Getting Heat From The BACK of a Pacific Energy Wood Insert - Questions

Phoenix Hatchling said:

Actually we ran the AC vents last winter and it worked great! It also helps that the lines going through the attic have 6-8 inch thick insulation surrounding them. Kept the split level much more evenly heated, and the room with the stove not as blistering hot.

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That sounds promising! I don't know what kind of insulation is on the ventilation system as the attic is kind of closed off at the moment. I'll have to get up there and take a look around and see what I can find. I can imagine the central fan would at least be of "benefit" to cool down the room with the insert if it got too hot. Of course, the goal would be best achieved by dispersing the heat rather than making it cold. There are lots of good ideas so far on here

I'll definitely be trying the fan though. Your experience gives a glimmer of hope. Thanks for sharing.

brenndatomu said:

Moving the cool air with fans is probably the best/easiest/cheapest solution. Just throwing out ideas here though, if you would still want/need more heat for the family room and would still want to try the hole idea, you could have a mason surgically cut on the mortar lines of a few bricks so that if you needed to fill that hole back in the future you could put those same bricks right back in. Might take some time and trouble, but it may be possible...

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I'll definitely be trying the fans to move the air around. I have fans already that could do this and it just makes sense.

I'm waiting to hear back from a home inspector about what he would think if he came across this type of modification during a home inspection. He's EXTREMELY thorough. I'm confident the answer I get from him will be the best answer. If he says he'd cite it, I probably won't consider the option further. If he says that it doesn't break code, I'll consider it some more.

The idea clearly has some merit when it comes to dispersing the heat from the stove. It actually makes the insert function a little bit more like a freestanding stove - except built in a wall between two rooms. It's a pretty neat thought, but the concerns about whether that would be a "good" idea need to be cleared up by another professional before I can really entertain such a move. I'll post what the home inspector says when I hear back from him.

JoeysDad said:

I'll definitely be trying the fans to move the air around. I have fans already that could do this and it just makes sense.

I'm waiting to hear back from a home inspector about what he would think if he came across this type of modification during a home inspection. He's EXTREMELY thorough. I'm confident the answer I get from him will be the best answer. If he says he'd cite it, I probably won't consider the option further. If he says that it doesn't break code, I'll consider it some more.

The idea clearly has some merit when it comes to dispersing the heat from the stove. It actually makes the insert function a little bit more like a freestanding stove - except built in a wall between two rooms. It's a pretty neat thought, but the concerns about whether that would be a "good" idea need to be cleared up by another professional before I can really entertain such a move. I'll post what the home inspector says when I hear back from him.

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As promised, here is the reply of the home inspection professional concerning the idea of removing brick from the back of the fireplace to allow heat to go into the rear room.

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Thank you for your kind comments and I am glad to hear things worked out well for you in the purchase of your new home.


Regarding the proposed wood stove installation, that seems like a very unconventional way of distributing the heat to the adjacent room. I guess technically there should be no issues with a fire hazard because the insert would replace the fireplace and the flue would be adapted for the installation. However, I would not recommend altering the integrity of the fireplace construction. In the event something should fail with the insert it would provide some level of protection for you. Having a hole through the fireplace structure into the adjacent room would also be an issue for future inspections.


I have never come across this type of modification to distribute heat to an adjacent room. A more typical solution is to install vents through the common wall into the adjacent room. For heat distribution they should be placed closer to the ceiling. If an access door is not available to provide a return source back into the location where the insert is installed then lower pass-through vents should be installed close to the floor to enable a circulatory loop to distribute the heated air. I believe there are even small fans that can help push the air from one location to the next through the vents.


Modern woodstoves and inserts are a great source to provide alternative heating capabilities for a house and typically are less expensive to operate than a conventional fossil fuel heater. One of the problems using this alternate heat source is that the room that they are installed typically super heats, while in the other rooms the amount of heated air tapers off noticeably. The reason for this is typically that the layout of the structure is such that it prevents a free flow of heated air to and from the location where the heat source is located. To aid in the distribution of the heated air they have even designed special fans that would mount in an upper corner of a door.


You may want to investigate and compare advantages of a conventional wood-burning stove insert to a pellet stove insert. Pellet stoves typically are semi-automatic and can provide a constant heat source without having to constantly manually fuel the fire. Most high end and pellet stoves can also be thermostatically controlled to maintain a constant room temperature. Storing the fuel source can also be advantageous for the pellet stove. With a conventional stove you will need to buy several cords of wood and stack them somewhere on the exterior. The wood pellets typically come in 40 pound bags, can be purchased in a pallet load and can be stored in your garage. Keeping the pellets dry is an essential requirement to keep in mind for proper burning.


I hope this information is helpful. If you would like, I could stop by your location some evening to further discuss your plans and possibly provide some further input. There would be no charge for this consultation.


Thank you again for your valued business and if I can be of further assistance please feel free to contact me.

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His reply is pretty much in line with everybody else here. I also like the fact that he went out of his way to highlight pellet stoves. This guy goes above and beyond on everything he does. Message me privately if you live in the SE PA or surrounding areas and need a good home inspector. This guy is A+.

Any recommended pellet stoves to consider at the last minute? I really like the PE Summit but admittedly don't have excitement for creating wood racks and piling 3-4 cords of wood in my yard each season.

begreen said:

Agreed. If the fan trick is needed to heat the family room you can make a permanent change by using a fan built into the common wall that blows cooler air from the family room into the stove room. This fan uses the stud space as a plenum and is fairly quiet.

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It would be a little more complex for this wall in particular as it is the old outside wall and is made of cinder block. I would possibly have to hammer out a section, add a wood framed box, and then install the vent/fan inside of that. I don't have experience with that, but it sounds a little bit harder than working with an inside wall and studs.

Do you recommend any particular pellet stoves to consider? My understanding is they don't put out nearly the BTUs of a quality wood insert like the Summit and cost a little more for fuel. The obvious benefits are ease of fuel storage and perhaps more efficiency with the thermostatic settings. My concern though is if the Summit would struggle to heat the family room, how much more so would a pellet stove?

begreen said:

Btus are btus. The Summit can put out a lot more heat than the average pellet stove. A pellet stove is fine, but has little to do with heating the family room unless you install it in there. Pellet inserts are often pricier and noisier than a wood stove. I pulled ours out of the living room to enjoy quiet again.

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Crazy idea... but, what if I put a stove in the basement beneath the family room and installed large grates in the floor to encourage heat to rise into that room? How would that heat (or not heat) the rest of the house? I could certainly leave the basement door open, which is the unmarked rectangular section on the diagram (next to the living room). My ceilings in the basement are not insulated and most of the basement is drywalled.

If I were to go this route, I would be using a Summit freestanding stove.

Grisu said:

Is that basement insulated? If not, expect to loose a substantial amount of heat to the walls and ground. Cutting grates in the floor is also a potential hazard during a fire. Check with your local fire codes whether that is even allowed. And whether the heat will really rise up sufficiently to warm the upper floor may be even more questionable than your current plan.

I think your plan of putting the Summit in the fireplace is about the best you can do. The only other option I can think of is installing it behind the fireplace and vent it into the chimney through the back. The family and sun room will get good heat then but the bedrooms may be a bit challenged. There won't be a perfect solution, especially with a limited budget. Thus, I suggest dealing with problems with heat distribution when they actually arise. A small heater in the sun room may be all that will be needed to get everything up to temp. Without actually doing it, you can only speculate.

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The basement remarkably doesn't seem to get that cold even in the dead of winter. I'm not sure if it's because of insulation or anything like that though. I'd guess there isn't a lot of insulation, no. Would you say there is more heat loss to the ground and walls in a basement than there is in a first floor and ceiling against an attic? I suppose it's possible, but it seems like the first floor with all the windows and doors and attic space above would be prone to waste more heat. At the very least, I would assume the floors on the first floor would not be cold with a stove in the basement. Whether the air would in turn also warm would be the bigger question. I do know that the stairwell from the basement to the first floor is bigger than any duct I could ever install in this house. It has the potential to move a ton of air if utilized properly.

I'm just trying to think outside the box here. Having a warm living room that we don't use while not heating the family room we do use is basically a waste of 5000 bucks in my mind. I'm even willing at this point to consider not using my fireplace at all in order to maximize the heat in the right places of the house. I'm finding it harder and harder to believe that I can't find a solution though. With only 1758 square feet to heat, a free standing summit stove should be able to turn my house into a hot pizza shop.

Grisu said:

Putting the stove in the basement you will have heat loss to the ground AND to the attic/windows/doors etc in the first floor. I really doubt you will be satisfied with the result.

If you want to have the stove in the family room think about my suggestion of placing the stove against the back of the chimney and vent it through a wall thimble into the chimney. It will make the fireplace inoperable but you will have the stove where you spend the most time.

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Unfortunately that isn't an option. It would block the front door into the room.