Moving Air and HVAC Specialists

[Jbeau009]

I have a single story ranch style home. The bedrooms form an L coming off of the living room. My stove is located in the living room and will quickly run you out of the room if I'm not careful. At the same time the bedrooms are COLD. I have tried using box fans to pull the cold air from the hallway towards the living room and, while it does help, it is a marginal difference at best. I started thinking a through wall vent fan from the living room into the bedroom would help create a loop and really circulate the air. I went back and forth on doing it myself but decided I would call an HVAC company just to ensure it was done properly and get some professional advice before cutting holes in my wall. When the technician arrived he advised against it, which is fine, but then proceeded to tell me that I was out of luck and said that my stove was a fire hazard because single wall stove pipe should never be used inside of a structure. Mind you my stove uses single wall stove pipe for about six feet or so before it reaches the ceiling and transitions into class A chimney.

Am I doing something wrong or did I find a special HVAC guy?

 

[begreen]

If the stovepipe has the proper clearances honored or exceeded, then single-wall is fine for interior use within the stove room. Double-wall does have some attributes that make it preferable, but not a necessity unless the stovepipe run is long.

Does the house have a basement or is this on a slab? Can you post a simple floorplan sketch that includes the stove location?

 

[Jbeau009]

It has a crawl space. I will see what I can do about a floorplan as soon as I get home.

ETA: Yes, I have sufficient clearance. My understanding is 18" for single wall and I am right around 2'.

 

[EbS-P]

Have had pretty good luck closing off all vents in the hot rooms and running the furnace (not just the circulation fan) for 30 minutes in the morning and then again in the evening when the stove is going. I have a single air air return near the bedrooms. L shape is just hard to move air around.

I have Kind of given up the idea of heating 100% with wood. I’m shooting for 80-95%. The bedrooms are warmer and I’m not a slave to the stove. Howa the insulation above the bedrooms? I’d spend money there before I spent it on an HVAC guy.
Just my two cents.
Evan

 

[begreen]

It has a crawl space. I will see what I can do about a floorplan as soon as I get home.

ETA: Yes, I have sufficient clearance. My understanding is 18" for single wall and I am right around 2'.

You're fine as long as the pipe is properly installed.

A ducted system could be run in the crawlspace that pulls cooler air from the bedrooms and blows it into the stove area, but with some caveats. The ducting would need to be heavily insulated and in my opinion, screened or boxed to prevent vermin issues. (They love insulation). The bedroom doors or walls might also need a modification with venting to allow the flow of air when the door is closed. This could be as simple as removing an inch from the bottom of the doors or a vent grille in them. A vent could also be put in an adjacent wall.

 

[Geoff C]

Is your crawl space encapsulated?

 

[Jbeau009]

Is your crawl space encapsulated?

It is enclosed but not climate controlled.

 

[begreen]

It is enclosed but not climate controlled.

Enclosed with no exterior vents? If so that would help with the vermin issue. Is it insulated?

 

[Jbeau009]

Please forgive my crude floorplan. Obviously this is not to scale but it should give an idea.

 

[Jbeau009]

Enclosed with no exterior vents? If so that would help with the vermin issue. Is it insulated?

It does have exterior vents but they are covered with wire mesh.

 

[RobbieB]

I installed a Broan 510 in the wall of the master bedroom that exhausts into the living room and an intake louver in the bottom of the closet door to the walk in closet where the fan is installed. The fan is high on the wall , but the intake is low (cold air first) and with the closet door shut not much noise.

It works well and raises the temp of the bedroom three degrees as well as reducing the temp of the stove room.

 

[begreen]

It does have exterior vents but they are covered with wire mesh.

Ok, that means the crawlspace is cold. It would take a very well insulated duct. Something like this.


Or, it might be worth looking into whether the crawlspace could be sealed and insulated. That might warm up the floors considerably. Whether that is an option depends on several factors starting with the terrain and how dry it is.

 

[begreen]

I installed a Broan 510 in the wall of the master bedroom that exhausts into the living room and an intake louver in the bottom of the closet door to the walk in closet where the fan is installed. The fan is high on the wall , but the intake is low (cold air first) and with the closet door shut not much noise.

It works well and raises the temp of the bedroom three degrees as well as reducing the temp of the stove room.

That plan is similar to what jbeau has drawn. I like the idea of mounting the fan high, with the intake low, using the wall cavity. Tjerlund also makes a fan system for this. I'd opt for the quietest, which may be the Broan.

 

[Tron]

I'd opt for the quietest, which may be the Broan.

They say 6.5 Sones for the Broan, which is quite loud.
Sone is a subjective sound level, in contrast to dB, but from experience anything above 2-3 gets really annoying.
Below 1 is almost inaudible.