Help moving the heat to the back bedrooms

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dieharddan

New Member
Sep 26, 2014
11
Wisconsin
Hello everyone, Iv'e been lurking the forums for a good while now and found some good info here; but I've been having a little trouble moving the heat to the back bedrooms of my 1000sf ranch. I've read numerous threads on this topic and have tried a lot of the suggestions with little luck. including fan on floor of bedroom doorways pointed towards stove with and without fan hung up high in doorways and a few other fan configurations with little luck. Iv'e attached the floor plans of my house with the temps. I thought I might try installing vents in the living room and bedrooms with one of those "duct fans" between insulated flex duct up in the attic. and possibly a couple fans on the floor pointed towards the stove to help with the circulation loop. Has anyone tried this? I figure fans kind of blow the air all around where air running through the duct will be more direct?? I would install the vents at the north end of the living room and the south end of the bedrooms to keep the duct run as short as possible. Any thoughts?

Thanks!


houseplansorginal_zpsbbe2f3b9.jpg
 
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I am not saying you should do this...but I installed thruwall fans above my doorways exiting the stove room, and going into the bedrooms. I also have a ranch house, it is shaped almost like a horseshoe with the bedrooms being the tips and the stove room the bottom.

I am also finding that running the stove on low and not letting it cycle on and off helps keep the tempsin the other rooms up.

Right now my living/stove room is 75 and the bedrooms are 72, i will have to see what happens when it really gets cold out though.

100_0992.JPG 100_0993.JPG
 
Run just the blower on your furnace?
 
Papelletman said:
I am not saying you should do this...but I installed thruwall fans above my doorways exiting the stove room, and going into the bedrooms. I also have a ranch house, it is shaped almost like a horseshoe with the bedrooms being the tips and the stove room the bottom.

I am also finding that running the stove on low and not letting it cycle on and off helps keep the tempsin the other rooms up.

Right now my living/stove room is 75 and the bedrooms are 72, i will have to see what happens when it really gets cold out though.

View attachment 144636 View attachment 144637
Click to expand...


I have thought about this as well, but i'm afraid it may not work as ive hung fans in the doorway without any success
 
Your floor plan hurts you somewhat. I have read up extensively and played around also. Many have better results pulling cold air to the stove and out of the farther rooms. This is not true for me. What has and is working best here is pushing the warmer air into these areas for me. I also have my HVAC system blowing air just to circulate. Not an option for you.

I have a fan on one side of the stove on medium. Another in the hall pushing on low down a hall to the other end of the house. Next I have one on a loft up above the stove against the railing pushing down that hall. Then I have another pushing on low down a hallway that T's into the other pushing to the other two bed rooms. Jut citing an example of what is working best for me. I know you have an entirely different situation. I hve to run but will study your floor plan and see if I can make suggestions.

Many will tell you the ducting like you are thinking is against code. Not sure about it where you are. I'll get back to you.
 
bags said:
Your floor plan hurts you somewhat. I have read up extensively and played around also. Many have better results pulling cold air to the stove and out of the farther rooms. This is not true for me. What has and is working best here is pushing the warmer air into these areas for me. I also have my HVAC system blowing air just to circulate. Not an option for you.

I have a fan on one side of the stove on medium. Another in the hall pushing on low down a hall to the other end of the house. Next I have one on a loft up above the stove against the railing pushing down that hall. Then I have another pushing on low down a hallway that T's into the other pushing to the other two bed rooms. Jut citing an example of what is working best for me. I know you have an entirely different situation. I hve to run but will study your floor plan and see if I can make suggestions.

Many will tell you the ducting like you are thinking is against code. Not sure about it where you are. I'll get back to you.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I will try that fan configuration. Also, wether it would meet code was the other question I had, thanks for reminding me
 
Room temp equalization key seems to be identifying, then augmenting your "circulation loop" air flow patterns unique to every house.

The best thing I did, and maybe you've done this already too, was to take a lit incense stick and a toilet paper 'streamer' and walk all around my 'connected' floor plan 1870's farmhouse during a January Nor'easter, when the wind was blowing like stink, and it is the hardest conditions to keep my house warm.

Holding the burning incense and TP streamer near the floor, as well as at standing and ceiling heights, it was easy to visualize how the air was moving throughout the house. Then I did the same test trying ceiling fans, a floor fan, a door jam fan, to see which system best augments that circulation loop.

It took an hour or more for some rooms farthest from our stove room to 'equalize out' their temps, so it took a better part of a day to try different things in different places of the house. But I was surprised that it could raise the temps in our colder rooms by 4 or 5 degrees just by augmenting the circulation loop air movement.

That said, on a -20 F January morning with sustained 40 mph winds here in Maine, I realize I might have to just suck it up, as much as it 'wrinkles my saddle blanket' to have to do it, :mad: and run the oil burner to supplement the pellet stove for that day or two, to get that 'whole house' heat that a space heater pellet stove just can't do.
 
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I understand this will be of little help, but...

There's a good reason why central heating was invented. I'm surprised at the number of people who thinks a single space heater will properly heats all the rooms! :confused:
 
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dieharddan said:
I have thought about this as well, but i'm afraid it may not work as ive hung fans in the doorway without any success
Click to expand...

Above the doorway was the hottest temp reading 90 degrees.
 
A few large fans on the floor blowing cold air back towards the stove.
 
TimfromMA said:
A few large fans on the floor blowing cold air back towards the stove.
Click to expand...
+1 on the floor fan. I put a box fan blowing cold air from end of our bedroom hallway in the doorway of the last bedroom toward the heated living room. I was pleased to see it would raise the temp of that that room by as much as 5-7 degrees in an hour. I'm heating 2000 square with an insert on the far end
 
DMKNLD has a starting point suggested. Experiment and explore. I beat myself to death for weeks switching stuff around. Another KEY thing I did is buy some inexpensive thermometers and placed them in the cooler areas to track what was going on. Technically these are space heaters but many people can and do get them to basically heat their whole house. The big thing is balancing out the air as best you can between the negative pressures (colder) and positive (warmer) areas.

Granted the two bed rooms are farthest away from your stove and they are somewhat isolate too. I would start by placing a box fan about 3 to 4 ft. on the right side of your stove and aiming it towards the front door hall way and another there in that hall pushing air back. Try another by the door way to the kitchen and aim it back towards the bedroom pulling air out of the living room pushing it back to that far rear bed room. I am using 4 box fans ($15 at Walmart) and a couple of ceiling fans. With 4 cheap box fans and a couple of ceiling fans I do not need to use my HVAC systems fan and air returns. Also moving air faster is not necessarily better in regards to heating. You have to keep trying stuff and messing around

This works well for me but my floor plan is much more open than yours. I would keep all doors for closets and even the bathroom closed. Leave all bedroom and hall doors open. You have a tick under 1,100 SQ FT you are trying to heat. What stove do you have and what is the BTU and / or SQ FT rating? Does it radiate much heat or mainly blow it out. Mine radiates a lot so that also helps.

Bottom line no matter what you do the farther away you get from your stove the cooler it will bet. Example: My place as open as it is and two stories I am now fluctuating 7-8 degrees differentials in my coldest areas and rooms from the stove room temps. I am happy with that. If I keep my living room 75 then the farthest bed room and another far away cooler area on the first floor is maintaining temps of 67 - 68*. I am heating almost 2,400 SQ FT on two levels and using a Harman P68 which is 68,000 BTUs. It's rated up to 38 to 3900 SQ FT. I can tell you there is no way in hell it will do that many SQ FT. At least not in the comfy range. It does do approx. 2,400 on two open levels quite well.
 
And like I stated some get better results pulling the cold air out and back towards the stove. This was not effective for me and I found it dropped my temps in the cold areas by another 5 - 7 degrees on a warmer day, but everyone's situation and floor plan is different also. Go invest in some cheap fans. That's what worked for me and it cost me $45 buck to buy 3 more. This was the least expensive option I was entertaining too. I started cheap and simple and WHAA LA! I was able to make it work. You might not get the results you want no matter what you do and have to supplement with another small heat source like others have suggested. I'd wear out all your options first in the cheap seats.

Another thought: Have you tried pushing warm air back one way and also pulling cold air into the living room? In essence making it do a lap around the floor plan........ Worth a shot?
 
Small, door corner fan from living room into hallway. Second fan, near floor from kitchen into living room. Use the hallway as the path of the air: warm air ceiling level, cool air floor level. Box fans move too much air. 60 to 100 cmf's best.
 
Wow, I'm not sure I could find my way to the back bedrooms, much less the warm air.

Those through-wall fans look cool, I'd do that myself but our old house has been added-on so many times, most interior walls were once exterior walls... brick over block.:eek:
 
bags said:
DMKNLD has a starting point suggested. Experiment and explore. I beat myself to death for weeks switching stuff around. Another KEY thing I did is buy some inexpensive thermometers and placed them in the cooler areas to track what was going on. Technically these are space heaters but many people can and do get them to basically heat their whole house. The big thing is balancing out the air as best you can between the negative pressures (colder) and positive (warmer) areas.

Granted the two bed rooms are farthest away from your stove and they are somewhat isolate too. I would start by placing a box fan about 3 to 4 ft. on the right side of your stove and aiming it towards the front door hall way and another there in that hall pushing air back. Try another by the door way to the kitchen and aim it back towards the bedroom pulling air out of the living room pushing it back to that far rear bed room. I am using 4 box fans ($15 at Walmart) and a couple of ceiling fans. With 4 cheap box fans and a couple of ceiling fans I do not need to use my HVAC systems fan and air returns. Also moving air faster is not necessarily better in regards to heating. You have to keep trying stuff and messing around

This works well for me but my floor plan is much more open than yours. I would keep all doors for closets and even the bathroom closed. Leave all bedroom and hall doors open. You have a tick under 1,100 SQ FT you are trying to heat. What stove do you have and what is the BTU and / or SQ FT rating? Does it radiate much heat or mainly blow it out. Mine radiates a lot so that also helps.

Bottom line no matter what you do the farther away you get from your stove the cooler it will bet. Example: My place as open as it is and two stories I am now fluctuating 7-8 degrees differentials in my coldest areas and rooms from the stove room temps. I am happy with that. If I keep my living room 75 then the farthest bed room and another far away cooler area on the first floor is maintaining temps of 67 - 68*. I am heating almost 2,400 SQ FT on two levels and using a Harman P68 which is 68,000 BTUs. It's rated up to 38 to 3900 SQ FT. I can tell you there is no way in hell it will do that many SQ FT. At least not in the comfy range. It does do approx. 2,400 on two open levels quite well.
Click to expand...

The stove is a pleasant hearth 35,000btu suppose to be for up to 1750sqft. I should note, I can get the temps up to 68 in the back, but that requires cranking the living room up to almost 80 which blows us out of there and burns ALOT more pellets during the night, which is what i'm trying to avoid. Iv'e tried some more of the fan configurations last night but still didn't seem to do much; temps seem to be the same with or without fans it seems.
 
This morning my living room was 73, one of the bedrooms was 72 and the other one was 70. Outside temp 30.

Tonight is suppose to go into the teens, we will see what happens tomorrow.

Even when I used the baseboard oil heat those rooms were colder, as much as 10 degrees in the dead of winter.
 
Papelletman said:
Even when I used the baseboard oil heat those rooms were colder, as much as 10 degrees in the dead of winter.
Click to expand...

In an ideal world -- zoned heat. I wish I had that, let the pellet stove heat the living room and nearby areas, and the boiler heat the back rooms as needed. Alas, I replumbed all these radiators once, and really don't care to do it again.
 
I took some advice from this thread and put my squirrel cage fan blowing into the hot sun room where the stove is instead of trying to locate it in the room with the stove and blow the heat out of the room into the rest of the house and the living room raised 3-4 degrees and the stove room seemed hotter from stirring the air a bit. I had to dial the stove back at lunch. Crazy how helpful this forum can be for a new guy willing to read a lot.
 
tiger said:
In an ideal world -- zoned heat. I wish I had that, let the pellet stove heat the living room and nearby areas, and the boiler heat the back rooms as needed. Alas, I replumbed all these radiators once, and really don't care to do it again.
Click to expand...
Exactly what I have!
 
bags said:
Many will tell you the ducting like you are thinking is against code. Not sure about it where you are. I'll get back to you.
Click to expand...

Why is that?

I just ordered this for the same purpose as the OP http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002JQ4K1I/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I plan on running a duct from the ceiling of the vaulted sunroom ceiling to the kids rooms. Per my IR temp gun the temp in the sunroom ceiling has been as high as 85* whereas some of the distant rooms are 66*. I figured if this thing can flow 700 cfm than it should draw quite a bit of heat to the two rooms that need it most.
 
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