fan and make sure it is pulling air down to the floor on the bottom level. The air removed from the rooms upstairs will quickly be replace by the air being pulled up the stairs and drawn to the area that had the air pulled out.


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## Swaybar (Nov 30, 2010)

I do.  I have an electrostatic air cleaner facing the door, and a Hepa filter in the hall way upstairs. The two units seem to move enough air to heat the house.  I have furnace thermostat set at 65, but pellet stove keeps it above that unless I forget to feed it.  On a sunny day house will get in mid 70's.  

I have stove set on stove temp at a rate that burns one bag a day.


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## Mike49024 (Dec 1, 2010)

I have a raised ranch with 2 fireplaces.  On the lower level I have a direct vent gas fireplace which I use for supplemental heat while I'm down there.  I am in the process of adding a pellet insert to the fireplace upstairs, because that is where most of my time is spent.

The direct vent downstairs does a great job of heating that level, however I do not notice much heat from it on the upper level.


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## Don2222 (Dec 1, 2011)

Hello

Here are more pics of getting my heat up from the basement!

See my slide show of the registers with a thermostat to automatically turn the fans on to bring up the heat!
http://tinyurl.com/3knkvjh

Also see how much heat pellet stove ductwork can provide!
https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/71518/


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## hoverfly (Dec 2, 2011)

AirShare  Check this out.  These should be much more quite.


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## SummersHeatNewGuy (Dec 2, 2011)

I heat my 2000sqft raise ranch with my stove. I took the stairway door off and cut out vent hole 10-12 feet in front of the stove. Fan on the stove puts out a lot so vent on top didnt make sense and 10-12 ft because of fire code. Stove is at one end of the basement. I put a fan from a small humidifier on the second floor pulling the heat up. You can actually feel the air cycling from the the vent, down the hall, then the cold air returning down the stairs.  Works great for me.


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## Lake Girl (Dec 2, 2011)

The Aireshare systems appear to provide fire stop protection but CFM is 75 compared to 6" in-line duct fans by Suncourt at 250CFM.  In-line fans caution on duct temp not to exceed 140 F.  We're using existing ducting as cold air return but still figuring out the rest.

www.tjernlund.com Aireshare systems - level to level or room to room


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