Floor Register Fans (Getting heat upstairs in my cape)

You need a cold air return somewhere as well. Figure out which end of the upper floor you want to be the warmest and push the air up there. install a vent on the opposite end of the house on the same floor to serve as a cold air return. You will need some type of fan one one or both of these vents ,if you use 2 fans make sure one is moving the air up and the other is pushing it down.

I'm working through the same issue right now as well. Wouldn't an open staircase serve well as a cold air return, or the hot air supply if the vents were pushing cold air down?

mchasal said:

I'm working through the same issue right now as well. Wouldn't an open staircase serve well as a cold air return, or the hot air supply if the vents were pushing cold air down?

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Open staircases can move a lot of air. Its actually the only way heat gets to my 3rd floor. warm air going up near the ceiling above steps and cold air coming down the steps. I have no cold air returns on the 3rd floor.

Have you tried simply putting a fan on the floor at the bottom of your stairs blowing back towards the stove? I have a colonial with my stove in the RR corner, kitty cornered. It blows towards the staircase. Works like a charm. Recently switched from one of those little black stove fans, to a 10 or 12" cheapo Walmart desk fan. On low, it's just as quiet as the little black one but moves MUCH more air. Evened out the temp differential, and more importantly, temp swings, between downstairs and up DRAMATICALLY.

Does your stove have enough output to begin with?

I have a ceiling mounted fan/register. My staircase is my cold air return. Works pretty well.

If you go with a floor register, I seem to recall reading a post on here about the fire hazard. Seems to me that especially with a baby on the way you ought to look at this carefully. I think the fix was a register with a damper on it which was controlled by a fuse like device, much like a sprinkler head, which melts and closes the damper in the event of too high heat.

before you cut, consult your local code. These are mostly illegal in most locals these days for fire code.

My Englander 13 NC stove is on the lower level of a two level cabin; each level is about 500 sq. ft. The cabin is insulated concrete form construction (airtight and well insulated). Above the stove and offset about 3 or 4 ft is a hole thru the ceiling that is 13.5" x about 36". On the upper level, above the hole, is a kitchen cabinet (island type arrangement) that is on legs so that the air flowing up thru the hole is exhausted out around the open base of the cabinet. That is all at one end of the house. At the other end is a stairwell in which I installed a small ceiling fan. With the stove burning and the ceiling fan blowing down the stairwell, the air circulation is very good and the upstairs vs downstairs temperature difference is very slight. Hard wired smoke/CO2 alarms on both levels provide peace of mind. The cabin is an open design, with only one room that can be closed off (combination bathroom, laundry room/battery room for my solar system). That room is next to the stove, and heats adequately with no additional air exchange. Overall, the system works very well. I also use the fan in the summer to circulate cool air from the air conditioner to the downstairs level. Not so much to cool the downstairs (it is mostly earth sheltered with one side exposed as a walk-out), but rather to dehumidify the DS air, which tends to get a bit humid if not moved around. I'm planning a significant addition to the cabin, and one of the main challenges is to maintain a gravity heat system thru the additional rooms. Interestingly, the current arrangement is very similar to what my wife remembers at her grandparents house.

be aware you could be compromising your fire safety with registers, ceilings and floors protect the floor joists in a fire, critical for the fire department searching for people in a fire, and a register that can't be blocked could allow smoke/flame into the room shortening the time of escape.
there are registers with linkages that shut the vent in a fire.

briansol said:

before you cut, consult your local code. These are mostly illegal in most locals these days for fire code.

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I see this a lot in here but I asked my code guy here in NY and he didn't have any guidance unless I was making structural changes.

reallyte said:

I see this a lot in here but I asked my code guy here in NY and he didn't have any guidance unless I was making structural changes.

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Checking with your insurance company might be a better choice. See what they require to continue coverage. But more importantly, make sure you keep that baby safe.

Have you exhausted ALL your fan options? It seems your focus is on cutting holes in your house.

Even if you do it, and you never burn down, if you ever try to sell your home, you won't be able to obtain a CoO for the new owner with that code violation, if your area enforces it. Most city areas are far more strict than some rural with volunteer fire dept's and such.

To be fair my area is rural and the hole I'm cutting is common practice in my area. I have many smoke alarms and co detectors and the hole is 20+ft from the stove. My plan isn't reckless as it may have seemed. If the vent was near the stove I would be more concerned for sure and would use a fire damper.

What's a CoO?

Common here fire department didn't care. I asked about adding a damper and he asked if he could take a look at it when I was done purely for his own knowledge. Ended up not doing it mostly for sound traveling between floors.

I have a cape too, central fireplace, wood stove in side room and poor at best insulation (Yeah, it's on the list) and a now 2yr old in the furthest upstairs room from the stove. If the house is cold and her room needs to be warmed quickly, we have to rely on the oil fired boiler. We both work so on days that we're home and can keep the stove fired up there is never an issue. I have used a box fan blowing down the stairway and it brings up noticeable warmth, but in order to take the furthest room from cold to toasty with the stove alone, for us, time seems to be the only sure thing.

XJma said:

I have a cape too, central fireplace, wood stove in side room and poor at best insulation (Yeah, it's on the list) and a now 2yr old in the furthest upstairs room from the stove. If the house is cold and her room needs to be warmed quickly, we have to rely on the oil fired boiler. We both work so on days that we're home and can keep the stove fired up there is never an issue. I have used a box fan blowing down the stairway and it brings up noticeable warmth, but in order to take the furthest room from cold to toasty with the stove alone, for us, time seems to be the only sure thing.

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I put a oil filled radiator (electric) and would run it on 600w hooked up to one of these thermostats Lux Win100 http://www.amazon.com/Lux-Heating-C...&sr=8-1&keywords=lux+thermostat+electric+plug worked good for our newborn and our 4 year old.

instead of making it against "code" to cut holes in your floors to try and heat your home
maybe there ought to be a new "code"....the use of residential sprinkers, which would save many more lives
then not cutting a couple holes in your floors