Air circulating idea

[02stangguy]

Having a hard time circulating hot air in my house from my wood stove. I've tried using fans to push the air back to my bedrooms but no luck. I live in a rancher. I talked to me neighbor and he came up with a good idea but I'm not sure if it will work . He suggested that I put a vent in the ceiling above the stove then run ducts to each room. I would put some sort or blower in the duct above the stove to pull the hot air from the room that the stove is in. It sounds like a great idea to me but I wanted some more opinions. I would also hook up the fan to a thermostat somehow and put the thermostat in one of the bedrooms. Would it be smart to have some sort or air return possibly pulli g air from the bedrooms and dumping it back into the room with the stove? If so would it be best to pull the air from the ceiling or the floor?

 

[Woody Stover]

The best method for moving heat out of the stove room is to have a small fan on the floor, outside the stove room or at the end of a hallway leading to the stove room, and moving the more dense cool air down low, into the stove room. But in your case, it sounds as though you are trying to get the heat to a different level, upstairs from the basement? If so, how close to the stairway is the stove? Is the basement insulated? Can you close doors downstairs to concentrate the heated air near the stairs? Do the stairs come up in the center of the upstairs area?

 

[yooper08]

+1 for what Woody said.

Try moving the cold air in that part of the house towards the stove with a fan on low for a few hours. If anything, its a cheap test.

If the stove is on the main floor, putting ducting up in the attic, in my mind, is a terrible idea. I also have a ranch and the previous owners added AC to the house with the ducting in the attic. My (hated) fall ritual is sealing up those ceiling penetrations to prevent cold air from coming in, and that's with insulated ducting and trying to air seal the system, and then re-opening them in the summer. Ceiling penetrations into the attic in general are problematic come winter time.

On top of that issue, if you have cellulose insulation up there, you could also be asking for added dust in the house.

 

[2ndburn]

This isn't exactly what you described, but similar in principle. Our return air for the HVAC system is in the same room as our wood stove, one would think it would be a great way to circulate the warm air to all the rooms of the house by simply running the HVAC fan. But not so, at least in my experience. There is just too much thermal loss sending the heated air through the ducts, not only does it not heat up the bedrooms, it actually introduced colder air and cools them down.

Depending on other variables I can heat up the bedroom areas by 5 degrees by doing the fan trick described in this thread. Use a fan to blow air towards the heated room instead of the other way around.

 

[Woody Stover]

If the stove is on the main floor, putting ducting up in the attic, in my mind, is a terrible idea.

Even if trying to move heated air from the basement, you lose a lot of heat to the ducting system, and the payoff will be minimal in many cases.

 

[02stangguy]

The stove is on the main floor in the living room. On the far side of the living room is the hall way that leads to the bedrooms . I was trying to blow the warm air back to the bedrooms with a tower fan so I can see where I messed up haha. My ad unit and ducts are also in the attick. Thanks for the heads up about the vents. I'm curious to see what happens when it gets really cold. I'll try the small fans on the floor and see how it goes

 

[Woody Stover]

I'll try the small fans on the floor and see how it goes

Go ahead and try the tower fan at different points in the hallway; Right outside the stove room, and then further down the hall. It may work pretty well but a small fan closer to the floor might work better. The tower fan will probably have a smaller footprint and be more out of your way, though.

 

[2ndburn]

If you don't already have one, you may also consider installing a ceiling fan in the stove room. That also helped us move some heat around.

 

[yooper08]

I know you're going to try out the fans, but think about it this way. Forced air furnaces push out air at 150*F or higher.

 

[Dave_1]

We have a 2,000 ranch with central air conditioning.
There is too much heat loss in the attic duct work to make it practical to run on fan only.
Woody has the correct idea - use a fan at floor level at the end of the hallway.
Ya, its a walk around but it does the job.

 

[moresnow]

Also agree on the fans. Floor/box fans. Tower style were far less effective for me.

 

[Slacker]

We have a 2,000 ranch with central air conditioning.
There is too much heat loss in the attic duct work to make it practical to run on fan only.
Woody has the correct idea - use a fan at floor level at the end of the hallway.
Ya, its a walk around but it does the job.

Dave, ever consider having more insulation blown into the attic, especially to cover your duct work? If your loosing that much heat in the winter the same is happening with your cooling in the summer.

 

[Slacker]

This isn't exactly what you described, but similar in principle. Our return air for the HVAC system is in the same room as our wood stove, one would think it would be a great way to circulate the warm air to all the rooms of the house by simply running the HVAC fan. But not so, at least in my experience. There is just too much thermal loss sending the heated air through the ducts, not only does it not heat up the bedrooms, it actually introduced colder air and cools them down.

Depending on other variables I can heat up the bedroom areas by 5 degrees by doing the fan trick described in this thread. Use a fan to blow air towards the heated room instead of the other way around.

Most of the time the return is mounted low to the floor so you will be picking up the cooler air. I ran a duct with a damper from my return air box to the top of a doorway where the stove is located. It picks up much warmer air near the ceiling. I have seen good results with this setup. I simply close the damper in the duct work when theres no fire. This have been verified using a Fluke IR thermometer.

 

[CheapBassTurd]

Everything changed with a simple box fan on the floor
aimed from the bedroom hall towards the hotbox room.
Warm air replaces what the floor fan evacuates.
The cool floor fan air is mixed by the ceiling fan in the hot room
and sucked back down the hall. Each bedroom door is a thermostat
for individual preference.

 

[Woody Stover]

I never used the ceiling fan in the stove room because I figured it would disrupt the convection loop. I wanted the hottest air I could get coming out the top of the doorways of the stove room. I also wanted to leave the hottest air on the ceiling for more comfort when sitting in the stove room. If the stove room had a vaulted ceiling, where the doorways are far below the hot air, I would run a ceiling fan.

 

[JA600L]

I've spent the last 5 years trying to figure out how to do this. In the meantime, I installed new well insulated windows in the bedrooms ( and whole house), air sealed the ducts and top walls in the attic, blew insulation in the attic, blew insulation under the bedrooms (garage ceiling), and air sealed any and all gaps I could find in the bedrooms.

This was the most effective solution to the problem. Insulation and air sealing is the best solution for trying to heat your house with a space heater (woodstove). I do not use any fans. The bedrooms are heated by simply cracking the doors open a little. You will never get a woodstove to have the same effect as a whole house heating system which can hide insulation and sealing gaps because you are comfortable. With a space heater (woodstove) you will feel any and all drafts when you are away from the stove.

 

[begreen]

What works for one situation may or may not work for another. Ranch houses with the bedrooms arrayed at one end are going to heat differently than capes, colonials etc.. In that case a fan blowing air from the colder area to the hot room can be quite effective.

 

[JA600L]

Leave the bedroom doors open and run the stove hard before everybody decides to go to bed. That way you atleast warm up the walls and furniture in the rooms before closing the doors for the night.

 

[CheapBassTurd]

Post 17

Excactly, BG.
On a one level it's just a matter of moving the warmth faster than convection will do it.
A simple vertical airflow loop works well in a ranch hallway.

 

[Handsonautotech]

I use my HVAC system to circulate the air, but mine is located in the basement, so I use it to keep the basement warm so pipes do not burst. Any heat lost into the ducting is lost into the basement so it seems to work out. I do worry that my electric bill is going to negate the savings from burning wood and I would like a better solution.

I have thought about putting an intake duct above the stove for use during the winter, Slacker I would like to hear more about your solution.

 

[begreen]

Intake (return air) ducts must be at least 10 ft away from the stove or insert. It's often better to work with nature and push colder air to the stove room by putting the intake in the cold area and the output in the stove room.

 

[Handsonautotech]

Intake (return air) ducts must be at least 10 ft away from the stove or insert. It's often better to work with nature and push colder air to the stove room by putting the intake in the cold area and the output in the stove room.

I did this last night by closing the exit vents in the bedroom and covering the intake in the living room. Seemed to make things pretty even by morning time the house felt even throughout.

 

[begreen]

You'll want to be careful doing this. Restricting supply and return vents can cause the blower to race and lead to early burnout.

 

[Handsonautotech]

You'll want to be careful doing this. Restricting supply and return vents can cause the blower to race and lead to early burnout.

This is something to think about. How can I test for this? Could I open another intake in the basement then?

Does anyone have good solutions for people that do not want to trip over box fans on the floor?

My bedroom is fine, but my daughters bedroom is always too cool in the morning. Leaving a box fan on the floor outside their room is not an option at this time. Right now we have a 72" fan in the main room with the stove. That entire room stays nice and even from edge to edge. Each of the bedrooms also has a 52 inch fan The ceiling is vaulted, about 15 feet tall in the center. The two bedrooms share the center of the house.

Here is a rough idea of the layout.

 

[moresnow]

I use my HVAC system to circulate the air, but mine is located in the basement, so I use it to keep the basement warm so pipes do not burst. Any heat lost into the ducting is lost into the basement so it seems to work out. I do worry that my electric bill is going to negate the savings from burning wood and I would like a better solution.

I have thought about putting an intake duct above the stove for use during the winter, Slacker I would like to hear more about your solution.

Just a thought. I've had zero forced air heat vented in my basement in well over twenty years. Even in single digits and teens below zero for days or weeks I never burst a pipe. Uninsulated block foundation. Holds mid 50'sF all winter. Makes for cold showers however.