Heat Transfer Kit

[BC_Josh]

Hello....

I am thinking a heat transfer kit like this fellow demonstrates on this video would be the best solution for me to get warm air throughout my house. Otherwise, I would have to rely on simple ducts (with maybe fans in them) but I would think this way would be better, since it's taking warm air from the highest part of the room, right under the ceiling and redistributing it to another room (or rooms). It looks pretty great to me, since I don't have much space in my house and this is a way of discreetly installing a hot hair distribution system. I also have a fresh air kit to install to feed the stove with constant fresh air, so installing this wouldn't rob my stove of oxygen in the meanwhile.

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Thing is, this system is sold in New Zealand, and I'm in western Canada..... any else in my country or in the US who has experience with these units, or similar ones? What system do you have? It looks like a nice, easy install and would give a lot of extra comfort in my wee home (900 sq ft).

Thanks, Josh

 

[BC_Josh]

By the way, this sort of method seems to be very popular in Australia and New Zealand, but I dont' see why it couldn't be used where I live, where the temperatures usually hover just below freezing.

 

[begreen]

I've outlined how to do this in several moving the heat postings. I'm surprised it's taken so long for a product to come on the market for this. It's nice that all the parts are bundled but in America, the setup is illegal as described. Per code a return duct can not be within 10 ft of the stove. There are advantages to using this setup with the fan reversed so that room air is sucked and blown into the stove room. In that case, floor vents are better, especially if there is a basement below.

 

[BC_Josh]

I've outlined how to do this in several moving the heat postings. I'm surprised it's taken so long for a product to come on the market for this. It's nice that all the parts are bundled but in America, the setup is illegal as described. Per code a return duct can not be within 10 ft of the stove. There are advantages to using this setup with the fan reversed so that room air is sucked and blown into the stove room. In that case, floor vents are better, especially if there is a basement below.

Seems like we should be allowed to do this if we have a fresh air kit supplying our stove meanwhile, since that would supply enough oxygen to the firebox.

 

[stoveliker]

"should be" and "yes, we will overlook something that is not according to the letter of the law when we are being asked to pay out" are two different things.
Do check code in Canada; maybe it's different.

Note that even with an outside air kit, when you open the door with a big suction fan going, you could still have smoke roll-out. Moreover, depending on the suction flow, and the impedance of the outside air kit, one could still suck out gases when the stove gets cold at the end of a burn.
The problem is that while it may be safe, if it hasn't been *shown* to be safe (i.e. tested), and given cases where it was not safe, it may be better to not do this.

Instead, and *especially if you use ducts through areas outside the insulation envelope*, moving colder air is more efficient. Less losses where the ducts go through cold attics or so. (Even if the duct is insulated as in the video, that's a rather minimal inch of glass fiber - you'd never consider that enough in your wall...)

I do have a fan system to move heat from my basement stove. But I suck cold air from my living room floor, and deposit it on the basement (where the stove is) floor. It pushes the hottest air in the basement that is near the ceiling up the stairs. It works great for me (my duct is in conditioned space).
If you can do something like that it'd be advisable. Both in terms of code (not sucking air away from the stove), and in terms of moving heat.
Moreover, please look at code for making holes in floors - even wooden floors are fire barriers.
I used a metal boot, metal duct (between floor joists), metal elbow down and immediately a fire damper (springloaded metal valve that shuts when the "soldering tin" link melts when it gets hot), followed by flexible duct to a fan and another register at the basement floor. (The flexible duct being there to avoid sound/vibration transmission into the floor of my above lying living room, the fan mounted on the floor and not on the studs of the chase I made.)

So, why not do it better and safer at the same time?

 

[electrathon]

If you use this system (I personally like them) you need to keep in INSIDE the thermal envelope of the house. Meaning you cannot run the ductwork in the attic or in the crawl space. If you do it will lose more heat than it can move, so your house will cool off with it running.

 

[BC_Josh]

Thanks for the replies; had to deal with a funeral since I posted so I'm just getting back to this.

I decided that a fan installed into the wall would be more effective, cheaper and easier to install. I only need to mostly move the hot air from the room with the stove into the adjacent room (kitchen/dining room) that is hard to get the heat to move into. Also, I can see how these systems are code in Australia where they have very mild conditions in winter. It would lose quite a bit of heat in many parts of Canada, if it went through an uninsulated attic, even with insulated ducting.

 

[begreen]

Cold air is denser and easier to move with a fan. Consider mounting the fan low and having it blow air from the cooler space into the stove room.