Moving hot air - a different floor plan

[michaelreinard]

Hi all. I’ve read many of your great posts on moving hot air, but wanted to see if anyone had any other thoughts with respect to my floor plan (i have attached two pictures). My Osburn 2400 insert is downstairs in the basement which is 50% underground. There is about 700 sq ft down there and I would like to get more heat through the open staircase to the other 1000-1200 sq ft upstairs. Half of the upstairs is open living space and kitchen with a vaulted ceiling, and the other half are bathrooms and bedrooms.

I am in the middle of remodelling so I have a lot of flexibility right now. I just hope to get it right the first time, so I don’t have to make changes later. After reading all of the posts I think the best way would be to use a fan and a duct to pump cooler air from upstairs downstairs to the floor, and direct the flow toward the insert. I am hoping then that in the summer I can reverse the fans and bring some of the cool air up.

So hopefully you can see the pictures. My questions are:
1. Does position A, B or C for the cool air duct make more sense? (Choice A makes the most sense to me, but i understand that air flow is often counter intuitive)
2. Is it better to have the blower unit upstairs at the intake (pushing), or downstairs at the exhaust (pulling)?
3. What about a floor duct w/ a fire damper over by the cool air duct A, so the hot air can come up through two places? Would that destroy convection? (I don’t know if the fire damper is necessary since the duct would lead to the open area of the house, that is, the same area that’s already open to the basement through the open stairwell)

Thanks for your thoughts!

Mike

 

[Jags]

First and foremost - check your local codes. There are rules about air ducts and the distance from a solid fuel burning appliance. You will want to stay with code (even if it is not going to be inspected), for safety and resale reasons.

Opt. A and to a lesser extent B would be my choice (again, following codes). The best thermal loop is typically going to be the largest thermal loop that you can create. Opt A does that with more distance from the staircase than the others.

A couple of thoughts to apply: Cold air moves easier than warm (more dense). I prefer suction over compression when moving air. Think window fan - it is more effective blowing out (suction) than blowing into a room (pressure).

Opt C would not make my short list. The reason for that is the long distance that the cold air needs to travel back to the heat source (to get warm again). Its gonna make for a cold floor.

OH - and welcome to the forum.

 

[Stump_Branch]

I love google sketch.

My vote is op A. Cooler air is off to the side and working toward steps. Other ones could make for cold feet. And im with suction as well pulling is most always easier than pushing.

 

[adrpga498]

I have a similar floor plan and I have had great results with a small fan near the bottom of the stair case pointed towards the stove. It seems to help in the natural falling of cooler air from upstairs. I'm not a contractor so I can't give any advise on your air return location. Just my .02 Good luck.

 

[michaelreinard]

Thanks for the comments so far. I was so focused on getting heat upstairs that I didn't even think about cold feet! Looks like consensus is leaning toward A and w/ the blower unit down bottom (sucking). That makes sense to me. If I need to tweak the flow later on I guess I can always use a floor fan. Gotta get this project done before October!

I think I'm OK on code, but I'll look into that. Thanks for that Jags.

 

[Jags]

Thanks for the comments so far. I was so focused on getting heat upstairs that I didn't even think about cold feet! Looks like consensus is leaning toward A and w/ the blower unit down bottom (sucking). That makes sense to me. If I need to tweak the flow later on I guess I can always use a floor fan. Gotta get this project done before October!

I think I'm OK on code, but I'll look into that. Thanks for that Jags.

The last discussion I took part in, I believe the magic number was 10FT, but I don't know if that holds true for code in your area or not. I am not a code nazi, but believe in safety first.

 

[My Oslo heats my home]

As far as moving some warm air, I have had some great results in the last couple years with ceiling fans, an in-floor duct fan (1st to 2nd floor) right above the stove and a floor fan.
good luck with your project

 

[michaelreinard]

Looks like blower A would not be code after all. I'm at about 8.5' from the wall. Maybe 10' if you measure from the center of the stove, but I really can't figure out what I can get away with from the code websites. That's a tough call b/c blowing from A really looks like it would give the best flow. Bummer.