Moving Heat Down Hallway

[indymoose]

Hi all:

I am looking for recommendation on moving heat from the room where our stove, a Morso 7110B, will be installed this month. I've been looking at similar threads in this forum, but have not found threads discussing this kind of layout/situation. A floor plan showing walls, interior doorways, and the fireplace is attached. Any help would be appreciated.

The home is a single story with a basement, approximately 980 square feet on each floor. The stove will be installed entirely within the masonry fireplace. My focus is on Bedroom 1 and Bedroom 2, but I am not opposed to moving heat to all parts of the first floor. In addition, I think I will also want to be able to cool down the living room by moving heat to other parts of the house, not just heat the other rooms in the house.

I think some heat will be distributed without any help. The fireplace is well-situated on an interior wall that is not far from the bedrooms. I will place two thermoelectric fans on top of the stove after installing a block-off plate to help move heat into the living room.

Here are my ideas so far:

1. Place a fan pointed down the hallway in the corner of the opposite wall of the living room.
2. Place a fan in Bedroom 2 pointed down the hallway.
3. Use the ceiling fans in Bedroom 2 and Bedroom 3, although I've read that does not always help as much.
4. Focus instead on installing a fan on the opposite wall of the living room, pointed at the fireplace to convect as much heat as possible out of the fireplace.
5. Use the existing HVAC system's variable speed blower, set to run for X minutes every hour. My only issue with this is that I do not really need to heat the basement at this point. For now, it is unfinished and rarely occupied.

Thanks in advance!

 

[xman23]

You need to have negative pressure in the room before the warm air will flow in, Put a small fan in the room, on the floor blowing the cold air toward the stove room. The warm air will run along the ceiling.

 

[stoveliker]

Yes, moving cold air often works better.
Move it slowly so it doesn't mix with the warmer air and you create a loop flow (cold along the floor and warm higher up).
A small fan in each bedroom blowing colder air along the floor towards the stove room would work best.

Don't go the HVAC route. You'll loose a lot of heat.

 

[indymoose]

Yes, moving cold air often works better.
Move it slowly so it doesn't mix with the warmer air and you create a loop flow (cold along the floor and warm higher up).
A small fan in each bedroom blowing colder air along the floor towards the stove room would work best.

Don't go the HVAC route. You'll loose a lot of heat.

Thanks, I’ve seen a lot of conflicting information about using HVAC systems. Maybe you don’t lose as much heat in a modern, airtight home or if you’re operating a really large stove. But I have an older home and imagine with that amount of distribution it would just leak everywhere.

 

[stoveliker]

Especially if ducts are outside of the thermal envelope of the home (e.g. uninsulated attic or basement)

 

[djlew]

Looks like maybe a room transfer fan can be an option into bedroom 1. "Through wall transfer fan". Definitely worth pointing a fan into the stove room to see if it gets to both bedrooms before making any holes. I've had success with that method.

Agree with the HVAC fan. I lost more heat. In my case, probably taking the warm air from the intake and throughout the ducts just lost what was there. All options are at least worth an attempt. Trial and error is really going to get you where you want to be. Good luck!

 

[indymoose]

Looks like maybe a room transfer fan can be an option into bedroom 1. "Through wall transfer fan". Definitely worth pointing a fan into the stove room to see if it gets to both bedrooms before making any holes. I've had success with that method.

Agree with the HVAC fan. I lost more heat. In my case, probably taking the warm air from the intake and throughout the ducts just lost what was there. All options are at least worth an attempt. Trial and error is really going to get you where you want to be. Good luck!

Thanks, I saw the wall-transfer vents and will put that at the bottom of my list if nothing else is satisfactory.

 

[begreen]

A wall transfer fan was my first thought when I saw the floorplan. The stud cavity can be used as a duct. That pull air from bedroom #1, dumping it into the stove room. Bedroom #2 could be connected via the common wall stud cavity with grilles over the openings.
One thing to research is the noise created by the wall fan. Some are quieter than others.

 

[MongoMongoson]

The Vornado-style fans work very well to move cold air compared to a box fan, and they are smaller. We have a Menards knock-off that I use to push cold air and it seems to move a "cylinder" of air horizontally across the floor.

We also have a room transfer fan above a bedroom door upstairs to get warm air into the bedroom. That works as well, but as others have said moving cold air seems to be more effective. It is easier to push light, warm air out of the way with heavy, cold air than the other way around.

 

[indymoose]

The Vornado-style fans work very well to move cold air compared to a box fan, and they are smaller. We have a Menards knock-off that I use to push cold air and it seems to move a "cylinder" of air horizontally across the floor.

We also have a room transfer fan above a bedroom door upstairs to get warm air into the bedroom. That works as well, but as others have said moving cold air seems to be more effective. It is easier to push light, warm air out of the way with heavy, cold air than the other way around.

I’m looking at the Vornado now. Expensive, but seem worth it. A little white noise at night would not be a bad thing. Trying to figure out what size I need though.

 

[stoveliker]

The one that goes to the lowest speed; for this to work you need to avoid creating turbulence and mixing of cold and warm air. You want a stable stream of colder air to the stove room and a resulting flow of warmer air back.

Keep it running; it's not a quick fix. After an hour or two you should see a difference if it works in the geometry of your home.

 

[indymoose]

The one that goes to the lowest speed; for this to work you need to avoid creating turbulence and mixing of cold and warm air. You want a stable stream of colder air to the stove room and a resulting flow of warmer air back.

Keep it running; it's not a quick fix. After an hour or two you should see a difference if it works in the geometry of your home.

Yeah I’m looking at DC-powered fans because they are so much more adjustable. Too bad Vornado doesn’t make any of its vintage line with DC power. The vintage stuff is metal and will be more durable than the plastic stuff.

 

[begreen]

I have two Vornado room heaters. They are nice when running but both have failed within 1 and 2 yrs of service. I won't buy another of their Chinese products.

 

[indymoose]

I have two Vornado room heaters. They are nice when running but both have failed within 1 and 2 yrs of service. I won't buy another of their Chinese products.

Thanks for mentioning this. I didn’t know much about the company, including the buyout. That narrowed my search to the MiUSA stuff.

The 610DC is on sale right now for about the same price as the regular 610. I will put that on the floor in Bedroom 2, pointed down the hallway, on low. We will see what happens.

 

[30WCF]

I have two tower fans that blow into the stove room. One is 4-5 feet from the stove, the other is back at the bedroom. Both are moving cold air from down the hall into the stove room. The TP taped to the doorway shows the warm air moving along the ceiling into the back bedroom. Even though the fans are blowing one way, you can clearly see the warm draft moving the opposite direction. I can stand in the hall and feel a warm breeze on my face when facing towards the stove. Ceiling fans on low circulating air “up” in each of the three rooms down the hall.

These fans worked great for a year or two. They still run fine, but may need to be taken apart and cleaned inside because they don’t feel as powerful as they were new.

If done right the through the wall fans could be helpful.

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[MongoMongoson]

This is what I bought from Menards. It is quiet, and moves a lot of air.

XPOWER® 11" Yellow Utility Fan

Promote advanced air circulation with this XPOWER® 11-inch, four-speed, whole-room air circulator utility fan. From workshops and warehouses to classrooms and offices, it's important to have proper air flow, and this fan outworks most traditional fans. Its high torque and energy-efficient motor...

www.menards.com

 

[indymoose]

I have two tower fans that blow into the stove room. One is 4-5 feet from the stove, the other is back at the bedroom. Both are moving cold air from down the hall into the stove room. The TP taped to the doorway shows the warm air moving along the ceiling into the back bedroom. Even though the fans are blowing one way, you can clearly see the warm draft moving the opposite direction. I can stand in the hall and feel a warm breeze on my face when facing towards the stove. Ceiling fans on low circulating air “up” in each of the three rooms down the hall.

These fans worked great for a year or two. They still run fine, but may need to be taken apart and cleaned inside because they don’t feel as powerful as they were new.

If done right the through the wall fans could be helpful.

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Yeah I’ve read you need to clean the fans regularly since they are constantly running. I don’t want to try the wall-transfer fans unless the Vornado doesn’t work much at all. The house has original plaster and lathe walls, which I’m reluctant to modify at all.

 

[30WCF]

The house has original plaster and lathe walls, which I’m reluctant to modify at all.

So, like my house, insulation is probably nonexistent too.

 

[indymoose]

So, like my house, insulation is probably nonexistent too.

On the interior walls, yes and no. Bedroom 1 was supposedly retrofitted with insulation at some point because the prior owners used it as a "piano room", but I haven't gotten in the attic to check that yet.

The exterior walls have insulation board between the studs and the siding, without any wrap. Part of the reason I am installing a wood stove is that the house just doesn't hold heat well.