Using my furnace blower for heat distribution.

[21acrewoods]

My house is 2300 sq ft, modular construction, level 1=1700 sq ft, with an open foyer. I have some concerns about the bedroom and bath on the opposite side of the foyer from the fireplace staying at a comfortable temp. Also, the upstairs bedrooms are a concern.
The foyer is about 10' wide.
I am looking into a zc fireplace(Qudra-Fire 7100 or like) as a primary heat source. I have a well circulated forced air furnace that I would like use for back-up.
All my rooms have well portioned returns and supplies which keeps thing very evenly heated.

My question is "can I use my furnace blower turned on at a relatively low speed to put warm air off of my fireplace into rooms that may not get the heat they need to stay comfortable?


I am willing to get creative with return/supply location, fireplace heat zone locatin, or the connection of these two.

Thanks in advance for any input.

 

[fast636]

I tried this in my 2100 sq ft double wide. It didn't work very well. The furnace draws cold air in from outside for combustion and when ever the blower is running it is drawing this outside air inside. this is enough to cool the warm air down to where it is not warm any more.

(broken link removed to http://www.pinegrovehomes.com/pg/floorplan_detail.php?id=165)

This is my floor plan and my stove (st croix afton bay) is in opposite corner of what is listed in layout and it heat the whole house. Next to the stove i put a wall register going into the master bath closet and i have a small fan that i use to circulate the air.

hope this helps

 

[MinnesotaRX]

I'd agree with fast...I tried the blower thing and it seemed (maybe due to convection) to make it feel cooler. Really, the thermostat didn't say the temp inside changed much, but perhaps with all the not-very-hot air circulating around and around, it just made it feel that way. Sort of like windchill...? Anyway, the only reason I run my fan these days is because I have a central humidifier and it gets a bit dry in these parts about now.

Jason

 

[KPWright]

I live in a contemporary with a very open floor plan on one side and the center of the main floor and including the half story upstairs. The stove is in the basement and I've left the stairwell open. The heat migrates pretty well to the center part of the house although it tends to peter out a bit by the time it makes it upstairs. The problem areas are the extra bedrooms and office on each end of the house. These are isolated with 8 foot ceilings and therefore don't see any of the heat coming up from the basement. I could cut vents in the floor, but that really wouldn't do much either. For the most part in the winter I don't really need to heat these all the time, so If I'm having guests or I'm working at home I do run the blower for the furnace to recirculate air. It does help to distribute the warm air from the stove, but it's still not the optimum ventilation system.

 

[Scoop]

I tried this in my 2100 sq ft double wide. It didn't work very well. The furnace draws cold air in from outside for combustion and when ever the blower is running it is drawing this outside air inside. this is enough to cool the warm air down to where it is not warm any more.

(broken link removed to http://www.pinegrovehomes.com/pg/floorplan_detail.php?id=165)

This is my floor plan and my stove (st croix afton bay) is in opposite corner of what is listed in layout and it heat the whole house. Next to the stove i put a wall register going into the master bath closet and i have a small fan that i use to circulate the air.

hope this helps

How would the combustion air get mixed with the air going through the heat plenum? I don't see it. I have a 2,300 sq foot open concept bungalow with a half finished basement, where the stand alone stove is installed. I have a large stairwell opening to the central portion of the upstairs. I run the forced air oil furnace blower some of the time. It seems to make the heat feel more even in the upstairs portion of the house. It does not raise the temperature upstairs very much though. My stove really is designed to heat the finished parft of the basement, which I was doing with electricity and high oil furnace settings before. To date I have burned two tons of pellets and one ton of corn. The total cost about is about equal what I have saved on oil so far this year.

 

[KPWright]

I had the same question when I saw "combustion air" as all of this really needs to be going outside!! I assumed the combustion air was actually coming from the room though and when that is the case it can pull a slight negative pressure, drawing a draft of outside air back into the room.

 

[charles u farley]

Older furnaces used room air for combustion. There can be a fresh air duct connecting the furnace return air plenum to an outside air intake hood. The furnace doesn't really suck outside air through that duct. The air just flows in to equalize pressure in the house, replacing whatever goes up the chimney(s). Quite common for late 1970's homes around here.

 

[21acrewoods]

I like the idea of just running a single stand alone duct with a into the cooler rooms. My forced air system is geo-thermal so I don't have an outside air supply to worry about.
Also, does the duct between your MB closet and stove draw air from the closet or push air into the closet?

 

[jng518]

I have an oil burner in my house. It draws air from the front to heat the house
by way of the duct system. At the bottom there is an air inlet for the "gun" to
the combustion chamber. When the fan goes on it will draw from both. This spring
I am having the duct system cleaned and repaired so I can connect the convection fan
input (BigE) to them and draw air from the duct. I am thinking that pulling cold air from
the floor will circulate the heat better.

 

[Revig]

I heat my older home with a pellet stove that is installed in the basement. I use the "fan only" setting on the home furnace system to help with the heat circulation and it works very well. The original furnace and ducting never did the job well, till I discovered the ductwork was all undersized and not enough runs were originally installed - so when I updated to a new Heil system and changed the duct sizing and added several more runs, installed a large cold air return in the center of the ceiling near the stove, all is well and it really performs well. Typical older home with a couple of cold rooms before - but now life is good! Great to finally have a comfortable home on those cold days. Also have a couple of vents for the heat to naturally rise to the upstairs.

 

[fast636]

My LP gas furnace has an oak (outside air kit) When the blower is running it is drawing cold air from outside into the furnace. It is not actually putting that air into my house but it is making the furnace itself very cold. So any warm air that is drawn into the furnace by the blower is cooled down once it enters my furnace.

I have the fan pushing the warm air into my MB closet.

 

[21acrewoods]

I was reading the owners manuel for the qudra fire 7100 I am looking at buying and it says to make sure I am not creating any negative pressure around the fire place.
Also the heat zones that come as an option on this unit will draw air from the ducted rooms and supply it to the fireplace, circulating it around the firebox and back into the room with the fireplace.
It seems to me that the fireplace/stove may operate more effeciently by blowing the cool air into the room with the fire and therefor creating positive pressure in that room.
any thoughts