air flow...

[Algae78]

First off just want to say I've lurked around this forum quite a bit and I've already found a lot of information that is really helpful. Thank you!

So, I'm thinking about a wood insert (Regency i2400 or Enviro Venice). We use the fireplace quite a bit and wasting all that heat is really getting to me. The insert would go in a 260 sq ft room on the first floor of a 2 story 2000 sq ft house. It's a standard colonial and not a particularly open floor plan. I would like the stove to be able to heat the 1st floor (about 1000 sq ft). Any heat that finds its way upstairs (separate hvac zone) would be gravy. What I'm concerned about is all the heat getting trapped in one room. So, my question is - how effective is it to place small fans at the top of a doorway or simply cutting vents in between rooms? The room with fireplace is on one end of the house.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Wood Duck]

Advice I have seen several times here is to use floor fans blowing toward the stove. it is easier to move cold air to the stove than to force hot air away. I would expect one fan to be enough, if you find the right place for the fan to sit.

 

[begreen]

Sometimes with careful fan (or wall vent fan) placement one can develop a circular convection flow in a colonial floorplan. For sure you will want to enhance heat circulation or that room will get hot. Does this room have large wall openings or just a doorway?

 

[Algae78]

I was hoping I could avoid putting fans on the floor but I did see that many people have had luck with that method.

Its just a doorway (with no door) out of the room. I haven't measured but it seems slightly larger than a standard door. Once out of that room, the floor plan opens up a bit more. The other rooms each have two entryways. My thought was to cut in a vent or two high on the adjoining wall between 2 rooms for warm air and allow cold air to flow through the doorway. Maybe put a quiet in fan in those vents.

The HVAC return for that zone (first floor) is in the same room as the fireplace but looking at others' experiences that isn't going to help me.