Basement install / ideas on moving air upstairs? What works and what doesn't?

[Indianawood]

I have a basement installed Blaze King Ultra. Looking for ideas to equalize temps between basement and 1st story. 78 to 80 in basement and 71 upstairs

 

[Sawset]

There are only two ways to move heat. More air flow. Or higher temperature difference.
You want to eliminate the temperature difference, which means there needs to be more air flow.
Open the basement door to allow as much air flow there as possible.
Adding openings in the floors are debatable as to their hazards, and limited as to their effectiveness. A tiny opening would need a hurricane flowing through it to add heat to the upper floor. Gravity feed registers and ducting in the past were quite large and extensive.
Turning on the furnace blower consumes electric - if that is worth the cost, then that may be your best bet, - significantly increased air flow at a cost. Here, we've ditched all of the crazy ideas, opened up doorways as much as possible, and just use spot electric heat for remote areas that need a boost in temp.

 

[Ac921ol]

We have a 4 level split, ceiling fan is on winter mode in wood stove downstairs, then the family room upstairs has its fan in winter mode and a Dyson hot and cold fan. The upstairs bedrooms we use have Dyson hot and cold fans

wish my wood stove would crank heat all the way upstairs, but it doesn’t, I’m just learning how to use it tho.

 

[tabner]

I'm definitely going to watch this thread - my install is next month, but I'm certain I'm going to have this problem. @Indianawood is your basement finished, or unfinished?
Many members on here have made good suggestions which usually involve cutting floor registers to facilitate cold air sinking back to the basement. As far as ducting, I have an idea I am going to try, which I will definitely give feedback on in the future. Rather than cutting a floor register and hoping it's big enough, and the air moves on its own. I'm going to buy some 8" flex duct and an inline 8" duct fan, because of the way my basement is finished and laid out, I am going to put one floor register in a cold corner of the first floor, and basically duct it down into a corner of the basement, pushing cold air down. Hopefully giving warm air a smooth flow up the basement stairs, and getting a nice thermal loop going.
The duct fan I bought pushes 420 CFMs, so with basic math, I calculate it should be able to fully circulate all of my first floor air every 15 minutes or so. I don't see how this wouldn't work well.
Not sure what your basement layout is, but just food for thought.

 

[mrd1995]

I'm definitely going to watch this thread - my install is next month, but I'm certain I'm going to have this problem. @Indianawood is your basement finished, or unfinished?
Many members on here have made good suggestions which usually involve cutting floor registers to facilitate cold air sinking back to the basement. As far as ducting, I have an idea I am going to try, which I will definitely give feedback on in the future. Rather than cutting a floor register and hoping it's big enough, and the air moves on its own. I'm going to buy some 8" flex duct and an inline 8" duct fan, because of the way my basement is finished and laid out, I am going to put one floor register in a cold corner of the first floor, and basically duct it down into a corner of the basement, pushing cold air down. Hopefully giving warm air a smooth flow up the basement stairs, and getting a nice thermal loop going.
The duct fan I bought pushes 420 CFMs, so with basic math, I calculate it should be able to fully circulate all of my first floor air every 15 minutes or so. I don't see how this wouldn't work well.
Not sure what your basement layout is, but just food for thought.

Please let us know how this works, our install is supposed to be within the next two weeks and we are going to have the same issue potentially.

 

[Simonkenton]

I have a two story log cabin, with a conventional stair case going up to the second floor.
I was having trouble getting the wood stove heat upstairs, of course I left the door open but wanted more heat upstairs.
I made a hole in the ceiling for a register, just a conventional 6 x 14 inch grate like you use in central heat systems.
It made no difference at all, much to my surprise. Still 67 downstairs, and 60 upstairs.

If you put in a big enough grate, obviously you will move warm air. But make it much, much bigger than mine is.

 

[Rickb]

Im doing the exact same thing. I cut a register vent hole in the floor and deducted it to a good inline duct fan. Works great dropped the bastment temps down about 4F. I have it run 24/7/365 now. It helps keep the basement more even in the summer too.
I use one like this one blowing the cooler air from the main floor into the basement and that allows more of the warm air to go up the stairs.

(broken link removed)

 

[Indianawood]

Im doing the exact same thing. I cut a register vent hole in the floor and deducted it to a good inline duct fan. Works great dropped the bastment temps down about 4F. I have it run 24/7/365 now. It helps keep the basement more even in the summer too.
I use one like this one blowing the cooler air from the main floor into the basement and that allows more of the warm air to go up the stairs.

(broken link removed)

Just to make sure I understand you correctly, because I have not tried. That option, are you moving warm air up or you blowing cold air down into the basement and then letting the doorways and maybe a stairway filter the warm air up?

 

[Sawset]

Im doing the exact same thing. I cut a register vent hole in the floor and deducted it to a good inline duct fan. Works great dropped the bastment temps down about 4F. I have it run 24/7/365 now. It helps keep the basement more even in the summer too.
I use one like this one blowing the cooler air from the main floor into the basement and that allows more of the warm air to go up the stairs.

(broken link removed)

What do you think the temperature difference is between one side and the other (incoming air temp of your unit vs destination room air temp).
One equation hvac guys sometimes use:
BTU = 1.08 x cfm x delta T
Btu (heat moved)
Cfm (would be from the inline fan)
Delta T (change in temp inlet vs outlet)
It would give an indication of how much heat you're moving.

 

[Rickb]

Not sure. I actually like our main floor cooler cause thats where the bed room is. Our basement is finished and its where we spend most of our time. I can say before I put it in with the stove running that same setting it was 77 to 78 in the basement and now its 72 to 74 depending on the outside temps, and how much I run the stove. Typically during fall I only need to load it once a day in the afternoon/evening with 3 or 4 splits and winter twice a day with the same.

If I really needed to heat the whole house I would have added a second vent fan to a different part of the main floor.

 

[Rickb]

Also wouldnt be hard to run a test by getting some cheap 6-8 inch dryer vent and zip tying it to a fan and running the other end down the stairs.

Or buy one of the super cheap duct fans as a test with the dryer vent just for testing.

 

[Sawset]

One test also is using an incense stick placed near doorways and stairwell. It would give an indication of how much air is already moving. Some simple figuring would give existing air flow rates vs proposed.

 

[tabner]

Im doing the exact same thing. I cut a register vent hole in the floor and deducted it to a good inline duct fan. Works great dropped the bastment temps down about 4F. I have it run 24/7/365 now. It helps keep the basement more even in the summer too.
I use one like this one blowing the cooler air from the main floor into the basement and that allows more of the warm air to go up the stairs.

(broken link removed)

This is great to hear, because it's exactly what i'm planning. I think the layout of my house is going to work really well with this setup, forcing the air to flow through my 1st floor on its way to the duct inlet. What size floor register, and what size duct do you have?
i just bought this one on amazon black friday for $20. Add in the 8" flex, the duct boot adaptor and a register vent, and i think it's going to be less than $100.

 

[Rickb]

My register is bigger then the one my normal hvac uses because I wanted it to flow more freely. I think once you use that duct fan if you like the operation you will change it out. those do not move much air and are noisy. The one I linked is much more expensive but much quiters and moves a lot more air.

 

[Rickb]

Think mine is 8 inch.



BTW thats the room we call the monster room. it has my service panels and network servers and crap in there. lol

 

[tabner]

Think mine is 8 inch.

View attachment 268459 View attachment 268460

BTW thats the room we call the monster room. it has my service panels and network servers and crap in there. lol

Perfect thank you, thanks for the pics. That's almost exactly what I'm picturing. I have a small closet that houses the water tank, similar to you, unfinished basement space, I plan to run it in there and vent it out as well.

 

[tabner]

@Rickb can I ask what your square footage is? Id just be curious, presumably if my house is significantly smaller, I might get by with the weaker fan.

 

[Seasoned Oak]

Only way to move a lot of air through a small vent is with a fan. Also most people like the bedrooms a little cooler than the down stairs. Even with powered air movement in 3 places my basement stove room is mid to high 80s, 2nd floor about 75 , and 3rd floor about 68 . If you have central air ducting already your already good to go,use the fan only setting.

 

[Rickb]

I am about 700 sqft in the stove room and 1100 on the main floor, and another 750 on the second floor.

Its a 1.5 story so the main floor has the kitchen, living room and master suit. the second floor has the kids rooms.