Moving air

[tinman1]

I didn't see an answer to the t.p. test suggested by Jeff. Did you try it? If a fan is blowing from the bedroom to towards the stove room that air will have to be replaced by warmer air up top. I'd put one fan on low blowing out of the bedroom and another fan on low blowing into the stove room. After that it is just a matter of time. The t.p. test will show the movement of the air. My own problem is that my insert is simply too small to yield the results I want.

Well like I stated earlier with the small fan on the floor & the temp has risen 2 degrees then yes there's movement! Just not enough , so a 2 nd fan maybe will help. I'm also battleing burn times and I'm getting help from RWHITE , which is being very helpful with great info, due to we have the same insert !

 

[Andy S.]

Well like I stated earlier with the small fan on the floor & the temp has risen 2 degrees then yes there's movement! Just not enough , so a 2 nd fan maybe will help. I'm also battleing burn times and I'm getting help from RWHITE , which is being very helpful with great info, due to we have the same insert !

I have an HI200... 1.4 ft3 firebox. I was limited by a small prefab fireplace. It is great down to about 30* but once it gets into the 20's and below it is just supplemental for all but the stove room.The tp test is very helpful to test the placement of your fans. I'd tape a piece to test air coming out of the stove room and place another piece at the bedroom. The movement of the tp as you change the placement of your fans will give you instant feedback while a thermometer will take time.

 

[John Bramhall]

The toilet paper taped to the ceiling used to show air movement is a great idea. I also use incense to identify direction of air flow and leaks around doors, windows and possible negative pressures within the home. (fireplaces, ceiling exhaust fans, kitchen vents, etc) Any method of mixing air where the heat source is located will prevent separation of hot and cold thus preventing the air movement you are trying to create. This is a concept that takes a while to understand, but it's true. Once again, incense will show where the heat is moving.

 

[BSH1F]

The toilet paper taped to the ceiling used to show air movement is a great idea. I also use incense to identify direction of air flow and leaks around doors, windows and possible negative pressures within the home. (fireplaces, ceiling exhaust fans, kitchen vents, etc) Any method of mixing air where the heat source is located will prevent separation of hot and cold thus preventing the air movement you are trying to create. This is a concept that takes a while to understand, but it's true. Once again, incense will show where the heat is moving.

I live in a rancher with my stove in the basement with half of it unfinished basement (stove location) and a garage. I found if i shut the garage door i can push all the hot air up in my main living area. If i leave my garage door open and the basement door downstairs open the whole house upstairs gets more of a long term general warm feeling and we don't get the cold air blowing over our feet in the living room, there is about a 6 inch ice cold airflow in my basement tho. But yea i used incense to find out the air flow. I've also stopped running the blower on my stove, the room seems to retain heat longer after the stove has cooled down if it's not still blowing on a cold stove.

 

[Jackfre]

I would suggest that you look at the Tjernlund Airshare. It is a room to room transfer fan. Interior petitions do not have blocking at 4' as exterior petitions do. Note please that I said "typically". Look before you leap! Anyway the fan will insert into a 2x4 petition moving approx 80 cfm. It comes with a slot diffuser with an air scoop to help direct the air. There is also a floor to floor model. these are an excellent product and not hard to install. I like to keep it simple and run them off a switched outlet.

For a disclaimer, I used to represent Tjernlund n my business. I no longer have a business affiliation. That said, they are fine people and make excellent products.

 

[tinman1]

Well like I stated earlier with the small fan on the floor & the temp has risen 2 degrees then yes there's movement! Just not enough , so a 2 nd fan maybe will help. I'm also battleing burn times and I'm getting help from RWHITE , which is being very helpful with great info, due to we have the same insert !

This is a update from my original post.
I purchased a 50 cfm fan made by SANDHILL WHOLESALE CO , it sits on the floor blowing the cold air towards the insert room. It works great. I will say inorder to get the bedroom to desired temp , the insert room needs to be 4-5 degrees higher than what your looking for. And also I eliminated using my ceiling fan that's in the insert room. All in all like others mentioned you need to experiment with your own house.
Thanks all for the help.

 

[mass_burner]

This is a update from my original post.
I purchased a 50 cfm fan made by SANDHILL WHOLESALE CO , it sits on the floor blowing the cold air towards the insert room. It works great. I will say inorder to get the bedroom to desired temp , the insert room needs to be 4-5 degrees higher than what your looking for. And also I eliminated using my ceiling fan that's in the insert room. All in all like others mentioned you need to experiment with your own house.
Thanks all for the help.

I tried, its just not feasible. The hallway is narrow and my family end up kicking the fan around and complain about the cold air of feet.

 

[Matt93eg]

That might work in a modern system, but only if it is fully insulated. HVAC furnace ducting are designed for much higher duct temps unless it's a heat pump system. If the ductwork is not sealed and well insulated the furnace system will often lose more heat to duct loss. The net result can be a loss rather than a gain.

This has been the case the few times I tried it at my house. We have a heat pump and all the ducting is in the crawlspace, I tried running the heat pump fan a couple times and each time it caused a loss in temp over the entire house. OP, good luck getting the heat to your bedrooms, hopefully you find a way. I am struggling with that myself in our single story 1,500Sq/Ft home. I heat the entire house without a problem except for the bedrooms at the end of the hallway. No matter what I do I cannot get them very warm. I checked my attic insulation and soon am going to be adding some spray in cellulose insulation as the insulation up there or lack there of is pretty bad over the 3 bedrooms, I am hoping this is my issue, once the heat makes it those rooms its instantly lost through the attic.

 

[jeff_t]

....I eliminated using my ceiling fan that's in the insert room.

The layout of this house doesn't seem to make much difference with ceiling fan use.

Our other place, where the PE is, is a different story. The living room with the stove is about 15x20, a decent sized room. There is a 5' wide opening to the rest of the house, and the ceilings are 8' throughout. With the ceiling fan going in reverse in that room, it creates a curtain of air over that opening, and NO warm air gets out of the living room. It can be 85 in there, and 65 in the rest of the house. And that's only because the thermostat is set at 65.

I figured this out with TP With the ceiling fan off and a fan blowing into the living room, there is sometimes a 10° differential in the farthest bedroom, but usually closer to 5°.

 

[Sean Truesdell]

Does anyone think the OP had a decent idea for opening the sheetrock above the doorway to allow more passive air flow of warm air into the room? I ask because I am contemplating a similar renovation in my house and thought I would ask here before starting a new thread. I am actually considering doing this in several spots between the room my insert is in and the rest of the house. I have been experimenting with fans all over the place and concur that fans on the floor blowing cold air into the stove room are the most effective. I have also measured temps on the two sides of one of the doorways leading out of the stove room and got a 7 degree differential with a small digital therm. sitting on the doorway trim (this was with a ceiling fan running in reverse in the stove room.) I realize that allowing the warm air to move passively while pushing the cold air with fans is the most productive so my hope was these openings would increase the amount of warm air allowed to travel between rooms and hopefully even out temps a bit.

 

[pigc]

Does anyone think the OP had a decent idea for opening the sheetrock above the doorway to allow more passive air flow of warm air into the room?

I'm thinking of doing this also. I've read that if you open the transom area (area above door opening to ceiling) this can help a lot. Still trying to do more research to see if it's worth the effort.

 

[tinman1]

I'm thinking of doing this also. I've read that if you open the transom area (area above door opening to ceiling) this can help a lot. Still trying to do more research to see if it's worth the effort.

I decided not to do. The verdict is that for non continuous burn cycles ( I work for a living) I use a small 5x5 floor fan to blow the cold air out & for continuos burn cyles which is week ends for us I don't need a fan , the air equalizes to the other rooms.

 

[Grisu]

I'm thinking of doing this also. I've read that if you open the transom area (area above door opening to ceiling) this can help a lot. Still trying to do more research to see if it's worth the effort.

Tape a strip of toilet paper on the top of the door frame and see whether that moves away from the stove towards the colder part of the house. That indicates which way the warm air is flowing.