Circulating heat

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fhon

fhon

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Jan 24, 2013
88
PA
I've been trying to figure out the most efficient way to distribute heat from my wood stove around the house.

The stove is in the basement and right by an open staircase that comes up to the living room. The two problems I have are getting the heat back the hall to the bedrooms and having the basement get uncomfortably hot. I'm used to it but company is not. I figured I could help to minimize both of these issues by putting a fan in the floor of the bedroom. In theory this would blow cool air into the basement and create negative pressure in the bedroom to pull heat back the hall.

Anyone have any thoughts as to how effective this would actually be before I destroy my floor. And why kind of fan would you recommend?
 

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I'm not sure what you mean by that. I was thinking something that could be hidden in the drop ceiling. Maybe a duct fan?
 
Place small fan on the floor, next to the bedrooms blowing towards stairway. From my experience easiest way to get heat into back part of the house
 
The fan in the bedroom idea may work if it blows cooler air from the bedroom down into the basement. If the basement is relatively open it should create a convection loop that will help pull warmed air towards the bedroom(s). One consideration is noise. It may not be all that pleasant to have the sounds of a fan or fans in the bedroom. A lower bedroom noise alternative might be having a register per bedroom connected via to a tee or "Y" to a common duct with a quiet inline fan blowing into the basement.
 
I am assuming that you do not have a forced air furnace in your house? We use the furnace fan to circulate warm air from our main floor down to the basement.
If you are going to add a fan it is often easier to blow warm air UP instead of cold air down...The cold air will fall on its own if it has a path.
 
You are right about its own path but cold air is denser than warm air. The molecules are packed closer together. So for the fan it is better to move cold air.
 
I have a fan in my floor going up, Works very well! 3000sq/ft and have not turned my furnace on for 3 years except when we leave town. With it off I can store heat in the basement for a nice duration of time as well. Heat still pumps up through my stairs as well.
The fan is nice and quiet as it only needs to be on a low speed.....

I will take a pic tonight.
 
fhon said:
I've been trying to figure out the most efficient way to distribute heat from my wood stove around the house.

The stove is in the basement and right by an open staircase that comes up to the living room. The two problems I have are getting the heat back the hall to the bedrooms and having the basement get uncomfortably hot. I'm used to it but company is not. I figured I could help to minimize both of these issues by putting a fan in the floor of the bedroom. In theory this would blow cool air into the basement and create negative pressure in the bedroom to pull heat back the hall.

Anyone have any thoughts as to how effective this would actually be before I destroy my floor. And why kind of fan would you recommend?
Click to expand...
look for low cfm fans. you dont want to move the air quickly or it will have a tendency to cool the air. try a corner fan mounted at the beginning of the hallway up near the ceiling. cold air will return naturally down to the basement
 
couple pics of the fan that is in my floor. keep in mind that if you are nervous about house fires, this provides another route for fire to spread to the upstairs quickly.
 

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The fan in my furnace blows air up and around the house to mix with the warm air from the woodstove on the main floor. Since I have cold air returns and warm air outlets down there, the basement gets warm. If the stove was in the basement then the furnace fan would be blowing warmer air out of the hot basement and returning cold air back down from upstairs....
One of the first things I did was purchase a few digital thermometers to get true measurements. 75 degree air that is moving feels COLD but if you fill the room with it then its a different story.
 
BigFir said:
couple pics of the fan that is in my floor. keep in mind that if you are nervous about house fires, this provides another route for fire to spread to the upstairs quickly.
Click to expand...
That's what fusible-link dampers are for.
 
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begreen said:
That's what fusible-link dampers are for.
Click to expand...
Huh..... I see these all over my work place (on a bigger scale) and it had never dawned on me to get one for this fan! Thanks Begreen!
 
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